permaculture education center

Permaculture Education Center

Orientation Chapter for the Permaculture Design

Certificate Course

Appalachian Mountains – N.C., U.S.A.

“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on

the way to destroying the world - we've actually been on the way for quite a while. It is

that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new

relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.” ~Joanna Macy

Permaculture Design Certificate Course – About The Course

2

About Our Teaching Philosophy

There are two parts to your study with us at the Permaculture Education Center:

The downloads contain all of the course notes, including the exercise assignments and quizzes. As the Permaculture Education Center develops over the years, we add information to the course notes to meet the changing needs of students. We also include previous students' valuable contributions in the curriculum.

Your version is the newest and latest version, and is a more recent version than the course notes used by previous students. The course notes have been reviewed and expanded regularly since 2004. This amounts to years of work on the part of our teachers and our wonderful Permaculture Design Course (PDC) graduates around the world.

These course notes are only part of the online PDC course. The Other essential piece is your participation in the assignments, practical exercises, outdoor observations, and research required to effectively create a working, integrated Permaculture Design, which is required in order to be awarded the Permaculture Design Certificate.


Copyright © Permaculture Education Center – PermacultureEducation.org. All Rights Reserved. 3

Bill Mollison – “Father of Permaculture”

(1928-2016)

About The Permaculture Design Course

This is an official, 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate Course, and is approved internationally by the Mollison Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) and the Permaculture College network. This course follows the official guidelines for teaching Permaculture as directed by Bill Mollison. The course follows the topics in Mollison’s book, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, which is considered to be the foundation text of Permaculture. By law, all Permaculture teachers and anyone using the word Permaculture for business purposes must be graduates of an official 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate Course. Upon graduation, Permaculture Education Center will issue graduates a PDC Certificate, and will keep a copy of your PDC Certificate on file. You will then be qualified to practice Permaculture and use the word for business purposes. According to the Mollison Permaculture Academy guidelines, the Full Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is a 72- hour intensive program.



This course involves study modules supported by practical exercises, photos, fieldwork and videos. Although we recommend that you allow 1-2 hours for each course module, you will find some sections take longer than others and the course usually becomes less time consuming after the Natural Systems Design section. Some students may know more than others. Some ask more questions. Naturally, the amount of time required to absorb and apply ideas will differ for each student.

Graduates of Permaculture Education Center Courses: Successful PDC graduates are classified as Permaculture Designer Trainee, or Permaculture Designer (allowing you to place the letters P.D.C. after your name, if you wish). After 2 years of work in the field, PDC graduates may use the term Permaculture Teacher or Permaculture Consultant. This PDC course is internationally-recognized and has been approved by Bill Mollison and the Mollison Permaculture Research Institute (PRI). Completion of this course allows the graduate to officially use the term “Permaculture” in their business or other activities. Historically, online permaculture instruction (teaching the PDC online) was restricted by the Mollison Institute for quality control reasons. Only a handful of qualified instructors with university degrees related to Permaculture Design and/or professional teaching credentials were permitted to teach and administer the PDC Course online. The online PDC Course was designed to enable those students who are unable to attend a live PDC Course in their area because of location, time, or cost issues. Many students simply cannot afford to take up to 15-20 days away from work, or pay the $2,000.00-$3,000.00 USD (average) for the typical live PDC Course. This online PDC Course helps to fulfill the Mollison Institute’s mission of spreading Permaculture Design worldwide by allowing these students to learn at their own pace, and at a very low cost. The Course Modules: The Permaculture Design Course is divided into three modules. The Introduction to Permaculture Course is the first module (about 1/3) of the Full Permaculture Design Course, so you should allow about a third of 72 hours = 24 hours study time. The other modules add up to 48 average hours of study/project time.



Module 1: Permaculture Concepts

• Orientation Chapter for the Permaculture Design Certificate Course

• Permaculture Ethics

• Natural Systems Design

• Recycling

Module 2: Basics of Permaculture

• Soils

• Water

• Forests & Trees

• Houses & Buildings

• Aquaculture & Mariculture

• Wildlife Management & Natural Pest Control

Module 3: Permaculture Design in Practice

• Permaculture Village Development

• Patterns in Design

• Design for Catastrophe

• Seed Saving & Nurseries

• Appropriate Energy Conserving Technology

• How Permaculture Trainees Operate

• Classical Landscape Profiles

• The Invisible Structures of Settlements

• Student’s Final Design Project and Course Assessment

Objectives of the course:

This course should supply you with enough information and feedback to:

• Plan and implement a permaculture system for yourself and others.

• Incorporate relevant permaculture ideal and methods into existing systems (home, farm, office, industry, reforestation sites).

• Assess systems for sustainability.

• Develop your research in particular products, technologies or strategies.

• Develop personal interests in Permaculture subject areas.

• Encourage community interest in activities that focus on true (and not just economic) growth and development.

• Set up or assist businesses related to Permaculture. (After receiving your PDC certificate, you will be entitled to legally use the word “Permaculture” in your consulting business and for hosting live teaching events and workshops).



The design course should enable you to have a thorough understanding of Permaculture and be able to teach others. The Introductory course is a total of 24 hours. It focuses on developing your personal system.

On successful completion of the full design course, graduates are accredited by the international Permaculture Education Center, and are awarded the internationally-recognized Permaculture Design Certificate. Higher degrees in Permaculture (Diploma, Master’s degree) studies may be pursued online through PermacultureEducation.com and at various institutions that are formally and informally part of the Permaculture Education network globally. Some of our students have studied Permaculture Design as part of their undergraduate studies at conventional universities. Others have completed this course and received credit toward completion of Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in university programs. Student Study Groups: Groups may enroll and take the PDC Course together. This is a popular option, because the group can study, discuss, and work through the course topics together, and submit one Final Design Project for the group. Upon completion of the PDC course, all students in the group receive the internationally-recognized Permaculture Design Certificate. Students may study in virtual groups online, or with others living in close proximity to each other, and who are able to meet on a regular basis. Ideas for groups: The group should meet before starting the PDC to “break the ice” and get to know each other. The group should work in a spirit of respect for diversity of opinions, and should encourage a peaceful and non-stressful learning environment. How does the Permaculture Education Center ensure that all group members contribute? We cannot ensure that all group members participate. It is up to the group members to let us know if certain members have become inactive. If your group is experiencing difficulties, please email us. We may be able to offer guidance in this area. If a student wishes to drop out of their group, they are permitted to continue the program as an individual once the difference between Group Discount fees and individual enrollment fees has been received.



