"If you're in a bad situation, don't worry, it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't worry, it'll change."
-- John A. Simone Jr.
The Power of Permaculture Principles
David Holmgren in his excellent book Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability lays out 12 principles for engaging with the eco-systems in which we live in truly sustainable ways.
For those of you who don’t know about permaculture, the quick and dirty definition is that it is a way of life that provides a low energy, high yield, eco-systemically coherent approach to living with the land. The idea is that by understanding how things work in your particular place you can partner with the systemic dynamics in a way that maximizes utility, output and performance while preserving and enriching diversity.
Holmgren’s 12 principles are as follows:
4. Apply Self-Regualtion and Accept Feedback
5. Use and Value Renewable Resources & Services
7. Design from Patterns to Details
8. Integrate rather than Segregate
9. Use Small and Slow Solutions
11. Use Edges and Value the Marginal
12. Creatively Use and respond to Change
These principles work for apartment balconies, small backyards and gardens, and large plots of land as well as providing insight into general living, corporate management and community planning. This may well be the way of the future folks. Learn it, know it, live it.