Permaculture is an ethical, regenerative design science
that makes systems flourish. It fosters optimal states of air,
water, land, plants, animals, insects, buildings, people + communities.
it enhances all of life, because it ACKNOWLEDGES + leverages
the connections between all of life.
(1) An ethical framework;
(2) An understanding of how nature works; and
(3) A design approach.
- Permaculture combines 3 KEY ASPECTS:
(1) An ethical framework;
(2) An understanding of how nature works; and
(3) A design approach.
- Permaculture has 12 KEY DESIGN PRINCIPLES, conceived by David Holmgren (in bold italics), and elaborated by me:
- Observe + interact. By taking time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
- Catch + 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 + accept feedback. Cooperate with your own growth and evolution.
- Use + value renewable resources + 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 (re)using the resources that are available to us, nothing is wasted.
- Design from patterns to details. Mimic nature. Step back and observe its 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 + 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 + 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 + 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 + respond to change. We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
Do you know about the extremely insane, equally dangerous,
yet completely accepted strategy of hyperconsumption
that is eroding health + happiness all over the world?
There's an excerpt of the plan beneath this 3 minute-video
that shows how this horrid thing is playing out.
The truth.
It hurts. It sets you free.
Here's that excerpt I mentioned, written by Victor Lebow
in the Journal of Retailing, Spring 1955:
in the Journal of Retailing, Spring 1955:
Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfactions, our ego satisfactions, in consumption. The measure of social status, of social acceptance, of prestige, is now to be found in our consumptive patterns. The very meaning and significance of our lives today expressed in consumptive terms. The greater the pressures upon the individual to conform to safe and accepted social standards, the more does he tend to express his aspirations and his individuality in terms of what he wears, drives, eats- his home, his car, his pattern of food serving, his hobbies.
These commodities and services must be offered to the consumer with a special urgency. We require not only “forced draft” consumption, but “expensive” consumption as well. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing pace. We need to have people eat, drink, dress, ride, live, with ever more complicated and, therefore, constantly more expensive consumption.
It should go without saying but,
that PLAN is just sick + twisted.
"It is no measure of health
to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
(Jiddu Krishnamurti)
In the above video, Jeff Berwick and I share real-talk about cannabis. 🌿