When we think of environmental issues in the UK we don’t often think of water shortages. Probably because so much of it falls out of the sky on what feels like a far-too-frequent basis.
Despite what seems like an apparent abundance of water on our islands, a combination of climate change and a rise in population are causing concerns for the future. Last year the Environment Agency raised the alarm, expressing worries about not being able to meet freshwater demand in as little as 25 years time.
If you haven’t yet worked out how much rain you can collect from your roof, the answer might be surprise you.
Our roofs are an under-utilised resource, how many people do you know with waterbutts connecting up to their downpipe? Well, maybe a few, you are on a permaculture blog after all!
It is clearly a worrying time for many of us, but with crisis come opportunities – and there are plenty of ways to use permaculture design to create holistic solutions for ourselves and our communities. Permaculture is good at cultivating abundance, diversity and cooperation, exactly what is needed now.
Over the past week we’ve already seen people across the UK springing into action. Community groups have formed across the country and there are noticeable positive changes in how people are interacting with each other in the streets – the kind of community environment many of us have been trying to cultivate for a long time.
While permaculture may have been created to address the climate and nature emergencies we face, it can also be easily applied to the current situation we find ourselves in. The scale and diversity of solutions that will be needed to ensure the pandemic is managed in the best way possible is huge.
A popular blog last year and we hope a useful one. So this year we’ve gathered a list of all the Seedy Saturday and Sundays again. If you know of one not listed here be sure to let us know.
If you’d like to learn more about saving your own seed you can check out our latest blog here. You can also head over to our seedy Sunday blog from last year to get an overview of the issues surrounding seed saving and how we have ended up in a seedy situation.
Do you know how to save your own seed? Last year we made a list of places to find and swap seed across the UK with a very brief introduction to some of the issues surrounding the commodification of seed.
This year, we thought we should get straight down to business. Knowing about the issues that surround our seeds is important but it’s essential that we start saving and exchanging. Worldwide we've lost 75% of our plant genetic diversity in the last 100 years1. A bit of a scary prospect. However, the problem is the solution and the solution is in our hands, our gardens, our balconies and our windowsills.
We (Aranya and partner Jules) have been living in Trelowia now for over 3 months and learning a lot about the land and buildings. While we're really excited about developing the site we know that's it's important to spend plenty of time observing before making any big decisions.
Far from the original Christmas spirit, some kind of consumer mania seems to overtake a large proportion of the population just after the beginning of December each year. The traditions of sharing food, gifting presents and making wreaths have evolved over the years, most recently affected by our current economic system which encourages mass overconsumption. Christmas is the time when the effects of capitalism are perhaps most obvious; while some feast lavishly others go hungry, large companies reap in profits, and many cannot afford to gift their families while thousands of gifts end up in charity shops, or worse, the rubbish.
It is however not all bad, as we say the problem is the solution. There's probably no better time of year to apply the permaculture principle, apply self regulation and accept feedback. If, like me, you observe Christmas making you feel a little bit uncomfortable, interact with your discomfort and use it to make positive changes.
There are most defintely ways you can still celebrate while caring for people and the planet. To help inspire some ideas, we've started you off with 10 ways that you can permaculture your Christmas.
Climate change, global warming or the climate crisis - whichever name you prefer- and let’s not forget biodiversity loss - is surely the defining issue of our times. While the news tends to focus on the problems created by climate change (when it isn’t outright avoided) there are plenty of solutions. To help you get started we’ve made a list of 6 ways you can take action on climate change and biodiversity loss. Including permaculture design, of course.
This is the second part of an article published in Permaculture Magazinein Summer 2016.
You may at first consider your acquired skill-set to be redundant in your new future, but we can apply permaculture to most things. An accountant for instance is good with numbers and those skills are needed in many areas of life. Give it a little thought and you may realise that your skillset could be a great asset in the permaculture community. What better way to get some clarity on this than to apply a design process?
This is the first part of an article published in Permaculture Magazine in Summer 2016.
Many people are unhappy in our jobs and yet most don’t do anything about it. Discovering permaculture can be the catalyst for us to start considering how we might make that transition to the more positive-impact lifestyle we aspire to. At first it may seem that the only available permaculture livelihoods are as a teacher or food grower, but these are just the visible ‘front end’ of a wide network of interdependencies.
You’ve likely already heard about the group of climate activists who’ve been protesting and demanding that politicians and governments tell the truth about climate change and take action. Using tactics of mass civil disobedience and voluntary risk of arrest, thousands of people took to the streets of London last November followed by thousands more in April this year. They’ve been extremely successful in getting the mainstream media to finally pay attention to the climate crisis and have helped influence the government into declaring a climate emergency.
