[Sdpg] David Holmgren

Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson lakinroe at silcom.com
Mon May 12 11:45:55 PDT 2003


David Holmgren

                    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

                    David Holmgren (b. 1955)

                    Born in Western Australia, David Holmgren studied at 
the College of Advanced
                    Education in Hobart, Tasmania, where in 1972 he met 
Bill Mollison, then a lecturer at
                    the University of Tasmania. The two found they shared a 
strong interest in the
                    relationship between human and natural systems. Their 
wide ranging conversations and
                    gardening experiences encouraged Holmgren to write the 
manuscript that was to be
                    published in 1978 as Permaculture One. 'I wrote the 
manuscript, which was based
                    partly on our constant discussions and on our practical 
working together in the garden
                    and on our visits to other sites in Tasmania... I used 
this manuscript as my primary
                    reference for my thesis, which I submitted and was 
passed in 1976.' (Mulligan and Hill,
                    2001:203)

                    The book was a mixture of insights relating to 
agriculture, landscape architecture and
                    ecology. The relationships between these disciplines 
were elaborated into a novel
                    design system termed 'permaculture'. Although the title 
clearly owes something to
                    Russell Smith's Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture 
(1977), Holmgren's chief
                    theoretical inspiration was the energy dynamics of 
American ecologist Howard T.
                    Odum (Environment, Power and Society, 1971). According 
to Holmgren, 'The word
                    permaculture was coined by Bill Mollison and myself in 
the mid-1970's to describe an
                    "integrated, evolving system of perennial or 
self-perpetuating plant and animal species
                    useful to man". A more current definition of 
permaculture, which reflects the expansion
                    of focus implicit in Permaculture One, is "Consciously 
designed landscapes which
                    mimic the paterns and relationships found in nature, 
while yielding an abundance of
                    food, fibre and energy for provision of local needs". 
People, their buildings and the
                    ways they organise themselves are central to 
permaculture. Thus the permaculture
                    vision of permanent (sustainable) agriculture has 
evolved into one of permanent
                    (sustainable) culture.' (Holmgren, 2002a: xix)

                    Permaculture One was far more successful than 
anticipated, as it seemed to meet a
                    need of the emerging environmentalist counterculture 
looking for something positive and
                    substantial to align with. It was published in five 
languages, but is now out of print and
                    of mainly historical value, having been superceded and 
refined in later works.

                    While Bill Mollison travelled the world teaching and 
promoting permaculture, Holmgren
                    was more circumspect about the potential of 
permaculture to live up to the promises
                    sometimes made about it. He concentrated his efforts on 
testing and refining his
                    brainchild, first on his mother's property in southern 
New South Wales (Permaculture
                    in the Bush, 1985; 1993), then at his own property in 
central Victoria, which he
                    developed with his partner, Su Dennett (Melliodora, 
Hepburn Permaculture
                    Gardens - Ten Years of Sustainable Living, 1996a; 
Payne, 2003).

                    Starting in 1990, Holmgren has taught permaculture 
design courses at his Hepburn
                    home, and has also acted through his company Holmgren 
Design Services as consultant
                    for a large number of projects, examples of which can 
be found in the report Trees on
                    Treeless Plains: Revegetation Manual for the Volcanic 
Landscapes of Central
                    Victoria (1994).

                    A recent major project has been the Fryers Forest 
eco-village, which aims to create a
                    model of sustainable housing and financially viable 
sustainable forest management, on a
                    site near Castlemaine, Victoria (Holmgren, 1996b).

                    The publication in late 2002 of a new major work on 
permaculture, saw a deeper and
                    more accessible systematization of the principles of 
permaculture refined by Holmgren
                    over more than 25 years of practice. The book, 
Permaculture: Principles and
                    Pathways beyond Sustainability (2002a), is dedicated to 
Howard Odum, who died
                    two months before its publication, and it owes much to 
Odum's vision of a world in
                    energy transition (Odum and Odum, 2001). It offers 
twelve key permaculture design
                    principles, each explained in separate chapters. This 
fills a conceptual gap that has been
                    evident from permaculture's inception. It is likely to 
be seen as a major landmark in the
                    permaculture literature, especially as the seminal 
work, Bill Mollison's Permaculture:
                    A Designer's Manual (1988) was published fifteen years 
previously and has never
                    been revised.

