2.16 – Order & Chaos

Learning Objectives:
-Evaluate chaos and order in natural and designed systems
-Outline the chaotic effect of tidiness in ornamental gardens and suburban lawns
-Identify the factors of creating a harmonious system and the results of mismanaging these factors
-Relate how Permaculture systems work in relation to natural systems

Brief Overview:

We are trying to create order, and when we get it wrong, the result is chaos. This happens in natural and designed systems. We want our systems to produce surplus, but if we oversupply or undersupply the necessary elements, like sun and water and fertility, we unbalance the system and create chaos. In nature, this could come from a weather event or the sudden presence of a predator.

The components within our designs need to work together beneficially. When each element has a positive connection with the other elements around it, that’s a harmonious system. On the other hand, if we force too many connections or don’t encourage enough, then things break down. The energy consumption will outweigh the output, leaving things anemic, or the energy input will oversupply, creating pollutants.

From the ground level, a rain forest may look confusing, but in actuality, it is a system that produces a great amount, each element playing a vital role, both in life and death. It does not require outside inputs. It maintains itself and is very stable. This is the type of order we are looking to create. We want our designs to function like natural systems, with low input and high yield.

Tidiness, such as in ornamental gardens or suburban lawns, is actually chaotic. A natural system can not survive this way, which is why lawns require so much energy to maintain. They may look clean, but in actuality, the systems are maintained disorder, with an energy audit that shows complete dysfunction. Thus, we need to redefine what we consider ordered.

Key Takeaways:

- We want to design ordered systems, in which energy consumption and production is balanced.

- An overabundance or lacking creates chaotic circumstances in both natural and design systems.

- The components within our designs should work together beneficially to create order and harmony.

- Forced conditions of tidiness, in terms of energy, is disorder, as the system is not balanced.

- Natural systems may look confusing or untidy, but a real assessment of order is through yield.

- Clipped lawns and ornamental gardens, though neat, are actually complete chaos for the natural system; thus, they require constant maintenance.

-We must change our perception of what order is.
-----------------------------------
2.17 – Permitted and Forced Functions
Learning Objectives - At the end of the video you should be able to:
-Differentiate between ‘permitted’ and ‘forced’ functions
- Give examples of modern agriculture forcing functions
-Illustrate how elements in a system can benefit each other
- Explain the way natural functions perform in permaculture systems

Brief Overview:

There are different types of function: permitted and forced. Living elements perform many functions in natural systems, but we can definitely force too many functions on the elements in our system.

Modern agriculture is forcing functions everywhere. Factory farms create unnatural modes of production, creating stressed out, unhealthy animals full of antibiotics. Mass-production fruit trees can be overfed on false fertility, such that the synthetic fertilizer a forced upon the trees and outweigh the fruit produced by several times. Crops in fields are stripped of natural systems and put into unhealthy, force-fed production that utilizes GMOs, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and so on. We are forcing situations in our food production that are short-term and ultimately collapse.

But, elements within the system can be beneficial to the other parts of the system. Productive plants can help with fertility. They can help to control weeds. They can deter pests or condition the landscape. Put in a natural situation with natural roles, the plant—or animal or human—will have less stress but a higher quality performance with less input.

It’s the input to output assessment that a designer should be making. We want our elements to achieve but not be overworked, and we want the same for ourselves. Stress prevents natural function and health. A harmonic system has interacting natural functions that supply the essential needs, not an abundance beyond their functional capability.

Key Takeaways:

- There are different types of function: permitted and forced.

-Key living elements perform many functions, but we shouldn’t require too much of them.

-Modern food production forces functions, creating stressed, overworked plants and animals that cannot live long within the system.

-Permaculture wants elements to achieve but not be overworked or stress.

-A good design has interacting natural functions that supply the essential needs of the system.