Lessons in Permaculture #012

This is the twelfth installment of a multi-part series on permaculture. Future installments of Lessons in Permaculture will be posted at a rate of one or two per month. Be sure not to miss upcoming installments by subscribing to the Sustainable Future website (it is free, of course). The sign-up box can be found at the top of the website's right-hand column.

Lessons in Permaculture #012

With this post we are finishing our look at David Holmgren's twelve principles of permaculture design. Hopefully this series has given everyone a good general idea of what permaculture is and what it can accomplish. Future issues will look at various issues and specific ideas relating to permaculture.

Holmgren's twelfth principle of permaculture design is "Creatively Use and Respond to Change". From David Holmgren's booklet, The Essence of Permaculture:

"This principle has two threads: designing to make use of change in a deliberate and co-operative way, and creatively responding or adapting to large-scale system change which is beyond our control or influence. The acceleration of ecological succession within cultivated systems is the most common expression of this principle in permaculture literature and practice, and illustrates the first thread. For example, the use of fast growing nitrogen fixing trees to improve soil, and to provide shelter and shade for more valuable slow growing food trees, reflects an ecological succession process from pioneers to climax. The progressive removal of some or all of the nitrogen fixers for fodder and fuel as the tree crop system matures shows the success. The seed in the soil capable of regeneration after natural disaster or land use change (e.g. to an annual crop phase) provides the insurance to re-establish the system in the future....

Permaculture is about the durability of natural living systems and human culture, but this durability paradoxically depends in large measure on flexibility and change. Many stories and traditions have the theme that within the greatest stability lie the seeds of change. Science has shown us that the apparently solid and permanent is, at the cellular and atomic level, a seething mass of energy and change, similar to the descriptions in various spiritual traditions.

The butterfly, which is the transformation of a caterpillar, is a symbol for the idea of adaptive change that is uplifting rather than threatening."

One of the things that permaculturists want to do is to change nature for the better. We want to change the soil of a particular place to make it more productive, so we add compost and other soil amendments, encourage worms, and/or grow nitrogen-fixing plants among other things in an effort to improve the soil. We want to reduce or stop soil erosion, so we grow ground cover and trees, and work with the natural contours of the land. We want to increase the pollination taking place in an area, so we grow native wildflowers preferred by native bees, butterflies and other pollinators, as well as providing nesting areas for them.

We try to make these changes and others by working with nature, rather than against it. This goes all the way back to the very first principle of permaculture design - observe and learn from nature.

In permaculture, change isn't something to be feared. As we can observe, nature itself changes all the time. And change is good. Take forest succession, for example.

"The way we think the land should look often has more to do with personal and social values than anything to do with biodiversity or science. We tend to idealize nature, as if there is some perfect state that is exactly right for a given area of land. There are actually thousands of different combinations of species at all different stages of forest growth that are perfectly natural and sustainable in their own right. There is nothing better about old trees than there is about young trees. Perhaps the ideal state is to have forests of all ages, young, medium, and old in the landscape. This will provide the highest diversity of habitats and therefore the opportunity for the largest number of species to live in that landscape." --Dr. Patrick Moore in his essay Trees Are The Answer

Nature is never "finished." Nature never achieves a "perfect" state after which things should not change. Rather, nature has adapted to change itself, creating a multitude of different species of plants, animals and fungi that thrive under various conditions. If nature ever "finished" and stopped changing, only those species that are perfectly adapted to the "finished" condition would survive, all others would die out. Nature needs change.

Therefore, permaculture is never "finished." Like nature, we must remain flexible and constantly adjust. Permaculture isn't something you do today and then you are finished. Permaculture is an ongoing process that never ends.

Don't fear change. Embrace it.