Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2014 21:33:30 -0800
From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] The weakening of Permaculture.
...
This is why I am continuing with this thread. Steve seems to be saying that it's only
permaculture if it's made in the same form nature uses, and I think we are better guided by the
processes, principles, and systems of nature rather than by whether a plant grows in dirt or not,
and that's a critical distinction (how amended can soil be before it's not "natural,"
anyway? 2% peat moss? 50%?). I don't think of permaculture as a thing, as something you can point
to and say "This is (or is not) permaculture." If a permaculture design process was
used to arrive at a decision, then that is a permacultural application. And I have seen excellent
design processes that arrive at aquaponics as part of a permaculture system.
I need to see data showing that aquaponics food is less nutritious than
soil-grown. I see no basis. Nature grows many plants in water. In fact, the
controlled conditions of aquaponics should give superb nutrient uptake.
Plants stressed by the vagaries of soil and weather usually have fewer
nutrients than crops that grow evenly and quickly via ample access to food,
water, and warmth.
If permaculture is about mimicking nature in the way Steve suggests, we are
doing it all wrong. Nature does not do keyline plowing, or planting on
contour, or zoning by frequency of use, or grafting, or hot composting, or
worm bins, nor does it build earthworks in rational ways. Few of our methods
mimic the form of nature.
That's because we're designing, which is something nature does not do.
Permaculture mimics nature's processes and systems, not the form or objects,
so we will often arrive at forms (like aquaponics or a swale) that don't look
like nature's form, but the processes are. Aquaponics is a superb mimic of an
estuarine ecosystem, using the same natural processes and nutrients.
A basic tenet is that permaculturists design for specific sites and
conditions. Do I want to see aquaponics supplant soil-based systems? Of
course not; I'm not an idiot. In most cases, soil-based growing is more
appropriate than aquaponics. Do I see specific conditions when aquaponics
fits all the criteria of permaculture design as the best method to fill
important needs? Absolutely.
A perfect role for aquaponics in permaculture design is an urban setting where soil is
toxic or absent, land is too dear for food growing, where animals can't be raised for
food, in "food deserts" where all food sold in a region is junk (it is a
privilege to be able to choose, or afford, or grow healthy food, one denied to many
urbanites).
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