Guest post: Permaculture and Ethical Investment
Miles (right) in Lesotho, Southern Africa.
Miles began his career in 1968 at Perth Kings Park and Botanical Gardens WA, before completing a PDC in 1983 with Bill Mollison. His roles have included Secretary, Earth Bank Society; Plant nursery manager, Zaytuna Farm; NASAA inspector, Co- housing and MO development; Permaculture Advisor, Lesotho; and volunteering in multiple Australian Indigenous communities. He is also a PA member and volunteer with the Permafund team, and a Permaculture Elder. Miles has Diplomas in both Horticulture & Permaculture, and an Associate Degree in Training Development. He lives at the Tasman Ecovillage, Southern Tasmania.
In the following article, Miles recalls some of his experiences during permaculture’s formative years when ethical investment systems were in development.
“During the late 1980s Bill Mollison promoted an interest in ethical investment as an alternative to the banks. The concept of an Earth Bank was raised at an ethical investment workshop led by Bill in Fremantle. One of the results of the workshop was the forming of the Earthbank Society of WA. Related to that was the forming of August Investments by Damien Lynch in 1981. I was one of its founding members and the first secretary of Earthbank Society WA. After the initial interest declined and for various reasons, the Society was dissolved.
An ethical investment company, Entone, was formed by some of the members of the Earthbank Society. This was dissolved in the early 1990s and some of its shareholders took up shares in August Investments. In the 1990s this became Australian Ethical Investment Ltd, which continues to this day in a very successful, new mode Australian Ethical.
The 1980s were a very active time for social and environmental change. The alternative movement, as it became known, included the birth of the permaculture community. I was very fortunate to be a permaculture design student of Bill Mollison for a PDC in Stanley in the winter of 1983. I am now back in Tasmania in the winter of 2020, still contributing to the permaculture story.
The Down to Earth Association held a number of Confests in the 1980s, with several in WA. I was involved in the organisation and running of the Nanga Confest and the two Confests in York in WA. Permaculture presentations and workshops were included. Dr Jim Cairns and Bill Mollison often had close encounters at these events with both of them having almost superstar status. I recall Bill and Jim doing a credible waltz in the elaborate foyer of the Grand Peninsula Hotel, originally a gentlemen’s club. I can’t recall who took the lead during the waltz!
Up to the late 1980s the sea port of Fremantle was a place of very diverse cultural activities including art, music, permaculture, the Earthbank Society, co-housing and a LETS system. There was the pre-America’s Cup era (BC) and post America’s Cup (AC) era. After the Cup, Fremantle became much sought after by the rich and trendy, a change from previously when it was a homely pre- development town with low cost rent and housing.
Permaculture continues its evolutionary journey, on a road increasingly travelled. The concept of a permanent agriculture remains the core of its’ values and vision. As the permaculture community increases in numbers so does its’ diversity of form and content. It can be seen as an open book with endless blank pages to be written on. The lack of dogma and openness to all humanity is its strength and resilience. The field is open to the intellect. My interest in ethical investment continues as I and others contemplate how best to leave an ethical and perpetual legacy for favourite charities, the community and generations to follow. “
How does ethical investment related to permaculture? As taken from the Permaculture Principles website: “The permaculture journey begins with the ethics and design principles. We apply this thinking to the seven different domains required to create a sustainable culture, including finance and economics. Alternative exchange systems reduce reliance on the fragile monetary economy.”
Additional information:
Miles is an Ordinary member and volunteer of Permaculture Australia, the national permaculture member based organisation. Not a member? Sign up and join us here today.
PA’s Permafund has provided dozens of small grants to permaculture community projects in Australia and internationally. Donations over $2 are tax deductible in Australia and can be set up as recurring or one off donations. Find out more including how to donate here and to leave a bequest to PA, including Permafund here.
For more information on ethical investments and content mentioned above:
Permaculture West History including the Earth Bank Society
Why permaculture is so hot right now
The drought, catastrophic bushfires and now the global Covid-19 pandemic. It’s been a bumpy start to 2020 and it’s only July, yikes. Gaps in community and household resilience coincided with a huge spike in folks wanting to know about backyard food production, sustainable living and permaculture. Social media groups, including the PA Facebook group, had hundreds of new member requests each day. PA members reported overwhelming demand and shared an incredible range of free resources here to support the requests coming in.
