Your Monthly Freebie: Essence of Permaculture

Smiling woman with long wavy hair in purple shirt leaning against brick wall.
Kim Kanney
  • January 23, 2019
  • Economics & Law
  • Sustainability
Venn diagram illustrating permaculture principles with plants, soil, and water.

Essence of Permaculture

Did you know we are continually adding new free resources to our catalog of offerings? Toolkits, epubs, organizers’ handbooks, and workshop guides are just a few examples, all located at the Free Resources category page.

Explore all the topics ranging from Cooperative Housing to Climate Change; from Transition Towns to Urban Neighborhoods.

This month, we offer a brand new guide: Essence of Permaculture. From our friends at PermaculturePrinciples.com, this guide provides a summary of the permaculture concepts and principles as told by David Holmgren in his book “Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.”

Essence of Permaculture contains an introduction to permaculture, thoughts about the future of the movement, and the values and use of the permaculture principles.

Available from us in 5 languages! English, Spanish, German, Hebrew & Russian.

An excerpt about impermanence:

“Permaculture is about the durability of natural living systems and human culture, but this durability paradoxically depends in large measure on flexibility and change. Many stories and traditions have the theme that within the greatest stability lie the seeds of change. science has shown us that the apparently solid and permanent is, at the cellular and atomic level, a seething mass of energy and change, similar to the descriptions in various spiritual traditions.

The butterfly, which is the transformation of a caterpillar, is a symbol for the idea of adaptive change that is uplifting rather than threatening.

While it is important to integrate this understanding of impermanence and continuous change into our daily consciousness, the apparent illusion of stability, permanence and sustainability is resolved by recognising the scale-dependent nature of change. In any particular system, the small-scale, fast, short-lived changes of the elements actually contribute to higher-order system stability. We live and design in a historical context of turnover and change in systems at multiple larger scales, and this generates a new illusion of endless change with no possibility of stability or sustainability. A contextual and systemic sense of the dynamic balance between stability and change contributes to design that is evolutionary rather than random.”

Comments

Featured Blogs

Keep the conversation going with these pieces

Codicts Team
Tue Apr 2019
  • Living in community
  • Governance
Earthaven Ecovillage learns the hard way that it’s important for a community to choose its legal entities carefully, and to consult and listen to lawyers. A member shares some lessons from their ordeal.
Christopher Roth
Sun Mar 2010
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
What do Hopi Indians, John Keats, lost loves, intentional community, and family have in common? For better or worse, they’ve combined to befuddle, enlighten, dismay, and inspire our author.
Codicts Team
Sun Sep 2007
  • New to community
  • Sustainability
AJC writes about green communities in the Home Finder section. One of them is East Lake Commons, a cohousing community in Decatur, GA. See the article.
Cynthia Tina
Mon Mar 2020
Clearly Canadian answered the call! Thanks to our new Communities Directory Sustainer we have been able to start shifting our website to a more reliable server, ensuring that community seekers can continue to access our online Communities Directory for much needed connection and inspiration.…
Codicts Team
Thu Nov 2016
  • Life Transitions
Stefan Geyer, a London resident active in the U.K. permaculture community, is releasing a new book called “Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design.” It’s not a guidebook to specific permaculture practices, but a reflective look at the ways permaculture principles can inspire change in our lives and co…
Codicts Team
Tue Dec 2010
  • New to community
In reviving and restoring the site of two historical intentional communities, a town’s benefactor revitalized its sense of present-day community as she continued to dream, create, grow, and give.
Codicts Team
Fri Jun 2018
  • New to community
  • Sustainability
Yes, you can build your own house; you don’t have to do it alone; you don’t have to do it all…and 18 more tips from a professional builder who learned his trade at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
Codicts Team
Tue Jun 2010
  • New to community
  • Governance
Author: Beatrice Briggs Published in Communities Magazine Issue #147 Q: Our group is committed to education and to sharing our lives in community openly with others. We frequently host visitors, and also offer regular workshops and courses. We have traditionally welcomed visitors and program pa…
Codicts Team
Fri Oct 2017
  • Life Transitions
This article first appeared on Shareable . We live in turbulent times: many certainties are disappearing and changes are difficult to understand. Can transition management help us to explain where the world is heading? Derk Loorbach, director of the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIF…
Codicts Team
Thu Feb 2008
  • Sustainability
Global Green USA profiled Chiacgo’s Greenway Park Cohousing on the BuildingGreen blog last week. The excerpt from their book, Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, describes how Greenway Cohousing managed to merge green building with affordability. Greenway Park is one of the first cohousing p…

Insights & Stories from the Communities Movement

Subscribe to our newsletter for fresh stories and community updates delivered to your inbox.

Join the Communiversity Community

Get unlimited access to courses, exclusive member events, and a supportive network of community builders

Unlimited Learning

Access all courses, books, and premium content

Community Network

Member-only workshops and community builders

Exclusive Events

Member-only workshops and gatherings

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

Plus Community Memberhsip

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • 50% commission when your members purchase a Plus Membership
  • Access to our affiliate program
  • Member badge on your community profile
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing
Foundation for Intentional Community FIC Member badge logo.

Free Plan

Free Membership
Free

Intentional Advertising

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Icon representing community connections and collaboration for intentional communities.

Plus Membership

We’re introducing new Plus features — including community reviews, Profile Match, and unlimited Needs & Offers posts — while keeping most of FIC free for everyone. Membership costs less than two coffees a month. 

  • Find communities with Profile Match
  • View detailed reviews about communities
  • Direct message and view contact information
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • Plus Member badge on your profile