Permaculture Quotes

• Permaculture gives us a toolkit for moving from a culture of fear and scarcity to one of love and abundance

  Toby Hemenway

  Moving, Giving, Culture

  67 Copy quote

• Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system

  Bill Mollison

  Philosophy, Animal, Thoughtful

  Bill Mollison (1979). “Permaculture Two: Practical Design for Town and Country in Permanent Agriculture”, Permaculture Inst of

  107 Copy quote

  Show source

• Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.

  Bill Mollison

  Simple, World, Problem

  164 Copy quote

• Permaculture principles focus on thoughtful designs for small-scale intensive systems which are labor efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels. Designs stress ecological connections and closed energy and material loops. The core of permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections between all things.

  Bill Mollison

  Stress, Thoughtful, Focus

  68 Copy quote

• What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet.

  David Suzuki

  Important, Groups, Planets

  28 Copy quote

• Permaculture 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.

  Bill Mollison

  Agriculture, Order, Ecosystems

  127 Copy quote

• You don’t have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency.

  Bill Mollison

  Ducks, Problem, Snail

  68 Copy quote

• You can solve all the world's problems in a garden.

  Geoff Lawton

  Garden, World, Problem

  "Establishing a Food Forest". Tagline, www.imdb.com. 2008.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Traditional agriculture was labour intensive, industrial agriculture is energy intensive, and permaculture-designed systems are information and design intensive.

  David Holmgren

  Agriculture, Design, Energy

  57 Copy quote

• The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children.

  Bill Mollison

  Children, Responsibility, Decision

  110 Copy quote

• The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.

  Bill Mollison

  Change, Food, Garden

  "An introduction to permaculture". Book by Bill Mollison, 1991.

  257 Copy quote

  Show source

• Sitting at our back doorsteps, all we need to live a good life lies about us. Sun, wind, people, buildings, stones, sea, birds and plants surround us. Cooperation with all these things brings harmony, opposition to them brings disaster and chaos.

  Bill Mollison

  Good Life, Lying, Wind

  81 Copy quote

• Permaculture is not the movement of sustainability and it is not the philosophy behind it; it is the problem-solving approach the movement and the philosophy can use to meet their goals and design a world in which human needs are met while enhancing the health of this miraculous planet that supports us.

  Toby Hemenway

  Philosophy, Goal, Design

  22 Copy quote

• It’s a revolution. But it’s the sort of revolution that no one will notice. It might get a little shadier. Buildings might function better. You might have less money to earn because your food is all around you and you don’t have any energy costs. Giant amounts of money might be freed up in society so that we can provide for ourselves better. So it’s a revolution. But permaculture is anti-political. There is no room for politicians or administrators or priests. And there are no laws either. The only ethics we obey are: care of the earth, care of people, and reinvestment in those ends.

  Bill Mollison

  Law, People, Political

  "Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution — An Interview with Bill Mollison". Interview with Scott London, www.scottlondon.com. 2005.

  133 Copy quote

  Show source

• Permaculture creates a cultivated ecology, which is designed to produce more human and animal food than is generally found in nature.

  Bill Mollison

  Animal, Found, Produce

  27 Copy quote

• Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments...Permaculture uses the inherent qualities of plants and animals combined with the natural characteristics of landscapes and structures to produce a life supporting system for city and country, using the smallest practical area.

  Bill Mollison

  Country, Animal, Cities

  20 Copy quote

• I've become really interested in permaculture, simplifying my life and doing everything I can to develop more of a sustainable lifestyle.

  Ellen Page

  Lifestyle, I Can

  "Ellen Page: 'I'm totally pro-choice. I mean what are we going to do - go back to clothes hangers?'". Interview with Lisa O'Kelly, www.theguardian.com. April 3, 2010.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• Consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs.

  David Holmgren

  Energy, Needs, Landscape

  14 Copy quote

• What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet. We don't know what details of a truly sustainable future are going to be like, but we need options, we need people experimenting in all kinds of ways and permaculturists are one of the critical gangs that are doing that.

  David Suzuki

  People, Important, Groups

  18 Copy quote

• Permaculture offers a radical approach to food production and urban renewal, water, energy and pollution. It integrates ecology, landscape, organic gardening, architecture and agro-forestry in creating a rich and sustainable way of living. It uses appropriate technology giving high yields for low energy inputs, achieving a resource of great diversity and stability. The design principles are equally applicable to both urban and rural dwellers

  Bill Mollison

  Technology, Creating, Urban Renewal

  24 Copy quote

• Permaculture is an integrated, evolving system of perennial and self-perpetuating plants and animal species useful to man.

  Bill Mollison

  Animal, Men, Self

  16 Copy quote

• Anarchy would suggest you're not cooperating. Permaculture is urging complete cooperation between each other and every other thing, animate and inanimate.

  Bill Mollison

  Anarchy, Cooperation, Cooperating

  "Permaculture: Design For Living". Interview with Alan AtKisson, www.context.org. 1991.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The end result of the adoption of permaculture strategies in any country or region will be to dramatically reduce the area of the agricultural environment needed by the households and the settlements of people, and to release much of the landscape for the sole use of wildlife and for re-occupation by endemic flora.

  Bill Mollison

  Country, People, Adoption

  "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual". Book by Bill Mollison, 1988.

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• Stupidity is an attempt to iron out all differences, and not to use them or value them creatively.

  Bill Mollison

  Iron, Differences, Stupidity

  35 Copy quote

• National Permaculture Day is a chance to share thoughts, visions and lots of common sense ways that we can all make a positive difference to the world we live in. Its all about combining age old truths and skills with new and innovative thinking and technologies….people, plants and landscapes growing together, designing and nurturing a healthy community along the way.

  Costa Georgiadis

  Technology, Thinking, Skills

  15 Copy quote