Angelo Eliades

Technological Utopianism – Why bad ideas cause very real environmental problems

June 16, 2017 by Angelo Eliades & filed under General

“Nothing so obstinately stands in the way of all sorts of progress as pride of opinion. While nothing is so foolish and baseless.” – J. G. Holland Is science going to solve all the world’s problems? Can we continue engaging in practices which cause environmental damage and disregard our impact on the planet because ‘one day in the future’, through our technological brilliance, someone else will be able to fix […]

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Do People Really Care about the Environment?

April 12, 2017 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Why Permaculture?

“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” – Chris Maser, Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest The idea of caring for our planet may seem like self-evident common sense to the indigenous tribes of the world who live in close connection to the Earth. Likewise, for all other […]

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Permaculture, Politics and Solutions Thinking

January 31, 2017 by Angelo Eliades & filed under General, Why Permaculture?

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein.” How we think colours everything we do, that is indisputable. Our biases definitely affect our objectivity and clarity as well as our judgement, factors critical to effective solutions thinking. Permaculture is a discipline which embodies systems thinking, the ability to think holistically, to clearly see what […]

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Urban Agriculture and Food Sovereignty

December 22, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under General, Land, Urban Projects

Urban agriculture (UA) in public spaces may have been the unloved child that mainstream western society abandoned in the 17th century in favour of ornamental gardening, but fortunately it hasn’t been abandoned by everyone. Many people in the community, in defiance of irrational design fads imposed from above by local authorities, have continued to grow food close to where they live. More than just growing food, UA is powerful transformative. […]

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Science, Technology and Permaculture – How much do you really need to know?

December 16, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Why Permaculture?

“The further one goes, the less one knows.” – Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching Permaculture has been around for over thirty years, and is finally beginning to reach mainstream audiences as a result of decades of advocacy work by the global Permaculture community. It has yet to gain mainstream scientific acceptance, and some may find this troubling, but what’s a greater concern is that anytime people make the effort to […]

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The Problem with Urban Agriculture? – A Fact Based Rebuttal to a Landscape Architecture’s Misconceptions

November 17, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Education, Why Permaculture?

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the later ignorance. Hippocrates The importance of urban agriculture (UA) is steadily growing as the issue of urban food security rises in prominence worldwide. Localised agriculture has historically always been the domain of communities, driven and lead by skilled and committed individuals who grew food to sustain their people. Furthermore, localised agriculture has worked without major problems, […]

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Understanding Urban Agriculture – Part 3, Calculating the Food Production Potential of a City

October 25, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Economics, Education, Food Shortages, Population, Society, Why Permaculture?

It has been well said that we do not see things as they are, but as we are ourselves. Every man looks through the eyes of his prejudices, of his preconceived notions. Hence, it is the most difficult thing in the world to broaden a man so that he will realize truth as other men see it. Samuel Silas Curry, 1891 What does it take to convince a person that […]

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Understanding Urban Agriculture – Part 2, Productivity, Potential and Possibilities

October 12, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Economics, Education, Food Shortages, Population, Society, Why Permaculture?

This is part two of a series of articles Angelo is writing, for part one please visit: https://permaculturenews.org/2016/10/05/understanding-urban-agriculture-part-1-present-state-historical-context/ People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it. George Bernard Shaw Urban agriculture is a growing phenomenon worldwide, and in the first part of this article, “Understanding Urban Agriculture – Part 1, The Present State in Historical Context” we looked at the history of localized […]

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Understanding Urban Agriculture – Part 1, The Present State in Historical Context

October 5, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Why Permaculture?

This is part one of a series of articles Angelo is writing, for part two please visit: https://permaculturenews.org/2016/10/12/understanding-urban-agriculture-part-2-productivity-potential-possibilities/ You have to know the past to understand the present. Carl Sagan Urban agriculture is a growing phenomenon worldwide. and this movement has been driven by individuals and local communities interested in access to fresh, cheap healthy, more nutritious and better tasting food, increased self-reliance, local food security and sustainable food production […]

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Entryism as a Threat to Stable Communities

September 9, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under General

In Nature, ecological communities are comprised of populations of two or more species that coexist in the same place at the same time. We even see symbiotic relationships between diverse species, where both benefit or gain from the relationship with each other, with mutual win-win outcomes.

In human communities we see the same patterns, different groups of people with different agendas and worldviews coexisting, hopefully harmoniously, in diverse communities, even working together to achieve common goals.

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Cities – Food Free Zones? The Creation of the Urban Food Desert

August 3, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Food Shortages, Why Permaculture?

Have you ever wondered why our modern cities are intentionally designed to be food-free? All living things normally live in close proximity to their food sources, it’s a biological fact and a common-sense survival strategy. We often take our surroundings for granted as we go about our busy lives, but if we stop for a moment and critically examine the state of our modern cities, we soon realise a disturbingly […]

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Permaculture Ethics – Making Them Work

June 23, 2016 by Angelo Eliades & filed under Education, Why Permaculture?

“A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.” – Albert Schweitze

The ethical principles of Permaculture set it apart from other design disciplines, as their inclusion guides the actions and goals of the designer.

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