Permaculture is a practical, positive approach to designing systems for environment and lifestyle sustainability that has at its core a fundamental set of values or ethics.
While Permaculture design can be applied to an infinite range of human centered situations and systems, these core principles underpin all Permaculture design for sustainable living irrespective of the application in question.
These ‘ethics’ are:
Care of the Earth
We all ultimately depend on the Earth for our survival, so we need to ensure our actions promote the health of all life ecosystems.
"What man does to the Earth, he does to himself"
-Indian Chief Seattle, 1894.
Set of Ethics on Natural Systems:
- Protect remaining natural forests from any further disturbance.
- Rehabilitate degraded natural systems to a stable state.
- Establish ecological refuges for threatened species.
- Use the LEAST amount of land possible for establishing plant systems for our own use.
Care of People
We will either survive together or none of us will survive, so we need to ensure that all people have enough to meet their needs for existence. The peace and the sustainability of society depend on this.
Limiting Consumption
The western obsession with materialism and growth at any cost have overtaxed the Earth’s resources and led us to the very brink of annihilation.
Our consumptive lifestyle needs to be limited to what is “enough” so that there is some left over for the needs of Earth’s ecosystem and all its people. what defines an ecological footprint
Treading Lightly
For each of us, our ecological impact or footprint on the planet is measured by the resources we consume, and the waste we create.
Permaculture ethics dictate a conservative approach to the use of natural resources that is eco-efficient and non-wasteful. They urge us to live simply so that others may simply live.
It is about thoughtful and careful consumption so that we don’t squander today what our children will need tomorrow…
We already have all the know-how and technology needed to achieve sustainable living for all the world’s people using Permaculture ethics as a guide. Let’s start today!
Hi,
This may not be the place to post this but I couldn’t find any contact info. I would like to get together with other interested parties and talk about permaculture in the Inland Empire. I live in upland
thanks
Michael Campi
Hi Michael – We have a CSA we support in Ontario as well as a great local farm called Amy’s Farm that gives tours and is always glad to talk shop: http://www.amysfarm.com/
Hi Michael. This is really an old post so I’m not sure if you’re still actively working on this. Looks like your blog is very active though. I have been thinking about starting something. I attended the San Diego Permies Convergence last weekend and it was very inspiring. I have my PDC from the PRI from their online course this year. I’ve already gotten my registration for the Permaculture Voices Convention in March 2014. If you haven’t heard about it huge names will be speaking: Joel Salatin, Geoff Lawton, Greg Judy, Allan Savory, Paul Wheaton and many others. 4 days of education and networking in Temecula. A Saturday night dinner at Primal Pastures is included along with a 4 hour intensive SPIN farming.
Sorry, didn’t mean to sound like an ad for Permaculture Voices, but I get excited when I talk about it.
Anyway, I know it’s always hard to work in yet another task when you want to get something new going. Maybe we can collaborate to get this up and running. I love the San Diego group and even though they are mainly in North County it’s still a trek to work into my days off.
You can email me if you’re still interested in getting a group going.
Thanks, Candy