On Wednesday, May April 12 I went to see a very educational environmental film called “Inhabit” at The Palace, 37, White Rock, Hastings, (01424 439 444) which introduced me to permaculture, a system of agricultural and social design principles centred on simulating or directly utilising the pattern and features observed in the natural ecosystems. A second film on the environment will be shown at the venue Wednesday, May 3, called “Tomorrow – All over the Globe.”
Permaculture was developed and the term coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978. It includes ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design and construction that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat modelled from natural ecosystems.
Bill Mollison says: “Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labour; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.” In the 1980’s the idea of permaculture had grown and he wrote a book ‘Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual”, which refined and detailed the ideas further.
“Inhabit” focuses mostly on the north eastern and mid western area of the USA. Two film makers, Costa Boutsikaris and Emmett Brennan, documented 20 sites of rural, suburban and urban environment during spring, summer and fall in 2013. The film showed fascinating details, facts and out of the box ideas, too many and some too complicated for me to explain here. I recommend anyone interested in nature and the world around us as we live in it, to check out the film or read about it online. The film offers a lens for solving issues related to agricultural, economics and living spaces. Costa wants to remind us that as human beings we are capable of being healing forces to our earth.
Photos: Permacultureprinciples.com and inhabitfilm.com