A study timetable: You may like to organize a structured timetable like example below:

Ethics Natural System Recycling Soils Water

(20min) and Design and Waste (3 x 20min) (3 x 20 min)

(2 hours) Disposal (2 x 20 min)

Forests & Houses & Aquaculture Wildlife Patterns

Trees Buildings (2 x 20 min) Management In Design

(1 hour) (1 hour) (30 min) (2 hours)

Design for Seed Saving Appropriate How Classical

Catastrophe & Nurseries Technology Permaculture

Landscape

(30 min) (30 min) (30 min) Trainees Profiles

Operate (30 min)

(1 hour)

Permaculture Invisible Final Design Student

Village design Structures (2 x 2 hours) Course

(30 min) (30 min) Assessment

(10 min)

How will I know if I’m doing the exercise correctly? Many students are new to the field of Permaculture Design. Some have professional experience related to Permaculture Design. Some have gardening experience, and some have backgrounds as environmental educators or community organizers. However, many have no experience whatsoever, and this is perfectly acceptable. The materials are designed for use by both new and experienced students. Be confident and follow your own intuition in completing the exercise questions, quizzes, and assignments. Additional Information and Resources: Upon completion of each course section, students will be given additional information and resources which include past student examples, links to websites and online resources, charts, graphs, documents, and other materials that will help to solidify understanding of the concepts presented in the module. If students are still unclear on some concepts or have any questions as they proceed, they are encouraged to email their instructor through the online course management system.



Disclaimer: The information provided in this course is provided in good faith and is offered only as a guide. The student’s use of this information is his or her responsibility. We urge students to seek professional advice on safety, medical, and veterinary issues or problems.

About the Order of Topics for this Course: You do not have to follow the order of topics in the text Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual. Although the Designer’s Manual has always been the official textbook that accompanies the PDC Course curriculum, each of the topics can be studied independently and at your own pace, using the Designer’s manual as a reference if you have it. We recommend that Permaculture Design Course students start with Permaculture Ethics, and follow the sections in order because this helps to give you a proper foundation and logical learning sequence for the course.

Please be aware that these study materials are used world-wide. You may read passages that pertain to methods and ways of living that are very different from the methods and ways of living in your area (i.e., techniques for growing or building in tropical climates, sanitation, etc.). The information in this course is applicable to any climate or situation.

Please be aware that you may see a given topic repeated in different areas of the course, and some technical information may be given in more than one area in the modules. This is not an oversight, but is the nature of Permaculture (some topics in Natural Building also apply to designing a garden or farm). This is also due to the fact that the information for this course has been gathered from many sources world-wide, and different cultures may have a different way of approaching certain topics. It is our aim to tailor the course material so that it is valuable to everyone. We present the material from several different viewpoints (from the subsistence farmer in Indonesia to the European office worker who wants to know how to live more sustainably).

About your role in the course

Correspondence:

In all your correspondence please include your name in the subject line (in the case of email, for instance). As an example, in an email to your instructor, include your first and last name and the module of the course your question refers to (i.e., Amber Baker – Homework 2-5 Aquaculture). Students will be issued a permanent Student Number based on when they complete the PDC Course. This number is printed on your PDC Certificate and kept in our records.



Exercise Instructions:

Below you will find instructions for how we would like you to handle the exercise assignments and quizzes for the PDC course. Please read completely, and if you have any questions or concerns, let us know before starting the course.

1) Keep a journal or notebook, or digital document with all of your notes and assignments in it. Submit your answers or complete the assignment or activity after you complete reading each section.

2) After completing each section, refer to the Additional Information and Resources available for that particular module or course section. After reviewing these materials, look back over your assignment and make any changes necessary. You may experience some “A-ha” moments after seeing examples of how other students approached the assignment, or after reviewing the additional resources provided.

Please note: the exercise questions and assignments all help lay the foundation for the information you will need in order to successfully complete your Final Design Project. In the last module of the PDC Course, we have listed exactly what you will need to include in your Final Design Project. Look over this information and use the precious time between the start and finish of your PDC Course to observe your site (or any site you have access to) and get to know it as well as you can before you take on the task of creating a design for it. We recommend keeping a journal and recording notes and what you observe. You will be grateful for this information when it is time to begin the Final Design Project. Required Supplies & Equipment: o Assignments should be recorded in a journal or digital document and kept for future

reference. o Design software or alternatively ink pens, colored pencils, paper, etc. o Text books – Not required, but it is highly recommended that students obtain a copy of

Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, by Bill Mollison. The PDC Course is based on this text and follows the material covered in the book. Try Amazon.com for best prices.



o Other recommended books: o Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, David Holmgren. o Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison and Reny Slay. o Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture, Rosemary Morrow. o Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemenway. o Perennial Vegetables, Eric Toensmeier. o Edible Forest Gardens, Dave Jacke & Eric Toensmeier. o The Permaculture Home Garden, Linda Woodrow. o A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander.

Throughout the course materials, you will see the exercise assignments. Each exercise and assignment is easily identified by the box with the open book graphic on the left.

Example:

HOMEWORK: ETHICS 1

Your Assignments: This course differs from a face-to-face course. We ask you to choose tasks relevant to your situation and try sincerely to complete all assignments given. You actively decide how to apply the Permaculture Ethics and Principles to your life and on your site. Our role is to help you learn as much as possible, gain the skills necessary to become a good Permaculture Designer, and to be able to apply this knowledge to a wide range of sites and community structures. Most students finish the PDC Course within 2-3 months. Since each student has the flexibility of working at his or her own pace, there should not be a problem with completing the course in less than 6 months. However, please note that there is a one- year time limit to complete the course. Work load The amount of homework reading, researching, doing and reporting for should be a total of 1-2 hours for each of the modules. (This is in compliance with the Mollison Permaculture Research Institute guidelines). However, we understand that some assignments may take longer than others.



