Brief Overview:

Ecological principles rest on the understanding of life where cycles, flows, systems and functions work ceaselessly through sound natural laws. Adherence to a set of foundational ethics helps gauge behavior and builds cooperation and trust within communities. The following set of ethics calls for nature-centered practices that allow for regeneration of land and those who live on it.

The three permaculture ethics are:
- Earth Care: This includes all living and nonliving things, land, water, animals, air, and the like
- People Care: To promote self-reliance and community responsibility
- Return of Surplus: This happens as a result of adherence to the above ethics whereby the surplus supports earth care and people care

Key takeaways:

-Ethics are at the very core of permaculture

-Traditional communities are anchored by ethics

-The three permaculture ethics are care of the earth, care of people and return of surplus

-The three ethics collaborate together and are interwoven with one another

-Permaculture is a design science governed by these ethics

-Biologically, if we are not stressed we naturally moderate population

-As cooperating communities, we can be self-reliant

-Self-regulating life systems evolve stability

-Allow our systems to demonstrate their evolutions

-After ethics, we find it much easier to develop cooperative elements with each other and nature itself, building permanent community

-Once people are well cared for, this care naturally extends to all species, not just people

-This course is about the mechanics of mature ethical behavior