Pemaculture Ethics & Principles

Core values

Permaculture is a broad-based and holistic approach that has many applications to all aspects of life. At the heart of permaculture design and practice is a fundamental set of ‘core values’ or ethics which remain constant whatever a person's situation, whether they are creating systems for town planning or trade; whether the land they care for is only a windowbox or an entire forest. These 'ethics' are often summarised as;

Earthcare – recognising that the Earth is the source of all life (and is possibly itself a living entity- see Gaia theory) and that we recognise and respect that the Earth is our valuable home and we are a part of the Earth, not apart from it.
Peoplecare – supporting and helping each other to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves or the planet, and to develop healthy societies.
Fairshare (or placing limits on consumption) - ensuring that the Earth's limited resources are utilised in ways that are equitable and wise.

Modern thought about permaculture began with the issue of sustainable food production. It started with the belief that for people to feed themselves sustainably they need to move away from reliance on industrialised agriculture. Where industrial farms use technology powered by fossil fuels (such as gasoline, diesel and natural gas), and each farm specialises in producing high yields of a single crop, permaculture stresses the value of low inputs and diverse crops. The model for this was an abundance of small scale market and home gardens for food production, and a main issue was food miles.

Holmgren's 12 design principles

These restatements of the principles of permaculture appear in David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability [5]; Also see permacultureprinciples.com [6];

Apply self-regulation and accept feedback - We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
Catch and store energy - By developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need.
Creatively use and respond to change - We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
Design from patterns to details - By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.
Integrate rather than segregate - By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
Observe and interact - By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.
Obtain a yield - Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.
Produce no waste - By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
Use and value diversity - Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides.
Use and value renewable resources and services - Make the best use of nature's abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources.
Use edges and value the marginal - The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system.
Use small and slow solutions - Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.

taken from Wikipedia