Tagari Publications

I have been vitally concerned about the environment for over forty years, first as a scientist and naturalist, later as a vigorous campaigner against environmental exploitation.

As a child I lived in a sort of dream, and I didn¹t really awaken until I was about twenty-eight years old. I spent most of my early working life in the bush or on the sea. I fished and hunted for my livelihood. It wasn¹t until the 1950s that I noticed large parts of the system in which I lived were disappearing. First, fish stocks became extinct. Then I noticed the seaweed around the shorelines had gone. Large patches of forest began to die. I hadn¹t realised until those things were gone, that I¹d become very fond of them; that I was in love with my country.

This discovery shifted the emphasis of my work in the late 1960s. This led to the development of the “Permaculture Concept”, a strategy which focuses on sustainable design for urban and rural properties. Permaculture, or PERMAnent CULTURE, is the conscious design of agriculturally-productive ecosystems and energy conserving settlements which have the resilience, dynamic stability and diversity of natural systems, like forests or grasslands. Such systems provide for their own needs, do not pollute or exploit, and are therefore sustainable in the long term.

Permaculture design is taught in a 72 hour, two-week intensive course, as a series of strategies which draw on traditional knowledge and modern technology. Graduates of these courses can then teach others, or can design for themselves or others. Permaculture information has thus been freely and quickly disseminated. There are approximately 250,000 Permaculture graduates worldwide, and many thousands more who use Permaculture texts and information. There are very few countries which do not have a Permaculture group, association and indigenous teachers teaching in their own languages.

All of this has been achieved entirely independent of government and institutional support. There are no expensive showcase sites; rather the sum total of many people working in their backyards, farms, schools, community gardens, projects and villages.

The impetus for all the work I do has been the desire to leave our children gardens, not deserts. I see the great challenge of sustainable agriculture is to produce the food and fibre needed, while sustaining fertile soils, maintaining supplies of clean water, and protecting and enhancing biological diversity and the health of ecosystems. Societies can meet this challenge by supporting vital ecosystems, farmers in their roles as producers and stewards, and urban conservation groups.

In the past, international teaching and consultancy work has paid for book research and publishing through Tagari Publications. One print run pays for the next, and permission to print has been given to countries in need. Royalties and other profit have been waived on the condition they use their profit on community Permaculture projects. However, in the past years my health stops me from travelling as frequently. I wish to concentrate on writing and speed up production of the several new books I have been preparing.

Bill Mollison

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