When I first heard the term permaculture, I mistakenly believed it was merely a more in depth means of gardening sustainably. This is only partially true. Permaculture is a design system that can be applied to every area of your life. It is creating a design for a whole, self-contained system that seeks to be self-sustaining, self-sufficient, and ecologically sustainable. The goal is to create a system that is both permanent and cultural. To sum it up, permaculture is a holistic, living-in-harmony approach to living on our planet.
The first step in creating a permaculture design is to observe. As permaculturists we observe patterns in Nature, mimic her, and at the same time balance our own needs with the needs of the world and community that we live in. Permaculture is about giving back at least as much as we take. It is about creating solutions using techniques that look at the whole system, rather than just a small part. Our human means of interacting with nature for the past one hundred years, or more, has been to take things apart and dissect them down to the minunist part. We have lost sight of the big picture. We have allowed this small thinking to restrict us into narrow perceptions, forgetting that we are also a part of nature. We are a part of the whole – not something that lives outside of it.
Designing our lives using permaculture ideas, is to design with integrity. It is slowing down the process in order to see possible solutions from all angles. It is both philosophical and scientific. It is practical. Often, the problem is the solution. We look for solutions that require the least amount of change for the greatest effect. We reuse, recycle, and repurpose. When we apply permaculture principles in our lives, we are caring for the earth and caring for people. Permaculture has been slowly trickling up and spreading out into many of the solutions that are now being implemented around the world. I look forward to a future when these principles of design are the rule and not the exception.
