blog 1

A lot of the theories and strategies outlined in the Permaculture article were all based upon a design and lifestyle that produces and consumes in a cyclical natural order. It seems that in a consumer dominated society, from a micro or macro scale, when consumption dominations production the shape of that natural design begins to appear more linear than cyclical.
In part 2 of this article, there is a major focus on the use of natural energy such as fossil fuels, sun and the wind. These natural resources are not renewable and therefore consumption needs to be moderated in line with production to not create a drastic imbalance.
Another aspect of this article that I found interesting but at the same time mildly controversial was part 6 titled Produce No Waste. This point describes an idealistic way of life where all waste is not disposed or burned but used for another cause. This article points out the earthworm as an icon for this notion because the earthworm demonstrates a design where the output of one is the input of another. Putting this notion into context with American society, it goes back to consumption. Because we consume so much, our outputs are too much for anything to take in as an input. Therefore, the pollution and waste that is left over builds up and harms the environment tremendously.
Hallsmith’s explanation of the relationship between systems within a community was also very interesting. One of the most valuable statements I took away from this chapter was when she wrote about understanding that the connections and relationships are more important than the elements themselves within a large social system. Even though this was meant to pertain to a social perspective, it can be easily linked to the Permaculture article in the sense that society is a huge system with so many branches and connections. Whether it is social, environment or political, all three and so many more aspects go into creating a system.