Introduction

Permaculture is a design system based on ethics and principles which can be used to establish, design, manage and improve all efforts made by individuals, households and communities towards a sustainable future.

This site explores the 'essence of permaculture' in a simple and clear way, expanding on the work of co-originator of the permaculture concept, David Holmgren.



Permaculture Principles Teaching Kit



The long awaited 2nd edition of the Teaching Kit is now available. The new kit includes an updated 28 page booklet, an extended principles DVD along with the teaching cards and fridge magnet sets. The Teachers' DVD is packed additional presentations, articles and graphical resources relevant to understanding and teaching permaculture ethics and principles. A special offer is available for owners of the first edition.



Permaculture Principles now in Portuguese

Thanks to the hard work of Juliano and Teresa from Coletivo Permacultores in Brazil we now have a streamlined version of the website in Portuguese.



Cohousing, community living.

MODERN cities are facing increasing challenges around social isolation, population growth, housing shortages and resource distribution impacted by climate change, but Cohousing Australia’s Phil Bourne believes intentional communities could be an avenue for changing lifestyles to adapt to these challenges.

Iain Walker gives a overview of why we need more co-housing developments in this short video.

Read the full interview @ bindarri.com.au.





FIRST EARTH

FIRST EARTH is a documentary about the movement towards a massive paradigm shift for shelter -- building healthy houses in the old ways, out of the very earth itself, and living together like in the old days, by recreating villages.

The clip below is the epilogue of the film. You can watch the film in twelve sections on the video resources page.





English town's climate lessons



Totnes is a small English town in Devon, already putting it's own measures in place to protect its environmental future. Residents use bio-fuel from recylced fish and chip oil, growing sustainable food, and even finding their own form of currency. Emma Hayward from Aljazeera reports.



How to repair the world



Are you worried about climate change? What if we could actually do something really effective right now to halt it? Try planting some trees...



DIRT! the movie



DIRT takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility--from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation. www.dirtthemovie.org



The Holistic Life: Sustainability through Permaculture



A fantastic introduction to permaculture by author / activist Ian Lillington, explaining the concept in a clear and concise way. Ian has applied the permaculture priciples in all aspects of his life to help find 'sustainability through permaculture' with plenty of concrete examples of how it's done.

A great gift idea that will inspire your friends and family into action.



Planting trees as living firebreaks



Andrew Thamo of the Small Tree Farm in Western Australia has made available two articles on his website about using fire retardant trees to defend property from fire attack.

The short case study looks a real life situations where retardants have been used to prevent the progress of fire, while there is another article that explores how fire retardant trees work, and some tips on how to manage and use them.

Find out more about fire retardant trees.