CIFOR Solutions

A Vision from the Peak ... of a Graceful Descent    

“What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet”

David Suzuki

Welcome to the newly formed Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute. In these rapidly changing and uncertain times, as we find ourselves facing peak oil, peak climate, peak food, peak water, peak soil, peak employment, peak health and, quite possibly, in the near future, peak population, it is our goal to build on the innovation of the past 30 years of Permaculture to create a new vision for a post-peak future.

Permaculture is a term that was first coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren to describe a pathway of action, governed by a set of design principles and ethics, that would help humanity respond to the environmental crises facing modern society.

It was underpinned by three deceptively simple ethical principles: Care for the Earth, Care for People and Share Surplus. "Permaculture was one of the environmental alternatives which emerged from the first great wave of modern environmental awareness, following the Club of Rome report in 1972 and the oil shocks of 1973 and 1975" (Holmgren).

In that first wave of environmentalism a path was forged that took its inspiration from nature and from cultural history.

A second wave of environmentalism accelerated interest in Permaculture in the 1980's as the public became aware of the greenhouse effect, however this was soon dissipated by the growth of new technologies and global economies in the 1990's.

As Holmgren points out, this third wave of environmentalism that we're currently experiencing, provides the opportunity for the innovations of the first two waves to be mainstreamed.

In David Holmgren's own words, "Permaculture ethical principles were distilled from ‘research of community ethics as adopted by older religious and cooperative groups... Permaculture is a whole-hearted adaptation to the ecological realities of decline, which are as natural and creative as those of growth. The proverb 'what goes up, must come down' reminds us that, in our hearts, we know this to be true. The real issue of our age is how we make a graceful and ethical descent."

Today even Holmgren acknowledges that the ideas of sustainability and of Permanence at the heart of "Perma" culture are problematic to say the least. What we can do, after 30 years of finetuning our skills through the permaculture movement, is to build on the resilience that we've learnt from observing nature - the resilience that comes from adapting to continuous change.

It is worth quoting in full Holmgren's description of how we can create a vision from the peak:

    "When we picture the energy climax as a spectacular but dangerous mountain peak that we (humanity) have succeeded in climbing, the idea of descent to safety is a sensible and attractive proposition. The climb involved heroic effort, great sacrifice, but also exhileration and new views and possibilities at every step. There are several false peaks, but when we see the whole world laid out around us we know we are at the top. Some argue that there are higher peaks in the mist, but the weather is threatening.

    The view from the top reconnects us with the wonder and majesty of the world and how it all fits together, but we cannot dally for long. We must take advantage of the view to chart our way down while we have favourable weather and daylight. The descent will be more hazardous than the climb, and we may have to camp on a series of plateaus to rest and sit out storms. Having been on the mountain so long, we can barely remember the home in a far-off valley that we fled as it was progressively destroyed by forces we did not understand. But we know that each step brings us closer to a sheltered valley where we can make a new home."

    (from "Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability", Holmgren Design Services)

The Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute has emerged at the Peak. Located at the top of the World Heritage Listed Blue Mountains, our goal is to bring together the combined knowledge and experience of the many people who have forged possible ways forward and to build on their wisdom and skills to help us make our descent as graceful and ethical as possible.