"Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems."
A set of principles and practices for sustainable living, focusing on designing regenerative human systems that mimic the patterns and resilience of natural ecosystems.
Introduction to Permaculture: Overview of the philosophy, ethics, principles and practices of permaculture.
Site Analysis and Planning: Methods of understanding site characteristics and designing permaculture systems to maximize productivity and sustainability.
Ecology and Natural Systems: Understanding of natural systems and ecosystems and how they function.
Soil Ecology and Regeneration: Understanding of soil biology, fertility, and the role of soil in permaculture systems.
Water Management: Techniques for sustainable water use, including rainwater harvesting, earthworks, and soil-water retention techniques.
Sustainable Agriculture: Methods for sustainable food production and agriculture, including agroforestry, crop rotations, and natural farming techniques.
Climate Resilience: Understanding of how permaculture systems can be designed to adapt to changing climate conditions.
Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy: Understanding of renewable and non-renewable energy sources and how to design systems for energy efficiency and alternative energy.
Livestock Management: Methods for integrating livestock into permaculture systems for maximum benefits for both the animals and the land.
Food Preservation and Storage: Techniques for preserving and storing food, including canning, drying, and root cellaring.
Community Development: Strategies for building strong, sustainable communities through permaculture techniques and principles.
Sustainable Housing: Understanding of how to design and build sustainable housing using permaculture principles, including energy efficiency, natural materials, and low-impact construction.
Social Permaculture: Understanding of how permaculture principles can be applied to social systems and interactions to create harmonious and sustainable communities.
Economic Permaculture: Understanding of how permaculture principles can be applied to economic systems to create sustainable livelihoods and local economies.
Urban Permaculture: Understanding of how permaculture principles can be applied to urban environments to create sustainable and resilient cities.
Forest gardening: A type of permaculture where the focus is on mimicking the structure and function of a natural woodland ecosystem.
Food forests: Similar to forest gardening, but with a focus on using edible plants to create a low-maintenance food-producing ecosystem.
Aquaculture: Permaculture that includes fish, aquatic plants, and other water-dwelling organisms to create a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Integrated poultry systems: Poly-culture that incorporates poultry into a larger system, with birds contributing to soil fertilization and pest control while producing eggs or meat.
Alley Cropping: A system where rows of trees or shrubs are planted at the edges of crop fields, creating microclimates that are beneficial for both crop growth and soil health.
Keyline design: A land management approach focused on using natural water flow patterns to improve soil fertility and crop productivity.
"It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience."
"Permaculture originally came from 'permanent agriculture', but was later adjusted to mean 'permanent culture', incorporating social aspects."
"The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods, instead adopting a more traditional or 'natural' approach to agriculture."
"Permaculture has many branches including ecological design, ecological engineering, regenerative design, environmental design, and construction."
"It uses creative design processes based on whole-systems thinking, considering all materials and energies in flow that affect or are affected by proposed changes."
"Before, for example, modifying overland water flow, one fully considers both upstream and downstream effects in the short and long term."
"When looking at a 'problem', such as brushy vegetation, one considers how removing or altering it will affect soil and wildlife, and how these interacting forces would evolve over time and space."
"Permaculture has been criticized as being poorly defined and unscientific."
"Critics have pushed for less reliance on anecdote and extrapolation from ecological first principles, in favor of peer-reviewed research to substantiate productivity claims and to clarify methodology."
"Peter Harper from the Centre for Alternative Technology suggests that most of what passes for permaculture has no relevance to real problems."
"It applies these principles in fields such as...community resilience."
"It includes integrated water resources management, sustainable architecture, and regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems."
"It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking."
"It formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods, instead adopting a more traditional or 'natural' approach to agriculture."
"It is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems."
"Permaculture originally came from 'permanent agriculture', but was later adjusted to mean 'permanent culture', incorporating social aspects."
"Town planning"
"Before...one fully considers both upstream and downstream effects in the short and long terms."
"One considers how removing or altering it will affect soil and wildlife, and how these interacting forces would evolve over time and space."