Creating a Sustainable Sunshine Coast - Nambour to Mooloolah

by David Holmgren [co-originator of permaculture]

"The relevance of permaculture to these energy descent and climate change scenarios can be considered at two levels. Firstly permaculture strategies and techniques that have been developed, promoted and applied by permaculture practitioners and activists may grow and spread rapidly in the social and economic conditions described by some of these scenarios. Examples of permaculture strategies might include household food production, owner building and retrofitting of houses, water and nutrient harvesting, ecovillages and cohousing, community gardens or local currencies. Examples of more specific techniques promoted though permaculture could include worm farming, sheet mulching, straw bale building, compost toilets etc.

However it is the fundamental design principles that underpin the diversity of permaculture strategies and techniques that are more likely to have relevance than any specific set of strategies and techniques. In this context permaculture is a set of thinking tools that can be used to assess current and future strategic decision making well beyond the personal and household level.

Peak oil and climate change have the potential to generate a cascade of novel threats and opportunities for planners and policy makers. Permaculture offers a conceptual framework, design principles, practical strategies and a robust history of grass roots community activism able to contribute to the strategic planning process in a context of unfolding climate change and imminent global oil peak."

Published 19 Nov 2006 by Energy Bulletin
Article; Energy Descent Scenarios: Integrating Climate Change & Peak Oil