Creating the problem

To understand the questions raised above you need to look at what happens when you drive a tractor over soil. The soil gets compressed, and that compression prevents oxygen and water from entering the soil, and at the same time it kills the microbes, which plants depend on. Tilling only loosens up a few inches on the top of the soil.

(The microbes is an integral part in what makes soil alive and fertile. Soil is not some dead thing that only serves to hold plants upright, it has communication networks created with microbes underground allowing plant nutrition to flow between trees and plants.)

Fertilizer is now prevented from entering and mostly lays on the top of the soil, plus the fertilizers used are usually toxic and kills microbes. (One workaround in use is to buy expensive tools to inject the fertilizer into the soil, but it is very costly and entirely unnecessary with permaculture.)

Planting tends to coincide with seasonal rain which comes in and washes away the unprotected, plowed topsoil along with chemical fertilizers. You can see why a lot more chemicals end up being applied to replace what the rain washed away.

Fertilizer on the move

Where does the fertilizer go? It is carried by the water and too often end up flowing into water systems that lead to the ocean in Florida and other Gulf states (a third of US farm land washes into the Mississippi) where the sudden inflow of nitrates feeds the infamous toxic red-tide algae, killing millions of fish and other sea life and causing a health hazard for humans. Some of the chemicals makes their way into our ground water and turns up in our drinking water.

Soil has been washing away for the last century to a point where the top soil, which is where we grow our plants, is all but gone. This created a new industry - selling soil. A few decades ago the idea of paying for things such as water, or air, was similar to trying to sell ice to Eskimos. Things have not been going in the right direction for a long time where our current condition has been building slowly over the last century. In a world of abundance this was not expected.

It's very possible to prevent all of this, with the right approach which is well within our capacity to implement both on a global scale as well as for our garden.

The solution

Sustainable means that something can continue without depleting resources. Regenerative means things are being renewed, that you are not only sustainable but that you contributing more than you took out and don't completely drain the resource; you are actively improving or healing the system. For example leaving enough animals, plants etc. that can reproduce new generations rather than harvesting them all.

Regenerative systems retain their ability to produce abundance. This approach becomes a long term “way of life” and are key parts of permaculture.

Bill Mollison, the founder of permaculture, set out looking for a deeper knowledge and traveled across continents visiting indigenous people and learning about the most successful farming methods used by them over hundreds and even thousands of years.

From this hands-on research he was able to formulate a number of principles based on a whole systems design where everything that is affected is evaluated before any action is taken. It starts with the ethics of care for the earth, care for people and care for the future. He noted that working with nature instead of against her increased the longevity and abundance in these natural systems. These principles now help us create a more resilient, holistic, permanent culture, which is how the word permaculture was formed.

Growing food using these principles is simple, does not require expensive machines or tools, and anyone can learn how to do it. Permaculture is about designing one's life to be more regenerative. This can be broken down into design projects; for instance, a permaculture landscape design would include fruit trees, edible landscaping, and gardens.

Using these regenerative gardening techniques, it's possible to grow enough food to be able to sell excess at farmers markets and other local outlets all while feeding your family really healthy and nutritious food.

A movie was made which gives a nice visual understanding of how permaculture helps the world:

The movie is Kiss the Ground, https://kissthegroundmovie.com. 

The opportunity

The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is a paradigm shift, a new and healthy way where everyone can find happiness without destroying the future. You can now avoid repeating the same mistakes made by people for a very long time, all across the world. Thanks to the work made by of Bill Mollison you can now easily learn how to grow your own food and coexist with nature by attending the PDC which gives you the knowledge to apply the permaculture principles to solve many of the issues we face today. Enroll now and reserve a seat, seating is limited!