Permaculture
"This is the definitive Permaculture design manual in print since 1988. It is the textbook and curriculum for the 72-hour Certificate course in Permaculture Design. Written for teachers, students and designers, it follows on and greatly enlarges on the initial introductory texts, permaculture One (1978) and Permaculture Two (1979) both of which are still in demand. Very little of the material found in this book is reproduced from the former texts. It covers design methodologies and strategies for both urban and rural applications, describing property design and natural farming techniques"--Publisher
Stats for nerds
5recommend
15mentions
10people
2015–2025years
47% recommend53% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I first learned about Permaculture from reading my parent's copy of "The Next Whole Earth Catalog", which reviewed Mollison's "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual" (which, BTW is one of the greatest books on design that I've ever read, not just for farms!)
So, to me, it's mixed up with things like Christopher Alexander's "Pattern Language", and Bucky Fuller's synergistic "Dymaxion" worldview.
Basically, in a nutshell, there is a possible (technically and economically feasible) world that's much nicer than ours, just on the other side of an imaginary barrier that exists only in the human mind. Or so I believe...
We can provide for ourselves the lower levels of Maslow's Hierarchy, "Physiological needs" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs ) in a way that is fun, easy, harmonious with other living things, deprives no one, etc. "and nobody has to get nailed to anything". I don't know if this is true, but I don't see any physical reasons why it wouldn't work. (Everybody always says "but what about human nature" at this point, and I'll get to that in a moment.)
I have finally, at long last, acquired some land with the express purpose of testing out this hypothesis. (Twenty acres in N. California.) I'm going to employ a mix of Permaculture, Syntropic Agriculture, Alexander's Pattern Language, Bucky's ideas, etc. and robots and automation to create a kind of bubble of this alternate reality, or a time-warp (just a little one) to the Star Trek-style future.
Assuming this works out, the idea then is to facilitate more people and land living this way. I see this as a kind of economic phase change that has to happen (I believe we have to live in harmony with Nature or our civilization could collapse.)
If this sounds interesting to you, and you more-or-less have your act together and would like to help out, let me know. sforman@hushmail.com
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In re: the "but what about human nature?" argument against the possibility of a better world:
First, as I get older I get much less sympathy for that in general. Get over your bullshit and act like a decent human being. It's not that hard and the rewards are worth the effort.
Second, I suspect that's what's really going on here: this is a sim, and the win condition is just not to be quite such a shithead. Good Character is the only thing you take with you when the game ends, so build it up now while you can!
Third, even though they don't get a lot of fanfare in the mass media, there are numerous protocols and techniques for better communication and mental and emotional healing. Things like Non-Violent Communication, or the Core Transformation Process. I have high hopes that the new talking computers will make inexpensive, inexhaustible perfect therapists. I think the computers will talk us down off the ledge, so to speak.
- Solarpunk doesn't really do stories compared to other "-punks". Optimism doesn't provide compelling conflicts. "Nausiccaä of the Valley of the Wind" is "Post apocalyptic" solarpunk manga (and an old one at that).
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/16-best-solarpunk-books/ seems reasonable.
Reading a book on permaculture seems the most solarpunk "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual"by Bill Mollison stands out there.
- Vaclav Smil, "Growth, From Microorganisms to Megacities"
It's a fascinating subject, of great and current import, treated in an astonishingly informed and clear manner. It's hard to describe the refreshing feeling of being exposed to such a mind. It's like reading a book written by Spock.
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Bill Mollison, "Permaculture Designer's Manual"
Pretty much the best book on design (of all kinds, not just farms) that I've ever run across. It's also a manual for creating ecologically harmonious, profitable farms that improve the environment and biodiversity and all that good stuff.
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Christopher Alexander, "A Pattern Language" et. al.
- I love that permaculture is getting so much interest here. (I shared a link to Bill Mollison’s book early during shelter-and-place and it seemed to really resonate.) Cool to see people wanting to apply its principles to areas like technology.
One thing I’m reminded of here specifically is Steve Job’s idea that computers should be a “Bicycle for the Mind”. (Look up his talk from the early 80s on it if you haven’t seen it.)
There’s so much overlap in the early days of personal computing with ideas like Permaculture. Kind of a blend of hippie-utopian ideas.
I wonder if the Apple II was the closest thing to embodying what the author here is imagining. A bicycle for the mind, and a computer that enabled local communities. Something extensible, which you could hack. Would not be out of place to find an Apple II powering a little solar farm and water pump. Some would probably say the Amiga as well.
I love this aesthetic — a kind of retro futurism. Apple’s early advertisements of a computer in the kitchen, in the classroom, etc, really captured that ethos.
- This may not be a popular opinion here, but I feel like engineers disease is actually contributing to the problem. [0] Every time I see a new carbon sequestration startup I die a little at the arrogance of the engineers that they think they can beat nature at that game. Let alone in the time span of ~30 years that we need it to happen. If those brilliant engineers had spent time working with domain experts (i.e. "talking to your users") I feel like some of the effort might be better spent elsewhere. This family of plants is incredibly efficient at sequestering carbon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poaceae. At a minimum, why not have a startup that exploits something like this and use nature's ability to heal itself instead of trying to reinvent the wheel? The mere perspective that we need to "save the environment" is a fallacy. We live in the environment, and we need to care for it, it's not something to be blocked and cordoned off.
My point is, yes you can help, but it might not be by writing software or engineering a product. A lot of brilliant people have been aware of this problem and working hard to combat it, it is arrogant to think we can disrupt something we don't fully understand, instead of doing something solo, try to join up with others already fighting the good fight. You want to help try reading and learn from experts in the field. Then with your programming background you might see something in a different light. Talk to people and ask questions from your perspective!
For anyone who is interested in combating climate change I highly suggest these three books, they have been perspective changing for me:
1. Permaculture By Bill Mollison (or this free online course https://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/) 2. The Hard Rain By Timothy Egan (Think SFO is relatively green? Think again the 'clean' power projects have been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem in the PNW) 3. Rethinking the War on Invasives By Tao Orion
In addition to that as others have indicated, reduce meat consumption. Don't think it matters? Read about the dust bowl, and those areas of the country covered in sage brush? Yeah a-lot of that is from overgrazing.
- I read this after entering my first reply above.
Get you a copy of "Permaculture: A Designer's Manual" by Bill Mollison.[1] Never mind that it's technically about farming. It's the finest manual of abstract design I've ever encountered.
I promise you, it's what you're looking for.[2]
[1] This is the publisher's site but it might be faster/cheaper to order from e.g. Amazon, as they are in Australia: http://www.tagari.com/store/books/permaculture-a-designers-m...
[2] Did you ever read "Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven? This book teaches Motie engineering.
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