The Basics of Permaculture

Permaculture combines three key aspects:

1. An ethical framework;
2. Understandings of how nature works;
3. And a design approach.

This unique combination is then used to support the creation of sustainable, agriculturally productive, non-polluting and healthy settlements. In many places this means adapting our existing settlements. In other cases it can mean starting from scratch. Either option offers interesting challenges and opportunities.

The word permaculture comes from ‘permanent agriculture’ and ‘permanent culture’ – it is about living lightly on the planet, and making sure that we can sustain human activities for many generations to come, in harmony with nature. Permanence is not about everything staying the same. Its about stability, about deepening soils and cleaner water, thriving communities in self-reliant regions, biodiverse agriculture and social justice, peace and abundance.

Permaculture Principles

Permaculture principles provide a set of universally applicable guidelines that can be used in designing sustainable systems.

These principles are inherent in any permaculture design, in any climate, and at any scale. They have been derived from the thoughtful observation of nature, and from earlier work by ecologists, landscape designers and environmental science.

The principles have recently been reviewed by David Holmgren (one of the co-originators of permaculture) in his book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. We have decided to use this new set as a way of presenting more in-depth information and examples.

These principles encompass those stated in Introduction to Permaculture, by Bill Mollison & Reny Mia Slay:

• Relative location.
• Each element performs many functions.
• Each important function is supported by many elements.
• Efficient energy planning: zone, sector and slope.
• Using biological resources.
• Cycling of energy, nutrients, resources.
• Small-scale intensive systems – including plant stacking and time stacking.
• Accelerating succession and evolution.
• Diversity – including guilds.
• Edge effects.
• Attitudinal principles – everything works both ways, and permaculture is information and imagination-intensive.

… and those in Permaculture, a Designers’ Manual, by Bill Mollison:

• Work with nature rather than against.
• The problem is the solution.
• Make the least change for the greatest possible effect.
• The yield of a system is theoretically unlimited (or only limited by the imagination and information of the designer).
• Everything gardens (or modifies its environment).

This last set of principles, is often referred to as the ‘philosophy behind permaculture’.