This is a list of glossaries organized by lessons. You can use your browser's search feature to find a word (Ctrl-F / Mac Cmd F). Note: Pay attention to how many it finds as there may be more than one find. This is indicated by saying, for example, 1 of 2. A word could be used as part of another definition and thus not the one you want to read first requiring you to choose (N)ext.
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Permaculture Design
The Natural World
Water and Earthworks
Food Forests and Other Food Systems
Built Environment and Appropriate Technology
Water
Energy
Housing - Built Environment
Financial Permaculture
Permaculture Design
BASE MAP a to-scale map of the property that is being designed. This may include topography, underground utility lines, above ground infrastructure, waterways, and existing trees and other foliage. This map gives a good overview of the property, as it exists, and allows one to design so as to take into full consideration existing structural elements of the land and built environment. This is the map that is used as the foundation for site analysis and design.
BUBBLE DIAGRAM is a design technique used in landscape design to describe the functions of various locations on a site. For instance, there may be a space in the yard for an outdoor kitchen or shower, garden, shed, play area, etc. In permaculture, this diagram would be used in context with zones, sectors and other analysis, which assist us to know where to place elements in the landscape.
DESIGN a roadmap or a strategic approach to achieve a specific expectation. The sequence of activities to complete a design is called a design process. The design process is the core of permaculture. The first step of the process is careful observation and thought.
DESIGN CHARRETTE (pronounced [shah-ret]) a concentrated period of design or planning activity, often done in a group.
EDGE ENVIRONMENTS (also, ECOTONE) Transition zones between two distinct habitats, where the edge contains species from both neighboring habitats as well as species specifically adapted to the transition zone. (Dave Jacke)
ELEMENT, OR DESIGN ELEMENT A component or part of a whole, especially one that is essential or characteristic. Examples would include a slope, roadways, animals, plants, insects and structures (buildings, water tanks, arbors, trellises, ponds, earthworks, etc.)
EMBODIED ENERGY The sum of energy inputs (fuels/power, materials, human resources, etc.) that was used to make any product, from the point of extraction and refining materials, bringing it to market, and disposal / re-purposing of it. Embodied energy is an accounting methodology which aims to find the sum total of the energy necessary for an entire product lifecycle. This life cycle includes raw material extraction, transport, manufacture, assembly, installation, disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition.
ENERGY The capacity of a physical system or organism to do work. There are different forms of energy – light, wind, gravity, heat, chemical, life force, etc. Potential, or stored energy is not currently being used. Fuel is a potential energy which is not yet being used. When it is burned, it becomes energy. In living things, energy can be stored in cells as carbohydrates, fats or other substances and released through cellular walls. Thought is also a form of energy. Energy can also be an accumulation of matter – matter is a form of stored energy. Energy drives and feeds systems. When energy uses polluted systems and/or degrades them through overuse of natural resources, it reduces the long term ability of the system to produce energy, or work. Sustainable energy use does not pollute or overuse resources. Word origin: From Ancient Greek energeia "action, act, work."
FINANCIAL PERMACULTURE The application of permaculture principles and tools to economics and economic structures. One example would be to design a local support network of businesses.
FUNCTION the purpose for which something is designed or exists; its role. A function in a permaculture system can be thought of as a service - we try to find ways each function of each element can serve another element. For instance, some weeds provide nutrition for other plants, open compacted soil with their roots, prevent erosion, and other services. Breaking up soil would be one function of a weed. Holding soil together would be another function of a weed.
INPUTS AND OUTPUTS An analysis of the different types of energy is coming into the system and leaving, and how that is occurring. Once this is known, one can begin the design analysis of how to capture energy to increase yield.
INVISIBLE STRUCTURE Visible structure would include the natural world, food supply, water, the built environment, tools, living organisms and energy. Invisible structure would include culture and education, health and spiritual wellness, finance and economics, and community governance and land tenure (meaning, how we think about our relationship to the land legally and ethically – for instance: ownership vs stewardship? ). Some people prefer to call invisible structure “financial and social permaculture.” Sustainable and regenerative design address each aspect of invisible structure and consider how it can be incorporated into the design to make it more resilient and increase the yield.
MIND MAP A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a central idea , to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks or other items related to a central key word or idea. (Wikipedia)
NICHE A space that something can fill because its needs match the resources of that space, or its resources meet the needs, or both. For instance, when a tree dies in a forest and falls, it creates a sunny spot that can be filled by sun loving plants and young trees that will eventually grow to fill the niche. Recognizing niches or creating them can be a powerful way to produce more energy in the system. This is true of us as well. What is your niche? Where do you thrive?
ORDER (Mollison) A system that produces more than it consumes is an orderly system. If a system receives more inputs or resources than it can effectively handle, then pollution and reduced yield can result.
PATTERNS. By observing the patterns in nature, we can then apply these to design for more efficiency and stability. For instance, water moves in a branching pattern; knowing this, we can set up branching patterns for the flow of water in the garden to capture as much water as possible and keep it on the land. Patterns are used to capture, direct and regulate energy throughout the system and create beneficial connections. It’s helpful to understand the nature and use of various patterns, because “energy follows the pattern.”
PERMACULTURE. Permaculture is a method of designing regenerative and sustainable human systems that work in harmony with natural systems, increasing abundance for all living things in the system. It's not a dogma, it is a practical set of design tools and a robust toolbox that can be used in a wide variety of situations to improve conditions through use of existing resources.
Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system. (Bill Mollison)
Permaculture: A trademarked word, owned as a common trademark by the Permaculture Institutes & their graduates. Derived from ‘Permanent’ and ‘Culture’, as follows:
Permanent: From the Latin permanens, (per through and manere to continue)
to remain to the end, to persist throughout.
Culture: From the Latin cultura - cultivation of land, or the intellect. Now generalized to mean all those habits, beliefs, or activities that sustain human societies.
Permaculture is the study of the design of those sustainable or enduring systems that support human society, both agricultural & intellectual, traditional & scientific, architectural, financial & legal. It is the study of integrated systems, for the purpose of better design & application of such systems. (Bill Mollison)
Permaculture uses the energies of wind, sun, water, soil & the myriad biological processes of the world’s organisms. These powerful energies, used appropriately, assist in reclaiming soils. Forest, prairie, & river systems regenerate. Waste products are minimal & reused. Human communities provide for their own needs in small, efficient farms & gardens, allowing the broad landscape to return to health. (Ben Haggard)
Permaculture design draws from ancient wisdom and the successful practices of indigenous peoples, as well as modern science and technologies.
Permaculture design can be applied to any aspect of human interaction and human systems. When we design our lives and our systems consciously and holistically, in harmony with ecosystems and other humans, the result is a community that is more sustainable, healthier and more responsive to the needs of individuals within that system.
Permaculture offers practical tools and solutions to global environmental, economic and cultural crises we now face that anyone can learn and apply.
POLLUTION Any excess in the system that is not utilized as “food” by another element in the system, results in toxicity or pollution to some degree. It is an imbalance that the system cannot deal with or absorb. Chemicals that are highly toxic to life create that imbalance much faster than milder substances, of course.
PRODUCT Something that can be used by something else in the system or outside of the system, for benefit. A product can be a function or service as well as something physical. For instance, chickens scratch for bugs, dig up weeds and handle harmful pest larvae; this is a product of benefit before planting a garden.
REDUNDANCY It is wise to include multiple elements to perform a single function especially when that function is important to the survival of the system, such as water supply. Good backup creates resilient systems.
REGENERATIVE DESIGN A regenerative design creates systems that improve and heal damage, and ultimately return the land and system to a high state of health and productivity that is resilient and self-perpetuating. The model is meant to be applied to many different aspects of human habitation such as food production, urban environments, buildings, economics, industry and social systems.
RELATIVE LOCATION Every element is placed in relationship to another so that they assist each other. In Permaculture, our primary concern is with the relationship between things, and how they interact. So, in Permaculture design, we focus on the connection between things, and by understanding the nature of the elements and how they benefit each other, we can determine the optimum location for them. All elements have inputs and outputs, and they can have many of these. By the correct placement of elements, we can create a relationship where the outputs of one element feed into the inputs of another element in our design. To know what an element’s inputs and outputs are, we have to understand its nature, and when we have done this, we can determine the relative location where the element is best placed in our design.
RENEWABLE RESOURCE Degenerates slower than it is produced – for example, wood buildings should last longer than it takes to grow the trees. To determine how renewable a resource is, one must examine how much energy and resources it takes to produce it in the first place. For example, it takes millions of years to create petroleum and only seconds to use it up as fuel in an engine.
RESILIENCE The ability of a system to survive various shocks. See redundancy. Permaculture teacher Rob Hopkins' "The Transition Handbook" is based on applying the concept of resiliency to community systems.
RESOURCE Any energy storage that assists yield (Mollison). As a designer, our job is to maximize energy and energy storage on the site that can be used to increase yield.
SECTORS The locations on a site where energies can influence the design, such as sun, wind, fire, water flow, wild animals, etc.
SITE ANALYSIS Typically, the first action done by a permaculture designer. Information gathered from an in-depth “Client Interview” of all parties living on or majorly interacting with the site (“concerned parties”), a physical inspection of the site, and a full site survey are analyzed, assessing challenges, resources that can meet needs, beneficial connections, and other opportunities to increase yield and create resilience in the system. An assessment can be ongoing, because new information tends to come up as the design process progresses. The designer should be aware of and receptive to this.
SITE ASSESSMENT or SURVEY This includes information and research about all important existing elements that can affect the design of the site. Typically included in a site survey is a map indicating location of buildings and structures, existing plants, aspects of sun and wind, water features and flow, legal boundaries (easements, etc), zoning, topography/slope, utilities (including underground), natural features, man-made features. Additional notes will include sensory (smells, sounds, visual, etc.), soil analysis, erosion, human and cultural (neighborhood mores, historical context, etc.), polluting influences (for instance, heavy metals such as lead in the soil or prior use of chemical fertilizers, noise or smell pollution), and climate data.
