permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

What is Permaculture? | Permaculture Research Institute of Australia
http://permaculture.org.au/what-is-permaculture/
(A brief quote to set the tone of this message:)
"Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and 
maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the 
diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the 
harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, 
energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a 
sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility 
of a stable social order.

Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and 
strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all 
its forms.

The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than 
against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than 
protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their 
functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and allowing 
systems to demonstrate their own evolutions."

This shows great writing skill. This is the definition that I think most 
accurately describes the essence of permaculture and the reason why it 
is so important to practice it as a multidisciplinary approach to human 
habitation on this Earth. I like their emphasis on agriculture as 
implied in the term Perma(nent) A(gri)culture with the principles 
embodied in the Permaculture Third Ethic playing a vital role.