Permaculture Ethics & Design Principles
11 June 2005
David Holmgren
Notes on process: Talk (powerpoint presentation) with questions & discussion afterwards.
Summary
David Holmgren’s approach is to state each principle or ethic as a single phrase, characterize its essential meaning with an icon, and further illustrate it with a traditional saying or proverb (mostly taken from the English language). The three ethics underpin the twelve principles & should be considered as an intrinsic part of the design process.
The three ethics are
- Care of the earth (Rebuild nature’s capital) - expressed in a positive sense, rather than simply maintaining what we have now
Care of the people (Nurture the self, kin & community) - this is more about reciprocal relationships
- Fair share (Live simply so that others may simply live)
This is derived from and reflected in various human cultures & even some natural systems with an altruism ethos.
The twelve principles are
Observe & interact – “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
Catch & store energy – “Make hay while the sun shines”
- Obtain a yield – “you can’t work on an empty stomach”
- Apply self regulation and accept feedback – “The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the 7th generation.”
Use and value renewable resources & services – “Let nature take its course”
- Produce no waste – “Waste not want not” and “ A stitch in time saves nine”
- Design from patterns to details – “Can’t see the wood fro the trees”
- Integrate rather than segregate – “Many hands make light work”
Use small and slow solutions – “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” and “Slow & steady wins the race”
- Use and value diversity – “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
- Use edges and value the marginal – “Don’t think that you are on the right track just because it is a well beaten path”
- Creatively use and respond to change – “Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be”
Discussion Points
- The 12 principles split into two groups of 6, the 1st 6 are mainly concerned with the elements in a system; the 2nd 6 have more of an overview role.
- A designer (and design) needs to balance and connect all three of the ethics. These should be intrinsic to any design and design process.
How does principle 9 connect with large, rapidly expanding PC projects such as the network in South & Central America? Need to be aware that there may be a greater potential for big “stuff ups” in such systems – beware Irish potato famines!
- Businesses can connect with PC easily through these principles, but they must be presented with the ethics, to avoid using them in isolation
- Permaculture principles can provide support to traditional cultures not to abandon their sustainable practices in favour of “Development”
[Scribe: Andy Polkey]