SOCIAL PERMACULTURE Includes culture, education, health, spiritual wellness, community building, community governance, land tenure, and financial permaculture. It encompasses every aspect of humanity that involves interrelations, including one’s own relationship to self. Social permaculture never defines what one should believe spiritually, but offers practical tools to assist groups to work together more effectively and to overcome human-driven barriers to implementation of a design. The goal of social permaculture is to design systems that will facilitate the well being of the individual and of communities - it is the “People Care” portion of permaculture ethics.
SPHERES Each invisible structure element (see invisible structure) such as the mental and emotional landscapes of those involved in and affected by the design, the community, economics, culture, education, health matters, spirituality, community governance (including zoning, regulations, etc.) can be thought of as a sphere, with its own particular influence. Each sphere can interact with and exchange energies with other spheres. Spheres often have no single physical location, but in some cases, a physical manifestation of a sphere can be located on the design (for instance, an education center on the property). The way any of these spheres of influence are addressed can make or break the success of a design, so it is helpful to consider these as system elements in the course of design work. (Koreen Brennan)
STACKING Stacking functions means a single element in a design performing multiple functions. This element could be a plant, an animal, a structure, a person or a social system.
SUSTAINABLE Something is sustainable if you can continue to do it indefinitely. A sustainable activity is a desirable improvement over a degenerative activity, but is not regenerative - it does not necessarily improve or heal systems, but only maintains the status quo. (see regenerative)
SWALES ditches built on-contour (completely level) capture and hold water along the length of the ditch, allowing it to soak in slowly rather than running off, providing water to trees and plants planted on the side of the swale. Swales are useful to stop erosion and get trees started without the need for irrigation (in most places).
SYSTEM A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole; an interconnecting network.
WORK Work is energy expended. It can create both positive and negative effects on the system. When resources are low and elements in the system do not help each other, extra work results. Too much of a resource can also produce work and pollution (for instance, too much manure in sandy soils may result in nitrogen pollution in the aquifer as the nutrients leach through the sand during rain). Thus, an optimum balance of resources results in less energy expended, or work.
YIELD The sum total of surplus energy produced, stored, conserved, reused or converted by the design. Energy is in surplus once the system itself has available all it needs for growth, reproduction and maintenance.
ZONES In permaculture design, “a method of ensuring that elements are correctly placed.” Zones are numbered from 0 or 1 to 5, and can be thought of as a series of concentric rings moving out from a centre point—where human activity and need for attention is most concentrated—to where there is no need for intervention or human activity. Note that zones are tools used to help you think with the function of elements, and therefore, efficient placement of them in the design. Zones are not rotely drawn - they are spaced differently on every property. You must think with the function of the zone in relation to other zones, to understand where to place it. For instance, in a small yard, a large tree or shady area could be a Zone 5, left alone but observed.
ZONE 0 - The house, or home centre. Here permaculture principles would be applied in terms of reducing energy and water needs, harnessing natural resources such as sunlight, and generally creating a harmonious, sustainable environment in which to live, work and relax. Some permaculture designers include this zone with Zone 1.
ZONE 1 — The zone nearest to the house, the location for those elements in the system that require the most frequent attention, usually daily such as salad crops, herb plants, greenhouse and cold frames, propagation area, worm compost bin for kitchen waste, and so on.
ZONE 2 — This area is used for growing perennial plants that require less frequent maintenance, such as occasional weed control (through natural methods such as spot-mulching) or pruning, including currant bushes and orchards. This would also be a good place for beehives, larger scale home composting bins, and so on.
ZONE 3 — The area where main crops are grown, both for domestic use and for trade purposes. After establishment, the care and maintenance required for zone 3 crops is fairly minimal (provided mulches and similar things are used), such as watering or weed control once a week or so.
ZONE 4 — A semi-wild area. This zone is mainly used for forage and collecting wild food as well as timber production. An example of timber production might be coppice-managed woodland.
ZONE 5 — A wild area. There is no human intervention in zone 5 apart from the observation of natural ecosystems and cycles. Here is where the most important lessons of the first permaculture principle of working with, rather than against, nature are learned.
The Natural World
Soil
Beneficial microbes: microscopic organisms that help build healthy soil. They have a mutually beneficial and supportive relationship with plants and with other organisms that help plants. They may transform nutrients into plant-available form and they can eat or replace disease-bearing microbes or fungi in the soil and in the plant. Beneficial microbes can also neutralize toxins from the environment such as petroleum, heavy metals, chemical solvents, or uranium. Beneficial soil bacteria have been found to help alleviate anxiety and depression and boost immune systems in animals and humans. In permaculture we work with soil so as to increase the number and activity of beneficial soil microbes in our gardens.
Biodiversity: the diverse range and variety of life in a region. A diverse ecosystem can be less susceptible to catastrophic failure and there can be more opportunity for beneficial connection. We focus on increasing not only diversity in a system, but the beneficial connections between all the elements in the system.
Biomass: organic matter derived from living or recently living organisms - literally the weight or mass produced by plants, animals, or other living things; bio “life”, mass “matter”. Biomass can be considered to be stored energy from organic sources. An example would be cover crop (like rye) cut down and left to create organic matter in the field, or crops used to create biofuels or burned to create electricity.
Bioremediation: treatment that uses naturally occurring organisms to break down hazardous substances into less toxic or non-toxic substances. Environmental Protection Agency
“Brown” vs “green” biomass: Brown biomass includes dead leaves, bark and other organic matter that contains mainly carbon and little or no nitrogen. “Green” organic matter contains enough nitrogen to heat up a pile (the matter provides food for the type of microorganisms that create heat). These heat loving microorganisms facilitate rapid breakdown of organic matter into compost. Examples of items with nitrogen include discarded food, and fresh grass, hay, and manure.
Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC): Clay particles have a net negative charge, and so can attract positive ions (cations), hold them, and then release them to the soil when its cations have been lost through leaching or plant uptake. Cations such as potassium (K+), calcium (Ca+2), magnesium (Mg+2), iron (Fe+2 and Fe+3), and zinc (Zn+2) are essential plant nutrients, so the ability of soil to hold and release these ions later is important for plant growth and reproduction. University of California Santa Cruz, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Under the right circumstances, biochar can increase CEC as well. http://www.biochar-international.org/node/157
Clay vs sand: two types of soil. Clay is moist sticky earth that hardens when heated, widely used in making bricks, tiles, and pottery. When you squeeze clay in your hand it will cling to itself, making a ball that sticks together. The grains are smaller than sand. Sand is small loose gritty grains of worn or disintegrated rock with grains larger than clay. You will not be able to make sand into a ball in your hand, unless it is mixed with clay.
Compost - a mixture of decomposed organic material made with dead plants or plant waste such as leaves or bush and tree trimmings, or animal manure. Compost is added to soil to improve its soil structure; for instance, it can create better drainage in clay or help soil retain water and nutrients. Compost also increases disease resistance and nutrient availability to plants.
Immature Compost - compost that has not undergone enough decomposition to be of maximal benefit. This definition is thus use-specific, but usually implies insufficient pathogen destruction, lack of friability, poor moisture retention, active generation of metabolic gases. Primarily still in the bacterial stage of decomposition.
Mature Compost - compost that has decomposed to the point of maximal usefulness. Primarily fungal stage (see “Mycelium”).
Compost tea: made by steeping compost in water (in a variety of ways). The “tea” is then sprayed or spread on leaves or soil to suppress diseases. Also used as a fertilizer.
Compost vs mulch vs soil vs organic matter: Compost is organic matter that is in the controlled process of breaking down fertile, live soil. Leaves breaking down on their own are not compost - implied is that humans are controlling the process, such as in a compost pile. Mulch is natural or artificially applied protective covering for the soil. Material used as mulch includes chipped tree prunings, leaves, seedless hay and straw, etc. These are not yet broken down. Soil is made up of the particles on the Earth’s surface, which contain inorganic material, organic matter, and living organisms, capable of supporting plant life.. It encompasses all of the above, plus clay, sand, silt, rock.
So all mature compost is organic matter, but not all organic matter is mature compost.
See “Mulch” and “Organic matter” for more detailed definitions.
This article differentiates terms that are often confused. http://www.examiner.com/article/what-s-the-difference-between-soil-dirt-compost-and-planting-medium
Green manure: specific plant or crop varieties that are grown and turned into the soil to improve its overall quality. A green manure crop can be cut and then plowed into the soil or simply left in the ground for an extended period prior to tilling garden areas. Green manures increase the percentage of organic matter in the soil, thereby improving water retention, aeration, and other soil characteristics. They also suppress weeds. They can be used to condition and improve soil in a perennial system (orchard) before it is planted, but they are more commonly used to improve soil that annuals are planted in yearly.
Inorganic: not composed of organic matter, not from a life source; examples: rocks, lava, clay, sand.
Leachate: A product or solution formed by leaching, especially a solution containing contaminants picked up through the leaching of soil. This term is also used to describe the runoff from a vermicomposting operation (worm farming).
Legume: a certain type of nitrogen fixing plant such as a pea, bean, or acacia.
Living soils: include beneficial bacteria, fungi, insects and other soil live that create many channels and energies capable of exchanging beneficial energies with plants. E In live soils, electricity flows from soil life to plants and vice versa, changing the chemistry of nutrients to make them more available to plants. Nutrients flow from soil organisms to plants and from plants to organisms in a mutually beneficial manner. Live soils have significantly more beneficial interaction and connection with plants than soils without a healthy microbial soil life.
Loam: A rich, friable soil composed of a mixture of sand, clay, and organic matter.
Mycorrhizae: Symbiotic combination (dual organism) of fungi with the roots of plants. The fungus supplies water and mineral salts to the plant, and the plant supplies carbohydrates created from photosynthesis to the fungus.
Mycelium: the vegetative portion of fungi (the mushroom is the fruit), usually found in soil. Its chief function is to decompose soil. In some forms, it aids plants to resist disease and find nutrition and water. In other forms, it has the capacity to break down some toxins (a form of bioremediation). Mycelium mats may be the largest living organisms in the world, sometimes spreading over hundreds of miles (Stamets).
No-till: A method of gardening that does not disturb or till the soil. This helps keep beneficial soil life intact and productive. Tilling or soil disturbance disrupt beneficial soil food webs (see below definition) and kill beneficial soil organisms
Nitrogen: Nitrogen is one of the key foods that plants need to survive. More than 90% of air is made up of nitrogen but most plants can’t access it in that form. It takes soil microorganisms to convert nitrogen to a form that is available to plants.
