Permaculture empowers society, providing practical solutions for a brighter future. Here Marie-Louise explores how large-scale permaculture farms could be the next solution.
In recent years permaculture has steadily gained in popularity and the reasons people from all walks of life have been drawn to it are manifold: climate change, food security, the economic situation, social unrest, our children and grandchildren's conditions of living, the loss of biodiversity and soil fertility. However, underneath these different reasons lies one reoccurring pattern that is connected to all of the above - the anxiety of an uncertain future. Permaculture not only yields hope that a brighter future is still possible but it also provides a rich toolbox of practical solutions.
Through many of these 'do it yourself' suggestions people start to feel (re)empowered: yes, step-by-step they can contribute to the change they want to see. It is a great way of translating the principle 'small and slow solutions' into action. On a broad scale this movement can lead to more individual independence, self-reliance, autonomy, resilience and sustainability.
However, recently highlighted in Scott Mann's The Permaculture Podcast, by Mark Shepard, who runs a 106 acre perennial agricultural forest farm, by implementing these small changes we shall not get stuck in our culture's habit to focus on details rather than patterns and systems. I think these small changes are one great way to start, to get as many people involved as possible but at the same time there need to be projects that explore permaculture's capability to be applied to larger-scale systems in order to tackle the above mentioned problems.
Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/need-large-scale-permaculture-farms