The final section of the course requires a FINAL DESIGN PROJECT of either a plan, sketch or research topic (2,500 words if a research topic is selected). You should spend about 12 hours on this project.

Our Email Addresses and Website: General Email: [email protected] Website: www.PermacultureEducation.org

Students transforming their back yard into a Permaculture garden.

Print out and post somewhere in your study area Below, we have attached a list of the Permaculture Principles. Please print off a copy and hang it somewhere in your study area. There are not a fixed number of Principles (some people teach 12, some 24), but there are at least 12 that are vitally-important in understanding Permaculture Design. These principles are the core of Permaculture design and the more you can keep them in mind as much as possible as you go through the course, the stronger your understanding of Permaculture will be, and in turn your ability to design well.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.permacultureeducation./



Permaculture Design Principles

OBTAIN A YIELD

You can’t work on an empty stomach. [and neither can anyone else]

Indian gooseberry, Papaya and Sesbania yield ©Franziska Weissoertel

DEFINITION: The system yield is the sum total of surplus energy produced by, stored, conserved, reused or converted by the design. • Energy is in surplus once the system itself has available all it needs for growth, reproduction and maintenance. • As Permaculture designers, we are creating “cultivated ecosystems” – cultivated to produce a yield of food, shelter, fiber, medicine, or other product/service useful to humans. Therefore, for each element we consider, we must design to obtain a yield. • We remember that all other creatures in our shared ecosystems need to get a yield, and so we invoke the “Share the Surplus” ethic, and plant extra. >Design for surplus. • A mono-crop may yield an abundance of one product, but the combined yields of a poly-crop on the same space will be more.



REDUNDANCY

Have a backup plan. Be prepared! • For every critical need, provide for multiple ways of meeting that need. Critical needs are water, food, money, heating, toilet, congeniality, social/political power. • Have a backup plan. Provide for the unexpected – drought/flood, economic depression, etc. • Have diverse ways of getting your needs met > Diversity EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Plants make thousands of seeds, and some have multiple methods of reproduction.

The seeds of one Papaya fruit ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Most animals are able to eat many different foods.

Pigs eat almost any kind of food ©Franziska Weissoertel



USE IN DESIGN: • Food: Design to have fresh food all year long, and preserve as much as you can.

Fresh and conserved cherries as an example for summer fruits ©pexels.com

Red cabbage fresh and conserved as an example for winter vegetable ©pexels.com

• Water: Cisterns, public utility, and pond.

Different water facilities ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Electricity: Photo-voltaics, and grid, or PV and wind/hydro power. • Exercise: go to gym, and walk to work, and go outside and run with your kid/dog. • Trade: create barter and local currency groups, grow more than you can eat, and stay in the money economy



• Money: have many income streams [network up & down, as well as laterally] • Poly-crop to provide plants with many avenues for pollination, pest protection, nutrients. • Design or do other creative work with a team – have more than one mind, more than one person holding the skills and information.

Team discussion ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Have more than one friend!

CATCH AND STORE ENERGY

Make hay while the sun shines. • All energy comes from the Sun. Since energy is lost with every transaction, we need to get as close to the origin as possible – that is, the sun itself, and plants – to meet our energy needs. • Energy cycles thru our system and then it’s gone, whereas minerals can recycle forever in a well-maintained soil. • We want to catch “exotic” energy – that is, energy coming from offsite and moving past, convert it to energy we can use or store, and cycle it through our system as we need it. • We want to grow our own renewable energy – that is, plants and animals for our consumption. EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Trees catch sunlight and store it as sugars in their roots, for the winter when there is no energy coming in.

Papaya tree in sunlight ©Elsa Wallin



• Rocks catch sunlight & store it as heat, creating microclimates. > more diversity • Ponds catch the energy of moving water and store it as potential kinetic energy, and they catch sunlight and store it as heat, creating microclimates.

Small Pond ©Franziska Weissoertel

USE IN DESIGN: • Creating microclimates • PV, wind, and water power systems • Waterwheels • Winter storage of tubers & other food • Masonry stoves • Passive solar design of buildings • Small livestock – energy available with no storage necessary • Eco-forestry: creating renewable energy for the future, woodlots.

MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS

Stacking functions. Wearing more than one hat. • Related to Get a Yield – Get Lots of Yields! [a function—pest control by chickens, for example —is a yield, also.] • Every element in the design will have more than one function; ideally, it has at least three. [Beauty is not included because a good design is intrinsically beautiful.] • The same structure, plant, animal, or action doesn’t do just one job – it does 3 or more. • Understanding niches – in space and time.



EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • A forest tree provides oxygen, shelter for wildlife, shade for understory, a space for vines to climb, and it retains water and holds soil in place. Then, when it dies, it becomes a nursery, and habitat for other wildlife, etc.

Examples of ecosystem services of a tree ©Franziska Weissoertel

• By harvesting nuts, squirrels feed themselves and their families, plant new nut trees, and spread genetic information [pollens, insects, other seeds, microorganisms]

Squirrel with nut ©pexels.com



USE IN DESIGN: • A fence around a garden space serves as a trellis for climbing plants, a place to hang tools or decorations, a place to hang a nest box, bird perches, and a shady microclimate – as well as protecting the garden from invaders. Over time, it also becomes a hedge, if the birds and their droppings have their way. • Chickens provide eggs, meat, manure, body heat, and manure; and bug, insect, and weed elimination in garden beds [prior to planting] and orchards.

Different uses of chicken ©pexels.com

• An apple tree provides apples, shade, bird perches, pollinator attraction, and—ultimately firewood.

Apple tree ©pexels.com

• A playground can be designed for use by young parents, toddlers, and elders in the mornings, older children’s use in the afternoon and night-time activities for adults. • Live and work communally – design your life so that work, play, creativity, spiritual practice, and family life are all happening at the same time – no matter what you’re doing.



PRODUCE NO WASTE – RETHINK, REDUCE, REPAIR, REUSE, RECYCLE,

REPURPOSE

Waste not, want not. A stitch in time saves nine. • For every by-product from one element, plan to have a productive use for it in another activity. >Needs & Yields EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Waste is a human artifact; it does not exist in Nature. In natural systems, everything is a useful. USE IN DESIGN: • Humanure – human nutrient residue.

