Articles featured in the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday July 19th, 2006 "The permaculture club" by Martin Hodgson

Read as follows.............

Although first applied to agriculture and forestry, the philosophy of permaculture has now spread from its original context in land management to cover just about every aspect of human life.

Rather than a specific set of environmentally-friendly technologies, permaculture is more of a philosophy for thinking holistically about the relationships between people and the planet, says Maddy Harlan, editor of Permaculture magazine. "Permaculture is often understood as a method of gardening or forestry or building, but it isn't so much a technique as a way of thinking," she explains. "It's a system of intelligent ecological and ethical design."

Australian ecologists Bill Mollison and David Holmgren first coined the word - a contraction of "permanent agriculture" - in the 1970s to describe their response to intensive and unsustainable agro-industry. In a series of books, they offered an alternative that integrated organic agriculture and forestry with ecologically-sensitive housing and work patterns.

By the 80s, the ideals of permaculture had spread to cover all human habitats, and the word was redefined as "permanent culture". At its most sophisticated, that could mean an entire township - such as Crystal Waters, a "socially and environmentally responsible" suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Founded in 1987, the development mixed residential lots with about 260 hectares (650 acres) of common land for agriculture, forestry and recreation projects. Housing lots were laid out in clusters to encourage neighbourly cooperation, and most residents keep their own vegetable gardens and smallholdings.

But those same principles of permaculture can be applied in an ordinary suburban back garden, Harlan says. "You can use shredded paper and kitchen waste for compost, grow fruit trees for food, harvest rainwater, or install a high-efficiency wood burner. Permaculture is about considering every way you can reduce your ecological footprint," she says.

It is also, she adds, about building local networks of sustainability and cooperation to create local responses to global environmental phenomena. "Climate change is extremely frightening," Harlan says. "Most people think it's so big and terrifying that there is nothing they can do except wait for the government to build new nuclear plants. But permaculture is solution-based. You don't have to be a trained ecologist, or rich - or an even adult - to start making change."

The Permaculture Association keeps a database listing hundreds of grassroots projects and educational organisations offering practical advice. As Goldring says: "Real change comes about by enabling as many people as possible to become involved in the solution."

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