Permaculture

A

The emergence of permaculture, a term first coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978, offered an organized, unified response to industrialization and its damaging effects on the environment. The movement, which prioritizes sustainable living through intelligent ecological and environmental design, combines age-old methods of sustainability with new ideas to create a way of living that supports rather than depletes the earth.

B

In essence, permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments that is modelled on the natural world. The overarching goals are to minimize waste, human labour, and energy input. There are twelve design principles of permaculture that revolve around three core tenets. These tenets are care of the earth, care of the people, and the return of surplus by means of setting limits to population and consumption. It draws primarily on ecological and environmental design, but also encompasses the fields of technology, architecture, agriculture, and many more. Some of its most common practices include agroforestry, natural building, rainwater harvesting, mulching, rotational grazing, and keyline design.

C

Of course, the notion of sustainable living is not entirely new. Permaculture does, after all, draw on pre-industrial systems of sustainability, as well as early modern researchers. Indigenous methods of land use and shelter construction are commonly employed, and permaculture communities often maintain close ties with the populations or tribes from which such techniques are learned. But during the early- to mid-1900s, several environmental advocates were already attempting to create alternatives to the increasingly unsustainable industrial lifestyle. One example of this was Joseph Russell Smith, who in 1929 wrote his book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture. The book expounded on his experiences using fruits and nuts as food for both humans and animals, and his ideas about the interrelatedness of the whole. Such ideas inspired others, such as Toyohiko Kagawa, who pioneered forest farming in Japan in the 1930s.

D

Then in the early 1960s was the first recorded application of permaculture concepts as a systematic method by Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer. Although he didn’t define it as such, in reflection his work was a precursor to permaculture. A bit later in the early 1970s, several Australians, such as P.A. Yeomans, supported the concept of permanent agriculture with their own research and experiments. But it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that Bill Mollison and David Holmgren officially developed the design approach we now refer to as permaculture.

E

Mollison and Holmgren brainstormed together about their ideas for how to combat the negative effects of industrial-agricultural methods. They were especially concerned with how such methods were poisoning land and water, reducing biodiversity, and depleting topsoil. Their first book, Permaculture One, was published in 1978, and their ideas were immediately popularized throughout Australia and beyond. Mollison continued his research, refining his ideas and designing hundreds of permaculture sites, and eventually writing more books, including Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual. He lectured in over 80 countries and taught a regular two-week Permaculture Design Course (PDC).

F

From a small town in Tasmania, Australia, Bill Mollison left school at the age of 15 to help run his family’s bakery. He held a number of other jobs throughout his life, including seaman, shark fisherman, mill-worker, trapper, tractor driver, and glass blower. He spent nine years as a civil servant for the Wildlife Survey Section and did fieldwork with the Inland Fisheries Commission. Eventually he became a senior lecturer in environmental psychology, a position that gave him the time and resources to focus on his personal interest in sustainability. He gave up his secure post in 1978 to develop his ideas about permaculture, establishing the Tagari Community in Stanley and founding the Permaculture Institute of Australia.

G

The Tagari Farm, which began as an 80-acre commune property, is now 148 acres of land situated in the sub tropics of Northern New South Wales in the ancient volcanic crater of Mount Warning. With 43 bodies of water spread across the land, it is a resource-rich area. Interestingly, and not coincidentally, it is the first spot on the continent that gets sunlight each morning. It was designed and established by Mollison as a permaculture model farm, and is owned by the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. The name of the farm, Tagari, is a Tasmanian Aboriginal word meaning “those of us who are gathered here,” and captures permaculture’s indigenous roots and community-centric approach.

H

Permaculture has now evolved into a global movement, with permaculture sites or projects in over 25 countries. Although the number of people who choose lifestyles that strictly adhere to permaculture’s principles are relatively low, many incorporate aspects of permaculture into the designs of their homes, communities, and even cities. What’s more, the application of permaculture has extended beyond the ecological and environmental design and into economic and social structures, as well the use of appropriate technologies. Thus, Mollison and Holmgren’s hopes for future generations have at least partially been materialized by the permeation of permaculture into mainstream society.