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People nowadays are feeling like their lives are spinning out of control. They worry about being able to provide the necessities for their families as food and fuel prices soar and out of control inflation looms on the horizon. Many are almost totally disconnected from nature and that which sustains them. There is a rapidly growing and revolutionary worldwide movement of citizens taking steps that lead them out of dependence on the system and to a life of healthy re-connection and nourishment. This is the permaculture movement.

There are many definitions for the holistic design system known as permaculture and the word itself derives from the combinations of permanent culture and permanent agriculture. As its legendary co-founder Bill Mollison puts it, “it is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people – providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order.”

The provision of food, shelter, water, energy and waste management are contained within permaculture design. Pause for a moment and imagine the freedom and empowerment that is possible by providing these things yourself or within your local neighborhood and area. One of the most important aspects of permaculture is the rebuilding of community. The goal of permaculture is to re-localize the control and provision of those things necessary to human life, and to do it in an ethical and ecological way.