If you take a good look around you, you might notice just how divorced our society is from nature – the same nature that supplies everyone with their basic needs. Corporations have taken basic human needs, run them through a large-scale profit-oriented system, and from there, nature’s gifts like fruits, vegetables, or water appear on grocery aisles, wrapped in harmful plastic, sporting questionable price tags.
With how hectic daily life can be, this consumer lifestyle be overlooked easily. But the truth is, this whole system creates so many negative side effects: production of toxic or non-biodegradable waste, air or water pollution from the factories that produce goods, global warming, and so many more.
But with concepts like permaculture, today’s society can divest from these harmful systems and go straight to the source: to nature itself. Yes, even with all this urbanisation or modernisation, it is 100 percent possible for you to supply your own basic needs within a natural system, one that you can build yourself. Permaculture courses move Australia closer and closer towards this goal, and eco-living communities are proof that sustainable living is very much doable. Here are a few things you can learn from permaculture courses at an eco-living community.
What is permaculture?
For those whose first time it is learning about permaculture, here is a quick rundown. Permaculture is a combination of the words “permanent” and “agriculture”, and it’s a design system for human habitiation that works in harmony with, not against, nature. Since it’s basically a lifestyle and not just a project, efforts from environmentalists like teaching permaculture courses or building an eco living community is how this lifestyle is integrated into our culture. And thus, permaculture is also a combination of “permanent” and “culture.” The aim of permaculture practitioners is to make permaculture exactly that – permanent. It’s a system that’s enduring and sustainable, something that humans can definitely rely on for survival.
It was and still is a response to the harmful practices in industrial agriculture, where the land is damaged and exploited to produce more crops than it was originally capable of. In permaculture, activities like gardening is respectful to the land. That’s how it avoids degradation over time, which means the land can continue providing in the long-term. Since the concept is a brainchild of Australian researcher Bill Molison, one can say that Permaculture is Australia’s gift to the world.
Lessons one can learn from permaculture courses in Australia
That people’s outlook of the world can and should be changed
When you start to sit in permaculture courses, one of the first things that will be explained to you is the big “Why” of it all. Everyone has heard of concepts like global warming or climate change, but not many have learned about it with a proper solution waiting at the end of the discussion. The problem and the solution go together, and from here, one can gain a solid perspective on the global condition.
Permaculture courses in Australia or elsewhere introduce you to an obvious but often neglected truth: that our natural resources were in fact exploited for money and for money only. When you realise that it is possible to produce basic needs with the least environmental impact, you may find yourself wondering, “What was all that for?” What was all the chemicals, the smoke, the plastic, the grocery store culture all about? Was it really to help us access our needs, or was it for us to be taught to buy our way to our needs? The more people learn about permaculture, the more society can pause and reflect, and then move towards a sustainable solution.
That there’s so much you can do with your own hands
Today’s consumer culture is built on convenience. But what convenience looks like is this: fresh produce wrapped in plastic, therefore producing waste, energy sourced from electrical companies that depend on fossil fuel, ready-to-buy houses that are designed to take up space instead of maximise it. Because our society was conditioned to go for what is readily available, society has ended up causing harm even though there was no intention to do so.
But it is not too late to unlearn and untangle oneself from the culture of convenience. With efforts like permaculture, you can realise just how much you can do with your own hands, and how rewarding it would be to do so. How awesome would it be to have dinner with your family using ingredients that you grew in your own backyard? No waste, no hangups, you just live your best life while also supporting nonhuman life.
That community means so much more than you and your fellow humans
Those who have been applying permaculture Australia both in urban and rural settings are likely to exude a warm, calm, almost spiritual disposition. That’s simply what living among and in harmony with nature does: it helps you know your place on Earth, and celebrate it.
Humans were conditioned to think that the human species is superior to all species, and therefore humans are entitled to destroy and consume as they please. But the more time you spend in an eco living community, the more you realise that a human is no more and neither no less – simply, one of. The human species is just one of the many living things that nature sustains, and therefore living in harmony with many different living things, giving and taking, only seems right. And plus, the cooperation and support you experience at an eco living community will make you realise just how much can be done when fellow humans work together!
That humans have an immense responsibility to the world
This give-and-take process between humans and the environment is the centre of permaculture, and is the heart of permaculture courses in Australia. You care for nature the way it should be cared for, and it will bring you gifts like a colorful spread on your dinner table, fresh water, weather-resistant shelter, and renewable energy.
When permaculture is sustained, the Earth may just be able to repair itself. Permaculture courses then is how this immense responsibility is introduced to society, one enrollee at a time.
Start your journey to permaculture in Australia today with Noosa Forest Retreat
Permaculture requires a solid understanding of both theory and practice, and therefore the best way to learn it is by enrolling in permaculture courses. If you’re looking for permaculture courses in Australia, get in touch with Noosa Forest Retreat today. We offer online as well as in-person classes at our eco living community. Call us at 07 5409 7599 or email sunshinenaturalhealth@gmail.com.