PERMACULTURE - THE DESIGN OF THE FUTURE
March 2009
by Lisa Kalloch

We live in unsettling times. No doubt about it. Recession is upon us, the world financial markets are shaking, and the future is unpredictable.. If we include the concepts of peak oil and energy descent, we could be left trembling in our boots and filled with anxiety. Do we head for the hills? If we do, we will probably find that “the hills” have been leveled and paved over to make a parking lot. Do we invest in gold? If we do, we just hope that there are goods for which to barter. Do we learn and rediscover skills and ways of living that empower us to move from being dependent as consumers, to becoming responsible as produces? If this last choice makes sense to you, you will want to explore the concepts of Permaculture Design.
The word Permaculture was coined in the 1970’s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren to describe a sustainable design system stressing the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is on relationships created among them by the way they are placed in the landscape. The core issue of permaculture thinking involves sustainability…..creating a sustainable culture for future generations. The foundation of permaculture involves ethics of earth care, because the sustainable use of land cannot be separated from lifestyle and philosophical issues.
The Gaia hypothesis of the Earth as a living organism has shown that our Planet has maintained homeostasis through self-regulation for millions of years. Beginning with the Industrial Era, the ‘human factor’ has made it more and more difficult for our living blue-green planet to come back into balance. As human consciousness has evolved, we are realizing that separateness is an illusion…..that the Earth and all her systems, human and non-human, are interconnected and truly cannot be separated…..that the human being is body/mind/spirit, and not just the physical….that the whole is much greater than the individual parts. We are moving out of the Piscean age of reductionism, domination over, and into the Aquarian era of wholeness, harmony and balance. Come to Middle Earth and join with others who are interested in working with Permaculture to make the world a better place!