PERMACULTURE

As the world moves into a regime of higher energy costs, environmental degradation and climate change we are seeing the emergence of a new form of engineering design. It is an organic form of design that works with nature as opposed to bending nature into a Cartesian framework. Permaculture is a design science that can be applied to almost any field of study. The three fundamental ethics are:

• Care of Earth

• Care of People

• Redistribute Surplus

Currently our society appropriates land for an industrial, commercial, agricultural or residential project and flattens everything that gets in the way of the technology and/or the "design". Nowhere along the way does our design process account for the natural capital that exists and how to incorporate and benefit from it. Considering that it has become absolutely evident that our wellbeing is intrinsically linked to the well being of our local and global biome, it is time to work with instead of against nature.

A good example of using Nature as our teacher is to observe how Nature integrates components, matches yields and needs and hence produces no waste. Our system is incredibly unbalanced;  Alberta leads the country in the per capita disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (968 kg/person) and sends more than 600,000 tonnes of organic waste to landfills each year. Waste is an unused resource.

The basic objectives of Permaculture, applied to any science, are therefore to eliminate the consumption of non-renewable resources, minimize waste, and create healthy, productive environments while meeting the needs of people today and in the future.

Permaculture design principles include:

• Life-cycle evaluation (i.e cradle to cradle design)

• Elimination (or minimization) of non-renewable energy consumption

• Fully utilizing energy streams to maximize efficiency

• Optimization of individual site potential and available renewable resources

• Protection and conservation of air, land and water

• Consideration of carbon, green house gas and other emissions

• Consideration of future safety and burden on the environment

These principles present an integrated, holistic approach that result in an optimal balance of societal, human, environmental and economic benefits while meeting the function of the intended design.