Permaculture

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The term permaculture is a contraction of the expression “ permanent culture” , introduced by two Australian ecologists - David Holmgren and Bill Mollison, to synthesize an integrated system conceived to answer the serious challenge of the survival of the whole of planet and its inhabitants. Largely exceeding the concern to develop and apply methods of sustainable food production, permaculture has to do with with all the aspects of human activity which jeopardize the dynamic balance of the relations and interractions allowing life on earth -- it is the CULTURE of Permanence or “the sustainable creation of habitats following nature's model”


an illustration of permaculture with animals in the garden

Contents

[edit] Origins of permaculture

Permaculture, or similarly oriented approaches, has been in practise since thousands of years in various parts of the world, even though people use the word “permaculture”. For example, the Chagga people in the north of Tanzania and the inhabitants of the area of Kandy in Sri Lanka cultivated gardens which are in fact modified versions of the vegetation found in the natural forest. These copies of natural forest enable those which maintain them to feed (cereals, fruits, vegetables), to get dressed (natural fibres), to be cured (medicinal plants) and to keep warm thanks to wood. Masanobu Fukuoka (a Japanese inspirer) initiated natural agriculture in the 1940's, his principles were quite akin to those of permaculture. The idea of “permaculture” was formulated by two Australian ecologists, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, in the 1970's. They transcribed this idea in their book Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements .

[edit] Ethical principles in permaculture

Permaculture is based on three ethical principles:

[edit] Permaculture : the design

Twelve principles were developed by David Holmgren in Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (see excerpt):

[edit] The method

A long-term process

[edit] Common characteristics of permaculture

[edit] Examples of innovative practical solutions

[edit] See also

[edit] Internal links

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography


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