permaculture

[Jim <ashevillecurrencyproject@gmail.com>]

"But more importantly, permaculture suffers because it can't be defined 
in a sound bite
--the kiss of death in a fast-food culture. Williams gives the 
impression that permaculture
is essentially forest gardening. It's not.

Permaculture is a broadscale design system that organizes
concepts, principles, techniques, and strategies from many 
well-established fields
into a pattern of mutually supportive relationships.

If organic gardening, solar power, agroforestry, and other disciplines 
can be thought of as tools,
then permaculture is a toolbox in which they can be organized for best 
use. Permaculture is a meta-discipline,
operating at a higher level than that of technique. It has been used to 
design successful landscapes, houses, villages,
businesses, farms, and developments. Permaculture is founded on the 
belief that if we identify and use the appropriate
principles from natural systems, we can finally begin to develop a 
coherent science of design, something strangely
lacking in a species that supposedly designs its environment."
-- Toby Hemenway

I liked this quote and decided to share it with the group.
It is from the debate under discussion:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GER/is_2001_Winter/ai_81790195?lstpn
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GER/is_2001_Winter/ai_81790196
-- Jim