Nitrogen fixers: Plants that host microorganisms in nodules on their roots, which can take nitrogen from the air and convert it to a form that plants can use. Includes most members of the pea and bean families, clover, plus other species. It’s important to have these species in a balanced system, to ensure that nitrogen remains available in the system.
Organic matter: the partially decomposed remains of soil organisms and plant life including lichens and mosses, grasses and leaves, trees, and all other kinds of vegetative matter. Although it only makes up a small fraction of the soil (normally 5 to 10 percent), organic matter is absolutely essential. It binds together soil particles into porous crumbs or granules which allow air and water to move through the soil. Organic matter also retains moisture, and is able to absorb and store nutrients. Most importantly, organic matter is food for microorganisms and other forms of soil life.
Silt: material consisting of very fine particles intermediate in size between sand and clay. Silt is closer in size to clay than to sand, which is much larger. Another definition of silt is any fine sand, clay or silt carried by moving or running water and deposited as a sediment.
Soil: the particles of the Earth’s surface, which contain both inorganic and organic living matter as well as living organisms.
Soil food web: The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals. (Wikipedia) Food webs describe transfer of energies in complex relationships in ecosystems. Much of this transferred energy comes from the sun in the form of photosynthesis, which plants use to turn inorganic compounds into energy-rich, organic compounds that provide food for other organisms.
Soil horizon: A soil horizon is a layer parallel to the soil surface, whose physical characteristics differ from the layers above and beneath. Each soil type has at least one, usually three or four horizons. Horizons are defined in most cases by obvious physical features, chiefly colour and texture. These may be described both in absolute terms (particle size distribution for texture, for instance) and in terms relative to the surrounding material, i.e. ‘coarser’ or ‘sandier’ than the horizons above and below. Water deposits, dissolves or removes nutrients as it passes through soil horizons. (Wikipedia)
Soil life: Soil organisms include the bacteria and fungi, protozoa and nematodes, mites, springtails, earthworms and other tiny creatures found in healthy soil. These organisms are essential for plant growth. They help convert organic matter and soil minerals into the vitamins, hormones, disease-suppressing compounds and nutrients that plants need to grow. Their excretion also helps to bind soil particles into the small aggregates that make a soil loose and crumbly. As a gardener, your job is to create the ideal conditions for these soil organisms to do their work. This means providing them with an abundant source of food (the carbohydrates in organic matter), oxygen (present in a well-aerated soil), and water (an adequate but not excessive amount). (gardeners.com)
Tilth: Physical condition of soil, especially in relation to its suitability for planting or growing a crop. Factors that determine tilth include the formation and stability of aggregated soil particles, moisture content, degree of aeration, rate of water infiltration, and drainage. The tilth of a soil can change rapidly, depending on environmental factors such as changes in moisture. The objective of tillage (mechanical manipulation of the soil) is to improve tilth, thereby increasing crop production; in the long term, however, conventional tillage, especially plowing, often has the opposite effect, causing the soil to break down and become compacted. (Miriam-Webster)
Vermicomposting: using worms to compost material. Worms add their own beneficial bacteria and secretions which add many benefits to soil structure, health and nutrition availability. When compared to normal soil, earthworm castings contain 5 to 11 times more of the major nutrients that plants need to grow.
Worm tea: Worm castings soaked in oxygenated water can be used as a foliar spray for insects or disease, as fertilizer, and as a general tonic for plants. The mixture is full of vitamins, minerals and beneficial microorganisms.
Water and Earthworks
A-frame level vs bunyip level vs laser level: A-frame and Bunyip levels are simple tools for measuring slope, finding contour lines on a property and determining the placement of water-harvesting earthworks or swales. Level contours on a slope reduce erosion, increase water infiltration, protect slopes and facilitate reclamation of degraded hillsides. An A-frame is literally a frame in the shape of an “A” which includes a weight that hangs freely. A bunyip, or water level, consists of a long clear vinyl tube filled with water, with each end attached to a tall stake that is marked in inches or centimeters. A laser level uses a laser to measure slope, is very accurate at large distances, and can be used on large scale projects.
Aquaculture: An integrated polyculture aquatic cultivation system of aquatic plants and fish, crustaceans & molluscs grown for consumption which achieves more protein per square meter than any land based system. Both marine and freshwater species can be farmed in land based ponds or open ocean production. This can be done in a way that produces much pollution (factory farming) or integrated in a way that heals landscapes.
Aquaponics vs hydroponics: ponics Greek for toil, labor; exertion. Hydroponics is growing plants in a nutrient solution rather than soil by adding plant-specific nutrients to a recirculating water system. From hydro water. Aquaponics is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and fish in a recirculating environment. It is similar to a hydroponics system except instead of adding nutrients, you rely on the fish as nutrient-generators. That is, you feed the fish (this is the only input), the fish create waste, and that waste is converted to nitrates (plant food) by using beneficial bacteria, enabling a large amount of protein and vegetables to be grown in a small area. Chemicals cannot be used on plants in aquaponics because they will kill the fish so it is organic production. Hydroponics usually uses chemical fertilizers and sometimes other chemicals and is sometimes done indoors with high energy inputs. Both systems recirculate water, using a fraction of what is used in conventional gardening, and incorporate intensive, small space growing techniques. Both systems are particularly suitable for urban settings. These approaches can be far less polluting and wasteful than conventional agriculture, but more work is needed to determine just how sustainable/regenerative these methods can be.
Berm vs swale: A berm is a low, narrow, level earthen wall, ledge, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas, typically beside a body of water such as a dike, or a man-made hill or ditch. When you dig the ditch, you use the soil you remove to construct the berm. Berms are used to control erosion and sedimentation by reducing the rate of surface run-off. A swale is a ditch dug on a contour, used to capture rainfall so that water can be held long enough for it to soak into the earth, where it can be used by trees and perennials planted on berms built up on the downhill side of the swale with the soil from the ditch.
Check dam - small, often permeable dam usually made of rocks that slows water enough to allow silt in river to drop and create a “living sponge”. This silt allows trees and other plants to grow near the streambed, thus healing the riparian area.This has many positive effects on the local environment. Long term effects can include increased flow, year-round flow as opposed to seasonal only, spread of riparian area, increased water table, increased fertility. It is often used to create areas where annual or perennial crops can be grown in desert or drylands.
Chinampas: an ancient sustainable, agricultural method of creating raised crop beds on shallow lakes, swamps, ponds, or lowlands. Chinampas are probably the most productive agricultural design ever developed by humans: up to 7 harvests per year from a single bed of vegetables, fruit, and lattice-grown vines, plus fish, waterfowl and water plants from the water channel. Once a plant’s root systems are stable, a chinampa never has to be watered. Because the ground is permanently moist, nutrients stay suspended and available to the plant roots, creating a perfect root zone environment. Biomass at the bottom of channels is used for increased garden fertility. Ducks eat the plants at the shore; their droppings & insects become food for fish. Fish raised in channels are easy to harvest with nets. Ducks and geese eat weeds and slugs on the banks and in the garden beds. And so on. (Midwest Permaculture)
Contour: imaginary line with all points at the same altitude or level. (Mars) Also On-Contour: Following the contour lines of land.
Diversion drain: A drain designed to remove excess water from an area without causing erosion.
Earthworks: In Permaculture designs, earthworks are tools for earth repair that range from small such as building garden beds to large such as building swales and dams, using everything from hand tools to big machines. Earthworks are primarily used to stop, spread and soak water to catch energy and enhance life systems, slow or stop erosion, and create underground water storage on the site.
French drain: A French drain (aka weeping tile, blind drain, rubble drain, rock drain, drain tile, perimeter drain, land drain or French ditch) is a trench covered with gravel or rock or containing a perforated pipe that redirects surface water and groundwater away from an area.
Gabion: In permaculture, it is usually a wire cage filled with rocks, concrete or other substance, laid across a streambed to create a permeable check dam. It can also be used as erosion control on the sides of steep banks or hills, temporary flood walls, or retaining walls. Gabions have also been used in military applications for protection, and were used in a design by Leonardo Da Vinci as a foundation for a building.
Keyline:The keyline is a slightly off contour line that feeds water to ridges where it is needed most. It is based on the keypoint (see below). Following the line of that point around the landscape produces a kind of topographical etching of the land.
Keyline plowing: The keyline plowing pattern, following the keyline across the landscape, creates a drainage or water flow system in the subsoil 12-16 inches deep to move water from wet areas to dry areas. It reduces compaction and slows water moving down the slope allowing optimum absorption of rainfall and preventing erosion. These effects increase healthy topsoil due to the increase in nutrients and water. An additional benefit is carbon sequestration whereby plants and micro-organisms store carbon in the soil.
Keypoint: The position on a mountain or hill where the slope changes from convex, where it sheds water, to concave, where it collects water. This is the highest point on the landscape where one can cost effectively hold water.
Keypoint dam: a dam placed on the keypoint of a slope to retain water for later distribution.
Meander dam or half-dam: A dam that extends part way across a channel, forcing the water to meander around it, therefore replicating a natural river system that slows around meanders and drops nutrients. It helps to reduce erosion and hydrates more of the landscape. Half-dams are often done in a series on opposite sides of a channel to force it to meander.
One-rock dam: A check dam that is only “one rock” high. The thought behind this is that gabions/check dams can create major changes in the waterway or landscape including changing stream bed patterns. A one rock dam offers the benefits of the check dam without the potential downsides. It is an application of the permaculture principle, “Start small and slow,” and “make the least amount of change for the greatest effect.” As the process evolves, more rocks may be added.
Spillway: a ledge on or near a dam that is several feet below the top of the dam (on a large to medium sized dam), so as to allow an overflow. The most sustainable spillways are long and flat, so that water sheets over them instead of cutting through, and they should be placed away from the dam center.
Surface Run-Off The water flow that occurs when soil is saturated to full capacity and excess water from rain, melting snow or ice or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle and the primary agent in water erosion.
Swale: a ditch dug on a contour, used to capture rainfall so that water can be held long enough for it to soak into the earth, where it can be used by trees and perennials planted on berms built up on the downhill side of the swale with the soil from the ditch. (see berm above) Sometimes swales are connected to a dam that collects pond water, but they can stand on their own.
