@ 2015-03-23

PERMACULTURE ETHICS

Perma - To persist throughout - Latin

Culture Those activities that support humanity

Permaculture A persistent
conscious approach to support humanity

Ethics

Enlightened self-interest looking after yourself and the interests of others

is a limitation on freedom
of action in the struggle for existence(Aldo Leopold, The Land Ethic,
1949)


ETHICS OF PERMACULTURE

CARE OF THE EARTH

The primary ethic

The earth is the primary client

= CARE OF THE PEOPLE = CARE OF OURSELVES

If we can
provide for our own basic needs, then we can care for the earth

RETURN OF SURPLUS - CONTRIBUTE TIME, MONEY & ENERGY TO

ACHIEVE ETHICS 1&2

And setting limits to population and consumption

photo courtesy:http://s3.amazonaws.com/growtheplanet-wiki/tinymce_upload/wiki/permaculture_tree.jpg


The permaculTure Flower

Permaculture

photo courtesy:http://http://permacultureprinciples.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Essence_of_Pc_EN.pdf

Bill Mollison
.

Toby Hemenway
.

David Holmgren
.

PRINCIPLES
2002
Permaculture Principles &
Pathways Beyond Sustainability

 / OBSERVE AND
INTERACT

/ Beauty
is in the eye of the
beholder

 / CATCH AND
STORE ENERGY

/ Make hay
while the sun shines

 / OBTAIN A YIELD

/ You
cant work on an empty
stomach.

 / APPLY SELFREGULATION AND ACCEPT FEEDBACK

/ The sins of the

fathers are visited on the
children unto the seventh
generation

 / USE AND VALUE

RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND SERVICES

/ Let nature take

its course

 / PRODUCE NO
WASTE

/ Waste
not, want not

/ A
stitch in time saves nine

 / DESIGN
FORM PATTERN TO DETAILS

/ Cant see the

wood for the trees

 / INTEGRATE
RATHER THAN SEGREGATE

/ Many hands
make light work.

 / USE SMALL
AND SLOW SOLUTIONS

/ The
bigger they are, the
harder they fall.

/ Slow
and steady wins the race.

 / USE AND
VALUE DIVERSITY

/ Dont put
all your eggs in one
basket.

 / USE
EDGES AND VALUE THE MARGINAL

/
Dont think you are on the
right track just because it
is a well-beaten path

 / CREATIVELY
USE AND RESPOND TO CHANGE

/
Vision is not seeing things
as they are but as they
will be.

PRINCIPLES
1991
Introduction To Permaculture

 / RELATIVE LOCATION...
Efficient function is achieved by careful
placement of elements in relation to each
other.
/ Observe. Use protracted and
thoughtful observation rather than
prolonged and thoughtless action. Observe
the site and its elements in all seasons.
Design for specific sites, clients, and
climates.
Bill Mollison
/ Connect. Use relative location: Place
elements in ways that create useful
relationships and time-saving connections
among all parts. The number of
connections among elements creates a
healthy, diverse ecosystem, not the number
of elements.
Toby Hemenway

 / EACH
ELEMENT PERFORMS MANY FUNCTIONS...
Elements are chosen and placed to
perform as many functions as possible.
Each element performs multiple functions.
Choose and place each element in a
system to perform as many functions as
possible. Increasing beneficial connections
between diverse components creates a
stable whole. Stack elements in both space
and time.
Toby Hemenway

 / EACH
IMPORTANT FUNCTION IS SUPPORTED BY
MANY ELEMENTS...

/ Important basic
functions (such as water supply, fire
protection and energy) are provided in
more than one way
Each function is supported by multiple
elements. Use multiple methods to achieve
important functions and to create synergies.
Redundancy protects when one or more
elements fail.
Toby Hemenway

 / ENERGY EFFICIENT
PLANNING...
Energy efficiency is achieved through
zoning (to conserve human energy), sector
planning (to manage wild energies), slope
planning (to utilise gravity) and by making
the least change for the greatest possible
effect.
Make the least change for the greatest
effect. Find the leverage points in the
system and intervene there, where the least
work accomplishes the most change.
Toby Hemenway

 / USING BIOLOGICAL
RESOURCES...
Use biological resources (5 Kingdoms of
Nature) wherever possible to save energy
and do the work of the site.

