“Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.” – Bill Mollison
When Bill Mollison, author and co-inventor of Permaculture, died last weekend we were reminded of a couple important ideas that sometimes get lost in the ongoing battle to clean up our food system, and our environment.
First, nature has provided everything humans need to feed ourselves. When we turn our backs on nature, when we destroy what sustains us, when we spin our wheels looking for technological solutions to undo the damage we’ve wrought, we’re in trouble.
Second, just as we know what we’re against, we have to be clear about what we are for. As a writer for the Ecologist wrote:
His time in the Tasmanian rainforests gave him the founding structure for what became his life's passion, Permaculture. The idea that we could consciously design sustainable systems which enabled human beings to live within their means and for all wildlife to flourish with us.
Good reminders. That the path to a healthy, regenerative food and farming system requires working with, not against, nature. And though that path is paved with battles against corporate greed and political corruption, we must never lose sight of the fact that we are working for something.
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