The Permaculture Concept (1989)

The word permaculture, coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture as well as permanent culture. Through a series of publications, Mollison, Holmgren and their associates documented an approach to designing human settlements, in particular the development of perennial agricultural systems that mimic the structure and interrelationship found in natural ecologies. Permaculture design principles extend from the position that "The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children" (Mollison, 1990). The intent was that, by rapidly training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals could design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying the Earth's ecosystems.

While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following of individuals who have received training through intensive two week long 'permaculture design courses'. This 'permaculture community' continues to expand on the original teachings of Mollison and his associates, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of training, publications, permaculture gardens, and internet forums. In this way permaculture has become both a design system and a loosely defined philosophy or lifestyle ethic.

Rate this video 
Solutions
There Is No One Right Way to Live | The Ideas of Daniel Quinn
Black Lives Matter
Trending Videos
Project 2025 Explained in Schoolhouse Rock Style!
5 min - The song that could save America. Share widely. Written, animated and performed by Jason KravitsProduced and mixed by Sean Dixon with Jason Kravits, Christopher Walz, and Brian O’Neill
PBS FRONTLINE: The Merchants of Cool (2001)
55 min - They spend their days sifting through reams of market research data. They conduct endless surveys and focus groups. They comb the streets, the schools, and the malls, hot on the trail of the "next...
The War Machine | James K. Boyce
4 min - If we want durable peace, we need to look for more than just economic expansion. James K. Boyce (@UMass.Amherst @PERIeconomics) explains how horizontal inequalities and economic policies can stoke...
Investigating War Crimes in Gaza I Al Jazeera (2024)
81 min - This feature length investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip through the medium of photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers...
One Year of Israel’s War on Gaza: Al Jazeera Special Coverage
44 min - One year of genocide in Gaza: 365 days of unrelenting Israeli bombardment, resulting in one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century. This has been a war of many firsts, breaking records in...
Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change (2015)
11 min - Would any sane person think dumpster diving would have stopped Hitler, or that composting would have ended slavery or brought about the eight-hour workday; or that chopping wood and carrying water...
13TH (2016)
101 min - The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a...
Trending Articles
Foundational Knowledge For Addressing Root Causes
Films for a Wiser Earth
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films

 

Become a Patron. Support Films For Action.

For $5 a month, you'll gain access to over 50 patron-exclusive documentaries while keeping us ad-free and financially independent. We need 350 more Patrons to grow our team in 2024.

Subscribe | Explore the 50+ Patron Films

Our 6000+ video library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patrons!

Sign up for our Email Newsletter