Permaculture Principles
Defining Permaculture
- Permaculture is “the conscious design and maintenance of productive ecosystems that 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.”
- —Permaculture: A Designers' Manual
by Bill Mollison, 1980
Defining Sustainability
- "Sustainable" in this context means "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
- —The United Nation's Brundtlund Commission
of Environment and Development, 1987
Ethics and Principles of Permaculture
In his book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability, David Holmgren writes, "Ethics act as constraints on survival instincts and the other personal and social constructs of self-interest that tend to drive human behaviour in any society. They are culturally evolved mechanisms for more enlightened self-interest, a more inclusive view of who and what constitutes 'us', and a longer-term understanding of good and bad outcomes."
Holmgren goes on to introduce and discuss three general ethical maxims of Permaculture, and twelve main principles of Permaculture.
Ethics of Permaculture
- Care for the earth (husband soil, forests and water)
- Care for people (look after self, kin and community)
- Fair share (set limits to consumption and reproduction, and redistribute surplus).
The Twelve Principles of Permaculture
- Observe & Interact
- Catch & Store Energy
- Obtain a Yield
- Apply Self-regulation & Accept Feedback
- Use & Value Renewable Resources and Services
- Design From Patterns to Details
- Integrate Rather Than Segregate
- Use Small and Slow Solutions
- Use and Value Diversity
- Use Edges and Value the Marginal
- Creatively Use and Respond to Change