Water cycle: the cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and return to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. (google definition)
Food Forest and Other Food Systems
AGROECOLOGY the study of ecological processes that operate in agricultural production systems, and application of these processes to agricultural systems to create more ecologically friendly agricultural practices.
AGROFORESTRY (Martin, Sherman & Motis) a system of land management integrating trees, plants, and animals in conservative, long-term, productive systems. Agroforestry systems make maximum use of the land; every part is considered suitable for useful plants. Emphasis is placed on perennial, multiple purpose crops that are planted once and yield benefits over a long period of time such as construction materials, human and animal food, fuels, fibers, and shade. Trees in agroforestry systems have important uses such as nut and fruit bearing, holding the soil against erosion, coppicing, and improving soil fertility (by fixing nitrogen or bringing minerals from deep in the soil and depositing them by leaf-fall). Furthermore, well-designed systems of agroforestry maximize beneficial interactions of the crop plants while minimizing unfavorable interactions. This system of land management is possibly the most self- sustaining and ecologically sound of any agricultural system. AGROFORESTRY PRINCIPLES by Dr. Franklin Martin and Scott Sherman, 1992 Revised & updated by Dr. Tim Motis, 2007
ALLELOPATHY (Dave Jacke) inhibition of one plant by another, through the use of chemical compounds, usually as a means of defense against competition. For instance, walnut trees release juglone, a chemical that inhibits the growth of many fruit trees and other plants. You would not want to plant an apple tree near a walnut, for that reason.
ALLEY CROPPING an agroforestry system growing annual crops between widely spaced rows of tree or shrub crops. These shrub crops are often chosen because of their ability to fix nitrogen, grow fast, grow back if they are coppiced, and can therefore provide fertility for annual crops. Tree crops planted between annual rows can provide additional food, fuel, windbreaks, pollination, water capture (on contour), fodder, green manure, timber and help prevent soil erosion. This system can be either regenerative or not, depending on many design factors (type of climate, soil, tree and crop selections, spacing, maintenance, etc). But the act of including trees in a row crop system will in the vast majority of cases, improve the ecological health of the system. This is one of many versions of agroforestry.
AQUACULTURE - an integrated polyculture for the breeding, rearing, and harvesting of plants and animals in all types of water environments, both natural and man made. Permaculturists might rehabilitate a wetlands and restock an attached pond with a balanced ecology of fish and edible plants once the wetlands cleans the pollutants from it, feed the pond with water directed through the wetlands from a rooftop or other surface, and then might use the pond water to “fertigate” a garden, and harvest fish and other food from it.
AQUAPONICS particularly suitable for urban situations, aquaponics is a system which grows fish and plants together in one loop, enabling a large amount of food to be grown in a small area. For instance, salad could be grown in conjunction with a goldfish tank, reducing the filtering needs for the tank and using the fish poo to provide food.
BANANA CIRCLE a banana circle is a tropical climate mulch pit around which food is grown including fruit, root, ground cover, tropical grasses, and climbing vegetable crops such as bananas, paw-paws, cassava, taro, jerusalem artichokes, sweet potatoes, lemongrass, beans, etc. The mulch pit is a natural, healthy way to clean grey-water.
BENEFICIAL INSECTS The three ‘P’s’ of beneficial insects are Pollinators, Predators and Parasites. Pollinators, such as honeybees, fertilize flowers, which increases the productivity of food crops ranging from apples to zucchini. Predators, such as lady beetles and soldier bugs, consume pest insects as food. Parasites use pests as nurseries for their young. On any given day, all three ‘P’s’ are feeding on pests or on flower pollen and nectar in a diversified garden. If you recognize these good bugs, it’s easier to appreciate their work and understand why it’s best not to use broad-spectrum herbicides.
BIOCHAR charcoal produced from wood or biomass which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produces water and nutrient retention when used as a soil amendment.
BIOMASS literally “life matter;” organic material produced by plants, animals, microbes, or other living things.
BIOME a specific environment that’s home to living things suited to that place and climate. Living things need to stay in the biome that’s best suited to keeping them alive and growing.
BUFFER PLANTS plants which live on the edge of two systems and create a buffer between 2 habitats. Examples might be to reduce noise, glare, air pollution, erosion, storm water run-off, potential for flooding. Improving appearance. To stabilize soil and slow, disperse and absorb stormwater runoff.
CANOPY (Dave Jacke) the topmost vegetative layer overhead, above the shrub layer, usually with more or less continuous cover.
CHOP AND DROP the action of cutting a plant which has valuable nutrients close to the ground and dropping the plant on top of the soil. By this action, nutrients are returned to the soil, enriching both the soil and the plants growing in that soil, without the necessity of disturbing fragile fungi networks and the billions of microbiological bacterial connections and exchanges that exist in healthy soil.
CLIMAX the final stage of succession in a forest or other ecosystem, in which populations of plants and animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment, remaining relatively unchanged until destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
CONSUMERS Consumers are the second link in a food chain, comprised of several levels; primary consumers or herbivores (organisms that only eat plants), secondary consumers or carnivores (which eat the primary consumers), and tertiary consumers (which eat herbivores and carnivores) such as a wolf. The fourth type of consumers are omnivores (such as bears and humans) which includes those that can eat plants and meat.
COVER CROP a plant, often leguminous, which naturally grows close to the ground and spreads across a wide area, planted to suppress weeds, help build and improve soil, slow and hold water, prevent soil erosion, and control diseases and pests. Some examples are clover, bean, lentil, pea, etc.
COPPICE (Jacke, Wikipedia & online dictionary) “COP-iss” noun 1. an area of woodland in which the trees or shrubs are, or formerly were, periodically cut back to ground level to stimulate growth and provide firewood or timber. 2. the woody material regrowing from the stump or roots of a tree or shrub after it has been cut down. 3. a traditional method of woodland management, taking advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut.
verb to cut back (a tree or shrub) to ground level periodically to stimulate growth.
adjective "coppiced timber"
From Old French copiez, from couper to cut.
CORM (Dave Jacke) an enlarged, fleshy but solid bulblike base of a stem, lacking the fleshy leaves of a true bulb; part of the stem serving as a storage organ.
DECOMPOSERS The last link in the food chain are the decomposers. Whenever something that was alive dies, the decomposers get it, from leaves, to dog poo, to remains of higher life forms. Decomposers break down nutrients in the dead matter and return it to the soil. The producers can then use the nutrients and elements once it's in the soil. The decomposers complete the system, returning essential molecules to the producers.
DOMINANT SPECIES (Dave Jacke) the dominant species of a community is that overstory species that contributes the most cover to the community, compared to other overstory species; dominance usually occurs when the species has a cover value of over 50%. The term may also refer to a dominant species in a particular vegetation layer. The community or layer is often named for the dominant species. Many people object to the term “dominant” for political/ideological reasons. We use the term despite its problems because we want to maintain an interface with concepts from vegetation ecology.
EDIBLE LANDSCAPING landscape is all the visible features of an area of countryside or land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal. To landscape an area, one improves the aesthetic appearance of a piece of land by changing its contours, adding ornamental features, or planting trees and shrubs. Edible landscaping is the use of food‐producing plants in a landscape. It combines fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and other plants and trees into aesthetically pleasing designs.
FOOD FOREST one of the keystone concepts in permaculture, a food forest is a food production and land management system designed to mimic the architecture and beneficial relationships of a natural woodland ecosystem, substituting fruit, nut or other trees, bushes, shrubs, herbs and vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Food forests are very rich in biodiversity and productivity.
FOOD CHAIN / FOOD WEB (Hawken) the series of events that happen when one organism consumes another to survive. Food web is a more accurate term since every organism is involved with several other organisms. Cows might be food for humans, bacteria, or flies. Each of those flies might be connected to frogs, microbes, or spiders. There are dozens of connections for every organism. When you draw all of those connecting lines, you get a web-like shape. The sequence of a simple food chain is producers, consumers, and decomposers.
FOREST GARDEN see also Food Forest. “Forest gardening” is generally used to describe the practice, in an urban setting, of planting food in patterns similar to those found in a woodland or forest setting. Though the terms are interchangeable to some degree, food forest implies a larger system, over acreage.
GREEN MANURE a crop that is decaying or is plowed back into the soil. See cover crop
GUILDS (all Dave Jacke) Groups of species that partition resources or create networks of mutual support
- mutual-support guild a group of species with different functions, or different trophic levels, such as chickens, trees, and ladybugs, which interconnect and interact in such a way as to support each other.
- garden guild a guild of plants that can or must function with plants and other organisms, spread across more than one patch within a garden, habitat or neighborhood. For instance, a plant that is dependent for pollination upon a type of bee that lives in a different nearby ecosystem. Contrast with patch guild.
- between patch guild a guild which does not require its plant members to grow within the same patch for the guild to function.
- patch guild a guild that can function as a guild only when the plants or other organisms live or grow within the same patch. For instance, nitrogen fixing bacteria and nitrogen fixing trees. Contrast with garden guild.
HERBACEOUS LAYER an understory of plants with soft stems as opposed to bushes (woody stems). Herbaceous perennials sometimes die back each year. Examples are asparagus, rhubarb, chives. Annuals would include plants such as basil and arugula.
INVASIVE VS OPPORTUNIST- invasive describes a non native plant whose aggressive characteristics can alter ecosystems drastically. An example would be water hyacinth which clogs waterways to the point where they cannot be traversed by boat and other plants cannot grow. Opportunist is a plant that, in certain ecological niches, is able to use resources more effectively and reproduce more rapidly than plants previously occupying the system. Opportunist is perceived as a more neutral word. Invasives or opportunists often find a foothold in environments degraded by mankind or where artificial edges have been created by mankind. INDICATOR SPECIES - An organism, including microorganisms and plants, that indicates the environmental conditions on a site. For instance, sedges indicate moist soils; blueberries indicate acid soils; curly dock indicates compacted soils. Some plants may indicate a frost free zone or a minimum number of chill hours. Knowing indicator species of local ecosystems can tell you a lot about the nature of that system.
INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM)- a multi-pronged approach to pest management that focuses on natural, non chemical handlings such as attracting pest predators, using compost teas to increase plant resistance, creating diversity in the system, using chickens or cover crops to break the pest life cycle, and using detractants such as cayenne pepper. It can also include using mild insecticides such as soaps or Neem on a spot basis only (where pests are found).
LEGUME / LEGUMINOUS plants which are part of the pea family such as bean, lentil, lupin, pea and alfalfa. Many cover crops are leguminous. This family is unique in that all of the species in it have pod-like seeds, are typically high in nitrogen and can often provide the required quantity of nitrogen for crop production. For instance, clovers will mine great quantities of nitrogen out of the air via a symbiotic relationship with bacteria. These bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into a form available to the clover, and exchange this nitrogen for sugars given by the clover. When the clover dies or is cut down, the green matter breaks down and releases the nitrogen into the soil in a form that other plants can access.
MICROCLIMATE (Dave Jacke) the climate of a small site, area, or habitat when conditions are essentially uniform and significantly different from the overall climate and neighboring microclimates. A microclimate can be as small as the size of a kitchen table or as large as the side of a mountain.
MINERAL ACCUMULATOR (aka “dynamic accumulator”) plants that gather micronutrients, macronutrients, or minerals from the soil through their roots that are not generally bioavailable to other plants, and store them in their leaves. These minerals are now bioavailable to other plants via leaf drop.These plants can be used either for detoxifying soil or for gathering a certain nutrient or mineral from an area.
MONOCULTURE - the agriculture practice of planting one species on acreage.
NICHE (Dave Jacke) a general term denoting “ecological space”
- Community niche (Dave Jacke) an ecological role within a plant community, e.g., “canopy foliage herbivore,” “late succession understory tree,” “lignin* decomposer”; community niches can be filled by many different species. [*lignin is an organic substance binding the cells, fibres and vessels which constitute wood and the lignified elements of plants, as in straw. After cellulose, it is the most abundant renewable carbon source on Earth.]
- Environment niche (Dave Jacke) a suite of ecological conditions within which a given species can exploit an energy source effectively enough to reproduce and colonize similar conditions.
- Species niche (Dave Jacke) the relationship of an organism to food and enemies; its core strategy for surviving, and its multiple inherent needs, products, characteristics, functions and tolerances.
NITROGEN FIXER a plant which is able to access nitrogen from the air, and deposit and hold it in the soil. See legume and cover crop.
NURSE PLANT an adult plant that provides shade or other protection allowing plants of its own or other species to germinate and survive.
PARASITES use pests as nurseries for their young.
PERENNIAL (Dave Jacke) a plant that continues to grow, or grows back every year from the roots after winter dieback, without starting from seed.
PEST PREDATOR ATTRACTANT Attractants are plants known to attract beneficial insects that prey on damaging garden pests. These insects eat both pollen and pests. For a quick guide to the top 10 beneficial insects (including illustrations of each) and lists of plants that attract them, see Enlist Beneficial Insects for Natural Pest Control and 19 Plants Beneficial Insects Love chart.
PIONEER SPECIES the first plants to colonize a new site or to begin the change from one successional stage to another; pioneer trees are the first to invade a grassland for instance.
PLANT COMMUNITY - groups of plants that occur naturally together in the wild on a regular basis. An example would be pine trees with an understory of plants that do well in somewhat acid soils such as wild blueberry. By observing plant communities in the wild and their patterns, permaculturists can gain understanding of what plants will work best in plant guilds in food forests.
POLLARDING (Dave Jacke) cutting a woody plant so it coppices, but cutting it well above ground level to keep fresh shoots out of reach of livestock.
POLLINATOR Pollinators, such as honeybees, fertilize flowers, which increases the productivity of food crops ranging from apples to zucchini.
POLYCROPPING/POLYCULTURE the agricultural practice of planting several plants together in groups or rows, that support one another. These operate as plant guilds, though do not always have a complete support network there. An example of a polyculture would be the “three sisters” that many native Americans grew of corn, beans and squash. Some Native Americans used a fourth or fifth sister, such as bee balm, as a pollinator.
PREDATORS such as lady beetles and soldier bugs, consume pest insects as food.
PRODUCERS plants (such as fruits and vegetables) at the beginning of a simple food chain, making nutrients for other organisms to eat. Using photosynthesis, plants are at the beginning of every food chain that involves the sun, both on the land and in the ocean.
RIPARIAN of, relating to, or situated on the banks of a natural course of water.
RHIZOME (Jacke & Wikipedia) a continuously growing, horizontal, underground, main stem of a plant that puts out lateral shoots and roots at intervals. If a rhizome is separated into pieces, each piece usually will be able to give rise to a new plant. The rhizome is used as storage for starches, proteins, and other nutrients by the plant. Examples of plants that are propagated this way include hops, asparagus, ginger, irises, and certain orchids. Some examples of rhizomes that are used directly in cooking are ginger and turmeric.
RHIZOSPHERE the thin layers of the soil next to roots where microbes and other soil life interact with plants via their root systems.
ROOT NODULES legumes have small nodules on their roots which house rhizobial bacteria. These bacteria convert biologically unavailable atmospheric nitrogen gas (N2) to biologically available nitrogen (NH+4) through the process of nitrogen fixation.
SILVOCULTURE / SILVOPASTORAL SYSTEMS Agroforestry systems integrating tree crops with grazed pasture lands. The trees provide food, fuel, fiber, fodder, and fertilizer production, as well as benefits such as wind reduction, soil salinity control, humidification of the air, shade, and improved grazing-animal weight gain due to microclimate improvements.
SUCCESSION (Dave Jacke) the progressive change from one ecosystem or habitat to another by natural processes of soil and community development and colonization. In the eastern United States it usually refers to the transformation of bare soil or disturbed lands back to forest.
SUN TRAP A location that faces the sun, and is sheltered from cold winds. This creates a microclimate that can increase the growing season and protect from freezes in a cold climate.
TERRAQUA CULTURE the practice of multi-crop farming, often with rice as a core crop, through the use of terraces and an extensive, sustainable, cooperative and complex irrigation system that slowly flows through terraced fields. It is a sustainable traditional farming system of the Asia-Pacific region where it has been practiced for thousands of years. Terraqua Culture is natural farming without imported energy, agro-chemicals or irrigation infrastructure. TRAP PLANT A trap crop is a plant that attracts agricultural pests, usually insects, away from nearby crops and can be used as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) program. This form of companion planting can save the main crop from decimation by pests without the use of pesticides. Trap crops can be planted around the circumference of the field to be protected, or interspersed among them.
TROPHIC LEVEL (Dave Jacke) one of the different levels of the food web, e.g., producer, herbivore, carnivore, and so on; trophic literally means “nursing” in Greek; each species on the same trophic level operates on a common feeding path. For instance, rabbits and sheep both feed on herbaceous plants, therefore on the same trophic level, while wolves and mountain lions might feed on both rabbits and sheep.
UNDERSTORY (Dave Jacke) any layer of vegetation underlying the canopy of overstory. Ecologists also use the term to describe a specific ecological niche of trees adapted to grpw and reproduce in the shade of the canopy, e.g., “understory trees.”
Built Environment and Appropriate Technology
Built environment Any shelter or infrastructure that is built by man. This can include everything from a pet run to a home to internet cables strung below the ocean between Europe and America.
Appropriate technology Technology that creates minimal environmental impact while serving basic human needs. Uses the simplest level of technology that can effectively achieve the intended purpose in a particular location.
Water
Biofilter The use of living material such as bacteria or plants to process pollutants in water. Common uses include processing sewage through a microbial filter, capturing harmful chemicals or silt from surface runoff, and using plant roots to clean water.
Blackwater the used water from your kitchen sink (containing bits of decomposing food) and toilet (containing urine and feces). Handling blackwater is different than greywater because of increased concerns about ensuring that pathogens from these areas do not create illness if allowed into waterways or onto food growing in the garden.
Constructed Wetlands Natural wetlands act as a biofilter, removing sediments and pollutants such as heavy metals, feces, greywater, etc. from the water. They are also a habitat for native and migratory wildlife, they can absorb stormwater, and can reclaim (detoxify) land after mining, refineries, chemical spills, etc or replace areas lost to human development or other disturbances. Constructed wetlands can be designed to emulate these features.
Drip Irrigation applies water slowly at the plant root zone where it is needed, reducing runoff and evaporation. Typically more than 90% efficient at allowing plants to use the water applied (unlike other forms of irrigation, such as sprinklers that are only 65-75% efficient). There are many places on line that show you how to convert a sprinkler system to drip irrigation. Benefits include:
- Prevents disease by minimizing water contact with the leaves, stems, and fruit of plants.
- Allows the rows between plants to remain dry, improving access and reducing weed growth.
- Saves time, money, and water because the system is so efficient.
- Decreases labor.
- Increases effectiveness on uneven ground.
- Reduces leaching of water and nutrients below the root zone.
http://www.uri.edu/ce/healthylandscapes/dripirrigation.htm
Ferrocement thin concrete panels using chicken wire as reinforcement, used in many applications such as roofs, walls, water, tanks or even ship hulls. In permaculture it is usually used to make large rain catchment tanks. It uses much less concrete than modern concrete construction because of the tensile strength created by the chicken wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocement .
Filtration the process of separating suspended solid matter from a liquid, by causing the latter to pass through the pores of some substance, called a filter. The filter may be paper, cloth, cotton-wool, asbestos, slag- or glass-wool, unglazed earthenware, sand, or other porous material.
First flush diverter the device on a rain catchment system designed to divert debris, leaves, animal dung, and any toxins from your roof so they wash away, keeping your tank rain water cleaner. Typically requiring no power, they are a low-cost, low-tech way to improve water quality significantly.
Rain water is used for drinking, cooking, bathing and watering edible plants.
Flood irrigation Flood irrigation is an irrigation technique in which a field is essentially flooded with water which is allowed to soak into the soil to irrigate the plants. One form of flood irrigation is basin irrigation, in which water floods a basin surrounded by berms, usually made from earth. This technique can be useful for crops which need to remain submerged, like rice, and for soil which absorbs slowly. In furrow irrigation, the water runs down furrows between rows of crops, reaching the roots as it is absorbed. Surge irrigation involves the use of pulses of water which spurt, soak in, and spurt again. (Wikipedia) Flood irrigation and furrow irrigation do not work well in sand unless the areas being flooded are lined with impermeable materials such as plastic or gley or permeable materials such as organic matter (e.g., palm leaves). The type of lining used will depend on whether you are trying to just slow the water or trying to hold it and carry it somewhere.
Greywater the used water from your shower, washing machine and bathroom sink. This water can be filtered through rocks, sand and/or constructed wetlands to remove impurities and diverted into food growing systems such as food forests.
Hydraulic ram / hydram / ram pump a water pump that uses the energy of flowing water to force a small fraction of that water to a reservoir at a higher level. The hydraulic ram is sometimes used in remote areas, where there is both a source of water and a need for pumping water to a destination higher in elevation than the source. In this situation, the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the energy of flowing water.
Rainwater catchment a system designed to capture rainwater and keep it on the property where it falls so it can be used there.
Separation toilet a toilet which separates urine from feces, and sends them to different places. These are extensively used in Europe, and the urine is diluted and used as lawn fertilizer. Urine contains rich amounts of bioavailable nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, three major nutrients needed by most plants.
Soaker hose delivers water directly to your plants' roots while keeping the leaves dry. Sprinklers can waste water due to evaporation and runoff, hand watering is time consuming and drip irrigation systems are often expensive. Soaker hoses tend to spring leaks and need replacing, so drip irrigation is preferable but they can be a stop gap measure in some cases..
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_2204109_use-soaker-hose.html#ixzz2hMtIyLJv
Solar still a simple way of distilling water using the heat of the sun to drive evaporation from humid soil, and ambient air. Distillation replicates the way nature makes rain. The sun's energy heats water to the point of evaporation. As the water evaporates, water vapor rises, condensing on the glass surface for collection. This process removes impurities, such as salts and heavy metals, and eliminates microbiological organisms. The end result is water cleaner than the purest rainwater. Wikipedia
Sprinklers a mechanism which distributes water through the air, onto plants and soil. If used in the sun, they are destructive as they can salinate the soil, or cause plants to burn.
Subirrigation In agriculture, subirrigation, also known as seepage irrigation, is a method of irrigation where water is delivered to the plant root zone from below the soil surface and absorbed upwards. The excess may be collected for reuse. Subirrigation is used in growing field crops such as tomatoes, peppers, and sugar cane in areas with high water tables such as Florida and in commercial greenhouse operations. Advantages are water and nutrient conservation, and labor-saving. The outfitting cost is relatively high. Three basic types of subirrigation system are in general use for potted plants in greenhouses: ebb-and-flow (bench-mounted enclosures holding pots are filled and then drained); trough (water is flowed through bench-mounted, slightly sloping enclosures containing pots); and flooded floor (special sloped concrete flooring is flooded and drained). In Capillary-mat, the simplest form of sub-irrigation, a porous mat is in contact with the bottom of the container allowing water to move from the mat to the growing medium. The mat is placed on a plastic sheet to retain water and is usually covered with a perforated plastic sheet to slow the growth of algae. Water is usually delivered to the mat by a drip tube, but sprinklers or even hand watering can be used. Because a mat can be difficult to rewet when dry, it is kept partially moist all the time. Capillary mat systems are most often used for small containers and crops that need to be kept uniformly moist. (Wikipedia)
Energy
Biodigester (methane) (aka anaerobic digester) Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to produce fuels. As part of an integrated waste management system, anaerobic digestion reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere. Widely used as a source of renewable energy, the process produces a biogas, consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and traces of other ‘contaminant’ gases. This biogas can be used directly as fuel, in combined heat and power gas engines or upgraded to natural gas-quality biomethane. What remains is nutrient rich and can be used as fertilizer. This system is used by local utilities, farms and businesses in many countries.. (Wikipedia)
Cob oven Cob or cobb is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water and earth. A cob oven is proportioned to create efficient heat for baking, with minimal fuel. Combining cob with rocket stove construction creates even more efficiency. Cob is a strong building material that has been used by many cultures and lasts for centuries or millennia. It was used regularly in Britain since the 1500s. Many cob homes from that period are still standing. It can be sculpted and many cob homes are personalized and artistic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cob_%28material%29
Cogeneration the generation of electricity and other energy jointly, especially the utilization of the steam left over from heat generation to produce electricity. For instance, some solar water heaters get hot enough to produce steam, which can be used to drive a turbine that produces electricity.
Electricity-free refrigeration This is done with a zeer pot which works because of evaporative cooling
(reduction in temperature resulting from the evaporation of a liquid, which removes heat from the surface where evaporation takes place. This process is employed in industrial and domestic cooling systems, and is also the physical basis of sweating).Works best in dry environments. Other forms include root cellers, and Yakhchals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhchal
Embodied energy The sum total of the energy necessary - from raw material extraction, transport, manufacturing, assembly, installation plus the capital, environmental and other costs - used to produce a service or product from its beginning through its disassembly, deconstruction and/or decomposition. http://oikos.com/library/green_building_glossary.html
Human powered system (bike powered electric, walking powered electric, etc) Kinetic and heat based electricity production is becoming more common. Devices producing electricity generated from car movement, walking areas in airports, body heat (flashlights), and even your coffee cup now exist. The low tech version would be well pumps run by see saws or a blender run with a bicycle.
Fuel cells create energy by creating a chemical reaction between a fuel (usually hydrogen) with oxygen. The output is water, and a small amount of other chemicals. It is a “clean” fuel.
Geothermal - means heat from the earth. Some places on the earth (where there is volcanic activity, hot springs, etc) produce heat that can be used to generate electricity. Hot springs have been used for bathing and heating for millenia in China, Egypt, Rome and elsewhere. A low tech passive use of the earth to regulate temperature can be used anywhere. At six feet below and lower, the earth tends to stay at a constant temperature of around 68 degrees F. A building can be maintained at a constant temperature through the use of pipes that pull 68 degree air into the home from the earth.
Hydropower harnesses the energy of moving or falling water. The term refers to a number of systems in which the water drives a turbine or waterwheel placed in streams or waterfalls. Permaculture uses small dams to create electricity when warranted and where it won’t create problems in the ecosystem. Large dams tend to damage ecosystems and degrade the quality of water severely and are not a sustainable form of electricity over the long term..
Jean Pain style compost electricity - Jean Pain developed a system of capturing heat and methane gas from his large compost piles to heat water and produce electricity for his home. He has made this system publicly available.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVCaczil4W4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb4hF8CsRmM
Masonry heater or stove (aka ceramic stove or tile stove) device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature for a long period. This technology has been used in cold climates for centuries for heating. The kang bed-stove is used in China for cooking during the day and then residual heat is directed to heat bed platforms. In Germany and other parts of Europe they have the Kachel oven. Russia, Finland, Sweden - there is even evidence that cave-dwellers from the Neolithic period - have used such systems to keep themselves warm. (Wikipedia)
Minihydropower harnesses energy from water sources such as the ocean, rivers and waterfalls. It can range in size from a small system to electrify a single home to a few hundred kilowatts for a community. See: http://w3.tm.tue.nl/fileadmin/tm/TDO/Indonesie/Hydro_Power.pdf
Net-zero-energy home such a home will produce more energy than it uses. This is achieved through high energy efficiency (good insulation, etc), and use of green energy such as solar panels on the roof.
Photovoltaic an arrangement of components designed to supply usable electric power for a variety of purposes, using the Sun (or, less commonly, other light sources) as the power source. (Wikipedia)
Rocket mass heater a space heating system developed from the rocket stove and the masonry heater. It burns minimal fuel very efficiently (greatly reducing fuel use and pollution). Can be easily hand built from local materials. Rocket mass heaters are often built with cob or brick. The rocket stove creates an efficient burn. The mass (earth, masonry, stone, etc) allows the heat to be stored and released slowly into a home or oven.
Rocket stove an extremely efficient stove using small diameter wood sticks which has a short burn time but gets hot quickly. This can be made from local materials including urbanite, bricks, concrete blocks, tin cans, etc. Some trees respond to pruning for firewood by producing even more growth.
Solar oven (aka solar cooker) uses the energy of direct sun rays (which is the heat from the sun) to heat, cook or pasteurize food or drink. Because it uses no fuel and costs nothing to operate, many nonprofit organizations are promoting their use worldwide in order to help reduce fuel costs (for low-income people) and air pollution, and to slow down the deforestation and desertification caused by gathering firewood for cooking. (Wikipedia)
Straw box oven (aka hay box or fireless cooker) the forerunner of the crockpot, and a very old fuel saving technology, which consists of an insulated box that a hot pot of food is placed into, and leaves it all day (or all night) to finish cooking. It can be insulated with straw or any other insulating material. Combine this with a fast heating rocket stove for very fuel efficient cooking.
Turbine a shaft with a fan of blades mounted on it, called the “rotor” because it rotates. An activating agent such as steam or wind moves through the turbine under high pressure causing the rotor to spin rapidly. This can power a generator or other engine or perform mechanical tasks such as pumping water.
Housing - Built Environment
Chickee (aka chikee, chiki, chickee huts, stilt houses, or platform dwellings) the word for "house" in the languages of the Seminols and Miccosukees, is a shelter supported by posts, with a raised floor, a thatched roof and open sides. Historically, they were made with palmetto thatch over a bald cypress log frame. Each chickee had only one purpose (cooking or sleeping or eating) and they were organized within a camp-type community. Recently, these are most often used in backcountry areas of the Everglades or anywhere mangroves or large bodies of water prevent camping on dry land. Generally the house stands several feet above water. (Wikipedia)
Cob building Cob is a substance made from clay, sand and straw that can be used as infill in a timber frame or built to bear loads. It is a strong and resilient building material that can be molded into any shape; thus many cob houses have sculpted elements. Cob is fireproof, easy to build with (families with children sometimes build their own cob home), resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive. Cob was a material extensively used to build homes in England in the 1500’s and many are still standing and in use. Go to this link to see examples of cob houses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-i5pA-ocmY
Some helpful cob building books: [Please note that we will get a commission if you use these links. You can also go directly to Amazon.com if you prefer. Your price will be the same.]
Building With Cob: A Step-by-step Guide
The Cob Builders Handbook: You Can Hand-Sculpt Your Own Home
Composting Toilet Systems Dry plumbing fixtures that contain and treat human waste via microbiological processes. These are recommended because they do not have any odor and, if set up properly, they are safe methods of returning nitrogen and humanure to the land. http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/greenbuilding/resources/greenbuildingglossary/default.asp
Cordwood building (aka cordwood masonry, stackwall construction or stackwood construction) is a term used for a natural building method in which "cordwood" or short pieces of debarked tree are laid up crosswise with masonry or cob mixtures to build a wall. (The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone, cast stone, concrete block, glass block, stucco, and tile bound together by mortar.) Below, a section of a cordwood home:
Earth plaster a blend of clay, fine aggregate, and fiber. (Aggregates can be rock, sand, natural fiber, etc.) Other common additives include pigments, lime, casein, manure, etc. Earthen plaster is usually applied to masonry, cob or straw bale interiors or exteriors as a wall finish. It provides protection to the structural and insulating building components as well as texture and color.
Geothermal heating and cooling the use of the earth’s temperature (a constant 55 degrees less than 10 feet below the earth’s surface) to heat and cool your house. Humans have taken advantage of geothermal heat since the Paleolithic era. Today’s systems can be expensive to install (especially on an already existing house), but once in place there is a 30-70% reduction in utility bills for heating or cooling and no pollution or burning of fossil fuels. Often, the installation pays for itself within 3-5 years.
Grade beam a beam that rests on the ground.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) Assesses the environmental performance of a product or building over its life cycle. This includes raw material extraction, manufacturing, transportaion, use, recycling and disposal. Green Seal is a well known non-profit organization that utilizes life-cycle analysis to evaluate and certify products and services that have a lesser impact on the environment and human health. http://oikos.com/library/green_building_glossary.html
Living roof/green roof are roofing systems that allow plants to thrive on the surface of a rooftop, without access to groundwater, creating an ecosystem that relies on rainwater alone. Plants used are generally rock garden plants that thrive in your particular climate, and specifically often include succulents, like sedum plants. The two main benefits of planting your roof are absorption of rainwater (especially useful in urban and suburban areas) and a net cooling of the roof surface (to help keep your building cool in summer). Living roofs can also work in any climate, especially where a cooling roof will help keep you nice and cool in Summer. http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html
Load-bearing capable of supporting a weight or strain from parts of a structure above and to resist side pressure from wind and, in some cases, from stored material or objects within the building; as a load-bearing wall.
Mechanical systems A system which manages power to accomplish a task that involves force and movement such as plumbing, heating and A/C, electrical, and all the blowers, compressors, water chillers, boilers, pumps, and generators that are part of them.
Orientation In a subtropical climate like Central FL, orient your house toward North and South, and place plants and trees on the west and east to avoid the heat of the sun. Put a shade house on the shade side of the house to bank cold. In a tropical climate build high ceilings and orient your house with regard to the wind - you want to create a breeze through the house.
Passive heating and cooling uses thermal mass and airflow caused by temperature differentials (heat flows upward, for instance) to cool and heat, rather than mechanical forced air. The resultant radiant heat and cooling by airflow is healthier and more comfortable than forced air. Maximum efficiency is created by careful siting of the home, and proper use and placement of materials.
Quincha Mejorada Quincha is Spanish for wall or roof, etc., made of rushes and mud. Traditionally, a quincha house would have a round pole set directly in the ground, infilled with smaller wooden poles and interwoven to form a matrix, which is then plastered with one or more layers of earth, resulting in a flexible structure with an inherent earthquake resistance. It has been used in parts of Peru for many centuries. Mejorada is Spanish for “enhanced”. Currently, there are natural builders using what they call “quincha mejorada”, enhanced quincha-style building, using a timber and lattice frame design with an earth infill. http://practicalaction.org/earthquake_resistant_housing
Rammed earth building uses a mixture of clay and sand tamped into formwork (aka a monolithic wall system). The compression of the tamping mimics natural geologic forces that form sedimentary rock, so rammed earth construction resembles hand-formed sedimentary stone. Rammed earth is denser than adobe or cob, so is stronger and has higher thermal mass per volume of material. Tamping is traditionally done by hand, though modern rammed earth often uses pneumatic machines. It takes surprisingly little effort to hand tamp! Because the stickiness of the clay platelets is achieved through force, the mixture is not wet, as cob or adobe are; the mixture is more damp and crumbly. http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html
Rubble trench footer is simply a continuous trench footer around the structural perimeter, dug as deeply as the ground freezing point in winter. The trench is lined with filter fabric and filled with stone. A structural (usually concrete) grade beam (a beam that rests on the ground) is poured on top of the stone-filled trench, and distributes the structural loads of the building across the surface area of the trench below. This type of foundation uniquely provides both structural bearing as well as water drainage in a single foundation system. Drainage is important with most foundation systems, since water is the single largest culprit for foundation failure. Water can erode the ground around a foundation footer, and frozen water expands when it freezes, which causes the ground around your foundation to also expand and contract with freeze-thaw seasonal cycles. When installed correctly, a rubble trench results in a resource-efficient, high-performing, eco-friendly, and low-cost foundation footer. http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html
Shade house In warm zones like Florida, a shade house is positioned on the shade side of the house, so that cold air can drop into the house.
Straw bale building straw can be used to build in a number of ways. A common form is to use straw bales as walls. These provide very good insulation and are fire and earthquake resistant. They are also easy and inexpensive to use. http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html
Superadobe building Super-Adobe is a form of earthbag construction that was developed by Iranian architect Nader Khalili. The technique uses layered long fabric tubes or bags filled with adobe. The resulting beehive shaped structures employ arches, domes, and vaults to create single and double-curved shells that are strong and aesthetically pleasing. Earthbag shelters have been used for decades. Some projects have been done using bags as low-tech foundations for straw-bale construction. They can be covered in a waterproof membrane to keep the straw dry. The Superadobe method has been put to use in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Belize, Costa Rica, Chile, Iran, India, Siberia, Mali, and Thailand, as well as in the U.S.
Thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reeds, rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It’s a very old roofing method used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost, local vegetation. In some developed countries, it is now the choice of affluent people who desire a rustic look for their home, would like a more ecologically friendly roof, or who have purchased an originally thatched abode.
Thermal chimney (aka solar chimney): a thermal chimney has the purpose of improving air circulation in a building which prevents the air quality from becoming stale and acts to cool the building. The reason this works is that hot air rises, cold air sinks. A chimney sticks up above the roof and is heated by the sun, which causes the air in that chimney to rise and exhaust the structure. This creates a flow of air and a natural loop occurs as cooler air is drawn into the building (usually through a cool underground duct) to replace the exhausted hot air. A chimney can be constructed as a long piece of metal, too. Using a fan in the highest window or exhaust vent with open windows on the cool side of the house can also create a solar chimney effect.
Thermal mass a solid that absorbs heat from the sun during the day and slowly radiates the heat at night. It may take the form of a thick wall or floor slab, made of either stone, concrete, clay, adobe, brick, rammed earth, or even a volume of water. A thermal mass offers a much more energy efficient alternative to using a standard, forced-air heating system. However, this process is only effective for cooling if the building includes a ventilation system used to carry away the heat from the thermal mass. A great ventilation system to use is a thermal chimney, aka solar chimney.
Urbanite broken up "waste" concrete that can be used to build walls, pathways, outdoor ovens and other structures
Wattle and daub is an ancient technique where a sticky clay mixture is pushed through and around woven lattice work. The lattice, or wattle, is formed by weaving thin wood or bamboo around vertical stakes. The daub material is made from a binder (usually clay or cow manure), aggregate (such as sand), and a reinforcing fiber (such as straw). Wattle and daub walls can be quite thin, since their strength is reinforced by the internal lattice work. They are suitable for interior walls, or where exterior walls provide enclosure but do not require high thermal mass or insulating properties. http://buildnaturally.blogspot.com/p/definitions.html
Financial Permaculture
Alternative currency Any currency that is used as an alternative to the dominant national currency. This could be a foreign currency, a locally created currency, or an international currency such as Bitcoin. It can also include commodities used as currency (salt, in Ethiopia), barter, service hours, etc. Virtually anything that is traded for value can legally become a currency, if people agree to it.
Benefit, or “B” Corporation Is a response to the lack of accountability to the environment and communities of publicly owned C Corporations, and their sole focus on profits. The purpose of a benefit corporation is to create general public benefit, which is defined as a material positive impact on society and the environment. Shareholders can sue a C Corporation if it invests in environmental or societal improvements which affect profits. A Benefit Corporation structure legally allows people care and earth care to be weighted equally with profits, and shareholders must determine if the corporation has had a material positive impact. Two well-known public companies that have converted to B Corp status are Patagonia and Ben and Jerrys.
Bitcoin (sign: code: BTC or XBT) a digital currency that is not backed by any country's central bank or government. Bitcoins can be traded for goods or services with vendors who accept Bitcoins as payment. Bitcoin-to-Bitcoin transactions are made by digitally exchanging anonymous, heavily encrypted codes across a network of personal computers, each of which can access any of the others, and can exchange files and email directly with every other computer on the network. Access can be restricted to those files that a computer's user chooses to make available. The operators of these computers, known as "miners", are rewarded with transaction fees and newly minted Bitcoins. Bitcoins are increasingly used as payment for legitimate products and services, and merchants have an incentive to accept the currency because transaction fees are lower than the 2 to 3% typically imposed by credit card processors. (Wikipedia) Advantages are privacy and an alternative to central bank currency. Disadvantages: it is a speculative currency like central bank currencies (meaning that it isn’t linked to any actual value); it is complex to use and understand for the average person; it is digital only which means you have to have access to both a computer and internet to use it. There are now many versions similar to Bitcoin, each endeavoring to improve upon that model, called various things like FairCoin, etc.
Capital wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for a particular purpose such as starting a company or investing (Google Dictionary).
Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) The mandate of this institution is to loan money locally in order to improve the community. It can be a bank, credit union, or community-development loan fund. Some CDFIs ask community members what they would like funded and proceed to raise the money for it.
Conscious investing is the philosophy of using investment money to improve conditions in one’s community or on the planet. This is often done through investment in social entrepreneur-based companies, small farms, or other local self-reliance efforts. See also “Impact Investing.”
Cooperatives are groups of people who form voluntary associations for the mutual benefit of all members. The most common cooperatives are non profit or for profit organizations co-owned by the people who work there, or organized to gain market advantage (for instance, a food cooperative may buy health food wholesale and deliver direct to its members with no or reduced mark-up). Profit sharing or employee owned companies are examples of cooperative businesses. Professional associations are yet another form of cooperation, with potential mutual benefit being more recognition, support and standardization for that field. Any activity can be cooperative. There are many benefits to finding ways to create cooperative structures, from cross-marketing to lowered costs, to more support for one’s activities.
Cradle to cradle design Per William McDonaugh, products can be sustainable if toxic chemicals and non-renewable metals, etc., are kept separated from organic systems at all stages of production, and recycled. This needs to be done at the design stage. Thus, a car should be designed so that all non-renewable materials are designed to be separated at the end of the vehicle’s life, for recycling. Extraction of resources from ecosystems would also need to be done in a way that does not create further damage. This is called “Cradle to cradle design” because no element ends up as waste. It is all captured by the system and re-used in some way.
Creative commons is an international copyright licensing organization that expands the ability to copyright works beyond “all rights reserved” so that they can be used freely by others under certain flexible criteria. This is a digital license and gives many advantages for those who want to make intellectual property freely available but still retain some right of control over it. See an example of this license here: www.creativecommons.org
Crowdfunding Funding projects or businesses by raising money directly from the community. This can be by pre-selling items directly to consumers or by presenting a project that people become interested in and want to support.
Debt based economy The Federal Reserve (Central Bank of the US) is able to print more money whenever it wishes, which it then loans to the government and to banks. This money is not based on goods, services or gold. It is based on debt, to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve controls interest rates on which the debt must be paid back, and how much money is in the system at any given time. From April 2008 to April 2009, the adjusted monetary base went from $856 billion to $1.749 trillion, without any new wealth or new production, creating inflation.
Deflation A general decline in prices, often caused by a reduction in the supply of money or credit.
Economics Originally derived from a Greek word meaning “management of a household,” economics has come to mean a complex system of currencies, interest rates, speculation, regulation, trade, capital, and goods.
Economics of happiness is the study of economics within the context of happiness, well-being, quality of life, and related concepts. It considers the achievement of well-being and quality of life to be more important than money accumulation, income or profit. The usual economic indicators such as growth of Gross Domestic Product, are considered valuable only to the degree that they increase well being.
Ecosystem services Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water & processes such as the decomposition of wastes. (Wikipedia)
Environmental “sin” tax A tax on companies equivalent to the cost of cleaning up the pollution they are creating, or preventing it in the first place. See “True cost accounting” and “externality”
Externality - the cost or benefit that affects a third party who did not choose to incur that cost or benefit. For instance, a honey bee operation may pollinate a nearby orchard, or a chemical factory may pollute a city’s drinking water source. Where there is a cost, this is not paid by the company that created that cost, but by the third party. Sometimes the cost incurred is a future cost that a third party will pay much later, like cumulative ecological damage.
Fair trade is a label used on goods which denotes that higher, fair prices were paid to producers of those products (food, goods, crafts, etc). It offers better trading conditions to poor and marginalized areas so that people can pull themselves up economically, and promotes higher social and environmental standards. There is no universal definition for this term, and the several organizations that offer labels all have their own labeling requirements. There is some question and controversy about how much money reaches the actual producers and that some potentially damaging long term social & environmental impacts are not being addressed by this labeling system. It is a good start, but the only way for consumers to really know how their purchases are impacting producers is to observe or do the research for themselves, to continue to demand improvements and as much as possible buy locally instead of through chain stores.
Financial permaculture An economic system designed with permaculture principles and ethics would include at its core people care, earth care and fair share or future care. Financial permaculture views the big picture and all of its elements. It considers wealth to include the value of the work that old growth forests perform, and children, and “retired” people who continue to contribute to society, etc. It includes our aquifers, peat bogs and perennial prairies. Economic activities and decisions in financial permaculture consider long term results in whole systems, not just short term profits for a single company.
Fractional reserve banking is the current form of banking in all countries worldwide. All banks are able to loan funds multiple times on a single deposit. For instance, if you deposit $100,000 in a savings account, the bank is required to keep a certain small amount, a fraction, on reserve at the bank and can loan the rest out. Banks are only required to keep between 3-10% of depositor’s money in the accounts. The rest, they can loan. Ultimately, your initial $100,000 can grow into $1,000,000 for the bank, with a 10 percent reserve requirement. http://www.learningmarkets.com/understanding-the-fractional-reserve-banking-system/
Genuine wealth indicator Economist Mark Anielski has developed a framework to measure wealth more sustainably than our current system does. He insists that we need to consider five types of capital to be able to accurately determine the state of our wealth. These are: social, human, natural, manufactured, and economic/financial capital. Each of these must be conserved or increased to maintain or increase genuine wealth. He has developed guidelines and benchmarks for measuring these forms of capital, and outlines the process along with other ideas for economic reform in his book “The Economics of Happiness.”
Gift economy A system in which goods and services are freely given with no thought of immediate or direct return or exchange. Some indigenous cultures have operated on this basis of exchange. Examples of gift economics are Freecycle, Really Free Markets, volunteerism, etc. This is a workable system when enough people practice it.
Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. (Wikipedia) See also “conscious investing.”
Inflation a persistent, substantial rise in prices, due to an increase in the volume of money in circulation, resulting in the persistent, substantial loss of purchasing power of money.
Land trust A legal arrangement wherein a trustee holds land for the benefit of another. The conditions of the trust dictate what the land can be used for. There are tax and other legal advantages to this form of land ownership. Land trusts are used to create conservation easements, and used by corporations to control large pieces of land. They can also be used to secure land for intentional communities or other projects that may have changing management, that need to maintain original agreements on how the land is to be used.
Life cycle analysis A “product life-cycle” is the cycle from raw material to disposal, including extraction, transport, processing, distribution, sales, consumption, degradation, and discard. All environmental impacts are measured along the way. Energy used, waste & emissions/pollution, and renewability of raw materials are some of the inputs and outputs that are measured through the entire cycle to determine the impact of a product’s lifecycle. In permaculture, we design systems that produce more than they consume. A life cycle analysis will tell us if we have achieved that goal.
Local Exchange Trading System is a non-profit, locally and democratically organized community group that facilitates local exchanges and trades via a monitored system of LETS credits. It is a template for creating local trade with a local currency. A certain number and diversity of merchants and services need to participate before it becomes viable and self-sufficient. Local currencies work better when there is incentive to use them such as discounts, an economic emergency, etc.
L3C A gradient step between for-profit and non-profit corporations, this structure allows a privately held, for-profit company to accept money from both investors and grants/foundations. It is a “low profit” corporation, operating much as a non-profit, but retaining for-profit abilities. There are some tax advantages over a regular for profit corporation. This structure was created to meet the needs of "social entrepreneurs" who run businesses that have positive social and environmental purposes that are similar to a non-profit corporation, but wish to run their activity as a business.
Medium of exchange Anything that is generally accepted as a means of exchange for goods and services, a standard of value and a measure of wealth in a particular region or country. In modern times, money is regarded as the major medium of exchange.
Microlending The practice of lending small amounts of money to individuals or groups that will allow them to start a business. This is often done in high poverty areas, and has been a widely successful program with high loan repayment rates.
Natural capital includes raw resources and the ecosystems that provide these raw materials for goods, services and other needs (for instance, trees on mountaintops provide protection for watersheds that may irrigate farmland downstream). Many of these resources are non-renewable or vulnerable to degradation. It is thus important to consider the depletion or destruction of natural capital when measuring wealth or production.
Production based economy Currency linked to production, rather than debt and lending, is an example of a production based economy. An example of this would be a local currency, or ticket, coupon, or scrip created to represent produce that is grown by a farmer’s cooperative. This money can be traded for any produce from any farmer. The amount of money created is based on actual production of food and is used as a medium of exchange to simplify trade.
Slow Food an alternative to fast food, which strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine, create sustainable foods, promote local small businesses, and encourage farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem.
Slow Money a movement to organize investors and donors to steer new sources of capital to small food enterprises, organic farms, and local food systems. Slow Money, which took its name from the Slow Food movement, aims to develop the relationship between capital markets and place, including social capital and soil fertility. Slow Money is supporting grass-roots mobilization through network building, convening, publishing, and incubating intermediary funding strategies and structures. The Slow Money principles advocate for cultural, ecological and economic diversity in an economy based on healthy people in healthy places. (Wikipedia)
Smart growth planned economic and community development that attempts to curb urban sprawl and worsening environmental conditions.
Social capital is the expected individual and community benefits derived from beneficial connections between individuals and groups. Such connections create social cohesion and foster personal investment in the community which, in turn, creates preferential treatment and cooperation.
Sustainable Development In 1987 a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread thinking on sustainability in everyday activity.
Time Bank An alternative economic system that bases value on hours of time rather than on goods or money. It was developed in the 1980’s to increase social capital by focusing on the value of what an individual can contribute rather than on how much money he or she might control. Members exchange services and record these with “time units.” Today, 26 countries have active Time Banks. There are 250 Time Banks active in the UK and over 276 Time Banks in the U.S. As a philosophy, time banking (also known as Time Trade) is founded upon five principles, known as Time Banking's Core Values:
- Everyone is an asset
- Some work is beyond a monetary price
- Reciprocity in helping
- Social networks are necessary
- A respect for all human beings
True cost accounting The concept that companies should document the true costs of their operations to the environment and society. Someone will pay or is paying those expenses and it is a covert charge, since it is not on the company’s books as an expense incurred in the process of doing business. Only with this form of accounting can we determine the real costs of production, which will reveal oil, coal and other damaging industries to be far too expensive to be viable. This alone, if implemented along with a tax that forces payment of these costs, could create economic realities where real sustainable products could flourish. Because they are less expensive in terms of human health, community viability, and raw resource management, they would quickly become more price-attractive than unsustainable products.
Wealth Derived from Old English weal, meaning “well being”, wealth has been redefined to mean “a great store of money, goods, property or other riches.” It can also mean “rich or valuable contents or produce, the wealth of the soil” (Dictionary.com)
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