BechtelThePermacultureConcept

** Director: **Bill Mollison ** Release year: **2007   The central argument of this film is that our current ways of life are unsustainable and the best solution is permaculture. Since its creation in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, the term permaculture has been associated with a number of different practices and most people today think of it as a farming method. As this movie shows, permaculture is much more than just a gardening system. Mollison describes it as a practical design system that includes housing, landscape, conservation of resources, and management of pollution. This system addresses many sustainability problems including our lack of connectivity to nature, the weaknesses in our current structures, and waste management. Permaculture is about living smarter and more effectively. It is a cross disciplinary science that and includes principles of ecology, architecture, farming, and philosophy. For Bill Mollison it is a way of life.
 * Title: **The Permaculture Concept
 * What is the central argument or narrative of the film? **

** What sustainability problems does the film draw out? **  __Connection with Nature __ The most important sustainability problem which this film draws out is our current lack of connection to nature. The suburban lifestyle is very disconnected from the natural environment. The most time average Americans spend outside on a daily basis is walking to and from their cars and mowing their lawns. Most Americans also have little or no understanding of how important the earth’s ecosystems are to our lives. For this reason, Mollison argues that forests are our greatest educational instrument today. Forests are filled with an incredible variety of species, which live together to make up a complex, dynamic, and efficient system. We can learn a vast amount by observing these very systems which are taken for granted in our current lifestyle. In Mollison’s opinion every aspect of our lives should be modeled after the forest. Many of today’s industries, especially the food industry, are labor efficient, but are terribly energy inefficient. Most people don’t know where their food comes from and the truth is it is probably thousands of miles away. Trucking food across the country is not only energy expensive, it also creates a large amount of pollution. Furthermore, most American’s want to have houses with their own lawn, which requires a large amount of energy to maintain, but sees very little actual use. One of the associated causes that Mollison suggests is the industrial lifestyle. People active in industry are always racing about trying to keep productivity high, but rarely actually take time to think; which is the very thing that makes us human.  __Dynamic Stability __ A closely related problem is that of the stability of our current systems. While concrete and asphalt are both very strong materials, they are not very stable in the sense that a forest ecosystem is. An earthquake can cause large physical changes in a forest, but it certainly won’t be destroyed. This is because the remarkable complexity of the forest ecosystem results in a resilient and very productive organism. Most of our current systems can’t even compare! Today all we care about is how easy and cheap systems are and as a result most are monocultures. A monoculture is the epitome of unsustainability. They require a huge amount of energy, are very sensitive to disturbances, and create a ton of waste. None of these characteristics are valuable, nor are they present in the forest. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> __<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Waste __ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The Waste generated by our current society, alone, is a sustainability problem. It is present in nearly everything we do and yet we still don’t have any good way to dispose of it. The only options today are to burn it, bury it, or filter it. All of these options cause pollution and have enormous problems associated with them and do not actually solve the problem of eliminating waste. Permaculture offers a much better solution because it actively puts waste to use in other ways. These byproducts do not become pollution because they are helpful to the system.

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The use of many solid facts and examples in the film made if very compelling. The part that was most persuasive to me, however, was its applicability to life today. Even though this film was posted on Films for Action only 3 years ago, it appears to be much older. The technology and video quality present seems more like it was from the late 80s or early 90s. Regardless of when it was made, I found it very impressive how everything mentioned in the film is still totally relevant. This is kind of scary because it means that we haven’t made much change since then, but it definitely means that we need to take action now!

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">I was not compelled by many of the very traditional aspects of the film. For one, it really only included one expert and speaker on the topic, Bill Mollison. It would have been much more convincing if there were more experts and other opposing viewpoints. The film also did little to mention the challenges faced in implementing permaculture. This is not something that we can establish without effort. Lastly, the film took a very “good vs. evil” approach to the story. Anything representing industry seemed very devilish and scary and of course nature was presented as heavenly. This added a somewhat biased tone to the film.

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What audiences does the film best address? Why? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">This film definitely best fits an older, more conservative audience. It is a fairly slow paced and basic movie with a lot of face time for the main speaker. It also doesn’t address very many controversial issues. It hits on the main benefits of better health and well being, without getting tied up very much of the technical details. It does also suggest a few simple principles of permaculture landscaping for the more hands on people who want to get involved.

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What could have been added to this film to enhance its environmental educational value? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">This film has a great amount of environmental educational value and there is very little it could have done to be better in this sense. One thing the director could have done would be to discuss a little bit about global warming. If the movie was as old as I think it was, this would not be a subject with very much supporting evidence, however, it was definitely still being debated. Global warming is hinted at when Mollison talks about the pollution caused by food transportation, but it is never actually mentioned. Furthermore, it would have been interesting to know some simple, straight forward things that people can do in their homes with permaculture.

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What kinds of action and points of intervention are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective action, describe actions that you can imagine being effective. ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The action suggested by this film is clearly to design more systems with permaculture. Mollison tried a lot of opposition against logging and bad farming practices before coming up with the idea of permaculture, but he was not very successful. This is the reason he decided that instead of opposition, what was needed was a solution and this is what he worked on for the rest of his life. The first step would be to stop the environmental destruction we are causing today. After being a logger during his early years, Mollison vowed to never cut down another tree unless he absolutely needed to. The next step, which has already begun, is to replant and restore what we have destroyed. This has been done in Southern Queen’s Land, Australia and other locations around the world. It is our duty as part of humanity to return the life which we have taken and assume a much smaller part in the global ecosystem that what we do today. We are only one small piece of this incredible jigsaw puzzle that is life. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">

** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Because of how old this film seemed, I was compelled to seek out what recent progress has been made in the permaculture movement. It has now become more than just a multi-disciplinary design schematic; it is actually its own branch of science. The Permaculture Institute in New Mexico and similar schools are now offering classes and certification in permaculture design []. Furthermore, a list of permaculture projects can be found at []. The movement started in Australia with Bill Mollison and David Holmgren but has clearly spread around the world. It is more common in third world countries because it provides a self sufficient lifestyle. It should, however, become mainstream all across the world.