Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
by 1978, from permanent + agriculture or culture.
Wiktionary
n. 1 Any system of sustainable agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems. 2 The design, installation and maintenance of indefinitely sustainable human communities set in balanced ecologies, both urban and rural.
Wikipedia
Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. The term permaculture (as a systematic method) was first coined by David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978. The word permaculture originally referred to "permanent agriculture", but was expanded to stand also for "permanent culture", as it was understood that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy.
It has many branches that include but are not limited to ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.
Mollison has said: "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system."
Usage examples of "permaculture".
Bill Mollison, the leading creator of the concepts of Permaculture went to learn from and help a group who were in a similar situation.
Permaculture One or the periodical, The International Permaculture Species Yearbook and the Friends of the Trees Society publication, International Green Front Report, of possible tree species that would fit well in the Watershed.
After perusal of Mollison and much thought and observation, we can begin to search through the permaculture networks for sources of cultivars to bring in and plant.
Looked at in this way, we can see that permaculture is much more than simply a new method of horticulture because it means land and culture reform in the most fundamental meaning.
Most of the riparian habitat would be returning naturally to climax, but those present areas of private property where human abuse has been long, would need intensive help of the permaculture guided succession.
If one looks at a Permaculture publication such as the International Permaculture Species Yearbook, it becomes clear that this is a planetary movement.
Eighty-five Permaculture centers are listed that exist in Sixteen countries.
Centers where one can actually obtain seed or plant cultivars important in Permaculture work, number sixty-five sources in eleven countries.
Our work on our watersheds with seeds, permaculture and natural plants could enable us to be of some assistance to the human family and to the earth, as the ecosystems are impacted.
There are tens of thousands of people already in the United States who are living in intentional communities and permaculture projects and bioregional groups are wide-spread.
It was not something Lydia or anyone else explained to him, it was something he worked out with pencil and paper: The city was a permaculture, self-sufficient in at least its basic necessities.
How things appeared in their proper proportions, so that it was obvious that a stable permaculture was the most important thing society could work for now.
Treatment of the land is fundamental to any government concerned with permaculture, that is, with stewardship of the biosphere for the good of future generations.
They were walking up a dirt path through what seemed to be a permaculture garden.
I would also like to thank Kam Sung for giving me a copy of the Permaculture documentary he produced, which introduced me to the philosophy of primal societies.