Social Permaculture

Within the permaculture movement, more and more of us have been looking at aspects of something we’ve come to call “social permaculture.” But what is that? People often think of permaculture as another system of gardening or land management, but it is far more. Permaculture is a system of ecological design that looks to nature as our model. It originated in the ’70s with Australian ecologists Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who were looking to create a “permanent agriculture.” Now it has become a worldwide movement, and expanded to encompass “permanent culture.”

Once you have studied the practical aspects enough, it can be relatively easy to intuit and follow the patterns of the non-human world, and thus, for example, calculate the volume of rainfall available for catchment in a particular area, or to add materials to the soil in order to optimise fertility. The rain and the soil follow particular patterns which are relatively easy to recognise. However, since humans are in some ways much more complex creatures, our patterns of behaviour and inter-relationships can also be difficult to design for. It is still possible to map various social patterns and find ways to holistically design for productive social systems.

Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation, by Adam Brock ISBN:1623170648