David Holmgren: "Small and Slow Solutions - Permaculture Design" | The Great Simplification #96

(Conversation recorded on October 9th, 2023)  

Show Summary:

On this episode, Nate is joined by ‘permaculture’ author and educator David Holmgren to discuss his experience within the movement and what it might look like for more systems to be designed using permaculture in the future. While often thought to be an agricultural tool, permaculture thinking is meant for designing human systems to be embedded in nature - an important principle for a future where societies will need to re-synchronize with natural flows. What does it mean for permaculture design to ‘scale up’, and how is it different from how we usually think about growing a system? How will permaculture design change as we move through different phases of resource availability? More importantly, how can the ‘small and slow’ foundation of permaculture help human societies adapt to a lower throughput future as we navigate The Great Simplification?

About David Holmgren:

David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator of permaculture. In 1978, he and Bill Mollison published Permaculture One, starting the global permaculture movement. Since then, David has developed three properties, consulted and supervised on urban and rural projects, written eight more books, and presented lectures, workshops and courses in Australia and around the world. His writings over those three decades span a diversity of subjects and issues, whilst always illuminating aspects of permaculture thinking and living.

Holmgren Design would like to offer a discount on RetroSuburbia to The Great Simplification listeners. Get a 20% discount on RetroSuburbia plus a free copy of Our Street for the month of November by using code: Nate      at this link: http://retrosuburbia.com/nate

For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.co...

00:00 - Episode highlight
00:30 - Guest introduction
01:44 - Overview of permaculture
04:25 - Resilient v. regenerative
08:47 - What percent of soil is regeneratively used?
11:33 - David’s influences
15:30 - Does it take a dissident nature to make change?
23:27 - Is permaculture a practice of relocalization?
26:37 - If we have a smaller scale future, when should we utilize permaculture?
29:57 - Is it possible to have permaculture and a global civilization?
32:54 - How is permaculture knowledge being shared?
37:27 - Are the methods in RetroSuburbia applicable anywhere around the world?
41:26 - Past peak growth future city structures
45:08 - Issues of introducing new species to different ecosystems
54:53 - Phosphate pulse
1:01:28 - Could principles of permaculture be applied to design future national governmental systems?
1:04:55 - Slower living with permaculture
1:13:53 - What would shortening our supply chains look like with permaculture?
1:23:36 - David’s advice to start permaculture
1:28:39 - David’s advice for young humans
1:32:09 - What David cares most about
1:34:06 - David’s magic wand
1:36:00 - David’s closing words

#permaculture #natehagens #thegreatsimplification #regenerativeagriculture #society #sustainability