All about ecological design and permaculture
Ecological design = any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes (Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan)
Permaculture = permanent agriculture/culture (Bill Mollison and David Holgren)
History
Ecological design and permaculture principles have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, we have always used them. Unfortunately, we lost some of those skills that humans had been honing for eons. Now we are having a resurgence of people bringing these tools back and utilizing them for everything from food growing, to storage, to eating, plus building all types of structures and more. It is really about a lot more than each of those individuals systems because the idea alone of ecological design is to observe, utilize and merge all kinds of systems that occur in our world.
The term "ecological design" was popularized in 1971 by Ian McHarg in his book, Design with Nature. This book describes an ecologically sound approach to the planning and design of communities.
"Permaculture" was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978 based on the work by Masanobu Fukuoka,
J. Russell Smith, P.A. Yeoman as well as indigenous knowledge from around the world.
The original permaculturalists and ecological designers are indigenous people of an area. Here in San Diego County we look to the Kumeyaay people. They have observed, learned and practiced working with nature for thousands of years - a truly regenerative lifestyle. We want to bring this knowledge back into practice and show reverence for their way of life.
Permaculture = permanent agriculture/culture (Bill Mollison and David Holgren)
History
Ecological design and permaculture principles have been used by humans for thousands of years. In fact, we have always used them. Unfortunately, we lost some of those skills that humans had been honing for eons. Now we are having a resurgence of people bringing these tools back and utilizing them for everything from food growing, to storage, to eating, plus building all types of structures and more. It is really about a lot more than each of those individuals systems because the idea alone of ecological design is to observe, utilize and merge all kinds of systems that occur in our world.
The term "ecological design" was popularized in 1971 by Ian McHarg in his book, Design with Nature. This book describes an ecologically sound approach to the planning and design of communities.
"Permaculture" was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978 based on the work by Masanobu Fukuoka,
J. Russell Smith, P.A. Yeoman as well as indigenous knowledge from around the world.
The original permaculturalists and ecological designers are indigenous people of an area. Here in San Diego County we look to the Kumeyaay people. They have observed, learned and practiced working with nature for thousands of years - a truly regenerative lifestyle. We want to bring this knowledge back into practice and show reverence for their way of life.
Here at Permasystems we use the words permaculture and ecological design interchangeably.
To better understand permaculture, lets take a look at a healthy tree growing in the remote mountains. This tree gets water from precipitation, no hoses. This tree gets nutrients from the soil and air, no fertilizers. Soil builds nutrients from the leaves that fall off of the tree, from dead branches that break down, from bacteria and fungi living in the soil. Nothing extra is added! Now, look at a tree in your yard or neighborhood - how does it compare to our mountain tree?
Permaculture can be used at any level, from your house, to your garden, to your neighborhood, to your to city, or beyond...
Permaculture can be used at any level, from your house, to your garden, to your neighborhood, to your to city, or beyond...