Compost Toilet. ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Learn to maintain and repair tools.

Repairing tools. ©Dennis Jarvis

https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/7815330012/in/photolist-cUBBkb-8maGyj-cUBxv1-FcDDA-f8EEFY-bbMrZv-NUuun-d8m5Nb-d8m5iW-zH1spc-21877cs



• Industrial “Cradle to Cradle” concepts – designing goods with full environmental accounting, and a plan for almost endless reuse & recycling.

Source: Cradle to Cradle e.V.

• The Story of Stuff movie

‘The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. It exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.’ (storyofstuff.org)

• Cardboard mulch garden, cardboard for paths.

Using cardbord for mulching ©Jan Smith and Mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP8PRA-OajU

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26085795@N02/5677379128/in/photolist-HV8Jf-8ykuYq-9DG423-7DnpDk-6j2czY-7DraKQ-6j2cCW-9Veqzc-8LrajQ-2dFL4jK-CVjokJ-LyXfKC-6JBptw-9DG4ao-LPiox-cUNVCA-cUNXno

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eggrole/5853247549/in/photolist-HV8Jf-8ykuYq-9DG423-7DnpDk-6j2czY-7DraKQ-6j2cCW-9Veqzc-8LrajQ-2dFL4jK-CVjokJ-LyXfKC-6JBptw-9DG4ao-LPiox-cUNVCA-cUNXno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP8PRA-OajU



• Methane digester – methane is captured and burned instead of off-gassing.

Building a household biogas unit ©commons.wikimedia.org

• Grey water system – waste becomes biomass for garden.

Schematic of bio wastewater treatment system. ©Tilly at al. 2014

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Digester_dome_construction_(4833631219).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tilley_et_al_2014_Schematic_of_the_Horizontal_Subsurface_Flow_Constructed_Wetland.jpg



PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN STRATEGY

OBSERVE AND REPLICATE NATURAL PATTERNS

• Natural patterns – nature’s ways of structuring and organizing ecosystems – can be found at all scales in all ecosystems. • As Permaculture designers, we need to learn to NOTICE patterns, and how to USE them.

• These are Regenerative patterns – creating and maintaining the ongoing growth and health of the system. EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Patterns of time, space, light, sounds, temperature • Branching, meanders, lobes, spirals, nets. • Animals and plants preparing themselves for seasonal change. EXAMPLES OF USE • Soil-building with mulch bed

Mulching of trees ©Lukas Bofinger



• Herb spiral

Herb spiral © Janice Mansfield

• Seasonal deciduous shading

Through seasonal deciduous shading, you can intentionally provide shade when it is most wanted in summer and remove it in winter, when natural sunlight is reduced.

• Fermenting foods for storage and alcohol

Wine fermentation © Ben Macaskill

• Creating wind funnels by lolly-popping trees (topping, or cutting the top in an effort to get multiple tops growing at the same height). • Contours as swales • Forest gardening • Learning what works in indigenous cultures re: relationship with the land

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boler4shibas/3596280767/in/photolist-6tMSYP-9Rziuc-5nXJcB-51fYeT-8Z7Rso-6VW8W8-YAY1c3-4Tcg3V-9KYNUS-38FTDu-YTyLpV-YTyCn2-8YupGi-38FQVC-38Biya-YPpqAd-8hmhke-2DBvss-dP3bFp-YTyAyc-4kfpe-wbSzGp-ZFFXkT-YTyN1v-BMCh75-XSpoAi-8Pa9qn-nf5oaL-4kgGC-YPpp5N-2DBrJd-4kgZW-4kgFK-4kaMS-38FPeL-daBF2R-4kfoB-4kgGQ-jYL4ZZ-YTyLZc-8YuqTV-4kaMT-dP8Ng3-dP8KXQ-ecVH1T-6H5yHX-ed2kUY-dP37dv-dP8JUh-dP8NPm

https://www.flickr.com/photos/benmacaskill/43835494530



USE AND VALUE RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND SERVICES

Let Nature take its course. • Measurements: o when replacement time is less than degeneration time o when the EROEI [Energy Returned on Energy Invested] ratio is above 1 • Embodied energy needs to be considered when determining renewability. [i.e., how much material and energy does it take to produce a new one?] • Plants & animals are not only renewable, but regenerative – they will replace themselves. EXAMPLES OF USE: • Using wood for buildings - build them so that they won’t rot before their replacement can be grown.

Ladder made of bamboo ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Use biological resources: fruit & nut trees, manures, compost, draft animals, worm bins.

Compost and draft animals ©Franziska Weissoertel



• Solar, wind, PV systems use renewable resources, but are not themselves renewable. [Except for wooden windmills?]

Wooden windmill ©Pexels.com

DESIGN FROM PATTERNS TO DETAILS

Can’t see the forest for the trees. Get the big picture clear before you START deciding on the details. • Look at scales of time and space. Plan for 7 generations. • Assess available materials and energies before planning project. • Know the limitations of your design. Examine the whole picture – especially the parts you’d prefer not to see.

Google Earth or Google Maps can be used for planning ©Lukas Bofinger



USE IN DESIGN: • Analysis of the whole landscape shows pockets of fertility/infertility to be exploited – concentrate the fertility, and build fertility on the infertile areas.

Soil analyses ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Mind-mapping to envision land use area and basic pathways.

Planning process ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Thoroughly analyze the landscape patterns on, and surrounding, a site before beginning to consider the human imprint upon it. • Use the pattern of a tropical forest to design food forests, but use patterns of temperate forests to design “food woodlands” in those areas. • Use patterns of existing vegetation to determine soil health and planting strategies.



• Don’t get bogged down on ethical quibbling; look at the big picture of what good can come of using an earth-moving machine to help create long-term sustainability. • Sector planning.

