Permaculture:
The Future of Self-Sufficient, Community-Based Living
By Paul A. Philips
The fact of the matter is that, over the years, we have
allowed ourselves to become more and more accepting of the urban way of life,
with an ever increasing over-dependence on technology systems. Many of us have
lost that innate feeling of oneness with nature. We have lost our heart-based
connection to nature’s divine ebb and flow, as well as our understanding of our
responsible place in it. Disconnected from our food supply, we expect to have
instant food without ever questioning where it came from and under what
conditions it was grown and raised. We have little consideration for the cycles
of nature and how the fine balance of life is maintained. In effect, we have
forgotten our role in nature. We have lost our innate interdependence and our
sense of constructive, community-based living, and instead sacrificed it to the
technology systems of the power structure, on which we rely more now than ever.
So what’s the solution?
The Future of Self-Sufficient, Community-Based Living
Permaculture — meaning ‘permanent agriculture’ or ‘permanent
culture’ — is a practice originally developed by Australians Bill Mollison and
David Holmgren in the early 1970’s. Since then it has spread all over the world
like wildfire. Unlike the current world paradigm of mass production,
permaculture is an ethical practical/applied philosophy based on the design and
maintenance of a productive, eco-friendly, self-sustaining agricultural system
that provides all the resources needed — food, soil, water, medicine,
utilities, building infrastructure — for local community-based living. In
harmony with nature, it provides the basis of a psychologically sound, thriving
sustainable community.
Permaculture is a rescue package for our sick and dying
society. Creating a healthy future for humanity, it is not just a sustainable
solution to our resource needs, it is a demonstration of people power, the
triumph of ‘service to others’ over ‘service to self.’
Sustainable community-based living allows communities to
trade with each other, encouraging cooperation. There’s little need to go to
supermarkets for food supplies as permaculture communities have all the fresh
food they can eat growing in their back gardens. If a food source is missing in
one community, it can usually be supplied by another. Local communities
frequently meet with others for trading and helping each other out. They also
meet up socially. Nobody goes homeless, becomes socially isolated, is left hungry,
or in poverty. This is real community in action.
Using natural resources to deal with the imbalances, free
from toxic chemicals, oil and the spoils of industrial agriculture,
permaculture respects the environment and all its flora and fauna. Working in
cooperation with nature, not against it, the permaculture system has been
successfully adapted to mountainous areas, woodland, forestry, the jungle, the
desert — in other words, through education, local knowledge and design,
permaculture can be applied in all of the different terrains of the world, and
in all temperature extremes.
By bringing permaculture into our local communities, we can
provide for our needs while caring for our environment and rebuilding our sense
of community — everything we need to make our world a better place!
About the author:
Paul Philips: My blogs, articles and videos and my related
alternative news/natural health website NewParadigm.ws are my stand for the
possibility of creating a world that makes a difference for everyone. I
graduated in biomedical sciences. My website is slanted on health matters and
exposes the related deceptions…However, over the years I have come to the firm
conclusion that just about every subject under the sun needs redefining using
more truthful, honest and integral approaches in theory and practice, hence the
name ‘New Paradigm’. From these new approaches, from the ‘imagination of
ourselves,’ from our visions – a ‘new era’ in humanity can result!
Please visit www.NewParadigm.ws for more.
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