(02:23) 2.3 – Science as Religion

Brief Overview

Permaculture is based on science, but there are two types: hard, such as chemistry and physics, and soft, which are the life sciences. In the hard sciences, studies are very controlled, unnaturally so, to create standard results. In the soft sciences, all of the elements of real life mix and cause varied results. Things are not decisive or rigid, but they can be observed and predicted.

Permaculture deals with both sciences, but our system designs are more akin to life sciences, encouraging self-regulation as opposed to complete control, as seen in most modern agriculture. This is how our ethics-based methods engage in life rather than ignore it. Ethics govern how we interact with and within our systems, as persuasive contributors rather than controllers.

By letting nature take its course and utilizing what occurs naturally, we make our work less and our yields better. We observe and learn from system interactions, recording different phenomenon and characterizing diverse elements at our disposal. Then, we can set up trials for innovative designs, open to the expected and unexpected results that come from them.

From our observations and trials, we can imitate known effects and pattern new effects. It’s how we move towards sensible management of evolving systems that we want to steward towards productive maturity.

Key Takeaways:
-Life continues to change and react, so it is never the same as it was before.

-There are two sciences: hard and soft. Hard sciences control things. Soft sciences observe.

-Permaculture uses both sciences, but favors the soft (or life) sciences, which create self-regulating systems.

-Through observation, we learn to do things better and minimize our work, taking interactive results as guides for systemic design.

-We use our records from observation to trial new strategies, mimicking known effects and patterns.

-With common sense, we manage self-evolving systems into permanent production.

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(09:57) 2.4 – Applying Laws & Principles to Design

Learning Objectives -- At the end of the video you should be able to:
-Relate how human actions are causing global changes faster than we can recognize them
-Discuss order and chaos in natural and designed systems
-Define the “law of return”, the basis of permaculture’s third ethic
-Explain how energy systems work in permaculture designs
-List ways permaculture design uses natural systems to perform maintenance tasks

Brief Overview:

In permaculture, as a soft science, there are no exact rules or laws; rather, we learn from errors. We operate right on the edge of chaos. With too much order, we stifle systems and creativity. With chaos, there is too much energy. At the edge, the boundary between control and chaos, we find the ultimate time and place for productivity.

The one possible law we do have, taken from nature, is the law of return. In natural systems, what is taken out is put back. Our designs create a surplus, and our systems constantly improve upon it. Whether it’s recycling, replanting, or whatever, we extend the life of things to minimize the pollution of creating them.

Energy is crucial to design, our goal being to keep it within systems so that they grow, reproduce, and maintain life. For this to happen, energy cannot flow through in a straight path but must extend out into the web of life. We want to extend the energy trapped in the system, transferring it from one element to next, as much as possible before it reaches entropy, exiting the system.

Humans now have the capacity to change the world faster than we can see the consequences. So, we must begin to realize the intrinsic worth in all living things as means, not just ends. We have to create designs that foster renewability and set-up systems that last as long as possible. Our system goal is to require little maintenance so that they sustain themselves, producing more energy than they consume. What we need to work for is the least change for the greatest positive effect.

Key Takeaways:

- We learn from errors as there are no exact rules with permaculture, a soft science.

-We try to work on the edge of chaos asserting the minimum amount of control or influence.

-Our one law is that of the law of return: what you take you must put back.

-Extending the flow of energy is how we make life abundant; thus, it is a key part of our designs.

-Human action can now change the world faster than we can see the consequences, so we must begin to value the life of things as much as the end results.

-We design systems to last as long as possible, lessening our entropic loss, and to function more through management than maintenance.

-We utilize natural elements to perform the necessary jobs—tilling, watering, fertilizing, pruning—that must be done within the system.