Janine Benyus introduces the science of Biomimicry; using nature as our inspiration for creating new technologies. This gives me so much hope for our collective future and fits so beautifully into the permaculture vision.
Spend the next 18 minutes regaining some hope…
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The much awaited follow up to Geoff Lawton’s inspirational five minute flash video posted on You Tube a few years ago…
Greening the Desert II: Greening the Middle East from Craig Mackintosh on Vimeo.
Perhaps only one piece of the puzzle, but still nice to see Stephen Fry adding his voice to a nice little video by WeForest… And mentioning the word ‘permaculture’!
It was perhaps inevitable that our so-called ‘World leaders’ would disappoint us in Copenhagen. Are any of us really surprised? The influence of big business is far too great for our politicians to lead us any more. No, we are the ones this time who are going to have to come to the rescue.
Yes, politicians [...]
Having just put another couple of logs on the fire on this chilly night, I am once again reminded of our total reliance upon winter warmth. As I mentioned before, we’ve developed an adapted hibernation strategy to get us through the cold months, but our dependency on fossil fuels of late has made us very [...]
So having looked at the functionality of different patterns, how might we go about using this knowledge to design truly sustainable ways of living? Well, looking at both excellent and poor examples of pattern application should help illustrate the idea.
In wastewater treatment systems, we have long used beds of gravel to help clean up our [...]
Patterns abound in nature, and yes we often see beauty in those places, but our ability to recognise patterns is actually vital to our survival. Imagine if you will… What if we couldn’t recognise the pattern of say, a particular face or fruit and associate it with safety / nurturing or indeed the opposite? Wouldn’t [...]
The daily choices that we make have either a positive or a negative effect upon our environment & believe me, those choices are significant. Have you ever considered how much of your income (& time) that you spend each week on just obtaining food? Now multiply this up for a whole year. Then multiply that [...]
Our clutter…
It’s traditionally the time of year again to give our homes a good ‘Spring clean’. I guess back in ‘the old days’, warmth was too precious to be opening doors until it was warm enough outside, so a smelly winter indoors was probably inevitable! Vacuum cleaners have of course removed the excuse for us [...]
In the great seasonal cycle of the year, Winter; when there is little for us to do outside, is the time that nature has offered us for reflection. Yet instead, our artificially-created busyness keeps us pre-occupied (working all hours to earn enough money to pay the mortgage* & keep on top of our debts) & [...]
Continue reading about Reflecting on the power of individual choice…
It’s unusual to get to the end of the day at the moment, without hearing the word ‘recession’ (look there I go mentioning it again!). But these cycles are to be expected as they are a completely natural thing. Each year we enter a different kind of recession, but one that we are always [...]
Continue reading about Natural economics ~ have we invested badly?
So that went well… my new year resolution to write every day failed at day 2. Many would call that pathetic, but I (after a short period agreeing with them), have decided to celebrate it instead. Am I mad? Some might say so, but there is reason in my apparent insanity.
You see, everything I have [...]
So what’s your new year resolution? Have you thought of one yet?
The turning of the year always provides us with a great incentive for a fresh start, but what is the secret to maintaining any new habits?
Well for me, it has to be something important, or I lack the helping hand of my conscience. Those [...]
Continue reading about I gave up hot drinks for the environment!
Last weekend, on my way to teaching one of my weekends-based permaculture design courses, I was offered a leap of faith. It had rained heavily the night before, so I encountered areas of flooding on the first half of my journey which I carefully negotiated. It all seemed manageable, but then I came across the [...]
Continue reading about Fording the floodwater with fingers crossed…
The soil is vital to everything that lives on Earth; if we want healthy bodies & a healthy planet then we need healthy soil. So we must make choices that encourage this & support farming systems that feed the soil rather than deplete it. Soil is a miraculous substance, a place where air, water, minerals [...]
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