SECTOR AND ZONE PLANNING

DEFINITION: Sectors are areas on a site where energies are arriving from off-site. We design to mitigate or eliminate hostile sectors, and to enhance or concentrate beneficial sectors. • Winter & Summer Sun • Winter & Summer Wind • Water • Wildlife [migratory animals, or sensitive habitat] • Fire potential • Noise, Pollution • Social interactions [both positive and negative]. DEFINITION: Zones are areas of decreasing need for human interaction, moving outward from a center. • Zone 0 – The Heart or the Hearth – the person(s) inhabiting the space • Zone 1 – The house/building and its immediate yard • Zone 2 – The garden/yard [visit once a day], poultry • Zone 3 – “The farm” – long-term storage and commercial crops, orchard, small animals • Zone 4 – Grazing/woodlot/forest garden • Zone 5 – Wild or Healing land - humans’ only presence is for healing, and learning from Nature • Zone 6 – The Commercial/Social Zone outside the site

Zones ©Felix Müller (www.zukunft-selbermachen.de)



RELATIVE LOCATION

It’s the connections that matter. Needs & Yields Analysis: locate elements so that their needs can be fulfilled by the surplus yields [wastes] of their near neighbors. EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Most animals build nests near water and food.

• Pecan trees grow on the edge of a river, seeking moisture. The trees shade the river from the sun, benefiting aquatic life. USE IN DESIGN: • Plant a mulberry bush just outside the chicken yard, comfrey all around the chicken yard fence, and Siberian pea shrub all thru their range – to provide for food that you don’t have to carry to the animals. • Locate the chickens so they can range under the fruit trees; all your fertilizer, pesticide, and weed control are taken care of. • Place rainwater catchment devices on all roofs, so water is where you need it. • Locate the rain barrel on the side of the building where the most water is needed.

USE EDGES AND VALUE THE MARGINAL

The edge is where the action is. Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path. • Edge Effect: The edges between 2 systems have more species, more productivity, than in either of the 2 systems alone. Humans and many familiar species (deer, rabbits, birds, etc.) are edge species, preferring to live at the margin between forests and clearing.

The edge between 2 systems has more species ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Edges define changes in time & space, where nutrients and information accumulate.



EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Edge of forest has the strongest trees, due to wind and accumulation of nutrients. • Marshes & estuaries are among the most biologically diverse areas of Earth. • Natural ponds have edges in all directions, including temperature gradients. • Animals have preferred foods, but will eat many less-desirable foods when necessary. USE IN DESIGN: • Blueberries on edge of pond; if pond is round, only 20 blueberries fit, but if you crenellate the edge, you get 30 or more.

• Extending the “edges” of the growing season - early and late season food production – with mulch, row covers, microclimate, etc.

• Swales create water and nutrient catchments, and concentrate growth. Design pond bottoms, as well as sides, to have edges - deep for coolness in summer, shallow for small fish.

• Wild foods are marginal foods: not our favorites when we have other choices, but life-saving when necessary

o sochan

o air potatoes

o lamb’s quarters

o wild blueberries

& other fruits

o acorns

o squirrels

o insects, etc.

• Grow non-preferred but prolific and nutritious vegetables – sunchokes, zucchini?

• A test for the health of a society: How big is the societal edge/the marginalized people and other animals? How many homeless, institutionalized, criminalized, factory farmed?

• Where NOT to increase edge: leave large forested tracts for wildlife; leave neighborhoods intact, without major streets bisecting them.

USE AND VALUE DIVERSITY

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. • The more diverse the elements in a system, the more diverse the yields and the more diverse the niches that are available to be filled, which creates even more diverse yields - up to a certain limit. • More and more diverse elements will not contribute to the health of the system, unless they can make connections with each other. It’s the diversity of connections that matter, not just the diversity of elements. >Relative Location • Needs and yields analysis – use diverse connections to meet the needs of each element.



EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Natural ecosystems rarely resemble mono-crops, but have many diverse plants & animals. • A tree in the forest needs a complete guild to thrive.

Monoculture and a natural forest ecosystem ©pexels.com

USE IN DESIGN: • Leave the “weeds” in the garden to retain moisture and to provide nutrients and beneficial soil microorganisms. • Poly-cropping – guild and companion planting - forest gardens, alley planting. Using animals as a part of other agricultural operations – chicken tractors, hogs for gleying.

Introduction to forest gardening © Martin Crawford

• Animal associations – cattle and chickens, pigs and ducks, Muscovies & ducks. • As a designer, engage and educate the owner/client.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkRkyLpkTOI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkRkyLpkTOI



Discussion between land owner and designer ©Franziska Weissoertel

• The problem is the solution – engage the “problem” in social programs [homeless, substance abuse, gangs, etc.]. Create true solutions for real situations.

INTEGRATE RATHER THAN SEGREGATE

Many hands make light work. Co-operative and symbiotic relationships will be more adaptive in a future of declining energy; however, we have a cultural disposition to see and believe in predatory and competitive relationships, and discount cooperative and symbiotic relationships – in nature and in culture. EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Immature systems that are growing rapidly, in a situation of surplus energy, tend to be dominated by competitive relationships. Mature systems have more mutualistic and symbiotic relationships. • Complementary relationship between photosynthesis and respiration. • Predator/prey as interdependence. • Fungi, bacteria, earthworm, and others have their niches in soil digestion.



EXAMPLES OF USE: • Guild plantings: pollinators, pest-confusers, dynamic accumulators, and Nitrogen-fixers.

Melia Dubia is used as an N-fixer ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Involving children in adult work – with child-sized tools.

Children helping with watering plants and harvesting ©Franziska Weissoertel

• Designing over time to integrate short-term and long-term yields: thin timber forest to plant grass for sheep, get yields from sheep [and bees] while trees grow, eventually get yield from timber.

• Leave the weeds in the garden to maintain beneficial microbes and insects.



APPLY SELF-REGULATION AND ACCEPT FEEDBACK

The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation. Make lots of small mistakes. • Related to issues of scale: start small, get the feedback, redesign. By making small changes, we increase our confidence to tackle more difficult changes. • Positive & negative feedback loops

Example of a positive feedback loop: if panic causes one cattle to run, others will start panicking and running, too

o Another positive example: birds eating berries spread their berries, thus producing more

berries. o Negative: weak animals get predated > they don’t reproduce > healthier stock

• Self-regulation is a response to higher-order negative feedback: self-regulate before the system regulates you. Example:

o Traditional societies had natural constraints on population growth and resource use.

