2015/11/25 by Christopher J. Rhodes · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Engineering · #Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies #Perpetuity #Environmental ethics #Value (mathematics) #Regeneration (biology) #Sustainable development #Appeal #Engineering ethics #Sociology #Business #Political science #Engineering #Computer science #Law #Philosophy #Biology
paper · doi:10.3184/003685015x14467291596242
openalex publication_date 2015/11/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/20
September 2015 saw International Permaculture Conference (1), held in London, followed by Convergence (2), which occupied 6 days at Gilwell Park, on Essex-London border, where its practitioners gave presentations and workshops on various aspects of permaculture, which is a design system intended to emulate principles of living ecosystems. While it has been emphasised (3) that such terms as development, and agriculture, are really oxymorons, since neither untrammelled growth nor our present form of industrial food production can be maintained in perpetuity, permaculture (4) has a value-added factor that extends beyond what might be merely maintained or sustained, which is quality of regeneration. All solutions are unsustainable over longer term, if they are not also intrinsically regenerative. Nature offers ultimate example of a design that is both and regenerative, and it is logical to appeal to natural principles for solutions to many of our current problems. This is sometimes taken to mean that we need adopt more simple lifestyles, abandoning our technology in process, but reality is more complex. Within a broader perspective of design, permaculture identifies elements of living which are harmonious with nature. Discordant practices which lead, e.g. to soil erosion (3), fret environment, and are neither nor regenerative, but degenerative. Regenerative versus That which is maintains what already exists, but does not restore (eco)systems that have been lost. The word sustainable strictly means self-sustaining but is often understood, particularly in media and by general public, to merely mean able to last or the capacity to endure. This has been represented, humorously, by example of two men talking together. One asks other, How's your marriage going? To which other man replies, rather dejectedly, Well, it's sustainable. The term has also been used to describe materials, products, or processes that are in some degree (probably) less toxic or damaging to environment than their more usual versions. Thus, a product containing 80% recycled material might be described as whereas in reality, it is only relatively more than a version fabricated with no recycled material at all. To be actually sustainable, a product must be made from 100% recycled (and recyclable) material, so that it can, in its entirety, be further recycled. This is seldom case, and when energy costs of processing are also included, there is an inevitable overall loss, even if renewable energy is used, since such energy sources are usually constructed from materials that must themselves be extracted and processed, all with their own attendant energy demands. Fundamentally, word regenerative means the capacity to bring into existence again; hence, if an item or system is regenerative, it has inherent capacity to bring itself into existence once more. Thus, for regenerative to be an accurate description of a product, it must be not only 100% recycled and recyclable, but also improve environmental conditions at all stages of its manufacture and use: e.g. factory that made it, those businesses and other organisations which used it subsequently, and so on throughout its life-cycle. These improved conditions might include creation of habitat (including building soil), water purification, and enhancement of nitrogen- and carbon-fixing processes in soil, etc. Hence, to achieve this for a completely artificial system is a challenge. The size of a system is an important factor on whether or not it is regenerative, with smaller designs more likely to be stable and fulfil criterion. It is possible to create larger systems by linking together smaller units so as to provide inputs for multiple human-inclusive-ecological systems. …