What is permaculture?
Permaculture is closely related to ideas of “Sustainability” but it takes this idea a step further. What if we can leave the living world better than we find it? We aim to be “Regenerative”.
Permaculture Design has three ethics at the core – care of people, care of the earth, and sharing equitably to meet our needs. It offers principles of ecosocial design which can be applied to any system in order to be efficient, effective, ethical and resilient (that can resist abrupt changes/shocks).
The literature and online content produced about permaculture design demonstrate thousands of applications including : regenerative agriculture, rocket stoves, water retention landscapes, holistic education, productive vegetable gardens, bioregional economies, collaborative communities and much more.
WHY PERMACULTURE?
“Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system”
— Bill Mollison (Permaculture pioneer)
The word permaculture is still associated with agriculture by many people, and food production is an essential area to apply permaculture design, because it is an essential part of life. Permaculture Design is, however, applicable to all areas of life. There are more and more resources and examples being developed showing its use in community development, working with people, and organisations. Permaculture is NOT just agriculture, but we are increasingly using the terms Ecosocial Design and Regenerative Cultures which makes this clearer!
Learning about Permaculture Design is a huge and beautiful path. It fills me with energy and awe as I stop to observe and better understand the living world, as I connect with amazing projects and people with wisdom about how to do things well. We are all on this journey at different places, and moving at different speeds. We are all learners, teachers and activists and as Daniel Wahl reflects here ….
“We all have the power to change the world. As a matter of fact we all do, every day, with everything we do, a little bit!
All our actions and inactions contribute to what kind of world we bring forth together.”
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