permaculture defined

SL270, Day 5
Friday, March 25, 2011
---

Today we spent the first half of the day overviewing Permaculture! Honestly, until today, I didn't know what Permaculture was. It is a combination of two words: Permanent + Agriculture. Permaculture is sustainable land design, which means that instead of land being used in a more temporary, short-term way, permaculture is about using land in a way that is working with the land and the laws of nature. Long term planning for land, building ecosystems, restoring the land to indigenous uses are all aims of permaculture.

The following are some of the ethics of Permaculture. Care of the Earth, Care of the People, Reinvest surplus into the Earth and the People, Limit Consumption, Long & Thoughtful Observation, Observing Patterns in Nature, Design with Nature, Enduring and Stable Design, Indigenous Land Use,  Productive Landscapes, and Sustainable Human Settlements.

Jeff showed us a lot of slides of examples of some of the ethics of permaculture, as well as some examples of permaculture design all over the world. We saw lots of pictures of patterns that repeat themselves in nature, like veins on a leave that mirror the waterways of a delta and vice versa. We talked about how there are no squares in nature and we saw pictures of agriculture following the contours of the land.

The living roof of the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, January 2011

I found the different designs all over the world to be interesting in different ways. Having just lived in San Francisco for the past few years, I am interested how permaculture design can be implemented into urban settings. I love the idea of green roofs everywhere, and living walls. We even talked about how there is a busline in New York City that has living roofs on top of the buses themselves! I am also interested in how to improve the health conditions of workplaces, and we talked about how there are certain plants that can help clear the air inside of buildings.

The view from my walk to my chiropractor's office, Noe Valley, San Francisco 2009

I am most certainly interested in how to use the ideas of permaculture in city and community planning, as well as designs of  rural and agricultural spaces. Jeff gave an amazing talk last night about his adventures as an international horticulturalist, and hearing his stories and seeing his pictures really made me interested in finding a career in the future that will give me the opportunity to travel around the world to work on projects with the knowledge I end up with when I am finished with school this time around. With an exception of a student trip to Australia in high school, I have not traveled the world much so far in my life. I hadn't really had a desire to, until recently in the last few months, actually. Now I know my interest includes working on projects all over the world, and this includes rural places.

However, I do know that more of my heart right now lies in the urban environment: How can green design be incorporated into existing structures or city layouts? This is the true challenge of sustainability for me. If resourcefulness is a key ethic of sustainability, what do we do in big cities? It is impossible for us to take a pre-existing city and clear it out to start over. There are too many people, families, businesses that need to be operating all the time in order to maintain themselves. So what do we do? I see a huge role of green re-design, roofs, walls, but I don't know what else could be available for urban spaces such as San Francisco, and its surrounding Bay Area.

I loved our discussion of Permaculture today. Between the information today and Jeff's talk last night, it really solidified for me that I am in the right place here at MUM, studying the right thing and the right time. I am so interested in all that I am learning, and if it is a desire for me to continue my education in architecture after my degree in Sustainable Living here, I think that green design is something that could interest me for quite a while.

* * *

This whole journey for me began a few years ago, while I was on a break from making organic pet food in a small kitchen amongst the industrial area of just southeast of the Mission District where I lived, in San Francisco. I was flipping through an issue of Vanity Fair. The cover article was featuring something like 'The 200 Most Influential People of the Year.' I glanced over the mini-profiles of the various artists, designers, and entrepreneurs. One of the profiles that caught my eye was that of William McDonough, a sustainable architect who I believe had done green designs for larger corporations such as Gap and Google. What really interested me is this idea of a living building. The Vanity Fair profile mentioned that McDonough had designed a building for Oberlin College that produces more energy than it uses. At that time, I did not imagine that I would want to learn about sustainable design myself. All I knew was that my interest was legitimately piqued. 

Over the following couple of years, I paid attention every time I was interested by green design and issues of sustainable living. This September of 2010, I came across an ad for MUM on the internet and I was drawn in by MUM's educational structure surrounding consciousness-based learning. When I found out that the new structure for the Sustainable Living department that was nearing its completion would be completely off the grid, in addition to surpassing all the sustainable design standards, I knew that this was a good sign for me to come to this school and check out the program in Sustainable Living.

The  more I learn about sustainable design, the more I know I am going in the right direction. Class today overviewing Permaculture was another confirmation for me that I am doing the right thing! It is amazing that I get to feel 100% certainty with my current life path! I feel very lucky.