David Holmgren

Last updated

David Holmgren (born 1955) is an Australian environmental designer, ecological educator and writer. He is best known as one of the co-originators of the permaculture concept with Bill Mollison.

Contents

Early life

Holmgren was born in Fremantle, Western Australia in February 1955, the second of three children. His parents Venie and Jack Holmgren were bookshop proprietors, activists committed to social justice, and former members of the communist party [1] who raised their children to question authority and stand up for their beliefs. [2]

Holmgren was dux of John Curtin High School, but this remained unrecorded on the roll of honour due to his ‘dissident attitude’. [2] On completing high school he hitchhiked around Australia, before moving to Tasmania in 1974 to study at the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education's Department of Environmental Design. In the alternative education environment there he chose to study landscape design, ecology and agriculture. [3]

Permaculture

Holmgren first met Bill Mollison in 1974 when Mollison spoke at a seminar at the Department of Environmental Design. [4] This led to an intense working relationship over the next three years, with Holmgren and Mollison sharing a house and garden, putting ideas into practice and collecting useful plant species. Holmgren wrote the manuscript for what would become Permaculture One: a perennial agricultural system for human settlements as he completed his Environmental Design studies, and submitted it as the major reference for his thesis. He then handed the manuscript to Mollison for editing and additions, before it was published in 1978. [5]

Holmgren's development of permaculture ideas and practices were also strongly influenced by Haikai Tane, as well as the work of P. A. Yeomans, Franklin Hiram King, Howard T. Odum and Albert Howard.

Holmgren initially concentrated his efforts on testing and refining his theories, first on his mother's property in southern New South Wales (Permaculture in the Bush, 1985; 1993), then at his own property, Melliodora, Hepburn Permaculture Gardens, [6] at Hepburn Springs, Victoria, which he developed with his partner, Su Dennett. [7]

He started his consultancy business Holmgren Design Services in 1983, designing and advising on a wide range of projects including:

The publication in December 2002 of Holmgren's major work on permaculture saw a deeper and more accessible systematisation 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 T. Odum, who died two months before its publication, and it owes much to Odum's vision of a world in energy transition. [9]

Principles and Pathways offers twelve key permaculture design principles, each explained in separate chapters. It is regarded as a major landmark in 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. [10]

Other contributions

Novel ecosystems

Holmgren is a public critic of the land management orthodoxy of removing all non-native plants despite their ecological functions. [11]

Holmgren's 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). [12] It has also been shaped by Holmgren's interactions and experimentation at Spring Creek Community Forest where an informal network of locals manage a riparian forest of mixed native and non native species, with outcomes including increased recreational use and reduced fire hazard. The site has hosted guided tours and has been the subject of scientific research. [13]

His ‘Weeds or wild nature: a permaculture perspective’ (2011) was published in Plant Protection Quarterly, [14] and he wrote the foreword to Tao Orion's Beyond the War on Invasive Species. [15]

Future scenarios

In 2007 Adam Grubb, founding editor of Energy Bulletin.net (now Resilience.org) published Holmgren's extended essay "Future Scenarios; mapping the cultural implications of Peak Oil and Climate Change" at futurescenarios.org, which established Holmgren as a significant futurist articulating and clarifying the Energy Descent concept. [16]

Influenced by the work of Nicole Foss, Holmgren's more recent work has also taken into account the possible impacts of a global financial bubble burst. [17]

Retrofitting the suburbs

Holmgren argues that Australian suburbs can be effectively retrofitted for liveability, resilience and sustainability through strategies such as home food production and preservation, building retrofits and behaviour change. [18] An early version of these ideas, 'Retrofitting the Suburbs for Sustainability', was published by the CSIRO in 2005 [19]

Holmgren created the fictional story 'Aussie St' to illustrate both the changes in Australian suburbs since the 1950s, and a possible resilient future. [20]

His work on retrofitting the suburbs culminated in 2018 with the publication of RetroSuburbia: the downshifter's guide to a resilient future. The work is both a manifesto and a manual on how Australian suburbs can be transformed to become productive and resilient in an energy decent future. [21] It is divided into three fields for action – the Built, the Biological and the Behavioral – and contains real-life case studies and an update of the Aussie St story.

