In considering this video, notice all the ways tropical forests illustrate the power of diversity, interrelationship and connectedness of all species (microbial, insect, plant, animal) that both depend upon and fuel the elements (fire, water, earth, air). That’s permaculture. And our job is to observe how Nature does it, and design living systems that both mimic Nature and incorporate her wisdom into our human communities and culture so that rather than living “on top of” her, or “off” her, we surrender to her embrace and participate in her abundance.
Caveat: Let us also recognize that Nature is much more mysterious than any of our “scientific” models of her systems can ever “capture.” Which means that there is no end to what we can learn from her — on any level (micro to macro) or in any dimension (visible or invisible). And that our proudly predictive algorithms, no matter how complex, are always, in essence, much too simplistic. Otherwise, Nature would be mechanical and therefore controllable, as the old mechanists liked to assume. Instead, folks, let’s face it! She is Alive and Aware and Everywhere — and she is watching us foolish humans try, and fail, to dominate.
But, am I wrong? Here’s someone who thinks so.
