Permaculture Principles and Practice
Speaker: David Holmgren
Wednesday 6th June
Summary
This lecture addresses the need to be cautious when defining and implementing Permaculture design principles. Permaculture is a systemic and evolving set of design principles reflecting the natural systems that they work within. Appropriate use of the design principles are essential and must reflect the community and geographical locality where they are taught and implemented.
Key Points
- David acknowledged and thanked the continued energy and inspiration to Permaculture from Bill Mollison, Declan Kennedy, Tony Anderson and Su Dennett
- The lecture commenced with a story about Kerry Packer, who in the 70’s gave a talk to his employees within his large empire. He likened his empire to a family tree, which he could cut down if he so desired, to which the staff dutifully applauded. The Permaculture movement could be expressed as large tree which Bill Mollison has watered and tendered over the years and which is now a strength and inspiration for many. This tree is a vast international movement which is (or should become) its own thing.
- The Permaculture design principles are essentially strategies and techniques based on natural systems The fundamental foundations of these are that they provide practical and positive ideas for design, and that they should evolve through systemic thinking. This systemic thinking is a continuous pulsing process, which can have sharp pulses as a result of dramatic natural and human occurrences.
- Human sustainable systems and ways of living are historically based on daily routines which are deeply embedded – as with the natural world. However, we generally find work requiring such routine boring and unliveable – this can be very unsustainable and require huge amounts of energy. (“thinking is dangerous”)
- When dramatic changes occur, nature responds in an explosive, unpredictable way. Usually this results in a mad proliferation of diversity, followed by a culling back. An example of Phil Rose’s polyculture was given, who planted vast numbers of species of fruit and nut trees. Over time, the system became refined as many species required chopping back, whilst others did not succeed.
- We need to look how system models are adopted in a society. They move from a conceptual model, to a working model. This is then adopted by society which will then refine/replicate and regulate the system over a long space of time. This is also what happens in nature. The Permaculture model has spread globally, through top-down information. The process therefore of adoption and refinement has been missed and can explain why many Permaculturists and their projects are considered crazy in their local communities.
- This highlights the importance of local, geographic projects and networks, whether they have the Permaculture title or not. E.g. In Japan, there are many good local farming techniques which have evolved over hundreds of years, which are very sustainable. The adoption of straw bale building in Japan is an example of inappropriate design – straw bales are not traditional, and suitable bales for building have been imported from the USA!
- Adopting distilled Permaculture design principles indiscriminately is therefore very unsustainable. They should be used when relevant and appropriate. Remember the importance of diversity. Mass adoption of any principle would be unsustainable. The analogy of the ‘Trojan Horse’ where the idea that one solution works everywhere causes the Permaculture movement serious problems.
- The Permaculture principles need to be presented in an indigenous and intuitive way. They need to be embedded into our way of thinking in an easily understandable format. The use of slogans and icons will assist this and David has brought in sayings and proverbs which draw on traditional deeper wisdom, such as ‘slow and steady wins the race’, and ‘a stitch in time saves nine’.
- Common sense needs to be made common again.
Questions from the floor
How do these principles connect together?
The 12 principles follow a logical sequence, with a close, connecting relationship between them. They open doors to whole systems thinking, acting as connection points.
The Permaculture 1 and 2 books never intended to define principles that were to be set in stone. The Introduction to Permaculture book was part of an evolving process which was distilled after 10 years of teaching, and was drawn largely from work by John Quinney in the US.
Bill Mollison interjected that directives not principles should be used.
How can the issue of inclusivity be addressed and how to make Permaculture more holistic?
Permaculture has run into problems through the over dilution of ideas and people taking the ‘Trojan Horse’ model when practising the design principles. It has always been an umbrella for many different methods of sustainability, and has used them as guiding principles. It is dangerous when people think that something is not useful or worthy if it does not have the right label. We consistently need to draw upon knowledge from all over and importantly to acknowledge them.
A concern was expressed about the ideas in David’s book regarding the link between spiritual and material being.
This was an expression of the positive and negative aspects of the coming together of spiritual and material aspects of society. Permaculture is the material science of connection and part of the larger process of reunification.
[Scribe: Julie]