 / ENERGY CYCLING...
Nutrients and energies are stored, used
close to their source and used repeatedly
to avoid wastage before flowing off-site or
to sinks.
Catch and store energy and materials.
Identify, collect, and hold the useful flows
moving through the site. By saving and reinvesting resources, we maintain the system
and capture still more resources.
Recycle energy. Supply local and on-site
needs with energy from the system, and
reuse this energy as many times as
possible. Every cycle is an opportunity for
yield.
Toby Hemenway

 / SMALL SCALE
INTENSIVE SYSTEMS...
Good design makes maximum use of
minimal land; using productive human
labour, hand tools and animals, rather than
large machines and fossil fuels; and is
multi-dimensional - utilizing vertical space
(plant stacking & trellising) and overlapping
successional crops (time stacking).
Use small scale, intensive systems. Start at
your doorstep with the smallest systems
that will do the job, and build on your
successes, with variations. Grow by
chunking.
Toby Hemenway

 / ACCELERATING
SUCCESSION & EVOLUTION

/ Mature ecosystems are more

diverse and productive than young ones, so
use design to jump-start succession.
/ Accelerate succession.
Mature ecosystems are more diverse and
productive than young ones, so use design
to jump-start succession.
Toby Hemenway

 /DIVERSITY
/ Diversity
increases productivity and stability, with
polycultures, not monocultures; orderliness
rather than tidiness; and guilds of elements
that work harmoniously together.
Use biological and renewable resources.
Renewable resources (usually plants and
animals) reproduce and build up over time,
store energy, assist yield, and interact with
other elements.

 / EDGE EFFECTS...
Extending and exaggerating the
boundaries between adjoining systems
provides additional contributions from the
resources of both systems, increasing
productivity.
Use the edge effect.
/ The edgethe intersection of two
environmentsis the most diverse place in a
system, and is where energies and
materials accumulate. Optimize the amount
of edge.
Toby Hemenway

 / ATTITUDE
Positivism is what drives Permaculture and
the relationships that we develop as people
working together toward our collective
future.
/ Mistakes are tools for
learning. Evaluate your trials. Making
mistakes is a sign youre trying to do things
better.
Toby Hemenway

 / EVERYTHING
WORKS BOTH WAYS...
Good design turns disadvantages into
advantages; / sees
solutions not problems.
/ Turn problems into
solutions. Constraints can inspire creative
design. We are surrounded by
insurmountable opportunities. Bill
Mollison

 / YIELDS ARE
LIMITED ONLY BY INFORMATION AND
IMAGINATION...
Permaculture uses creative design, rather
than energy or capital, to increase
productivity.
Abundance is unlimited. The designers
imagination and skill is a bigger limit to
yield than any physical limit.
Toby Hemenway
Get a yield. Design for both immediate and
long-term returns from your efforts: You
cant work on an empty stomach. Set up
positive feedback loops to build the system
and repay your investment.
Toby Hemenway

Five Kingdoms of Nature

The concept of the 5 Kingdoms of Nature is inspired by the work of Prof. Dr. Lynn Margulis19383
1520111122 in her milestone reference work "The 5 Kingdoms of Nature."
Bacteria
This symbol shows bacteria, or monera for the scientists. It are many creatures living intensively
together taking care of all possible niches. All bacterial are characterized by the lack of a nucleus.

Algae
The protoctista, as the scientists like to call this domain, is a mix of slime moulds and algae. We
have over-simplified this and call these species algae, knowing that scientifically it is not 100%
correct. These are the first ones to have a nucleus.

Fungi
The fungi include moulds and mushrooms and have a rich biodiversity that is largely unknown. We
do not even know in about 95% of the cases how to distinguish a male from a female.

Plants
Plants are the most recent arrival on Earth. There are millions unknown, but their beauty has
inspired poetry and they know how to procreate in cooperation with animals.

Animals
Animals, yes the largest number of species are the worms. We are most likely descendents of
worms, and not of the chimpanzee. It is not a pleasant thought, but it is a recent discovery.
Actually, if we have to believe the scientific hypothesesof Lynn Margulis, then we are
descendents of bacteria, or better stated, descendentsof symbiosis of bacteria! After all about
10% of our body weight are still bacteria.

ZERI (Zero Emissions Research Institute) Five Design Principles

There are five kingdoms of nature: bacteria, algae, fungi, plants and animals- and for
billions of years these five kingdoms have worked together to be a highly productive
and adaptive system. Along with the five kingdoms, there are five key design principles
that each kingdom (except man!) generally adheres to:
Whatever is waste for one is a nutrient or food for another species belonging to
another kingdom;
What is a toxin for one organism, is a nutrient or neutral for another belonging to
another kingdom;
Whenever highly complex ecosystems operate, viruses to remain inactive and even
disappear without causing harm passing through at least 2 other kingdoms;
The more local, the more diverse a system, the more productive, the more resilient;
and,
Whenever species of 5 different kingdoms live and interact in an autopoetic system,
they can integrate and separate all matter at ambient temperature and pressure.

