Permaculture

[purpletigron]

(Cross-posted from ecovillage ... follow-up discussions in the original thread over there?)

To start with a definition: Permaculture - permanent culture (the word was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist, and one of his students, David Holmgren).

Often described as `revolution disguised as organic gardening', to me, permaculture is about using human intelligence to design sustainable societies which move beyond reliance on either non-renewable energy, or human drudgery. By carefully observation, learning deep lessons from nature, analytical and holistic thinking, and intelligent design, it should be possible to both generously meet the needs of humans, and the needs of the rest of the life on Earth in ways which are fulfilling to us, and permanently sustainable.

In case that sounds wishy-washy, how about: get our collective act together, use our brains, and make things work properly so that they can keep on working!

Permaculture is like the English language - it is more than happy to grab interesting things from anywhere. Many permaculturists do focus on matters of cultivation and growing, but intelligent design can (and should!) be applied to every area of human influence. With that bias in mind, here are some informative links (I'm not affiliated with any of these, and they're in no particular order):

• An Introduction to Permaculture from the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas
• Permaculture.Net
• Permaculture International (non-profit)
• The Permaculture Association (UK)
• Permaculture Magazine (UK)
• Permaculture Activist (`North America', web site currently not responding)

(Please post followups in the original thread in the ecovillage community?)

Comments

[ilythia.livejournal.com]

This would be a great post for threadsofchange, too. I recognize your name and thought you were a member, but I guess not. It might be a community that interests you! :)

Meetings

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I recognise your userpic - one of my faves :-)

So, I'm a known troublemaker already, ho hum :-) I will probably be less in evidence around here very soon now, so perhaps the reputation will die down a little :-)

I'd not seen threadsofchange, so I will check it out...

Re: Meetings

[ilythia.livejournal.com]

Maybe I recognize you from vegancooking...?
Well - Hi! :)