• Tripartite altruism [Howard Odum] – in balanced ecosystems, approximately 1/3 of captured energy is required for maintenance, 1/3 is fed back to maintain lower-order providers, and 1/3 is contributed upward to high-order system controllers. EXAMPLES: • Rabbits feed themselves, fertilize the grass, and provide food for predators. If they start fertilizing the brambles while escaping from predators, the system collapses; too many brambles out-compete the grass, and too many rabbits eat what grass there is. • As change agents: 1/3 of our time to taking care of physical needs, 1/3 to self-development, and 1/3 to wider societal benefit.



USE SMALL AND SLOW SOLUTIONS

Slow and steady wins the race.

• Systems should be designed to perform functions at the smallest scale that is practical and energy efficient for that function. This is a direct contradiction to the prevalent practice of using the biggest, fastest solutions that money can buy.

• Permaculture Design uses time as an element: allowing cultivated plants and animals to slowly integrate with each other and mature into their own place in natural cycles.

EXAMPLES IN NATURE: • Cellular design replicates natural response to limits to growth – they don’t expand beyond certain limits.

• Snail’s shell starts small, expands as needed.

• Soil is built up slowly over years, of many layers of detritus.

EXAMPLES OF USE: • Garden walls grow over years from rocks removed from gardens.

Stones found in the garden used as a wall ©Franziska Weissoertel



• Design for bicycles and walking paths, not roads.

A path for cycling and walking on the farm ©Sagar Dhara

• Tweaking the system in small, almost imperceptible ways, causes great change over time; go out in the rain and dislodge debris from swales/water bars.

• Slow Food movement – celebrates the loving preparation & consumption of food.

Preparing millet balls from home grown millet ©Franziska Weissoertel



• Small is beautiful, E. F. Schumacher [Intermediate Technology Development Group]: promoting small, simple, local, human-powered technologies.

• Incremental design – start with a core or nucleus and build outward as needed.

• Rolling Permaculture – start by planting 5% of your land with perennial plants, then follow with 5% more each year. As soon as production begins from the first year’s planting, increase the percentage; within 10 years, a complete rollover will be accomplished.

PRINCIPLES OF TECHNIQUE

STACK AND PACK

Put things closer together [pack], and use vertical space [stack] to get more benefit from less space.

© LittleVeggiePatchCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYW_5H8ArJo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzOEK_9Zt_8



EXAMPLES IN NATURE • Plants cover every inch of soil, leaving no bare spots. • Vines grow up trees, rocks, even almost vertical cliffs.

Vines growing up a house wall ©pexels.com

USE IN DESIGN • Plant thickly, and grow upward with trellises • Use vines up walls for insulation. • Plant thickly so that plants self-mulch, knowing that you will thin. • Plant “scaffolding” for vining plants – corn or sunflowers with pole beans. • Use floor-to-ceiling shelves instead of 6-foot shelves. • Teach Permaculture for all educational/social levels, and network laterally with other Permaculture teachers.

USE APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGIES

Appropriate technology is technology that we can appropriate! Because tools extend our personal and community power, control of tools is essential to effective self-governance. • Permaculture is generally biology-centered, not techno-centered: we want tools and technologies that help liberate us from dependency and grant autonomy and self-reliance - things that we can build and maintain with little external assistance. • Appropriate technologies may include solar, wind, wood, biomass and water-driven equipment for generating power, pumping water, and heating hot water. • Consider medium-tech: maintaining and riding a bicycle, using a refillable pen, using a razor with replaceable blades, and substituting other non-disposable items where disposables were used. • Other Appropriate Technologies may include equipment to design permaculture sites (such as computers and software), large earth-moving equipment, cartage services, and other “large scale” items which would tend to be used once, in the implementation of the design, but not on a regular or daily basis.



• Be aware of the challenges in providing technology to undeveloped countries. Who will fix it when it breaks? How much access to consumer culture do we want to be responsible for providing? • Appropriate Technologies should be reliable, high quality, well designed, low cost (when possible), durable, reparable, capable of economic yield, adaptable to many functions. They should have high EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) and low EMERGY (embodied energy).

CONSIDER SUCCESSION

One thing leads to another. To see into the future, stand on the shoulders of those who have come before you. • Ecological succession: creating conditions such that species can grow naturally as part of an evolving, healthy ecosystem. • Human land use patterns usually hold back succession at the herbaceous weed phase – grains & annual vegetables, and the grassland phase – pasture. • By understanding the stage in succession, we can predict which forces will be attempting to change a landscape – what is the force of succession trying to do? • Permaculture designers use time as an element in the design. Natural ecosystems are not static, but change over time. • Much succession is pulsed, not continuous. EXAMPLE IN NATURE: • Creation of niches after a forest fire – lichens [which eat rock to make soil] > little ferns & mosses > small herbaceous plants > grasslands > woody herbaceous > shrubby > conifer [it can germinate in sunshine] > oak [it needs shade to germinate]. • Each climate & soil regime has a particular climax ecology, but most will proceed to forest. • Some of these stages may be viable ecosystems in themselves, in other regions.

An example of secondary succession of a forest © WikimediaCommons

USE IN DESIGN: • We can “push succession” by planting all stages of a succession together, including the climax species. • We hold back succession by suppressing growth in gardens and pathways with mulch, cardboard, wood chips, etc. • Plant dwarf fruit trees in the eventual shade of standard fruit trees; by the time the standard tree has grown that large, the dwarf will have finished its lifetime.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_45_06_16.jpg



CREATIVELY USE AND RESPOND TO CHANGE

Vision is not seeing things as they are, but as they will be. Attitude matters. • Design to make use of expected change [entropy and succession, for example], and prepare to respond to changes that cannot be planned for. • Responses to entropy: Maintenance of built environment, or building with renewable materials that will decay and can be rebuilt easily. • Durability and stability come from flexibility & change. USE IN DESIGN: • Plant bendable trees where intense winds or flooding may occur. • Design buildings to change easily for future uses. • In fire-adapted forests, anticipate fire and reduce fuel levels > smaller fires. • Build animal shelters with straw bales and put them in different locations each year, instead of trying to control problems related to hygiene in permanent buildings. • Opportunistic responses to change or anticipated change: In arid land, plant on a floodplain in hopes of just the right amount of water at just the right time. • Use pulses of change – fire, grazing, cultivation - after long periods of catching and storing energy. [Swidden agriculture resulted from noticing the changes in fertility after a fire]. • Breeding animals and plants to thrive in low-energy conditions. [Many have been bred specifically for high energy availability].

