Definition of Permaculture

Permaculture is a design system for sustainable living and land use. It came out of awareness about the limits of resources, especially the energy crises of the 1970’s. It started from the premise of looking at the redesign of agriculture using ecological principles, therefore it combined two words permanent and agriculture in one word permaculture. Its principles extended out from that to encompass the redesign of the whole society, thus combining the words permanent and culture. The work started between Bill Mollison and David Holmgren at the University of Tasmania in the 1970’s. The foundation text was Permaculture One which was published in 1978 by these two founders.

Permaculture is an ecological, holistic and sustainable design system and philosophy for human living spaces. It is a viable method for finding sustainable solutions to modern problems. It has been successfully used around the world to maximize food production, regenerate springs, cool homes without air conditioning, transform lives and reduce pollution, to name a few. The essence of Permaculture is summed up by 3 ethics:

Care of the Earth
Care of the People
Share the Surplus

If you have questions or would like more information, contact: houstonperm@aol.com