(Re-)Defining Permaculture: Perspectives of Permaculture Teachers and Practitioners across the United States
1
Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
2
Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University Moab, Moab, UT 84532, USA
3
Food and Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC 20006, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: José Manuel Mirás-Avalos
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5413; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105413
Received: 12 April 2021 / Revised: 6 May 2021 / Accepted: 7 May 2021 / Published: 12 May 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Social Ecology and Sustainability)
The solutions-based design framework of permaculture exhibits transformative potential, working to holistically integrate natural and human systems toward a more just society. The term can be defined and applied in a breadth of ways, contributing to both strengths and weaknesses for its capacity toward change. To explore the tension of breadth as strength and weakness, we interviewed 25 prominent permaculture teachers and practitioners across the United States (US) regarding how they define permaculture as a concept and perceive the term’s utility. We find that permaculture casts a wide net that participants grapple with in their own work. They engaged in a negotiation process of how they associate or disassociate themselves with the term, recognizing that it can be both unifying and polarizing. Further, there was noted concern of permaculture’s failure to cite and acknowledge its rootedness in Indigenous knowledge, as well as distinguish itself from Indigenous alternatives. We contextualize these findings within the resounding call for a decolonization of modern ways of living and the science of sustainability, of which permaculture can be critically part of. We conclude with recommended best practices for how to continuously (re-)define permaculture in an embodied and dynamic way to work toward these goals.
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Keywords:
permaculture; definition; commodification; regenerative; Indigenous; reconciliation
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MDPI and ACS Style
Spangler, K.; McCann, R.B.; Ferguson, R.S. (Re-)Defining Permaculture: Perspectives of Permaculture Teachers and Practitioners across the United States. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5413. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105413
AMA Style
Spangler K, McCann RB, Ferguson RS. (Re-)Defining Permaculture: Perspectives of Permaculture Teachers and Practitioners across the United States. Sustainability. 2021; 13(10):5413. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105413
Chicago/Turabian StyleSpangler, Kaitlyn, Roslynn B. McCann, and Rafter S. Ferguson 2021. "(Re-)Defining Permaculture: Perspectives of Permaculture Teachers and Practitioners across the United States" Sustainability 13, no. 10: 5413. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105413
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