1. Whatever is Waste for One is a Nutrient or Food for Another Species

Belonging to Another Kingdom
If one species is fed its own waste, it will degenerate.
When cattle farmers started to feed cows with waste from other cows they violated
this principal - and it led to the mad cow disease outbreak. Shrimp farmers made
the same mistake when they started to feed shrimp with their own waste - which
led to white shrimp virus.
A lion will eat an antelope, but never ever will he consider the manure of the
antelope. There are exceptions which confirm the rule, a dog may be spotted
eating occasionally its own waste, though this is a matter of strengthening its
immune system, challenging it so once in a while. If an animal were only eating its
own waste, and behave as a cannibal, it would never survive.
Industry and society should apply the same logic. Waste from one industry should
not be forced back into the same system searching for a "closed loop". This will
increase cost, jeopardize quality and hardly ever generate the best possible value.
Industries should cluster together, cascade their waste streams and generate more
income, more jobs, thus increasing productivity while eliminating waste.

2. Whatever is a Toxin for One, is a Nutrient or Neutral for at Least One Species
Belonging to Another Kingdom
If a species eliminates toxins within its own system, it will degenerate.
As human's we tend to classify things that are toxic only from a human point of view.
We assume that anything that is toxic for humans must also be toxic for every other
species in every kingdom. Cyanide, is a well known toxin for animals, but several plant
species produce it and use it effectively as a defence against predators. Apples are rich
in cyanide, and so are peaches, though none have to be labeled "dangerous - cyanide
inside."
The elimination of toxins by passing through the other kingdoms does not mean you
have to die first. If you (member of the animal kingdom) are ill, then balance your
system with the presence of algae, fungi, plants and bacteria. The illness that affects
you, will dissapate in the wake of abundance from nutrients and anti-bodies provided by
spirulina algae, reishi mushrooms, acidophylus, bifidus, garlic and avocados.

3. Whenever there is a Virus, It Will be Eliminated Passing Through at Least Two

Other Kingdoms
If we reduce the number of species, and recycle nutrients and energy within a
kingdom, when viruses will thrive and the system will degenerate.
Viruses are species and kingdom specific. A virus that can attack a plant cannot attack
an animal. This is the reason why the constant cycling of nutrients and energy from
one species to the other is making life for viruses impossible. This is why viruses are
made life impossible since the environment of one species evolves into a new species
belonging to another kingdom. But there are exceptions. Several species are a
symbiosis. Human beings are 10% bacteria, and therefore a virus that lives in one,
could also live in another kingdom. Lichens are a symbiosis of mushrooms and algae,
and therefore viruses could navigate within the two kingdoms. That is why the cycling
through all five kingdoms is that important since no virus is known to survive in three
different species belonging to three different kingdoms.

4. Systems are More Efficient and More Resilient the More Diverse and the
More Local They Are Operating
If non-native species are forced to become part of the local ecosystem, it will
degenerate.
Plants and trees, in co-existance and in co-evolution with species belonging to the other four
kingdoms will create the best, most effective system from within the boundaries of its own
micro system. The more variety, the more fun. No one on earth has ever witnessed a
situation in which a group of plants and trees in a temperate climate feel the need to bring
over some fungi from the tropics. This does not mean that there is no cross-over as migratory
birds demonstrate. Though the core of production of consumption, regeneration of left-overs
of one, as a food and value for another, is local. Transportation is kept to the absolute
minimum.
In our global economy we want everything from everywhere at any place and time. This leads
to a massive transportation system which contaminates our environment and causes
massive introduction of non-native species. At the core are only a few local species left,
which evolved together over millions of years. We have increased the fragility of our own
system because if a few of the remaining links break, the whole system could collapse. The
more local the activities, the stronger they are - and there will be much more flexibility as
diversity increases. A system that is local will be more efficient and resilient.

5. Whenever Species of Five Different Kingdoms Live and Interact, It Is Possible to

Integrate and Separate All Matter at Ambient Temperature and Pressure
When matter is integrated or separated without involvement of all kingdoms, then the
process will cause entropy beyond the energy provided for by the sun.
A spider makes its fiber at ambient temperature and pressure, from diverse raw materials. The
moment tension is removed from the web, it starts disintegrating. No spider applies the closed loop
concept, and tries to eat its own web in order to increase its production. Though the spider
succeeds in this endeavor through a tightly knit cooperation with the other kingdoms.
Industry has arranged for an intensive supply chain management, which requires precise and
uniform raw materials which are converted at high temperature and pressure, causing a massive
amount of entropy. Whenever matter and energy is solely produced by and consumed for the
benefit of only one species (core business), then it will remain highly wasteful and can only achieve
its goals causing noise, nuisance, waste and a deteriorating environment.
If industry were to emulate the "all inclusive approach" by nature, which will continuously search for
the participation of as many representatives of the 5 Kingdoms as possible, then we would be able
to respond to the basic needs of all with the energy supplied by the sun. And, if for some reason,
one species would be missing and as such waste (and entropy) would be generated, the
ecosystem will spontaneously create a new species through symbiosis.