Dwarf Punganur cows are a native breed of South India and almost extinct. Efforts are made now to breed back ©Franziska

Weissoertel

• Eco-synthesis – ecosystems aren’t static; they change with environmental change. Question the “exotic invasives” hysteria. [Ex: Sailing ships from Europe probably changed the waters of the world by seeding with new life forms.



Permaculture Principles handout:



What is Permaculture? Permaculture Is… A Vision "'Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber, and energy for provision of local needs.' People, their buildings and the ways they organize themselves are central to permaculture. Thus the vision of permanent (sustainable) agriculture has evolved to one of permanent (sustainable) culture." Communities, food systems, and living systems are integrated and mutually supporting as opposed to separated, exploitative, and destructive. Permaculture Is… A Design System "(Permaculture is) the use of systems thinking and design principles that provide the organizing framework for implementing the above vision. It draws together the diverse ideas, skills, and ways of living that need to be rediscovered and developed in order to empower us to move from being dependent consumers to becoming responsible and productive citizens." Permaculture Is… A Network "...A worldwide network and movement of individuals and groups who are working in both rich and poor countries on all continents to demonstrate and spread permaculture design solutions." Quotes from: David Holmgren, 'Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability) 2002. Permaculture can also be defined as: PERMAnent AgriCULTURE and PERMAnent CULTURE. Permanent Agriculture: Is agriculture and animal management which improves the quality of land, provides income and produce, and is sustainable now and in the future. Permanent Culture: Means conserving, supporting and working together with the local culture, while at the same time moving forward. Working with nature and people, as well as learning from them, and not working against or in competition with them. Permaculture helps us to understand and to create harmonic integrations between nature and people in the most sustainable way. Permaculture is appropriate for use in urban or rural locations, as well as for all scales of projects. Permaculture introduces traditional practices of nature management, integrated with appropriate modern technology. This is a holistic, kind, and environment friendly way for designing and building our natural living environment, as well as improving living standards, including housing, water supply, health, waste management, farming, energy, aquaculture, rivers, forests, livestock and much more.



The term Permaculture was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 70s, and now is in practice in over 100 countries by thousands of Permaculture Design graduates. At this time there are many problems in the world, such as: • Damaged natural environments

Deforestation causes lots of damage to natural environments © WikimediaCommons

• Depleted and damaged farm land world wide

Droughts have huge negative effects on farm land ©Franziska Weissoertel

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deforestation_-_geograph.org.uk_-_166611.jpg



• Polluted rivers, lakes, land, air and oceans

A polluted river and polluted land ©Franziska Weissoertel

• People, animals and plants are also becoming polluted, and many species

are becoming extinct • Most of the world’s population consists of very poor people, only a small

percentage are very wealthy People have created all of these problems, and it is people who must change their ways for the earth to become healthy again. Action and change must come from all levels of society, including governments, businesses, workers, farmers, community groups, families, men, women, children, everyone! Future generations depend on this. Permaculture offers techniques and ideas which help in directing us toward a healthier environment, cultures and people. This is based on certain ethics and principles. Permaculture ethics and principles provide a guide to being more responsible for our own lives, environment and future. As well as helping us to prepare a safe future for our families, culture, and natural environment.

Natural buildings are an important component of permaculture designs © UKPermacultureAssociation

https://www.flickr.com/photos/permaculture-association/37349347001



What is Permaculture? Permaculture is a system design tool. It is a way of:

• Looking at a whole system or problem

• Seeing connections between key elements (parts)

• Observing how the parts relate,

• Planning to repair sick systems by applying ideas learned from long-term sustainable working systems.

“Permaculture represents the most sensible ways of sustaining and enriching life without causing environmental or social degradation.” (Alan Enzo, 2009)

“In Permaculture, we are learning from the working systems of nature to plan to fix the sick landscapes of human agricultural and city systems. We can apply systems thinking to the design of a kitchen tool as easily to the re-design of a farm. In Permaculture we apply it to everything we need in order to build a sustainable future. Commonly, "Initiatives that are taken tend to evolve from strategies that focus on efficiency (for example, more accurate and controlled uses of inputs and minimization of waste) to substitution (for example, from more to less disruptive interventions, such as from biocides to more specific biological controls and other more benign alternatives) to redesign - fundamental changes in the design and management of the operation". (Hill and MacRae 1995, Hill et al, 1999)

“Today a lot of people are considering substitutions. They are keenly aware of their impact and want to do something, to start somewhere. Substituting a harmful product with a less harmful one is their first step. Some other people like to focus on efficiency (value for their effort). Their actions include choices to support public transport and libraries, hired equipment, and green government initiatives. Others are now actually considering their whole-of-life and see the value in redesign for their lifestyle. Permaculture is about helping people make redesign choices: setting new goals and a shift in thinking that affects not only their home but their actions in the workplace, borrowings and investments. Examples include the design and employment of complex transportation solutions, optimum use of natural resources such as sunlight, radical design of information-rich, multi-storey polyculture systems.” (Mollison & Slay, 1991)

“This progression generally involves a shift in the nature of one's dependence -- from relying primarily on universal, purchased, imported, technology-based interventions to more specific locally available knowledge and skill-based ones. This usually eventually also involves fundamental shifts in world-views, senses of meaning, and associated lifestyles”. (Hill 1991)



My experience is that although efficiency and substitution initiatives can make significant contributions to sustainability over the short term, much greater longer-term improvements can only be achieved by redesign strategies; and, furthermore, that steps need to be taken at the outset to ensure that efficiency and substitution strategies can serve as stepping stones and not barriers to redesign..." (Hill, 2000)

Permaculture is not a fixed system. It is not a gardening association or an architect’s group or farmer’s federation, it does not tell people what to do. It does not say "what to plant when and where". Rather, it encourages people to think, to observe and to plan. It encourages people to live in harmony with nature to imitate and learn from nature. (Mollison, 1991)

What is Permaculture?

"Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order”. “Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms”. “The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions." Bill Mollison



These examples show how vast the field of Permaculture is, and how each person can have a different definition, depending on their personal experience. This last definition is one that accurately describes the essence of Permaculture and the reason why it is so important to practice it as a multidisciplinary approach to human habitation on this Earth. The emphasis on agriculture is implied in the term Perma(nent) A(gri)culture with the principles embodied in the Permaculture Third Ethic playing a vital role. The Philosophy Behind Permaculture: Permaculture is All About Design

A word from the founder of Permaculture – Bill Mollison: The sad reality is that we are in danger of perishing from our own stupidity and lack of personal responsibility to life. If we become extinct because of factors beyond our control, then we can at least die with pride in ourselves, but to create a mess in which we perish by our own inaction makes nonsense of our claims to consciousness and morality. There is too much contemporary evidence of ecological disaster which appalls me, and it should frighten you, too. Our consumptive lifestyle has led us to the very brink of annihilation. We have expanded our right to live on the earth to an entitlement to conquer the earth, yet "conquerors" of nature always lose. To accumulate wealth, power, or land beyond one's needs in a limited world is to be truly immoral, be it as an individual, an institution, or a nation-state. What we have done, we can undo. There is no longer time to waste, nor any need to accumulate more evidence of disasters; the time for action is here. I deeply believe that people are the only critical resource needed by people. We ourselves, if we organize our talents, are sufficient to each other. What is more, we will either survive together, or none of us will survive. To fight between ourselves is as stupid and wasteful as it is to fight during times of natural disasters, when everyone's cooperation is vital. A person of courage today is a person of peace. The courage we need is to refuse authority and to accept only personally responsible decisions. Like war, growth at any cost is an outmoded and discredited concept. It is our lives which are being laid to waste. What is worse, it is out children's world which is being destroyed. It is therefore our only possible decision to withhold all support for destructive systems, and to cease to invest our lives in our own annihilation. The Prime Directive of Permaculture: The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children. Make It now. Most thinking people would agree that we have arrived at final and irrevocable decisions that will abolish or sustain life on this earth. We can either ignore the madness of uncontrolled industrial growth and defense spending that is in small bites, or large catastrophes, eroding life forms every day, or take the path to life and survival.



Information and humanity, science and understanding, are in transition. Long ago, we began by wondering mainly about what is most distant; astronomy and astrology were our ancient preoccupations, we progressed, millennia by millennia, to enumerating the wonders of earth. First by naming things, then by categorizing them, and more recently by deciding how they function and what work they do within and without themselves. This analysis has resulted in the development of different sciences, disciplines and technologies; a welter of names and the sundering of parts; a proliferation of specialists; and a consequent inability to foresee results or to design integrated systems. The present great shift in emphasis is on how the parts interact, how they work together with each other. Principle of Cooperation: Cooperation, not competition, is the very basis of existing life systems and of future survival. There are many opportunities to create systems that work from the elements and technologies that exist. Perhaps we should do nothing else for the next century but apply our knowledge. We already know how to build, maintain, and inhabit sustainable systems. Every essential problem is solved, but in the everyday life of people this is hardly apparent. The wage-slave, peasant, landlord, and industrialist alike are deprived of the leisure and the life spirit that is possible in a cooperative society which applies its knowledge. Both warders and prisoners are equally captive in the society in which we live. If we question why we are here and what life is then we lead ourselves into both science and mysticism which are coming closer together as science itself approaches its conceptual limits. As for life, it is the most open of open systems, able to take from the energy resources in time and to re-express itself not only as a lifetime but as a descent and an evolution. Lovelock (1979) has perhaps best expressed a philosophy, or insight, which links science and tribal beliefs: he sees the earth, and the universe, as a thought process, or as a self-regulating, self-constructed and reactive system, creating and preserving the conditions that make life possible, and actively adjusting to regulate disturbances. Humanity however, in its present mindlessness, may be the one disturbance that the earth cannot tolerate.

“The Gala hypothesis is for those who like to walk or simply stand and stare, to wonder about the earth and the life it bears, and to speculate about the consequences of our own presence here. It is an alternative to that pessimistic view which sees nature as a primitive force to be subdued and conquered. It is also an alternative to that equally depressing picture of our planet as a demented spaceship, forever travelling, driverless and purposeless, around an inner circle of the sun.” (LE. Lovelock, 1979)

“For every scientific statement articulated on energy, the Aboriginal tribespeople of Australia have an equivalent statement on life. Life, they say, is a totality neither created nor destroyed. It can be imagined as an egg from which all tribes (life forms) issue and to which all return. The ideal way in which to spend one's time is in the perfection of the expression of life, to lead the most evolved life possible, and to assist in and celebrate the existence of life forms other than humans, for all come from the same egg.



The totality of this outlook leads to a meaningful daily existence, in which one sees each quantum of life eternally trying to perfect an expression towards a future, and possibly transcendental, perfection. It is all the more horrific, therefore, that tribal peoples, whose aim was to develop a conceptual and spiritual existence, have encountered a crude scientific and material culture whose life aim is not only unstated, but which relies on pseudo-economic and technological systems for its existence. The experience of the natural world and its laws has almost been abandoned for closed, artificial, and meaningless lives, perhaps best typified by the dreams of those who would live in space satellites and abandon a dying earth. I believe that unless we adopt sophisticated aboriginal belief systems and learn respect for all life, then we lose our own, not only as lifetime but also as any future opportunity to evolve our potential. Whether we continue, without an ethic or a philosophy, like abandoned and orphaned children, or whether we create opportunities to achieve maturity, balance, and harmony, is the only real question that faces the present generation. This is the debate that must never stop. A young woman once came to me after a lecture in which I wondered at the various concepts of afterlife; the plethora of "heavens" offered by various groups. Her view was, "This is heaven, right here. This is it. Give it all you've got!" I couldn't better that advice. The heaven, or hell, we live in is of our own making. An afterlife, if such exists, can be no different for each of us.” (Mollison, 1988)

END OF MODULE 1-1

Please proceed to module 1-2: Ethics

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