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Permaculture Quotes

Browse 147 quotes about Permaculture.

Permaculture Quotes

“When we're able to communicate in nature's language; when we're able to transcend the view that nature is a boundless entity; even transcending the building as the kernel of the architectural project; when we invite scientific inquiry and technological innovation, fusing atoms with bits and bits with genes - only then will the art of building enable new forms of interaction between humans and their environment.”

“Food waste cannot exist in a Permacapital Economy - all food produced is consumed wither by some biological organism like a person or a pet, or by another like a microbe or a fungus. For each organism or economic-participant, the bi-product produced after consumption is food to be consumed by another organism or economic participant. In such a system, waste does not exist; only resources. And in such a system, consumption is not evil; it is virtuous.”

“Permacapital Economics is all about Multiplicative Value Effects. A Multiplicative Value Effect is an effect that arises whereby many good things come from one thing. It's about the increased value that arises from the synergy that exists between connected value producers. Furthermore, Multiplicative Value Effects are distinguished by a reality whereby each unit of value produced multiplies with other units of value produced such that the total value produced is a multiple of the inputs, and not merely a sum of the inputs. This is how nature works. A seed planted in the soil for example, becomes an antennae for fungal networks, a partner for microbes, eventually grows into a home for insects and animals, eventually produces food for various life forms in the form of leaves and fruits, creates new soil which hosts more of the same processes, and eventually produces an abundance of seeds each of which can have the same effect the original seed had. And all the while, no waste is produced. This is Multiplicative Value Effects, and this is what we need in our economy.”

“The shift towards Permaculture Economics represents a paradigm shift in how businesses operate. By recognizing their interconnectedness with the world around them, companies can unlock new opportunities for growth, resilience, and positive impact.”

“In any economic ecosystem whereby things are measured primarily according to their present gross utility; it becomes tolerable and even profitable to create, sell and buy products and services which cause net future harm even as they provide present gross utility. This is why a permaculture economy is superior to every other economic ecosystem.”

“Permaculture Economics views businesses as interconnected parts of a larger ecosystem. By understanding and optimizing these relationships, companies can create positive feedback loops that benefit not only their bottom line but also the environment, their communities, and society as a whole.”

“Pure capitalism is great at rewarding the creative utilization of capital by one group of people in service to another according to present gross utility and refined use cases. But pure capitalism does not address the intentional placement of boundaries or the intentional facilitation of productive interactions accounting for net utility and holistic use cases. This is why pure capitalism at times is threatened by or presents threats to a variety of social and ecological ecosystems. And this is why permaculture economics is superior to pure capitalism, as it contains all of the benefits of capitalism plus some benefits that capitalism does not provide .”

“I passed out cigars to the men, and we lit them with a twig caught alight in the fire and passed the bottle around. Charley was doing most of the talking, telling a hunting story from the days of elk and bison, neither of which anyone in attendance except Charley had ever seen. He made them epic animals in his story, inhabitants of an old and better world not to come around again. He then told of his lost farmstead at the old mound village of Cowee, before one of the many disastrous treaties had driven him and his family west to Nantayale. At Cowee, he has been noted for his success with apple trees, which over the years he had planted at spots where his outhouses had stood. Apples grew on his trees huge as dreams of apples. That Cowee house was old, from the time when they still buried dead loved ones in the dirt floor.”

“View now with delight the works of your own hands, your fruit trees of all sorts, loaden with sweet blossoms, and fruit of all tastes, operations, and colors: your trees standing in comely order, which way soever you look. And the roots of your trees powdered with strawberries, red, white and green; what a pleasure this is!”

“Anger and even fury. I have no other motivation. Anger about the senseless distraction. The only thing that keeps me going is anger. I don't have any love in me at all. I hate community. Two things make me furious. Spiritualism, and community. People who talk about community want to manage other people. I grew up in a village. And people say that's a community, but it isn't. It's a lot of individuals, following the rules. And spiritualism, spiritual people are often very greedy, avaricious, and waste a hell of a lot of time. Nobody deserves what they are promised by spiritual people. And some people promise them eternal life. I think it's a horrific punishment to get eternal life. Ordinary people should never have such punishment visited on them”

“Each such cycle is a unique event; diet, choice, selection, season, weather, digestion, decomposition and regeneration differ each time it happens. Thus, it is the number of such cycles, great and small, that decide the potential for diversity. We should feel ourselves privileged to be part of such eternal renewal. Just by living we have achieved immortality - as grass, grasshoppers, gulls, geese and other people. We are of the diversity we experience in every real sense. If, as physical scientists assure us, we all contain a few molecules of Einstein, and if the atomic particles of our physical body reach to the outermost bounds of the universe, then we are all de facto components of all things. There is nowhere left for us to go if we are already everywhere, and this is, in truth, all we will ever have or need. If we love ourselves at all, we should respect all things equally, and not claim any superiority over what are, in effect, our other parts. Is the hand superior to the eye? The bishop to the goose? The son to the mother?”

“One of the most important things about permaculture is that it is founded on a series of principles that can be applied to any circumstance—agriculture,urban design, or the art of living. The core of the principles is the working relationships and connections between all things.”

“Permaculture land-use ethics invite us to protect intact ecosystems where they remain and, where ecosystems have been destroyed, to help restore them. Permaculture design also suggests that we take care of earth while taking care of people.”

“Trust is built in many ways: by creating opportunities to share something of our lives and feelings, by encouraging people to argue passionately for their ideas and positions while still respecting their opponents' right to differ, by meeting responsibilities and building a track record of dependability, and by sharing risks together.”

“A sacred way of life connects us to the people and places around us. That means that a sacred economy must be in large part a local economy, in which we have multidimensional, personal relationships with the land and people who meet our needs, and whose needs are met in turn.”

“Most permaculturists are expert at understanding the relationships between landforms and water harvesting or between soil microorganisms and plant health. But when it comes to our human relationships, we often founder. Nurturing the vegetables in the garden is a lot easier than nurturing our connections to the people who decide where to plant the vegetables and who will water them.”

“I think there has always been a strong crossover between the household- and community-level design in permaculture. From the beginnings of permaculture in the 1970s, there was a close connection to the 'back to the land' movement and the counterculture. Within that broad movement, international communities and ecovillages were major themes.”

“There is one problem, however, at least for alternative experiments of the American variety (and possibly some European as well), namely that we have no clear litmus test to determine which models are truly steady-state (non-expansionist) and which are business as usual hiding under “green wigs.” This latter trend is known as “greenwashing,” in which the language is hip and the bottom line remains profit. Thomas Friedman and Al Gore are major (and wealthy) players in this category, perpetuating the notion of “green corporations.” Other examples include a 2012 conference on “Sustainable Investing,” sponsored by Deepak Chopra, among others, which had as its slogans “Make Money and Make a Difference” and “Capitalism for a Democratic Society.” All of this is the attempt to have one’s cake and eat it too (or simply eat someone else’s cake); there is no real interest in disconnecting from growth, and it is growth that is the core of the problem. As Professor Magnuson tells us, while traveling around the U.S. to interview varous alternative businesses and experiments, he discovered that many of them were shams—capitalist wolves in green clothing.”

“We are at stake to each other...We are all lichens, so we can be scraped off the rocks by the Furies, who still erupt to avenge crimes against the Earth. Alternatively, we can join in the metabolic transformations between and among rocks and critters, for living and dying well. "Do you realize," the phytolinguists will say to the aesthetic critic, "that once upon a time, they couldn't even read eggplant?" And they will smile at our ignorance, as they pick up their rucksacks and hike on up to read the newly deciphered lyrics of the lichen on the north face of Pike's Peak.”