More than an agricultural technology, permaculture is a vision of the societies of tomorrow, ours, which will be confronted with the evolution of energy and climate systems. Permaculture is not only another way to garden: it is another way of thinking about and acting on the world, a global philosophical and concrete change. At the same time permaculture draws together strategies of resilience in the face of imminent radical transformations, if not collapses.
So begins the preface to the French edition of David Holmgren’s Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, contributed by Yves Cochet. People outside France or Europe may not be familiar with Yves Cochet. He is a long time enviro campaigner, politician of EE-LV (Europe Écologie – Les Verts, or Europe Ecology – The Greens) who was a minister for the environment in the French national government, and is now an elected member of Euro parliament for the Greens.
We are thrilled that someone of his caliber wrote the preface for this French translation of David’s book.
In a recent email, he explains how he came to permaculture .
As for my links to permaculture, here is a brief history: in the search for solutions adapted to the difficult times which are now in front of us, permaculture has come to my attention through books (such as those by David, of course!) and through connections with people, in particular those that I have forged with Perrine and Charles Herve-Gruyer on their Farm of Bec Hellouin (Perrine Herve-Gruyer is also an elected regional representative in the Regional Parliament of Haute-Normandie, for EE-LV). Moreover, in a decisive way, a few years ago, my friend Agnès Sinaï completed a long period of apprenticeship in permaculture at Bec-Hellouin. All that has compellingly renewed my thinking and my political and intellectual activity. I am indebted for this to David Holmgren, who was, with a few others, but before most, a visionary of our present human condition. (originally in French, translated by Eugen Moreau.)
With the kind permission from the French publisher, rue de l’echiquier, and Yves Cochet himself, we publish the English translation of the preface titled Permaculture, a vision of the post oil world(PDF download). The text was translated by Eugene Moreau and edited by David Holmgren.
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