david holmgren - relocalising our food: using permaculture theory and practice

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Techno-Explosion!

Energy !Descent!

Collapse!

Historical Time! Future Time!

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WWhhaatt IIss EEnneerrggyy DDeesscceenntt??!•! Decline in net energy available to support humanity !(Net energy is energy profit after all direct & indirect costs of production are subtracted)!

•! A gentle decline like a balloon coming back to earth as the most hopeful future.

•! Mirrors energy ascent; very fast over several decades, and then more slowly over several centuries!•! Rate of change appears greater due to radical change in direction (ie economic contraction)!

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OOppppoorrttuunniittiieess ffrroomm eenneerrggyy ddeesscceenntt !!

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CClliimmaattee CChhaannggee && EEnneerrggyy DDeesscceenntt SScceennaarriiooss!!

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NNuuttrriieenntt ddeeppeennddeennccee ooff aaggrriiccuullttuurree!!

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Total Water Budget for Average Sydney Household (ABS 2000)

HouseRecreation (including

restaurants)

In House (& Garden?)

Services

Clothing

Food

GoodsTransport

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Selected good produced in Australia

Litres/$ value Melliodora

Rice in the husk 7459 (8400) Seed cotton 1600 Sugar cane 1239 (Honey) 2 Dairy products 680 (1450) (Goat dairy) 2 Wine 503 (Wine & juice)!30 Beef products 381 (700) (Eggs & Meat) 2 Fruit & Vegetables 103 (350) !20-50 Clothing 90

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Good & Services to support Victorians

Global Footprint Network

Integrated Sustainability Analysis (Sydney Uni)

Food plant based 8% Food animal based 28% Food total 37% 21% Goods 24% 16% Housing 18% 18% Services 11% 37% Mobility 10% 9%

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Melbourne Metropolitan Area: 8806 km2 Population in 2000: 3 417 218 persons Population density: 388 persons /km2

Area of land per person = 2500m2(one quarter acre each)

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Area/person needed to produce total food supply

•! US agriculture ! 2200 - 4200m2/person (Jeavons)

•! Swedish agriculture ! 1500 - 2500m2/person (Günther)

•! Bio intensive vegan ! 300m2/person (Jeavons)

•! Permaculture omnivore ! 700-1500m2/person (Holmgren guesstimate)

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•! To improve health and well being •! To relocalise our economies •! To develop a true culture of place that draws on our multicultural heritage •! To increase local food security and sovereignty

in the face of peak oil, climate change & economic contraction

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Sheet mulching, raised beds, vertical growing, & other techniques for intensive garden agriculture

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Attached Greenhouses and poly tunnels (minimal bottom heat) !

for seedling production, ! early production and extended

seasons

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Allotment, rooftop, container and vertical gardens & aquaponics!

(higher density areas)!

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Composting, deep litter systems &!worm farms for nutrient recycling! and soil improvement

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Compost toilets and reed beds !for nutrient capture !and water saving!

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Storm water harvesting to tanks, ! swales, ponds and wetlands

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Poultry for eggs in !deep litter yards, !chicken tractor & !orchard range systems

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Rabbits and geese for meat, !fed by urban lawns & weeds!

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Neighbourhood goat dairies !managing public land!

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Mushroom production on compost & wood !in shaded spaces!Bees for honey, pollen, wax & pollination

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Home food processing, preserving & fermentation !using low energy methods

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Low input pond aquaculture

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Amenity landscaping as !source of fuel and organic

matter

2/11/14 © 2006 wwww.holmgren.com.au 29 Wild harvesting (weeds, windfalls and wildlife): abundance at your feet

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•! What is the cost of current centralised markets? •! How can surpluses from gardens be distributed?

•! Local markets that don’t cost the earth

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•! Community Supported Agriculture –! For consumers: food security, seasonal food culture, influence –! For producers: capital base, market security –! Stimulate polyculture and stabilise production peaks & troughs –! Develop seasonal labour pool & understanding consumers

•! Farmers markets –! Identify local sources for consumers –! Distribute seasonal surplus for home processing & preservation –! Encourage gardeners to become new producers

•! Restaurants and street stalls providing set menus to reduce waste

•! Local & regional currencies to encourage local production & consumption

•! Increase household size for economies of scale & efficiency of resource use

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•! Focus on production of local food for local people

•! Remove health & environmental regulatory impediments to garden agriculture. •! Develop skills (gardening, food processing, small livestock husbandry)

•! Reform horticulture and agricultural education to support new start-up producers

•! Remove tax impediments to barter & non monetary economies

I believe the evidence of global instability leading to energy descent if not total collapse is so overwhelming that it is incumbent on everyone to begin taking personal and household responsibility for reorganising their lives to adapt in place (or consolidate with family or friends). !Paying off debt, teaching our kids to garden, and turning our hobby into a business is not going to solve the problems unleashed by permanent energetic and economic contraction, but after forty years of public policy denial of the limits to growth conundrum by government, the media and other sources of power and public policy, the bottom up adaption strategy is the only one with any remaining utility."

! !Retrofitting the Suburbs: Simplicity Institute Report 2012!

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LLiivviinngg SSooiill;; tthhee wwaatteerr && ccaarrbboonn bbaannkk ffoorr ffuuttuurree ffoooodd sseeccuurriittyy!!

Hot Composting!Mulching potatoes with meadow hay!

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Hot Composting!

TThhee nneexxtt ggeenneerraattiioonn ooff ffaarrmmeerrss;; !!sskkiillllss ttoo ffeeeedd tthheemmsseellvveess,, kkiinn aanndd ccoommmmuunniittyy ffoorr ffuuttuurree ffoooodd sseeccuurriittyy!!

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