Permaculture
The vast majority of current food production systems in the West are unsustainable. It seems that research and development and modern technology have taken us on a one-way path of food production - a path that has lead to degradation, environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, chemical toxicity and food with poor nutrient content. How has this happened?
It has happened, not because of lack knowledge of sustainable food production systems, but because we have come to revere science and the mighty dollar. We have striven to produce more, for less, and with the highest economic return, but all the while using a system that is unsustainable.
Permaculture is more than a sustainable food production system - it is not limited to plant and animal production, but also includes community planning and development, use of appropriate technology and adoption of concepts and philosophies that are earth-based and people-centred. It includes economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. It embodies holistic systems and processes for living, and is based on the use of ecology as the basis for designing integrated systems.
Permaculture has been described as 'integrated farming', 'ecological engineering', and 'cultivated ecology'. The word 'permaculture' was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison, and David Holmgren. The word is a contraction not only of permanent agriculture but also of permanent culture, as cultures cannot survive without a sustainable food system base and landuse ethic. Permaculture is about developing and utilising ecological human habitats and food production systems. The aim is to achieve harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils and water into stable, productive communities. Permaculture doesn't look at these separate elements but, rather, looks at the synergy between the elements that make up the system as a whole.
Permaculture is more than a sustainable food production system - it is not limited to plant and animal production, but also includes community planning and development, use of appropriate technology and adoption of concepts and philosophies that are earth-based and people-centred. It includes economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. It embodies holistic systems and processes for living, and is based on the use of ecology as the basis for designing integrated systems.
Some of the appropriate technologies advocated by permaculturists are solar, wind, methane, biofuel power production; composting toilets; energy efficient housing; composting; green/living fences and constructed wetland water recycling.
Permaculture is not a fixed prescriptive system. There are many options and technologies available to incorporate within the system depending on the site and management systems available. Farming systems include options of agroforestry, swales, contour plantings, keyline principles, hedgerows, windbreaks, and systems such as pond-dike aquaculture, aquaponics, and intercropping. Small scale gardening includes options of companion planting, sheet mulching, chicken tractors, solar greenhouses, spiral herb gardens and vermicomposting. Water within the system can use keyline, rain catchment, constructed wetlands, aquaponics, and solar aquatic ponds.
Many modern production systems are not sustainable, but there are new production systems that are much more sustainable. There is growing interest in bamboo fabric and other alternative textile production systems.