In the words of PA member Meg McGowan aka Permacoach “Permaculture is suddenly very popular”!
PA’s Kym asked several of our PA members the question – why is permaculture so hot right now? And will it last?
Exerpt reproduced with permission from ‘Why permaculture is so hot right now‘, Meg McGowan, Permacoach
Meg McGowan (right) with Rowe Morrow, friend & mentor. Photo credit: supplied.
” It’s not just a renewed interest among those of us that have always felt aligned to the ethics and principles of permaculture, but a surge among people that have never heard of it before. Why? At a pragmatic level, permaculture offers people and efficient, low cost way to produce some food. With the isolation restrictions and economic burdens of Covid-19 an increased interest in home grown food is understandable. Growing food saves money, but it’s about so much more than that.
Shortages in supermarkets have brought home to many people the risks of relying upon others for their basic needs. People recognised that being able to feed themselves from their own garden would provide a buffer against the collapse of the industrialised food system. Permaculture can teach them to do that. Local farmers recently saw a huge boost in income as many people woke up to the obvious solution to an insecure model; buy locally grown and produced food and you build food security.
Artwork by Meg McGowan
But permaculture goes beyond growing some herbs and veggies, or keeping some chickens in the back yard. It’s an ethically based pattern for designing and evolving systems that increase ecological health while providing for human needs. I think this is why it’s suddenly so hot right now. We have come through a summer, an autumn and the beginnings of a winter where the destruction caused by human consumption and greed has finally become impossible to ignore.”
Michael Wardle, Savour Soil Permaculture
Michael Wardle, Savour Soils Permaculture. Photo credit: supplied.
“Over the last few months since the drought, fires and the COVID crisis, which still continues in many areas, I have found there has been a huge increase in not only my design services but the courses offered here. To the point where one sold out in ten hours! As to why?. Well, when we look around at nature, we see permaculture is surrounding us. Things that are in a beautiful symbiotic relationship, the mutualism of living things showing the dynamic equilibrium, supporting each other where the system as a whole grows in wealth.”
“I think people are starting to understand that we cannot keep going on “as normal” and that things can change if we want to or have to. Again, the recent episodes have highlighted this. We do not “do” permaculture, but do things in a permaculture way. The idea of building resilience in the face of these events has become very appealing to many and seeing some of the self-reliance that can be offered by looking at things with a permaculture lens.”
John Champagne, Brogo Permaculture Gardens
John Champagne. Photo credit: Kym Blechynden
“Following the wildfires here on the far south coast back in January,there was a steady stream of consultancy work visiting burnt properties and that continues today six months later. Then the COVID-19 lockdown saw an increased interest in household food growing and bookings onto permaculture courses.
It’s interesting that when faced with severe circumstances, a fresh batch of the population begin a process of looking for solutions and permaculture sits well placed as a light on the hill.”
Artwork by PA Member Brenna Quinlan
PA Life member and permaculture co-originator David Holmgren also wrote about this topic in a recent article stating that:
“while we [in the permaculture and kindred movements] have been doing some combination of modelling and teaching about the ways to live better with less, it has remained an option that, until the pandemic, most people had little inkling of or interest in. The current explosion of interest in home-based self-reliance, like previous waves of interest over the decades, is countercyclical to the faith and fortune in mainstream economic values and options. But the intensity of this downturn has acted as a slap in the face for many people dozing in the comfortable cocoon of consumer capitalism.”
So what now?
Meg McGowan, aka Permacoach, offers these final thoughts, as an exerpt from ‘Why permaculture is so hot right now
“If you are new to permaculture then know that this movement is full of people willing to help. There are plenty of online communities but please try to find permaculture people locally and connect with them. Changing human society will require us to be geographically connected and to figure out how to get along with people that don’t share our biases.
If you already know some permaculture then it’s time to step up. The planet needs you. The task is huge but collectively we each only need to do a little. Start a book club and read any of the great permaculture books together. Set up a produce share, or a permaculture learning circle. Join your local and national permaculture bodies and volunteer some of your time to advancing permaculture. Find your social edges. Where does permaculture begin and end in your local community? Which edges are already closely aligned or supporting what you are doing and how can you each share more with the other?”
