Permaculture is often described as a way of seeing and thinking about the world which incorporates a diverse "toolbox" of technologies to the design of sustainable and regenerative habitats for life. Such a broad idea has been further broken down into permaculture principles by one of the founders of permaculture David Holmgren.
The idea of the principles is to provide a set of considerations to guide a permaculture designer. These principles can be used as a checklist for a designer to go through and see what improvements can be made to a system.
Although, at first, the complexity of these principles coupled with the broad objective of permaculture designs can make daunting, with practise and familiarity a new way of seeing the world emerges, often described as the "permaculture lens."
The idea of the principles is to provide a set of considerations to guide a permaculture designer. These principles can be used as a checklist for a designer to go through and see what improvements can be made to a system.
Although, at first, the complexity of these principles coupled with the broad objective of permaculture designs can make daunting, with practise and familiarity a new way of seeing the world emerges, often described as the "permaculture lens."
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EBook
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Online Resources
Twelve Permaculture design principles articulated by David Holmgren in his Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability:
- Observe and interact: By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
- Catch and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.
- Obtain a yield: Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
- Apply self-regulation and accept feedback: We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
- Use and value renewable resources and services: Make the best use of nature's abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on non-renewable resources.
- Produce no waste: By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
- Design from patterns to details: By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
- Integrate rather than segregate: By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
- Use small and slow solutions: Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.
- Use and value diversity: Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
- Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
- Creatively use and respond to change: We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
Creating Regenerative Outcomes
At the heart of permaculture design is the intention to create regenerative outcomes. This means that as a consequence of producing food on a landscape - the agricultural ecosystem is made more healthy and the welfare and health of animals and humans are deigned into the system.
This can be though simply as production results in elements impacted by production improving in health and resiliency over time.
This theme acts as the focal point for how the sequence of plant and animal communities that will restore the health of a landscape and result in an endpoint of a balanced and healthy system productive system are created.
This requires an understanding of what stage a landscape is at in health and diversity of species and what is required to transition it towards a productive and balanced end point system.
This can be though simply as production results in elements impacted by production improving in health and resiliency over time.
This theme acts as the focal point for how the sequence of plant and animal communities that will restore the health of a landscape and result in an endpoint of a balanced and healthy system productive system are created.
This requires an understanding of what stage a landscape is at in health and diversity of species and what is required to transition it towards a productive and balanced end point system.
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