The term “permaculture” is fairly new, but the essence of the design science and practice itself is the amalgamation of indigenous wisdom specific to place and culture from all around the planet.  It is important to recognize the root of permaculture in indigenous land-use practices, foodways, and lifeways.

From the Mayan Milpa systems as a model of permaculture’s food forests, to South China, Thailand, and Indonesia’s cultivation of rice in paddy fields in combination with fish as a model of aquaponics and aquaculture systems, indigenous cultures have given innumerous practices to the design system we think of as permaculture.  What also must be confronted is that a great many of these practices and systems were not in fact “given,” but were taken by colonial forces that too often throughout history have taken not only the cultural traditions and practices of indigenous people, but often their land, their languages, and often their lives.   

In many ways we can say that permaculture is largely “indigenous peoples’ understanding of how to live in place.”  

“These ways of observing and working with nature are the legacy and heritage of indigenous peoples all over the globe. They do not call it permaculture. They have often not heard the word, yet they understand nature’s patterns and use them to create polycultural, perennially based, energy efficient homes, gardens, farms, communities… These are found all over the world where remnants of those cultures have been allowed to survive. They deserve acknowledgement and respect.

So no one actually ‘invented’ permaculture. Good ideas and good practices have been borrowed from indigenous cultures. These have been mixed with appropriately scaled renewable technologies and low embodied energy materials to try and design the most ecologically elegant solutions to our current problems”  – Maddy Harland; Permaculture and Indigenous Culture

Take Action with Permaculture Action Network

We partner with artists, musicians, and performers to empower their fans to action! We also love to have musicians play at our action days! Turn your work into an inspiration for real action in the world.

• Come to an upcoming Permaculture Action Day: View our calendar of events or our facebook event pages to learn about upcoming action days to attend.
  
• Attend an upcoming Permaculture Action Course or Permaculture Action Hub.
• Connect with our BioRegional Crews

What is Direct Action?

By direct action, we mean those actions that directly create the change we want to see in the world. This is not to disregard those actions and efforts that work with institutional power to push change; nor to disregard those efforts that take the shape of lifestyle choices, artistic expression, or ….. However, we are inspired by the immediacy of direct action and feel this empowerment every time we use our own hands to plant a garden that feeds a family or build a tiny home village that houses those otherwise living on the street.

We encourage you to find each other. Turn fleeting encounters into real relationships. Learn skills from one another. Find common ground from which to work towards a common future. Begin to understand yourselves as something more decisive than a group of friends. From there, anything is possible:

• A Permaculture Action Day has been the ground on which hundreds of people have found one another and built something together: a relationship, an organization, an action. In lieu of an upcoming action day in which to find each other, we offer you the following resources for discovering organizations, projects, and people near you:
  • X Pollinators – a directory of orgs, nonprofits, collectives sorted by issue and region
  • NuMundo – a directory of permaculture farms, regenerative land projects, and other “impact centers” you can visit, learn from, and maybe even become an integral part of
  • Our collection of Resource Lists by city with some of our favorite organizations

Nothing can replace the visceral experience of meeting one another face-to-face, but the internet can be a pathway to connectivity in an otherwise isolated world. Start here; and get offline and on the ground as quickly as you can. From there, life will take you.

Social Change and Ecological Regeneration Start with You.

Being an agent of change in your community alone is hard. We are here to help you find allies and make it fun to be the change you want to see. Since 2014, we have held 62 Permaculture Action Days in 51 cities across 23 U.S. states. In doing so, we’ve partnered with 12 different artists and music festivals, mobilizing 9,430 people to take action on the ground hand-in-hand with more than 80 organizations and projects. Here’s how you can join us:

¤ Want to Learn More About Permaculture?
Take a course or attend our workshop to learn more about ways to utilize the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems that teach us how to care for people, care for the earth and do so fairly.

¤ Bioregonal Crews
We partner with local organizations to put together action days on their project sites, spreading ecological education, and bringing the crowds out of concert halls and into their spaces. Get in touch with us to inquire about bridging your organization and community action with music, land, and culture.

As we move into 2017, the structure of our organization is growing into a network of BioRegional Crews across the continent putting on action days, spreading ecological education, and bringing the crowds out of concert halls and into the streets and gardens. Get in touch with us to inquire about starting up or joining a BioRegional Crew of the Permaculture Action Network where you live!

¤ Find local organizations and projects to work with in your area?
Get involved with local projects, places, and organizations that are making the shift towards a more permanent human culture (perma-culture) through education, community building, and action

• Find local organizations working on efforts you care about:
  • Use X Pollinators’ platform