Major projects

Melliodora

Holmgren's home and major development site since 1986, “Melliodora” is a 2+1⁄4-acre property situated at the edge of Hepburn Springs, central Victoria. It is one of the best-documented and well-known permaculture demonstration sites in the world. The passive solar house, mixed food gardens and orchards, dams and livestock, and creek revegetation in the nearby public land show how permaculture design can help restore and improve land, and provide for residents' needs and enjoyment in a cool continental inland climate. [22]

Fryers Forest Ecovillage

Fryers Forest Ecovillage, near Castlemaine, in Central Victoria, Australia is a significant design and test of his permaculture principles. [23] [24]

Recognition

Recognition for Holmgren's contribution as an environmental designer, educator and activist has been slow to develop after the initial enthusiasm generated by the publication of Permaculture One when he was 23. The inclusion in Ecological Pioneers (of Australia) [25] was the first substantial recognition by academic authors. The inclusion of a three part series on Melliodora in a best of ten years of Gardening Australia , the most popular Australian TV gardening program, and a person profile on the Australian broadcast network program Landline (ABC TV rural program) have been the most significant recognition by mainstream media. In 2012, following the publication of PP&PBS in Italian, the environmental organisation Fondazione Parchi Monumentali Bardini e Peyron recognised Holmgren's contribution with the award Il Monito del Giardin.

In 2014, Holmgren was inducted into the Green Lifestyle Awards Hall of Fame [26] for his pioneering and ongoing work with permaculture since he co-founded the concept more than three decades ago. He is in the good company of Bob Brown, the inaugural inductee in 2012 and Olivia Newton-John in 2013.

In 2017 Holmgren was awarded an honorary doctorate from CQUniversity. [27]

Publications

Although Permaculture One was published by a mainstream publisher (Corgi) most of Holmgren's work has been self-published allowing experimentation with subject material such as case studies (Permaculture in bush, Trees on the treeless planes and Melliodora), book formats (Melliodora A3 landscape) and eBook formats (Melliodora, Collected Writings) before their more widespread uptake, and Web publishing (Future Scenarios [28] ). This DIY approach reflects permaculture principles that encourage experimentation and self-reliance.

The Essence of Permaculture, a summary of PP&PBS, is the most translated work by Holmgren (available in 10 languages in 2015) while PP&PBS is available in Spanish, Portuguese Archived 11 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine , Italian, Czech, Japanese, French, Korean and Chinese. Future Scenarios is available in Japanese.

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecovillage</span> Community with the goal of becoming more sustainable

An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community. There are currently more than 10,000 ecovillages around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Permaculture</span> Approach to agriculture and land management

Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience. Permaculture originally came from "permanent agriculture", but was later adjusted to mean "permanent culture", incorporating social aspects. The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Mollison</span> Australian scientist (1928–2016)

Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison was an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher and biologist. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing and promoting the theory and practice of permaculture".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest gardening</span> Agroforestry food production system modeled on woodland ecosystems

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance, sustainable, plant-based food production and agroforestry system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables which have yields directly useful to humans. Making use of companion planting, these can be intermixed to grow in a succession of layers to build a woodland habitat. Forest gardening is a prehistoric method of securing food in tropical areas. In the 1980s, Robert Hart coined the term "forest gardening" after adapting the principles and applying them to temperate climates.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sustainable agriculture:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable agriculture</span> Farming approach that balances environmental, economic and social factors in the long term

Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services. There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture. When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices. Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint, playing a significant role in causing climate change, water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation, deforestation and other processes; it is simultaneously causing environmental changes and being impacted by these changes. Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems. It involves preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources—as well as to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas. Elements of sustainable agriculture can include permaculture, agroforestry, mixed farming, multiple cropping, and crop rotation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of organic gardening and farming</span> Overview of and topical guide to organic gardening and farming

