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PERMACULTURE – NOT JUST FOR HIPPIES FÊidhlim Harty explores the marriage of science and art that brought about an ethical and principled design revolution.
P
ermaculture; that's, like, organic gardening but with more of a hippy twist, isn't it? Well, if that's what you want in your garden, then perhaps, but really it's a lot broader than that. It is essentially the science and art of designing sustainable systems of any sort that support human needs while protecting the environment. The term permaculture derives from permanent agriculture or permanent culture. It is a design approach that was developed in
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Australia in the 1970s in response to fundamentally unsustainable land management practices and an over-dependence on limited fossil fuel resources. Initially the emphasis was to create farming systems that served the needs of the designer by producing food and other useful crops, while avoiding damage to the environment through depleting soils, polluting water or introducing environmental toxins. In the intervening 40 years since Bill Mollison and David Holmgren first coined the word, permaculture has evolved and spread around the world. Growing food, fuel and fibres is still a central core of permaculture design, but it is by no means limited to this. In a world where we have clearly overstretched the carrying capacity of our common home, permaculture has stepped forward with solutions in the areas of business, finance, social structures, housing and sanitation, as well as
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Winter 2020
