Permaculture: A Path to Sustainability
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Design in Permaculture:
The human being has always tried to design their environment to create better living conditions for themselves and their similes. Inspired by the current socio-environmental problems, Permaculture does nothing more than highlight this basic characteristic of the human being, explicitly proposing a conscious process of ecological design.
Systems and designs inspired by the principles of Permaculture can be established at all scales, in rural and urban spaces, from fields and ranches to suburbs, cities, gardens, schools, communities and small productive units. They can be applied successfully in many climates, including the tropics, deserts, mountains and beaches.
Design per se is inherent in permaculture, as it is no more than an ecological design methodology applicable to any area of human experience.
To develop permaculture designs we must explicitly guide by three ethical principles that are the bases on which the 12 principles of permaculture are based, which are:
• Caring for people.
• Take care of the earth.
• Share equally.
Principles of Permaculture design:
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1.- Observe and interact:
Good design depends on a free and harmonious relationship between nature and people, in which careful observation and careful interaction provide inspiration, repertoire and design patterns.
2.- Capture and store energy:
A priority is the progressive local and bioregional autonomy, to become increasingly independent of the globalized systems of high energy consumption.
The most important storages of future value include:
1.-Fertile soil with a high content of humus.
2.-Perennial vegetation systems, especially trees that provide food and other useful resources.
3.-masses and water tanks.
4.-Passive solar constructions.
3.- Get a benefit:
Any system that provides self-sufficiency at all levels (including ourselves) should be designed, by effectively using the energy captured and stored in order to maintain the system and capture more energy. Flexibility and creativity to find new ways to make a profit will be decisive in the transition from growth to energy decline.
4.- Apply self-regulation and feedback:
Discover and use self-regulation processes in systems. Integrate the development of cultures and behaviors sensitive to the signs of nature to prevent overexploitation (negative feedback).
5.- Using and valuing services and renewable resources:
The design of permaculture aims to make optimal use of renewable natural resources to manage and maintain the products, even if some use of non-renewable resources is needed when establishing the systems.
6.- Do not produce waste:
The earthworm is an appropriate icon for this principle, because it lives from the consumption of waste (residues) of plants, and converts them into humus that improves the soil environment, for itself, for soil microorganisms and for plants. Thus, the earthworm, like all living beings, is part of a network where one's products are the food or raw material of another.
7.- Design from the models to the details:
Every successful design needs an understanding of the superior patterns of nature. The planned and desired details of a permaculture project take these patterns into account and develop accordingly.
8.- Integrate more than segregate:
The relationships between the elements are as important as the elements themselves. Locate them so that each one serves the needs and accepts the products of other elements. Co-operation of multiple elements instead of eliminating some and competition between them.
9.- Use small and slow solutions:
Systems must be designed to perform functions at the smallest scale that is practical and energy efficient; the human scale should be the criterion.
10.- Use and value diversity:
The great diversity of forms, functions and interactions in nature and in humanity are the source of the evolved systemic complexity. Diversity must be considered as the result of balance and tension in nature between variety and possibility on the one hand, and productivity and energy on the other. Polyculture is one of the most important and widely recognized applications of the use of diversity to reduce vulnerability to pests, adverse seasons and market fluctuations.
11.- Use the edges and assess the marginal:
"In rural development work, focused on the staple food crops, the main agricultural land and clearly articulated purposes and values within the communities, often lead to undervaluation, ignorance and destruction of wild species, spaces marginal, as well as the less visible needs of women, economically and socially disadvantaged people and the landless, the richness of boundaries / boundaries between systems must be discovered and used productively.
12.- Use and respond creatively to change:
Adoption in communities of successful innovation often follows a pattern similar to the ecological succession of nature. Visionary and obsessive individuals are often pioneers in solutions, but in general, more influential and established leaders are required to undertake innovation before it is considered broadly appropriate and desirable. Sometimes, generational change is necessary for radical ideas to be adopted, but this can be accelerated through the influence of school education in the home environment. Permaculture deals with the durability of living natural systems and human culture, but this durability, paradoxically, depends to a large extent on flexibility and change.
Advantages and disadvantages of Permaculture:
Advantages:
• Allows you to live healthier than most of today's society.
• It is cultivated and consumed seasonally according to the real needs of the body in each season of the year.
• The resources used come from nature and the immediate environment, so the initial costs are lower.
• It is not necessary to use large machines or intensive work to increase the productivity of the land.
• The land that is worked with permaculture is very fertile, since it is treated and cared for in a natural way, both with processes and with totally natural products, which allows it to eventually self-regulate itself and even protect itself from diseases.
• Help the personal economy of those who follow this lifestyle, since the expenses are lower.
• The economy of the local area is stimulated.
• The renewable energies that are used at the beginning may need a high investment, such as solar panels, but in the long run they are amortized and are a great advantage, reducing the cost in electricity and pollution.
• Collaborate to keep the present and at the same time ensure a future, by taking care of the planet instead of abusing it.
• It helps to raise awareness in society, both children and the elderly, that we have to take care of the planet, that we are not the only inhabitants and that it is possible to do so and at the same time improve many aspects of our quality of life.
Disadvantages:
There are disadvantages in permaculture, but they are few compared to the advantages.
• Production is lower so it does not serve to feed those who live in areas where it can not be produced easily.
• It requires much more time, dedication and workload than other forms of food cultivation and energy production.
• The consumer, although being local, pays a higher price than for processed and industrialized products, because the volume is lower and therefore the higher costs.
• Even if it is tried to the maximum, it is difficult to be 100% sure that a crop is totally natural and ecological, since nowadays GM crops are very widespread and the seeds move through the medium through wind and water. what can be natural crops contaminated with transgenic crosses.
A living environment designed through permaculture manages to combine the life of humans with that of animals and plants of the place, in a totally harmonious and profitable for all parties. In this way, we ensure that we can live perfectly in the present and that in the future we will also be able to live in good natural conditions, caring for and conserving the very planet in which we live.