Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Is this Acquaponics then ?

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Georg Parlow <g.parlow@gmx.at>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Is this Acquaponics then ?
  • Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 13:17:25 +0200

Hallo,

> Aquaponics is no less an imitation of nature than a garden: animal wastes
> are converted into nitrates via biological activity, returned to plants,
> and purified water drains out of the beds (to be recycled, unlike a garden
> where it runs off and then new water must be input, often artificially via
> irrigation).
>
> A garden is not natural. The moment you save seeds, weed, prune, graft,
> domesticate plants, irrigate, make an herb spiral or a keyhole bed, compost
> in a pile or in sheet mulch, use cardboard, or a shovel, wheelbarrow, rake
> or hori-hori, you are doing things not done in nature. You are using
> technology and design. Both are artificial and done only by humans. Design
> is artificial and does not imitate how nature creates; she evolves while we
> design. Only hunter-gatherers are “natural” in that sense, and only some of
> them.
>
> The criterion “does it imitate nature” to me isn’t a good one. A nuclear
> reactor imitates nature. A massive extinction event imitates nature.
> Genetic engineering uses only enzymes found in nature and imitates the gene
> splicing that nature does. We end up making arbitrary distinctions that way
> that have nothing to do with whether it is natural or not—you’re really
> concerned with the welfare of the fish more than, is it “natural”.
> Aquaponics absolutely mimics the natural system of fish pooping into water,
> that water running out of a lake, flowing through soil, being purified by
> microbes and plants, and being returned by the plants to the system in
> clean form. It can be done humanely and ecologically, or stupidly and
> cruelly. Like any human endeavor.
>
> The criterion, “does it contribute to the health of the local and global
> ecosystem” to me is far better than “does it mimic nature.” And when an
> urban aquaponics systems provides healthy produce and meat to a low-income
> population who would otherwise be shopping at a big-box store and buying
> CAFO meat, as the mid-scale system at the GrowHaus in Denver does, then
> that criteria has been met. Those people don’t have access to the land
> needed for a food forest, or even a garden.
>
> Like everything else in permaculture, it’s context dependent. Aquaponics to
> me is a good tool in certain cases for zone 1 or 2 intensive production and
> is no more unnatural than drip irrigation or using a knife.
>
> You’re right, we’re still very much beginners at imitating natural systems.
> Aquaponics is a much closer mimic than a vegetable garden.

Toby, I am in love with your crisp mind and eloquency. Thank you for taking
the time to write this. I will add this to my copy-paste snippets for easy
reply various questions I receive.
Think I will read your book too, sure is fun.



>> I have been irritated for a number of years now of serious abuse of the
>> whole world of Permaculture seeing first hand many failures and abuse under
>> the guise of Permaculture. This applies at all levels. So I, for one, feel
>> it is worthwhile to bring such debate up time and time again to assist in
>> maintaining vigilance and reinforcement as you have both offered. To see
>> and stand by watching while *"*
>> *honest effort to grasp what it is, and not confuse it with something it’s
>> not.*
>> *​"* continues rampantly through many regions of "Permaculture"​
>>
>> Thanks again for biting and offering your degrees of vigilance to build a
>> more robust Permaculture community

Steve, you and your appraoch are awsome in my eye. Kudos and cheers!

Georg



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page