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    21st Century Ideas: Permaculture principles

    The following principles will help make the best out of our limited time and energy,

    Started by: fab_alive Raves:5

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    01. Small is beautiful; 02. Work creates work; 03. Everything gardens; 04. Everything is a ressource; 05. Do only what is necessary; 06. When in doubt, do nothing; 07. Everything works both ways; 08. Pollution is an unused ressource; 09. Work with nature, not against it; 10. The problem is often the solution; 11. Observe carefully before doing anything; 12. Keep focus on the priorities; 13. Make the least change for the greatest effect; 14. Increase edges; it will increase interaction and energy; 15. Everything gives to the surrounding environment; 16. Everything receives from the surrounding environment; 17. The whole is worth much more than the sum of its parts; 18. Every element in nature performs many functions; 19. The yields of a naturally balanced system are unlimited; 20. Observe and make links between elements; 21. Think long term effects; 22. Harvest city ressources; 23. Get an idea of where you are constantly; 24. Don't blame is for what it cannot do; 25. See it for what it is useful for; 26. Don't try to exclude natural ecosystems; 27. Find at least three good reasons to do anything; 28. What opportunities can you create or take advantage from? 29. What could you not do? Sometimes it works better without us; 30. Dirtyness is an illusion! Nature reuses everything; 31. Encourage diversity; the more you enforce an idea, the more you miss something; 32. Permaculture is a slow process, so don't hurry up! 33. Think locally and seasonally; 34. Can you maintain or fix it yourself?

    This is a good starting point, but it could use some specific examples of the more abstract principles.

    Example for #14. Edges are where the most activities take place. Ecosystems are more diverse at the edges where they meet other ecosystems. Examples are where an ocean meets with the shore, or with fresh water; the edges of the forest have a greater diversity of species than the middle of the forest. On a human level, the cutting edge of research attracts more ressources and creates more discussion than older paradigm. This sounds pretty obvious, but it is another level of how this can be applied. Yet another level where this applies is on the cellular level. The wall of a cell is a very dynamic environmnent of exchanges. On a gardening basis, create edges by mulching rather than leaving bare soil; intermix trees, shrubs and plants in the same area instead of having different patches for each of them; make use of fences, walls, etc. as they create microclimates; when building beds, ponds, house etc., uses irregular shapes rather than squares or circles (ex: a star shaped pond with different level of deepness will attracts and supports more life than a round bowl shaped one).

    the path is the garden.




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