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to organic gardening and farming:

Howard Thomas Odum, usually cited as H. T. Odum, was an American ecologist. He is known for his pioneering work on ecosystem ecology, and for his provocative proposals for additional laws of thermodynamics, informed by his work on general systems theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological engineering</span> Environmental engineering

Ecological engineering uses ecology and engineering to predict, design, construct or restore, and manage ecosystems that integrate "human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecosynthesis</span>

Ecosynthesis is the use of introduced species to fill niches in a disrupted environment, with the aim of increasing the speed of ecological restoration. This decreases the amount of physical damage done in a disrupted landscape. An example is using willow in a stream corridor for sediment and phosphorus capture. It aims to aid ecological restoration, the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action. Humans use ecosynthesis to make environments more suitable for life, through restoration ecology

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keyline design</span> Landscaping to optimize water usage

Keyline design is a landscaping technique of maximizing the beneficial use of the water resources of a tract of land. The "keyline" is a specific topographic feature related to the natural flow of water on the tract. Keyline design is a system of principles and techniques of developing rural and urban landscapes to optimize use of their water resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hepburn Springs, Victoria</span> Town in Victoria, Australia

Hepburn Springs is a resort town located in the middle of the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia, situated in Victoria, 48 km northeast of Ballarat. At the 2016 census, Hepburn had a population of 599 and Hepburn Springs had a population of 329. Total population of Hepburn-Hepburn Springs was 928. The town is named after Captain John Hepburn who was an early squatter of central Victoria. The traditional owners of the land are the Dja Dja Wurrung.

Backcasting is a planning method that starts with defining a desirable future and then works backwards to identify policies and programs that will connect that specified future to the present. The fundamentals of the method were outlined by John B. Robinson from the University of Waterloo in 1990. The fundamental question of backcasting asks: "if we want to attain a certain goal, what actions must be taken to get there?"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Lawton</span> Australian permaculture consultant

Geoff Lawton is a British-born Australian permaculture consultant, designer, teacher and speaker. Since 1995 he has specialized in permaculture education, design, implementation, system establishment, administration and community development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regenerative design</span> Process-oriented whole systems approach to design

Regenerative design is an approach to designing systems or solutions that aims to work with or mimic natural ecosystem processes for returning energy from less usable to more usable forms. Regenerative design uses whole systems thinking to create resilient and equitable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature. Regenerative design is an active topic of discussion in engineering, landscape design, food systems, and community development.

Ecological design or ecodesign is an approach to designing products and services that gives special consideration to the environmental impacts of a product over its entire lifecycle. Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan define it as "any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes." Ecological design can also be defined as the process of integrating environmental considerations into design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts of products through their life cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transition town</span> A community with core principles of self-sufficiency

The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instabilitythrough renewed localization strategies, especially around food production and energy usage. In 2006, the founding of Transition Town Totnes in the United Kingdom became an inspiration for other groups to form. The Transition Network charity was founded in early 2007, to support these projects. A number of the groups are officially registered with the Transition Network. Transition initiatives have been started in locations around the world, with many located in the United Kingdom and others in Europe, North America and Australia. While the aims remain the same, Transition initiatives' solutions are specific depending on the characteristics of the local area.

Melliodora may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green urbanism</span> Practice of creating communities beneficial to humans and the environment

Green urbanism has been defined as the practice of creating communities beneficial to humans and the environment. According to Timothy Beatley, it is an attempt to shape more sustainable places, communities and lifestyles, and consume less of the world's resources. Urban areas are able to lay the groundwork of how environmentally integrated and sustainable city planning can both provide and improve environmental benefits on the local, national, and international levels. Green urbanism is interdisciplinary, combining the collaboration of landscape architects, engineers, urban planners, ecologists, transport planners, physicists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and other specialists in addition to architects and urban designers.