More information and resources:
Permaculture Australia is the national permaculture member based organisation. Sign up as a member here today and help us advocate for permaculture solutions. You can also follow Permaculture Australia on Facebook, Instagram and join our Facebook group. If you have skills to share and want to assist with promoting permaculture further, please get in touch via hello@permacultureaustralia.org.au
Brogo Permaculture Gardens, Permacoach and Savour Soil Permaculture are professional members of Permaculture Australia, and offer a range of courses, events and property tours. Check out their websites or follow their respective social media page(s).
A list of all PA members events and businesses can be found here and here and many offer a generous discount to PA members. Information on permaculture education can be found here
Permaculture Stories – Tonielle Christensen
Member update – Richard Telford
With national housing unaffordability making many young people feel home ownership is out of reach, it is high time for some out-of-the-box thinking. Permaculture Principles and PA Member Richard Telford certainly applied that kind of thinking more than a decade ago when he bought a rundown cottage in Seymour, Victoria.
The goal was to deconstruct the cottage and re-use the materials to construct a new one along permaculture principles. The result was Abdallah House.
The sun facing living space of the house
He says once you have bought – if you are going to rebuild, another thing he would do differently is to buy good quality items such as ceiling fans as this will save you later on having to replace them. And if you are going to build, collect more materials if you are using second hand, before you start. Build a place to store the materials on the site and put them undercover. Have a place undercover to work too,” he said.
Abdallah House is a great case study to examine if you are looking to build your first home. See: https://retrosuburbia.com/case-studies/abdallah-house-case-study/
By Yvonne Campbell
Blogger interprets permaculture's principles as rules for living
Like the food she writes about in her Land and Ladle blog, Erin Meyer has produced a fresh and nourishing interpretation of permaculture’s principles of design.
These are the principles expounded in David Holmgren’s 2002 book, Permaculture — principles and pathways beyond sustainability. I mention this because, for many, David’s principles are all the principles there are. Somewhat neglected are the principles developed by the other co-founder of the permaculture design system, Bill Mollison, quite some time before David’s.
Systems soft and hard
As expressed in David’s book and by permaculture educators and practitioners, his principles are about the design of infrastructure, about building, the design of land-based systems such as farms and resource management. These are permaculture’s ‘hard systems’, systems that have a physical presence.
Yet, they are more than that because the principles are about how we think about the design and building of those things, those physical elements in the landscape. That ‘thinking about’ design and construction makes the principles also a ‘soft system’, something that is cognitive, conceptual, a product of thought, logical reasoning, deduction and making those important mental connections between things.
The principles of permaculture design are commonly applied to the design of the physical infrastructure of productive systems. Photo: Home garden around the fenceline of a small urban lot in New Plymouth, Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Rules for living
Erin Meyer’s interpretation of David’s principles of design is a soft systems approach too, though in a different way to David’s. As “rules for living” her interpretation applies the principles to personal life, to the psychology of individuals. It is about personal practices and ways of thinking. It is about about our personal psychology.
This is less a new element in what we have come to know as ‘social permaculture’ than a revival of a concept whose presence seems to have declined in permaculture — the ‘Zone Zero’. Envisioned as an additional element to permaculture’s zoned landuse system which traditionally stipulates five zones for different landuses according to distance from the dwelling and availability of resources, Zone Zero was variously defined as the behaviours and practices of people living in a home that is the centre of a permaculture design — Zone One — and as the relationships between them and how they manage the home. It is perhaps Australian permaculture educator/designer, Cecelia Macauley, who is the leading exponent of this idea with her application of permaculture principles in the personal domestic space.
Into the psychological space
In her blog in Medium, Erin goes through each of the principles and suggests a personal action for applying each.
One I found affinity with was her take on the principle of ‘small and slow solutions’. I have written elsewhere that this is an appropriate approach in many circumstances but could be too-little-too-late for others, that sometimes we need big and rapid solutions rather than small and slow. Erin has come to the same conclusion, saying that some of the big challenges we face require the big and rapid response. Examples are ameliorating climate change, finding solutions to the loss of livelihoods to workplace automation, urbanisation.
There is a saying in the tech world that when a technology is used for things it was not designed for, then it is successful. We could apply that to Erin’s interpretation of David’s principles of design to the psychological space of individuals. This repurposes and enlarges the principles, taking them into territory if not completely new, then territory too seldom visited.
Erin writes in the Land and Ladle blog on Medium. Medium is where you will find insightful, critical and analytical writing on a range of topics including the permaculture design system.