Permaculture: An Old School, New Age Society

What I knew:

Prior to embarking on this research essay I had no familiarity with the term

“permaculture”. Originally I was going to write on hydroponics but then I chose to go

towards a much broader topic know as self-sufficient homesteading. I have always been

one who took pride in repurposing what others deemed as “useless junk”. When I was

younger I built a blacksmithing forge out of nothing more than a rusty brake drum, black

iron pipe and an old blender fan. From that I pounded demented railroad spikes and

horse shoes into beautiful works of art such as picture frames, coat racks, and knives. I

have been hooked ever since finding ways to not only live, but thrive off the land by

working in harmony with it. Tapping sugar maples to make my own syrup, hunting and

trapping for food, clothing and income, and creating a hydroponic tower to produce my

own fruits and vegetables.

My goal has always been to live on my own terms and provide myself with all my

needs through ingenuity and hard work instead of using currency. I had heard of

self-sustainable living and that was what I was aiming for until I came upon the term

“Permaculture” while surfing through some articles. It means living in a manner in which

you coincide with nature and use it as a model to create sustainable cycles in which you

can nourish yourself and the environment around you in a positive manner.

I then asked myself some questions, “How did Permaculture originate and how

popular is it today?”, What is the true meaning behind the term permaculture?”, and

“How much does one sacrifice to become a permaculturist?. I found that Permaculture

has only been around for approximately four decades and still widely unknown to most

of the world’s population. There are an enormous amount of sacrifices a person must

make to live this way, to start we must break free from the binds of modern technology

which has become somewhat of an addiction to young adults in this new era.

Research:

Permaculture is a term derived from three different words. They are: permanent,

agriculture, and culture. I understood the first two, permanent, meaning sustainability

year round. Agriculture because the main idea behind it is to be able to gather all the

resources you will need to survive from Mother Nature instead of the supermarket. But

the last term “culture” I didn’t quite understand how it fit into the mix. I took my search to

the web and after surfing through countless articles I found my answer.

Permaculture is based upon a code of ethics with three key components. The

care of the Earth: The Earth is a living, breathing entity. Without ongoing care and

nurturing there will be consequences too big to ignore (What is permaculture?).

The care of the people: This is about ensuring the wellbeing of both individuals and

communities. As individuals, we need to look after ourselves and each other so that as

a community we can develop environmentally friendly lifestyles (Ethics). Lastly,

accepting limits to population and consumption: is realizing that as a human

species we cannot continue to increase and also sustain the planet. We must put limits

on our own growth and consumption...This means limiting your consumption so that you

can invest your resources in caring for the earth and caring for the people

(Permaculture Ethics).

From these three ethics I found that the meaning behind culture is not only caring

for yourself and the earth but also the people around you. This may be by giving them

your surplus of corn or dried fruits or simply by helping them design their own

permaculture site. Basically, if you help others and educate them. you can not only

create a sustainable environment for yourself but you can help create a community of

permaculturists that continues to grow and thrive while leaving a very small ecological

footprint on the earth’s surface. I then researched many videos to discover different

permacultural communities throughout the United States. It was amazing the ingenuity

and creativity behind these people’s homesteads. When I thought about it though, it

made complete sense why these people were so unique and inventive. They didn’t have

unlimited resources or drive to a hardware store to purchase materials. These culturists

used what was available to them and through craftiness and trial and error constructed

“green” inventions such as solar food dehydrators, water filtration systems and

hydroelectric generators out of materials we modern thinking humans would not even

believe was possible.

I then began to wonder when permaculture originated and how widespread it is

today. I came upon a website created by The Permaculture Research Institute, it

sounded very legitimate so I looked into it and this is what I found: The word

“permaculture” was first coined in the mid-1970s by Australians’ Bill Mollison and David

Holmgren. The first book on permaculture, “Permaculture One”, was published in 1978.

Today there are hundreds of books. The first permaculture design course was held in

1980. Since then tens of thousands of people have gone through design courses in

countries around the world. Millions of people have been influenced by permaculture. In

spite of this, permaculture remains relatively unknown in most places. The need for

sustainable human settlement and local food production is growing fast. The world

needs permaculture. (The Well-Rounded Permaculturist). The article makes it seem as

if permaculture has grown dramatically in popularity but it still remains unknown to the

vast majority. When I asked people around me if they have ever heard of it only 1 out of

12 people told me they had. When I searched the GRCC library database I found no literature directly relating to permaculture.