‘Net positive’, from Positive Development (PD) theory, is a paradigm in sustainable development and design. PD theory was first detailed in Positive Development (2008). A net positive system/structure would ‘give back to nature and society more than it takes’ over its life cycle. In contrast, sustainable development - in the real-world context of population growth, biodiversity loss, cumulative pollution, wealth disparities and social inequities - closes off future options. To reverse direction, development must, among other sustainability criteria, increase nature beyond pre-human conditions. PD develops the tools to enable net positive design and development.

References

  1. ↑ Childs, Kevin (25 March 2015). "In praise of Venie Holmgren: at 92, still an activist, adventurer and poet". The Guardian (Australian edition). Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 Holmgren, David (2011). "Chapter 2: The Long View". In Dawborn & Smith (ed.). Permaculture Pioneers, stories from the new frontier. Melliodora Publishing. pp. 18–29. ISBN   9780975078624.
  3. ↑ Holmgren and Mollison (1978). Permaculture One. Transworld Publishers. p. 128. ISBN   0552980757.
  4. ↑ Holmgren, David (22 January 2012). "A chance meeting". holmgren.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  5. ↑ Mulligan, Martin; Hill, Stuart (2001). Ecological Pioneers: A social history of Australian ecological thought and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 203.
  6. ↑ http://holmgren.com.au/melliodora/ Melliodora, Hepburn Permaculture Gardens, at Hepburn Springs, (http://www.holmgren.com.au)
  7. ↑ Melliodora, Hepburn Permaculture Gardens – Ten Years of Sustainable Living, 1996a; Payne, 2003
  8. ↑ Watson, David (2018). Millpost: A broad acre permaculture farm since 1979.
  9. ↑ A prosperous way down, Odum and Odum, 2001
  10. ↑ MacLeod, David; Hopkins, Rob (8 June 2011). "Principles and Pathways, Class #2: Rob Hopkins, and Transition". transitionwhatcom.ning.com.
  11. ↑ "Willow Wars – Spring Creek Community Forest on Landline". June 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  12. ↑ Mulligan, Dr. Martin, RMIT University (2001). "Thinking like an Ecosystem: Australian Innovations in Land and Resource Management". In Professor Stuart Hill (ed.). Ecological Pioneers: A Social History of Australian Ecological Thought and Action. Cambridge University Press. p. 205. ISBN   0521009561 . Retrieved 15 October 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Wilson, M E (2001). Organic Matter Dynamics in Willow and Eucalypt Lined Central Victorian Streams. School of Science, University of Ballarat, Victoria.: Doctor of Philosophy thesis.
  14. ↑ Holmgren, David (2011). "Weeds or wild nature: a permaculture perspective". Plant Protection Quarterly. 26 (3): 92–97.
  15. ↑ Orion, Tao (2005). Beyond the War on Invasive Species: a permaculture approach to ecosystem restoration. Chelsea Green.
  16. ↑ "Future Scenarios - Community adaption to Peak Oil & Climate Change".
  17. ↑ Holmgren, David (December 2013). "Crash on demand: welcome to the brown tech future" . Retrieved 9 July 2018.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ↑ Holmgren, David. "RetroSuburbia: the manifesto". retrosuburbia.com. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  19. ↑ Holmgren, David (31 March 2005). "Retrofitting the suburbs for sustainability". CSIRO Sustainability Network Update (49E): 1–10.
  20. ↑ "Aussie Street Presentation at the Wheeler Centre".
  21. ↑ "The Book".
  22. ↑ "Melliodora – Hepburn Permaculture Gardens". holmgren.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  23. ↑ "David Holmgren". The (En)Rich List. Post Growth Institute. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Greg Foyster (10 May 2012). "The people of Fryers Forest". Simple Lives. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  25. ↑ Mulligan & Hill 2001
  26. ↑ Office, H. D. (21 October 2014). "Holmgren in the Green Lifestyle Hall of Fame".
  27. ↑ "Milestone event for Permaculture Design program". CQUniversity Australia.
  28. ↑ "Future Scenarios - Introduction". www.futurescenarios.org.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.