Mountain Man's Global News Archive The Principles of Natural Systems by Birch with commentary by Bill Mollison
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

The following outline is taken from the book Permaculture - A Designers Manual, written by Bill Mollison in 1988. The initial quoted text for each of the six principles is from Birch (and the indented bracketed commentary is by Mollison) -
(1) "Nothing in nature grows forever"
(There is a constant cycle of decay and rebirth)


(2) "Continuation of life depends upon the maintenance of the global bio-geochemical cycles of essential elements, in particlar carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus."

(Thus, we need to cycle these and other minor nutrients to stimulate growth, and to keep the atmosphere and waters of earth unpolluted)


(3) "The probability of extinction of population or a species is greatest when the density is very high or very low."

(Both crowding and too few individuals of a species may result in reaching thresholds of extinction.)


(4) "The chance that species have to survive and reproduce is dependent primarily upon one or two factors in the complex web of relations of the organism to its environment."

(If we can determine what these critical factors are, we can exclude, by design, some limiting factors, eg: frost, and increase others, eg: shelter, nest sites.)


(5) "Our ability to change the face of the earth increases at a faster rate than our ability to forsee the consequence of such change."

(Hence the folly of destroying life systems for short-term profit.)


(6)"Living organisms are not means but ends. In addition to their instrumental value to humans and other living organisms, they have an intrinsic worth."

(This is the life ethic thesis so often missing from otherwise ethical systems.)

Other Resources ...

• Permaculture - A Design for Living. An Interview with Bill Mollison, by Alan AtKisson.

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