As organic gardeners, we aspire to garden in ways which are sustainable and ecologically sound, with minimal environmental impact. We seek to work with Nature rather than against her, and to treat all life with reverence and respect. These goals and values have been shared by ethical communities worldwide, by people who have lived in harmony with the planet, all the way through human history.
What if we could gather their wisdom, and make it accessible to the modern world by systematizing it and explaining it scientifically? Imagine if we combined what they knew with our current knowledge of ecology, the scientific study of the relationships of living organisms to one another and to their environment. This would be something very innovative and exciting. Here’s a little secret, it’s actually been done… and it’s called Permaculture!
The Revolutionary Beginnings
The 1970s were a time of major changes, both for good and bad. During this time, we saw the emergence of unsustainable corporate agribusiness, with its heavy reliance on agricultural chemicals and primary focus on profits. This departure from traditional organic farming methods had its consequences – a reduction in food quality, chemical contamination of food and damage to the environment.
Many recognised the dangers of the new direction agriculture was taking, and some dared to challenge it. In 1974, two visionary Australian ecologists, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren realized that the solution was to shift agriculture back towards Nature, and to go one step further beyond where organic agriculture had already gone.
A new perspective was necessary to drive this much needed change. To quote the ‘Father of Permaculture’ Bill Mollison, “Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system”
Looking to change the paradigm of modern agriculture, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren devised a system for designing self-sustaining agriculture which emulated natural living ecosystems to achieve similar efficiencies. They called this system Permaculture, a portmanteau of ‘permanent agriculture’ and ‘permanent culture’.
Why model natural ecosystems? They’re 100% sustainable and are proven to be able to sustain themselves over hundreds of millions of years without human intervention!
In Bill Mollison’s own words, “Permaculture is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order.”
Since Permaculture deals holistically with the relationships between people, plants, animals and the environment, and seeks to make them work together harmonious through intentional design, it is often described as ‘ecological engineering’ or ‘cultivated ecology’.
Sustainability by Design
Permaculture utilises a set of universal design principles which are a drawn from a wide variety of disciplines, such as ecology, landscape design, environmental science and energy conservation. These design principles serve as tools to integrate of all the separate parts of a design into a functional, synergistic whole system, where the parts can interact harmoniously and work together in the most efficient way possible.
Being universal, these principles can be applied to any location, climate and culture, as well as any scale from an apartment balcony to a large-scale farm or village, making Permaculture useful in a broad range of applications.
Permaculture as a Design Framework
Permaculture is not about techniques such as no-dig gardening or composting, it’s a design framework which sits at a conceptual level above these useful tools. We can think of Permaculture as a ‘lens’ through which we view the world, design our systems and apply our chosen techniques.
There’s a simple way to understand this subtle distinction. The techniques tell us how to do what we need to do, whereas Permaculture design tells us which techniques to use, where to best use them, and why.
Permaculture can incorporate techniques such as organic gardening, no-dig gardening, food forest gardening, backyard orchard culture, biodynamic gardening, composting and many other sustainable gardening practices in the range if tools available to the designer. Other techniques such as energy-efficient building design, water harvesting, waste-water treatment and recycling can also be utilized within a Permaculture framework.
Keeping Things Ethical
One of the distinguishing features of Permaculture as a design system and as an applied science, is its inclusion of three ethical principles which seek to guide our activities, and encourage us to live sustainably, to preserve the Earth’s living systems which sustain our lives and all other life on the planet.
Care of the Earth, which is about recognising that all living and non-living systems are interconnected and interdependent, when one is affected, all are affected.
Care of People, which is about promoting self-reliance and responsibility towards the greater community. We are reminded that humans are interdependent communal and social creatures who function best in cooperative groups.
Fair Share, also described as the ethical principle of “Return of surplus to Earth and people” reminds us that if we take only our fair share of the world’s finite resources, then there is enough for everybody, and there will continue to be in the future too. Furthermore, when we share our skills, knowledge and surplus produce, we build bonds between people which foster a sense of stable, collaborative community.
More than Food Production
Permaculture started off as a design system and has grown to also become a worldwide social movement, so we really need two separate definitions here!
As a design system, Permaculture emulates systems that exist in Nature to create sustainable human settlements and food production systems which integrate harmoniously with the natural environment. It has expanded to include economic and social systems which support stable communities, such as credit co-ops, local exchange trading systems and eco-villages.
As a social movement, Permaculture is concerned with sustainable, environmentally sound land use and the building of stable communities, through the harmonious interrelationship of humans, plants, animals and the Earth.
Even though Australia is the home of Permaculture, many Australians have never heard of it, but over the last few decades it has become a global phenomenon which is continuing to grow worldwide. Permaculture has a lot to offer the organic gardener, as I have found from my own personal experience, it’s definitely worth looking into!