Notes on "Permaculture Principles and Pathways Towards Sustainability"

Purpose of the book

The aim of the book seems to be to provide a text that provides an intellectual ("cerebral") basis to the permaculture principles David Holmgren has taught on his permaculture design courses.

Interesting thoughts here include:

• Permaculture is grounded in systems thinking, the principles here are tools to help with that system thinking by providing and entry point.

Quotes

• "Permaculture is much more than a form of organic gardening. My aim in writing this book is to explain permaculture to a wider audience that may not be attracted by the organic gardening label. It is especially aimed at activists, designers, teachers, researchers, students and others grappling with the vexed issues of sustainability within a wide range of fields."

• "I know from decades of experience of applying, writing and teaching permaculture that people will use what they find relevant and meaningful and leave the rest. The quest by some for a completely consistent and logical picture of permaculture may not be useful. Rather than seeking to define or control permaculture, I write about it as simply one more contribution to understanding, meaning and action in a world full of uncertainty."

• "As always when trying to use the inevitably linear logic of writing to convey wholistic concepts, the division between the issues and perspectives covered under each principle is arbitrary. My choices, and therefore even the principles themselves, are simply tools to help us with multiple perspectives on whole-systems thinking. Cross-references to the other principles point out a selection of the more important linkages. In this sense, each principle can be thought of as a door into the labyrinth of whole-systems thinking."

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