Permaculture
Permaculture is an enormous asset to paradigm shift and a perfect complement to the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual traditions. Permacultue links the wisdom ideals to real life. PC is a holistic design system for taking care of human needs in ways that are healthy to people and planet. Permaculture is the accumulated knowledge of modern science, folk wisdom and what has been learned by way of countless practitioners and projects from real life experience. Sustainability and regeneration of natural and human systems are core ideals of permaculture.
Permaculture ideals and principles point to action. Permaculture is a core set of ideals and principles for Be The Change.
Here are several core principles of permaculture - working with nature rather than at cross purposes, design holistically for multiple benefits, fair share, people care, earth care and efficiency. Other principles include produce no waste, choose simple and slow solutions, use edges and value the margins.
Several more principles include designing for multiple benefits with the smallest resource input as possible - reducing eco footprints. Catch and store energy, make best use of what is available, integrate rather than segregate.
Edges
Another permaculture principle is to make use of edges. Edges are the boundaries between two [or more] conditions or systems. They can be physical, ecological or cultural. Where those two systems meet is a transition zone that can combine positive characteristics from both systems, a place rich in potential and opportunity.
One could say we live in a remarkable historical edge. From one system, we have technology that would have been science fiction only a few years ago. We have high levels of comfort and convenience enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people. Capitalism and the consumer culture can claim many accomplishments. Some of them praiseworthy, many others are not. The Primer suggests our society could enjoy many of the healthy and positive benefits we know and leave much of the damaging baggage behind. That hopeful outlook would still mean big changes for everyone.
and we have climate change and a planet under the heavy load of its human cargo.
The other edge, that can help us leave a lot of our familiar social, economic and environmental baggage behind. That edge is an emerging system of vision, ideals, values and principles that calls for healthy alternatives to capitalism and the consumer culture. This edge is idealistic and practical. It can point to many inspiring real life examples of paradigm shift, already in existence, that show what those visions, ideals, values and principles can look like in real life. Permaculture is an important part of this emerging system and the concept of edges is a good way to explain our personal and collective opportunities.
The zone or edge between these contrasting systems is where paradigm shift can gain a foothold and make best use of the positive elements from both systems. Capitalism offers many tools and means of communication that can be immensely useful for paradigm shift. Capitalism also provides us with many products and outcomes that do not fit a sustainable and uplifted society. The wisdom described already, permaculture and simple common sense offer a valuable capacity to help determine what is healthy from what we have now and leaving behind what does not fit sustainability.
The Primer describes many examples of real life paradigm shift that can help us make smart choices for what we keep and what we let go at this transition time of history.
The critical, historical opportunity we have is to make use of this zone between capitalism and sustainability. Permaculture can serve as a powerful tool navigating this historical edge.
A New International Language
Permaculture can be described as a new international language. There are permaculture advocates and enthusiasts all over the world. When you meet someone who is familiar with permaculture, you know immediately, you have much in common.
There is limited global organization for permaculture but there is relative uniformity in what is called permaculture and its most well know learning experience a PDC, or permaculture design course. There is a national organization in the US with the task to help insure the quality and content of PDCs and those who teach them. Permaculture is becoming more known to the wider world. Verily, many universities now offer courses in permacuture. This writer took a PDC in Texas in 1991 where one participant was paid by the city of Austin to take the course. Permaculture has made great progress since then.
There is a great deal about permaculture in print and also on the internet including videos showing permaculture projects in real life. I have a link on my website to a video on youtube that explains how my permaculture property supports many aspects of paradigm shift. My 25 year suburban permaculture project was the first video on youtube under the title suburban permaculture. Now there are hundreds.
Permaculture principles are perfect for sustainability and uplift, from home scale to the neighborhood, community, region and beyond. Permaculture is a perfect compliment to the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions, reducing eco footprints along with prioritizing our time and money. Permaculture is an emerging language that can be a great companion to paradigm shift and bring people together from diverse back grounds and belief systems.
Hover over the images below to zoom in and see captions.