                    Holmgren has had a long-standing interest in the use of 
non-native 'invasive' plants, for
                    food and fibre, but more controversially for ecological 
restoration and 'ecosynthesis'.
                    This interest in recombinant ecosystems or 'weedscapes' 
is partly inspired by a 1979
                    visit to New Zealand and interactions with New Zealand 
ecologist Haikai Tane (1995).
                    Holmgren's refusal to toe the majority line on 
introduced and invasive species has led to
                    some ill-informed criticism of permaculture in a debate 
which is very much alive in the
                    Australian environmental movement (Low, 1998; Grayson, 
2003). His recent
                    comments on the value of willow (Salix albaXfragilis) 
in a Victorian stream corridor for
                    beneficial sediment and phosphorous capture can be 
construed as 'heretical' in relation
                    to official policy. Holmgren goes so far as to comment, 
'The science of ecology
                    provided the overwhelming evidence that everything is 
connected, so it is a great irony
                    that conservation biology is now dominated by an 
orthodoxy that is blind to
                    ecosynthesis as nature's way of weaving a new tapestry 
of life.' (2002a: 265) Holmgren
                    has been developing these and other ideas into a new 
book, provisionally entitled
                    'Weeds or Wild Nature?'.

                    David Holmgren continues to be a controversial figure. 
As permaculture spreads
                    around the globe, offering a multitude of practical 
solutions to social and environmental
                    problems, he may yet prove to be one of Australia's 
most significant environmental
                    spokespeople.

                    Bibliography

                    Holmgren, David (1985; 2nd edn 1993) Permaculture in 
the Bush. Hepburn,
                    Victoria: Holmgren Design Services.

                    (1994) Trees on the Treeless Plains: Revegetation 
Manual for Volcanic
                    Landscapes of Central Victoria. Hepburn, Victoria: 
Holmgren Design Services.

                    (1995) 'The Permaculture Movement and Education' in 
Goldfields Permaculture and
                    Landcarers, 3, 14-16.

                    (1996a) Melliodora (Hepburn Permaculture Gardens): Ten 
Years of Sustainable
                    Living. Hepburn, Victoria: Holmgren Design Services.

                    (1996b) 'Fryers Forest Village'. In Green Connections, 
2.2, 20-21.

                    (1997) 'Getting Started'. In Green Connections, 10, 28-31.

                    (2002a) Permaculture. Principles and Pathways beyond 
Sustainability. Hepburn,
                    Victoria: Holmgren Design Services.

                    (2002b) David Holmgren: Collected Writings 
1978-2000.[CD] Hepburn, Victoria:
                    Holmgren Design Services.

                    Mollison, Bill and David Holmgren (1978) Permaculture 
One: A Perennial
                    Agriculture for Human Settlements. Melbourne: Transworld.

                    References

                    Grayson, Russ (2003) 'Permaculture an agent of 
bio-invasion?'. The Planet. The
                    journal of Permaculture International Limited, 6 
(Autumn), 10-11.

                    Low, Tim (1998) Feral Future. Melbourne: Viking Australia.

                    Mollison, Bill (1988) Permaculture: A Designer's 
Manual. Tyalgum, NSW: Tagari
                    Publishing.

                    Mulligan, Martin and Stuart Hill (2001) Ecological 
Pioneers. A Social History of
                    Australian Thought and Action. Cambridge: Cambridge 
University Press, 202-207.

                    Odum, H.T. (1971) Environment, Power and Society. New 
York: John Wiley.

                    Odum, H.T. and E.C. Odum (2001) A Prosperous Way Down: 
Principles and
                    Policies. New York: John Wiley.

                    Payne, Steve (2003) 'The Good House Effect'. The 
Organic Gardener. Autumn.
                    Ultimo, NSW: ABC Enterprises, 30-34.

                    Smith, Russell (1977) Tree Crops: A Permanent 
Agriculture. Old Greenwich, MA:
                    Devlin-Adair.

                    Tane, Hakai (1995)Ecography. Mapping and Modelling 
Landscape Ecosystems.
                    Canberra: The Murray-Darling Basin Commission.

                    Further Resources

                    Holmgren Design Services 16 Fourteenth Street Hepburn, 
Victoria 3461 Australia
                    http://www.holmgren.com.au

                    Author Details

                    This article was originated in May 2003 by Richard 
Griffiths, Blue Mountains
                    Permaculture Network info at permanentculture.com 
Biographical details adapted from
                    Mulligan and Hill (2001)






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