Care of the Earth, care of the people

Permaculture offers a radical approach to food production and urban renewal, water, energy and pollution. It integrates ecology, landscape, organic gardening, architecture and agro-forestry in creating a rich and sustainable way of living. It uses appropriate technology giving high yields for low energy inputs, achieving a resource of great diversity and stability. The design principles are equally applicable to both urban and rural dwellers  ~ Bill Mollison ~

A way of life

The Problem is the solution. Follow the bread crumbs backward.

When asked to visualize a sustainable living environment, many of us envision a rural farm-like setting with lots of land and plenty of natural resources around that can support our needs. The reality, though, is that most North American's live in cities.

So we are faced with the difficult question. "How can permaculture address life in a city?"

When applying Permaculture to an urban environment, it is especially important to understand the principle, "the problem is the solution." We all know that it is very easy to identify problems in most cities, but this can work to our advantage if we are intent on creating solutions rather than merely drawing attention to the problems.

First, we might think of a city's characteristics in terms of an ecosystem such as a forest. A mature forest has a forest canopy, which in a city is the top of tall buildings. Mid-sized buildings can be analogous to the forest understory. Small buildings and other human and natural structures are parallel to a forest's shrubs and ground cover. Finally, the city equivalent to a forest's soil could be streets, sidewalks and yards. Once we look at the city's elements as opportunities to create beauty through design, we begin to find solutions, including:

• Building greenhouses and planting gardens in vacant lots.

• Turning our grass lawns into gardens that produce food and are aesthetically beautiful.

• Creating community by combining backyards with our neighbors, tearing down fences to create bigger parcels of usable land.

• Using the presence of buildings to cultivate plants that need partial shade or vertical climbing space.

• Designing a water catchment system on the roofs of our houses that can provide all the water needs for the garden.

• Building bridges between biological, cultural, social and economic sustainability.

Remember, it is a conscious choice for us to see "impediments" to
rebuilding sustainable cities and "resources" and "opportunities." Urban
areas have lots of energetic people who, when putting their minds and hearts
together, can create beautiful, healthy, living environments in the midst of
supposed chaos.

~ Excerpts from EarthLight.org article by Jeff Brown ~

We're only truly secure when we can look out our kitchen window and see our food growing and our friends working nearby.
~ Bill Mollison ~

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