PERMACULTURE

Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability

by DAVID HOLMGREN, co-originator of the Permaculture Concept

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New softcover book, 280 pages, first published 2002, this revised edition published 2017.

This book uses permaculture principles as a framework for an empowering but challenging vision of creative adaptation to a world of energy descent. David Holmgren builds on the extraordinary success of the permaculture concept (which he co-originated with the late Bill Mollison more than 25 years ago) and the global permaculture movement to provide a more cerebral and controversial contribution to the sustainability debate, including an exploration of how mainstream concepts of sustainability dodge the critical issue of global energy peak; and proposing ways to live within natures limits while providing a secure future for everyone.

Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability brings into sharper focus the powerful and still evolving Permaculture concept David pioneered with Bill Mollison in the 1970's. It draws together and integrates 25 years of thinking and teaching to show a whole new way of understanding and action behind a simple set of design principles, taking a step-by-step look at the 12 Permaculture Concepts.This book provides refreshing perspectives on a range of environmental issues and shows how permaculture is much more than a system of gardening. For anyone seriously interested in understanding the foundations for sustainable design and culture, this book is essential reading.

Permaculture uses systems thinking and design principles to consciously design 'landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs. In just three decades, permaculture has become a global movement that provides a cerebral, practical and controversial contribution to the sustainability debate.

This book is relevant to every aspect of how we reorganise our lives, communities and landscapes to creatively adapt to ecological realities which shape human destiny. The 2017 revised edition is more accessible than the original, with redrawn graphics, corrected and amended text, new references and a newly designed layout that invites the reader into the world of whole systems thinking that is permaculture.

About the author

David Holmgren is an ecological pioneer destined to have a major influence on the sustainability debate. He is best known as the co-originator with Bill Mollison of the Permaculture concept put forth in Permaculture One in 1978. Since then he has written several more books, developed three properties using permaculture principles, and conducted workshops and courses in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Italy, France, Britain, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. He has also consulted on and supervised urban and rural projects in Australia and New Zealand.

His other books include

• Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements, with Bill Mollison (1978)
• Permaculture in the bush : the design and development of a homestead on the far south coast of N.S.W. (1992)
• The Flywire House : a case study in design against bushfire (1993)
• Trees on the treeless plains : revegetation manual for the volcanic landscapes of central Victoria (1994)
• Hepburn Permaculture Gardens : 10 years of sustainable living 1985 - 1995 : a case study in cool climate permaculture (1995)
• Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (2002)
• Future Scenarios
• RetroSuburbia: the downshifter's guide to a resilient future
  

Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren