David Holmgren's preaching a green gospel August 5, 2009

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/08/05/100145_country-living.html
VISIT Daylesford and you might meet a giant of the green movement, writes SARAH HUDSON
He is a prophet to many, with a world-wide following.
To others, he is an idealistic hippy, verging on the leader of a green cult.
But in Daylesford, he's just the bloke next door.
When David Holmgren co-created the permaculture movement in the 1970s, he never could have predicted the impact that his approach, which focuses on environmentally-sustainable self-reliance, would have on the globe.
"I've always played it pretty low key around here," says David, who has lived in Daylesford since the 1980s.
"I might have a certain status in a particular network, but in a rural community everyone sees you as just another bloke. I was a blow-in to the older residents."
Clearly, though, there is nothing average about David, with his creation more important now than ever.
For three decades he has preached the gospel of caring for the earth, from the importance of a self-sufficient home vegie patch and community connectedness, to the dangers of climate change, diminishing natural resources and peak oil, the need for renewable energy, and the effect of all this on the global economy.
In this way, permaculture has come to mean both an ecological design system and a loose lifestyle ethic.
"Although there's a mixed understanding of permaculture, it does make a big claim: it is still the best framework out there for dealing with unfolding global issues, from climate change to the economic crisis," he says.
"Permaculture has stood the test of time. It is alive and evolving, it's not fixed.
"The fact is when you live a self-reliant lifestyle you are doing the biggest and best thing to reduce your impact on the globe."
And apparently global citizens have been listening.
The book that started the movement, written by David and co-founder Bill Mollison - Permaculture One, published in 1978 - has been translated into six languages.
The eighth international permaculture conference was held in Brazil in 2007. The next will be in Africa, this year.
Zimbabwe has 60 schools designed using permaculture, while the system was used to redevelop Indonesian towns devastated by the 2004 tsunami.
>From Thailand to Cyprus, France to the United Kingdom, permaculture communities have flourished.
The word permaculture even exists in the Macquarie Dictionary.
"In many ways permaculture is much more extensive in other countries than it is here. The US and UK are the biggest, and Brazil and India have a lot," David says. "But in Australia more than anywhere else, permaculture has spread broadly into society.
"Here it is an agent of positive influence that's not necessarily labelled permaculture, but it's seen in everything from city farms and community gardens to Landcare and eco-villages."
As for his own involvement in the movement, he describes it as "ambiguous". "Even though I was the co-creator of the concept, in the earlier years I didn't have a lot to do with its spread," he says.
"Today I am just one of many permaculture elders who might be seen to represent permaculture. Its organisational structures were always loose, more of a network than an organisation."
David grew up in suburban Perth and says from the outset he was free-thinking. "My parents were politically radical. They taught me to question what I was told," he says.
After finishing school he travelled around Australia and ended up in Hobart, attracted by an environmental design course that had no fixed curriculum or timetable.
It was here he met Bill Mollison, whom he credits as being the charismatic driving force behind the permaculture movement.
After penning Permaculture One, David was largely involved with the development of small-scale permaculture projects around Australia, including his own home in Daylesford.

He has since divided his time between public speaking, his consultancy firm and extensive writing.
In 2002 he published the successful Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability and has published numerous e-books on the internet, including Future Scenarios: Mapping the Cultural Implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change, set to be published in the US later this year and being launched in Daylesford on August 9.
Among his many current projects is a survey of local food producers - as part of his Hepburn Relocalisation Network - which aims to promote the area's produce.
David says the movement has had its share of detractors, adding that he is often its chief critic.
"I'm always wanting to break down the movement's dogma, trying to get away from the toolkit approach - that it's only about passive solar, chook sheds and sheet mulching.
"Permaculture is a design system that encourages a deeper level of thinking to apply to any situation.''
Given that he's been preaching for three decades on the growing urgency of humanity's unsustainable consumption, is he optimistic about the future?
"I think it's a mix of optimism and pessimism.

"Permaculture has always been informed by a dire view of the state of the world.
"But it's always been focused on what you can do about it.
"I think recent events are providing an opportunity for people to see what is important, that relationships with people and a sense of connectedness with the community is more vital than possessions and consumption.''

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