With the rising global population, both food security and sustainability are experiencing serious challenges. How can we ensure food security for the future? Large areas of monocultures, fertilizers, pesticides, intensive animal farming, hormones, and GMO’s are being currently used to keep up with the growing food demand. Traditional food production has impacted the planet’s biodiversity, and created issues such as land change use, water and nutrient depletion and climate change.
What can be done then? First, we can all contribute by reducing the amount of food we consume. I do not mean we should start skipping meals, but we should be more mindful of what we do with what we buy, because currently around a third of the yearly food production is wasted! (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017). As consumers, reducing food waste along the supply chain can solve part of the problem, but we still need something else, something from the production side.
This was the same line of thought that Bill Mollison and David Holmgren had when they developed the concept of permaculture. According to Holmgren, permaculture is used to
‘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.’
The first focus of permaculture was on designing sustainable land use areas for agriculture. They quickly realized that if this kind of system were implemented into an unsustainable society it would not be of any help. A systemic and holistic change is needed to achieve real sustainability.
Luckily, permaculture principles can be used beyond agricultural topics. It has been used to design buildings, businesses, energy systems, communities, and in many other applications. It is a design approach that focuses on interconnecting various elements to create a healthy and sustainable system.
How can achieve this? By having a holistic view and using a system thinking approach. The twelve design principles described in the book ‘Permaculture Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability’ can function as a guideline to help in the design process of a system.
Principle 1: Observe and interact. First look at what surrounds you! We can learn a lot if we watch what is happening around us, looking at nature, other people, cities, etc. Be sure to look from different perspectives.
Principle 2: Catch and store energy. As we all know, the sun doesn’t shine the whole day. One of the main issues of renewable energy sources is intermittency, so we need to develop more technologies to store as much energy as we can.
Principle 3: Obtain a yield. Make sure that the work you’re putting in generates something of value!
Principle 4: Apply self-regulation and accept feedback. An excess of something is never good, so try to maintain a balance in everything you do.
Principle 5: Use and value renewable resources and services. The image of the horse represents the fact that you can use it to move around or to carry heavy stuff, but you can also eat it. Make sure that you are wisely using the available resources and services we have.
Principle 6: Produce no waste. The output of a certain process can be used, as input for another. There is no such thing as waste!
Principle 7: Design from patterns to details. Step back! First take a look at the big picture and see if you can find any patterns, then fill in the details.
Principle 8: Integrate rather than segregate. Natural ecosystems are very resilient because they have a lot of interconnections between their elements, make sure to do the same in your design.
Principle 9: Use small and slow solutions. Implement small changes and repeat them with certain variation. Maybe it takes a bit longer, but as they say, “Slow and steady wins the race”.
Principle 10: Use and value diversity. Diversity is what makes nature so beautiful, resilient, strong, and valuable. Each element has its own set of functions in the system and it can rely and work together with others to make a stable system.
Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal. The edge is the jointure of two different environments. The most diverse and productive elements in a system are located here as they can adapt to the conditions of both environments.
Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change. Change is the only constant in our lives. We certainly have to get used to it and use it to learn and grow from it.
As you can see permaculture includes sustainable agricultural practices but goes far beyond it. It proposes a systemic change on how we view the world and how we interact with it. Permaculture includes land and nature, communities, finances and economics, health and spiritual well-being, culture and education, tools and technology, and the built environment. It entails the interaction of all these aspects of human life and puts them to work towards a more sustainable world.
Think about your daily life. Is there somewhere you can apply this principles? Maybe in your work, your personal life, your education, your relationship with others. I firmly believe that by changing ourselves and our actions, we can achieve the sustainable future we all want and need!
About the author
Daniela Toribio Sustainable Energy Technology Student
Figuring out how technology, society, economics and environment can work together towards sustainability is one of her biggest passions.
She aspires to improve equality and drive awareness in the world.
References
Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's garden: a guide to home-scale permaculture. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009.
Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles & pathways beyond sustainability. Holmgren Design Services, 2002.
Holmgren, D. (2012). Essence of Permaculture. Retrieved May 19, 2020, from https://www.indiawaterportal.org/sites/indiawaterportal.org/files/essence_of_permaculture.pdf
Permaculture Principles Pty Ltd. (2018). Permaculture Design Principles. Retrieved May 19, 2020, from https://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/
More information I found this cool movie about how permaculture principles can be applied in an orchard, here is the trailer.