Permaculture is an enormous asset to paradigm shift and a perfect complement to the wisdom of the world’s great spiritual traditions. Permacultue links the wisdom ideals to real life. PC is a holistic design system for taking care of human needs in ways that are healthy to people and planet. Permaculture is the accumulated knowledge of modern science, folk wisdom and what has been learned by way of countless practitioners and projects from real life experience. Sustainability and regeneration of natural and human systems are core ideals of permaculture.
Permaculture ideals and principles point to action. Permaculture is a core set of ideals and principles for Be The Change.
Here are several core principles of permaculture - working with nature rather than at cross purposes, design holistically for multiple benefits, fair share, people care, earth care and efficiency. Other principles include produce no waste, choose simple and slow solutions, use edges and value the margins.
Several more principles include designing for multiple benefits with the smallest resource input as possible - reducing eco footprints. Catch and store energy, make best use of what is available, integrate rather than segregate.
Edges
Another permaculture principle is to make use of edges. Edges are the boundaries between two [or more] conditions or systems. They can be physical, ecological or cultural. Where those two systems meet is a transition zone that can combine positive characteristics from both systems, a place rich in potential and opportunity.
One could say we live in a remarkable historical edge. From one system, we have technology that would have been science fiction only a few years ago. We have high levels of comfort and convenience enjoyed by hundreds of millions of people. Capitalism and the consumer culture can claim many accomplishments. Some of them praiseworthy, many others are not. The Primer suggests our society could enjoy many of the healthy and positive benefits we know and leave much of the damaging baggage behind. That hopeful outlook would still mean big changes for everyone.
and we have climate change and a planet under the heavy load of its human cargo.
The other edge, that can help us leave a lot of our familiar social, economic and environmental baggage behind. That edge is an emerging system of vision, ideals, values and principles that calls for healthy alternatives to capitalism and the consumer culture. This edge is idealistic and practical. It can point to many inspiring real life examples of paradigm shift, already in existence, that show what those visions, ideals, values and principles can look like in real life. Permaculture is an important part of this emerging system and the concept of edges is a good way to explain our personal and collective opportunities.
The zone or edge between these contrasting systems is where paradigm shift can gain a foothold and make best use of the positive elements from both systems. Capitalism offers many tools and means of communication that can be immensely useful for paradigm shift. Capitalism also provides us with many products and outcomes that do not fit a sustainable and uplifted society. The wisdom described already, permaculture and simple common sense offer a valuable capacity to help determine what is healthy from what we have now and leaving behind what does not fit sustainability.
The Primer describes many examples of real life paradigm shift that can help us make smart choices for what we keep and what we let go at this transition time of history.
The critical, historical opportunity we have is to make use of this zone between capitalism and sustainability. Permaculture can serve as a powerful tool navigating this historical edge.
A New International Language
Permaculture can be described as a new international language. There are permaculture advocates and enthusiasts all over the world. When you meet someone who is familiar with permaculture, you know immediately, you have much in common.
There is limited global organization for permaculture but there is relative uniformity in what is called permaculture and its most well know learning experience a PDC, or permaculture design course. There is a national organization in the US with the task to help insure the quality and content of PDCs and those who teach them. Permaculture is becoming more known to the wider world. Verily, many universities now offer courses in permacuture. This writer took a PDC in Texas in 1991 where one participant was paid by the city of Austin to take the course. Permaculture has made great progress since then.
There is a great deal about permaculture in print and also on the internet including videos showing permaculture projects in real life. I have a link on my website to a video on youtube that explains how my permaculture property supports many aspects of paradigm shift. My 25 year suburban permaculture project was the first video on youtube under the title suburban permaculture. Now there are hundreds.
Permaculture principles are perfect for sustainability and uplift, from home scale to the neighborhood, community, region and beyond. Permaculture is a perfect compliment to the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions, reducing eco footprints along with prioritizing our time and money. Permaculture is an emerging language that can be a great companion to paradigm shift and bring people together from diverse back grounds and belief systems.
Hover over the images below to zoom in and see captions.
