The Big Picture
As a civilization we are facing a spectrum of issues that are in the way of us being sustainable. GraduallyGreen is addressing these issues from the twig back to the branch back to the trunk, but always has the big picture in mind.
LAND
OUR DIVISION OF LAND
HOW WE BUILD OUR HOMES
HOW WE BUILD OUR COMMUNITIES
HOW WE CULTIVATE FOOD
SMALL FARMING
BIG FARMING
WASTE/TRASH (REDUSE REUSE RECYCLE)
PAPER
PLASTIC
METAL
COMPOST
AIR
WATER
ENERGY
POPULATION
Permaculture
Permaculture is a design system which aims to create sustainable habitats by following nature's patterns.
The word 'permaculture', coined by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren during the 1970s, is a Portmanteau-style contraction of permanent agriculture as well as permanent culture.
For example, a traditional farmer will grow two fields, one of carrots and one of leeks. From both fields the farmer will remove wild plants, and use chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The following is a simple example of one principle of Permaculture: mixed planting (as opposed to what Permaculture calls monoculture).
“A major enemy of the carrot is the carrot fly, whereas the leek suffers from the onion fly and leek mouth. Yet when carrot and leek live together in companionship, the strong and strangely different smell of the partner plant repels the insects so much that they do not even attempt to lay their eggs in the neighbor plant…Wild plants also play a vital part in the plant community. Some are accumulator plants – those that have the ability to collect trace minerals from the soil. They actually can store in their tissue up to several hundred times the amount contained in an equal amount of soil. These plants, considered weeds, are useful as compost, green manure, or mulch.”
Pg 2 Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Rioted
Urban Permaculture
Urban Permaculture is a system for designing communities that are self reliant and sustainable. Right now buildings are designed to isolate indoor spaces anad outdoor spaces, to isolate us from the environment. Urban Permaculture questions that function, and tries to design buildings to integrate our indoor and outdoor spaces. Walls are designed not to "wall off" but to conduct the site. Permaculture, urban or rural, is ultimately a method of effectively organizing space, keeping in mind that you can organize components with out isolating them.
"How can inhabiting a site be net gain for the environment?
How can a building damage it's own damage to a site, as well as past damage?
Effects of Construction:
Generating Materials: Logging, Mining, Energy Use, Pollution
Transporting Materials: energy use, pollution, highway construction
Construction: Soil Compaction, Erosion, Habitat and Species Los, Noise
Effects of Inhabiting a Site: Energy Use, Water Use, Waste Production, Impermiablee Surfaces, Shade
Opportunities Created at this Site: Water and Energy Collection, Accumulation of Off Site Imputs, More Microclimates (different sides of the house and the roof all offer different environments for growth), Increased Edge (transitions beetween spaces, such as a stream bank or the edge line of a forest or meadow are often very rich), Greater Biodiversity, Human stewardship "
~Toby Hemenway