There are many barriers and obstacles to overcome when trying to switch over to

a self-sustainable lifestyle. Alot of what I found and anticipated to find was related to

sacrificing wants and supplying your own needs. Sacrifices include: limited or no

electricity, no internet, plumbing, washer, dryer, video games, and the list goes on.

These are all objects that will become unavailable to you. When it comes to needs such

as food, clean drinking water, heat, building supplies etc. These are all parts of

permaculture that you will be creating yourself. Examples of this are starting a vegetable

garden as a food source, collecting rainwater from your roof and filtering it through sand

and charcoal, chopping wood to burn in your wood stove and forging nails from scrap

pieces of metal to heat your home. As I searched through numerous documentaries,

web pages, and educational sites I found more and more difficulties with making the

switch. On many pages I discovered that people who built their own homes and have

create a sustainable environment for themselves are being battered with bogus zoning

fines and some are even arrested and jailed for living free, in the land of the free.

Eustace Conway, is an educator, minimalist and a spokesperson for the

self-reliant way of life. He is featured on the hit show “Mountain Men” on the discovery

channel. He lives on a 500 acre plot in North Carolina known as the Turtle Island

Preserve where he has built his home, barns, outhouses etc. by hand with the

resources available to him. He invites people onto his property to learn how to get back

in touch with nature and learn primitive skills to lead a more eco-friendly life. I decided to

take my search on Eustace to the web and this is what I found. “In the case of Eustace

Conway, this is a man who lives on a large plot of rural land who isn’t doing anything to

disturb anyone in anyway. Yet county officials have literally shut him down, and told him

he can’t teach people how to live off the land unless he makes changes that would go

against his way of life” (Richardson).

While there are many sacrifices, the largest and strongest barrier between we the

people and the ability to live free is our own government. they don’t want us to become

self-reliant because it means less funding to them through utilities and it also leads to a

much stronger breed of citizens, more likely to stand up against corrupt actions.

Final results:

After my rigorous research I came to find conclusions to all of my main

questions along with many other questions that stemmed off from them. I learned the

true meaning behind the term “Permaculture” it is a type of living that really focuses on

living in sync with Mother Nature and the more you give back to her the higher the

rewards she provides when it comes to agriculture. You receive these rewards with

great gratitude and share your fruitful bounty with your neighbor to complete the cycle.

This type of living is based upon three main ethics that we all should live by, because

we would have an abundance of natural resources and great friends as well as a much healthier ecosystem. I also found that Permaculture arose much later than I anticipated,

I was expecting it to have originated in the eighteen hundreds only to find that it much

more recently came to be in the early 1970’s founded by Bill Mollison in Tasmania,

Australia. Although there have been hundreds of books published and websites

dedicated to the topic it is still very much new in its growth and development. The only

way to keep the trend spreading is by opening people’s eyes to it and I know that I at

least shed a little light on the subject to some of those who knew nothing of its

existence. It is a very challenging way of life and a lot of objects we use in the modern

world must be sacrificed. It is also a very controversial lifestyle considering all the

barriers and restrictions the government puts on the “free man” to avoid self-reliance.

Final Outcome:

I really couldn’t be happier with this paper merely due to the wealth of knowledge

I gained on a topic that beforehand I knew nothing about. I am definetly going to

dedicate much more of my time developing permacultural skills and spreading the

wealth by getting those around me interested in well. There were many challenges

surrounding the development of this paper. The two major cons would probably be that I

didn’t have any prior knowledge before and also the fact that I could not find any

literature so I had to skim through countless sites until I found ones I thought

summarized the best information and were also very credible. Overall, I thoroughly

enjoyed writing this paper and I hope to apply what i’ve learned to my everyday life.

Works Cited

"A Short and Incomplete History of Permaculture." PacificEdge. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. .

"Eustace Conway: Self-Sufficient or Threat to Society?" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

"Permaculture Association." Permaculture Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

"Permaculture Ethics - Earth Care." Permaculture Principles. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

"Permaculture Ethics." Permaculture Ethics. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. .

Richardson, Robert. "Another Off-Grider Shutdown: History Channel's Mountain Man Targeted by Government Zoning Officials." Another Off-Grider Shutdown: History Channel's Mountain Man Targeted by Government Zoning Officials. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

"The Well-Rounded Permaculturist." PermacultureNews.org. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. .