Could someone easily define what Permaculture means?

Question

But what is that sustainable way?
More details please.

Answer 1

Permaculture is intended to be a permanently sustainable system of living in tune with the environment. It involves lots and lots of principles which would be difficult to cover in this format. But we can touch on some important points and I'll put some links to more information.

OBSERVATION. This is one of Permaculture's primary tenets. Practitioners are encouraged not only to observe ecosystems for at least a year (all the seasons) before interfering, but pretty much indefinitely thereafter. The efficiency and interdependancy of nature is seen as a model to be emulated, not disrupted.

BOUNDARY. Borders are very important in Permaculture for two reasons. First of all, as a guide: if you imagine your home as a new environment designed to suit your needs and world as some distance from your home as undisturbed nature, a Permaculturist would want to set up progressive zones where his impact and activity sloped off and blended gradually into nature, instead of creating a sharp division. Secondly, as an energy source: where two environments meet is seen as a location advantageous to productivity, so Permaculturists sometimes seek to maximize those. For example, instead of a round pond or a square garden, a Permaculturalist would take to make spiral or wavy ones with much greater boundary for each unit of internal area.

ROUNDNESS. A Permaculturalist strives to live in a closed loop. Which is to say that solutions to problems lie on the inside rather than the outside. Dumping garbage 'elsewhere' or prospecting for resources would be completely unheard of... you are expected to find what you need around you, usually by observing how other living things in the area meet those same needs.

As you can see, Permaculture is as much a philosophical and ethical program as it is a scientific or environmental one. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Because of its focus, it trades massive productivity and quickness of action for long-term sustainability. A true Permaculturalist would say they are better off in the long run. Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The original definition of Permenant agriculture (based on the observation that nature is worth learning from because it has evolved the most productive ecosystem for any environmental niche)

has evolved to include all human "culture" as agriculture cannot exist separate from the social context. Often summarised as "Earth care; People care; Surpluss share". so now includes topics like Local excahnge trading schemes, sustainable transport etc.

Answer 3

PERManent agriCULTURE.
ie a sustainable way of using the land which benefits wildlife as well

Answer 4

i heard that word used a lot in the 70's when perms became popular