Did any ancient or medieval civilizations successfully use permaculture techniques?
we now realize that nature is a system, and the parts of that system can be imitated by man to produce an abundance of food on a comparatively small parcel of land. all involved are cared for. and they in turn care for the earth and everyone else. man and nature are in harmony.
has this philosophy been used in the past? what kinds of societies would have used permaculture successfully?
Answer:
Where there are primitive cultures in any country you will find this happening. The very basis of the aboriginal religions is to respect the earth and keep it healthy. Look to the American Indian, China, along the Amazon River of Brazil, etc. Look to places where rivers are allowed to flood and fertilizers are not used. The crops are determined by what the natural resources of the area are. Of course, these aboriginal peoples are never rich financially. They simply live in harmony with mother earth, the source of their religions, beliefs and sustenance. Where you see rivers dammed and rerouted you will also find areas of desert where it did not exist before, a loss of wildlife and other undesirable conditions. Man cannot have his cake and eat it tool
China has used and still does use permaculture ... but it doesn't equate to earth care, people care and fair shares, does it?
"Permaculture design teaches you to understand and mirror the patterns found in healthy natural environments. You can then build profitable, productive, sustainable, cultivated ecosystems, which include people, and have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems."
~ Bill Mollison
Gee, "Cultivated ecosystems" ... "Nature by design" ... one more example of people trying to use technology to play God.
Don't mistake permaculture for ecology. Permaculture is just an architectural design which intends to copy the elegant energy efficiency of nature. It is NOT natural, it is just human agriculture imitating nature.
Though permaculture might not deplete the soil as fast as commercial agricultural practices by your own words it is not for the benefit of nature, rather "nature is a system ... parts of that system can be imitated by man to produce an abundance of food on a comparatively small parcel of land".
I recommend reading up on Deep Ecology versus Shallow Ecology (aka utilitarian environmentalism). It explains why humanity's lack of understanding of how ecosystems work means that any imitation of them will remain at best an imitation.
You might also try browsing EOL: the Encyclopedia of Life. Those who recognise how little we know of the natural world are currently trying to develop a compendium of knowledge about it.
EDIT: I agree it is a shame that politics rears its ugly head, but politics IS merely a reflection of "culture", so it's kinda unavoidable.
There are places on the planet where societies eeked out a living with resources that seemed next to impossible. They could only have achieved this by incorporating permaculture concepts into their villages.
atlantis?
In a true permaculture life we would set our elderly out to die when they can no longer work and then use their remains to enrich the soil or as food for the rest of us. Part of living in harmony with nature is that our own life expectancy would vary with the natural cycle. Subsistence villages the world over live in harmony with nature. They live or die with the variations in the weather and fluctuation in food supply. You are really saying you want a terrarium. If you can build a perfect little fully contained ecosystem then you can be fully self sustaining and oh so happy, until you kill everyone else out of shear boredom. Good luck, the best chance for our species is a very bad plague to reduce the population and since I'm planning to survive then this could go badly for you.
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