Permaculture, Final Capstone Paper 5-26, Hope - Never Ending Food

• Water contamination as a result of pesticides, nitrates, and soil & livestock wastes
threatens biodiversity, disrupts the ecosystems, and poisons drinking water supply.
• Contamination of food and fodder- poisoned by residues of pesticides and nitrates.
• Damage to farm and natural resources by pesticides threatens the health of farm
workers and the surrounding population. High levels of toxic chemicals used in
pesticides have been found to cause cancer, genetic damage, fetal damage, and severe
allergic reactions.
• Contamination of the atmosphere by ammonia, nitrous oxide, methane and the
products of burning contributing to ozone depletion, global warming, and atmospheric
pollution.
• Overuse of natural resources, causing depletion of groundwater, and loss of wild foods
and habitats, and of their capacity to absorb wastes, causing water logging and
increased salinity. Additionally, resource overexploitation, such as deforestation
contributes heavily to both flooding and drought.
• The tendency in agriculture to standardize and specialize by focusing on modern
varieties, causes the displacement and loss of traditional varieties and breeds which
have been hybridized in nature over millennia to withstand insects and disease of their
indigenous growing regions.
• Inability of low-income farmers to afford agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and
hybridized seed and tendency to be locked in a cycle of dependency once the
modernist approach has been adopted.
Permaculture is an under-researched assets-based approach to sustainable living and food
production that optimizes use of what resources already exist in any given environment while
following a strict ecological ethic. The word Permaculture is a union of the words “permanent”
and “agriculture” and it is a worldwide movement 1 striving to make communities sustainable
through conscious design of resource and energy efficient landscapes. Permaculture can be
practiced in both rural and urban settings and can focus on subsistence farming and/or
commercial production. Permaculture practice around the world varies, but the design theories
include perennials and trees, intercropped plants for optimum yields, incorporation of livestock,
natural pest management systems, and use of organic matter to protect the soil and increase soil
fertility. Such designs mimic the ecological processes, interactions and services of ecosystems
and result in an agriculturally productive and environmentally benign food system (Jackson,
1 Because Permaculture refers to a movement, the word itself shall be capitalized throughout this paper.
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