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Regenerative PermaCulture Center

Village Life
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Ecological Studies

The Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley defined a series of ecological principles (Center for Ecoliteracy, 2015) that can help us frame questions we might want to ask as we aim to design as nature:

Networks

All life in an ecosystem is interconnected through networks of relationship defining life-sustaining processes.

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How can we increase the vitality and sustainability of our own communities by weaving mutually supportive relationships between our human community networks and the rest of nature’s life-sustaining networks?

Nested Systems

Nature is structured as nested systems within systems (or processes within processes). Each individual system is an integrated whole and is simultaneously comprised of smaller sub-systems as well as being integrated into larger systems. This scale-linking structure means that changes at one scale can affect all other scales.

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How can we scale-link our human systems in synergy within the nested eco-social systems that provide resilience and vitality?

Cycles

All ecological communities are defined and maintained through the cyclical exchange of resources between members. These continual cycles within an ecosystem also intersect with larger regional and global cycles in a scale-linking fashion. Fast- and slow- moving cycles are interlinked and interdependent.

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What can we learn from the patterns of nature’s interlinking cycles at multiple scales in our attempt to create circular economies that link the local to the regional and the global in a life-sustaining way?

Flows

Organisms depend on a continual flow of energy, water and nutrients to maintain their basic functions and stay alive. Solar energy sustains almost all life directly or indirectly and drives most ecological cycles.

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How can we redesign all our systems of energy generation and distribution to mimic nature’s decentralized direct use of solar energy flows?

Development

Whether individual organisms, whole species or entire ecosystems, all life changes over time. Individuals develop and learn, while species adapt and evolve, and ecosystems transform through the co-evolution of the organisms within them.

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What can we learn from nature’s patterns of development and evolution in order to create more adaptable and resilient ways of dealing with change through continuous learning and transformation?

Dynamic Balance

Ecological communities are in constant flux and transformation, yet they also remain relatively stable over time. This dynamic balance is achieved through patterns of resource, energy and information exchange known as feedback loops.

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How can we design feedback loops at the appropriate scale into our human systems so we can stay adaptable and resilient in a changing environment?

This is an excerpt of a subchapter from Designing Regenerative Cultures, published by Triarchy Press, 2016.

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