Permaculture is another one of those concepts that have no single definition, but I like the succinct definition offered by Geoff Lawton [1], one of the more well-known permaculture teachers and practitioners in the world when he stated that permaculture is "a system of design that provides all of the needs for humanity in a way that benefits the environment." Another way to describe it is "designing human systems to mimic natural systems" and "designing systems that work with nature instead of against it." No matter how you define it, it refers to a design system - it integrates concepts from a wide array of disciplines/topics (hydrology, soil science, biology, ecology, renewable energy, forestry, and more) - and utilizes them when designing systems, such as gardens, farms, houses, neighborhoods, and more. It is most commonly used to design food systems, though. Everything from a backyard garden to a large farm can be designed using these principles.
The concept and term "permaculture" was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia in the 1970s. It was originally a concatenation of the terms "permanent agriculture" because it initially focused on food production systems, but came to be known as a shortened form of "permanent culture" because it can be used to address all aspects of human culture/settlements.
The Permaculture Research Institute provides an excellent one-page description of permaculture. Please read through it before continuing.
The following are some highlights from the reading:
I want you to consider one additional concept that is mentioned in this summary. They mention that permaculture helps establish resilience. Resilience can be thought of as the ability to return to an original state after encountering a shock to the system. This has become a major focus of sustainability efforts. People recognize that "bad" things such as climate change, oil price spikes, and economic collapse will happen, but we do not know when. Much effort in sustainability design, thought, and policy is focused on establishing resilient communities (and cities, states, and countries) that will be able to withstand such shocks in such a way that suffering and distress will be minimized.
From a climate change perspective, this is primarily a focus on adaptation, i.e., adapting our communities to thrive in an uncertain climate future. This usually involves things such as using renewable energy (and not relying entirely on the national grid, e.g.), producing food locally (instead of relying on world markets), mitigating and/or avoiding flooding in low-lying areas, using more low-carbon transportation methods (e.g., bike and pedestrian infrastructure) and in general becoming more self-sufficient. This is a major focus of the Transition Town movement [3], but cities, towns, and states/provinces all over the world have engaged in planning for resiliency. For example, the state of Colorado has its own Resiliency Resource Center [4], which is operated out of the Department of Local Affairs.
The video below summarizes a lot of these concepts and adds a few others. It also provides a few examples of permaculture.
Most of this reiterates much of what is written above, but there are a few more things I'd like to point out:
Hopefully, by now you have a solid understanding of what permaculture is, as well as its core ethics. Permaculture also has a set of 12 principles that should be used to guide all design decisions. The video below from Oregon State University provides a good overview of these principles, and examples of how they can be applied. You will not be expected to memorize them, but it will be helpful to have a general understanding of each.
Permacultureprinciples.com provides an excellent in-depth explanation [5] of each of these principles and also provides a ton of examples of each principle. If you want to explore any of the principles more (this is optional but strongly suggested if/when you have some time), including examples of concrete applications, click on the links to each item below. They even have a song for each principle, which is a nice touch! All quotes are taken from the permacultureprinciples.com site.
One other thing that I'd like to note before moving on is that while remembering and applying these principles takes a lot of effort, a properly designed permaculture system significantly minimizes effort once it is established! For example, a well-designed permaculture garden will require almost no active watering (it should be rain-fed), does not require the constant addition of fertilizers (it should be mostly self-sufficient), does not need pesticides (most pests should be eliminated by beneficial insects, chickens, or other natural biological solutions, and things like proper air flow and sunlight), and it minimizes replanting (true permaculture uses mostly perennials, not annual plants). A properly designed urban environment will optimize the use of local resources such as renewable energy, local food sources, and low-impact transportation. Such an urban system should also provide resources to help all people thrive, thus minimizing the need for social services.
Please note that people spend their whole lives researching and applying permaculture - we are only scratching the surface! But hopefully, you have a reasonably good understanding of what permaculture is and how it can be applied. The following is a brief summary of some key points:
Links
[1] http://permaculturenews.org/what-is-permaculture/
[2] https://permaculturenews.org/what-is-permaculture/
[3] https://transitionnetwork.org/
[4] https://www.coresiliency.com/resiliency-frameworks
[5] http://permacultureprinciples.com/
[6] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_1/
[7] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_2/
[8] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_3/
[9] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_4/
[10] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_5/
[11] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_6/
[12] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_7/
[13] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_8/
[14] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_9/
[15] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_10/
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[17] https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/_12/