THE MAN WHO GAVE US HOPE: IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE FATHER OF PERMACULTURE, BILL MOLLISON (1928 TO 2016)
ANDREW MARTINOCTOBER 6, 2016
With so many environmental,
social, economic, and energetic issues and challenges facing humanity, it seems
like our problems are beyond repair. Yet there was one man who
clearly understood how the world’s
problems could be solved. That was Bill Mollison. Mollison, along with
co-founder David Holmgren, set out a clear guide and blueprint for moving
forward sustainably, coining the term permaculture and co-founding the global
permaculture movement.
He passed away in 2016 in his home in Tasmania, Australia.
Mollison understood that
the only way forward for humanity is to work in harmony with our natural
systems. He and Holmgren developed a system of design that can effectively
solve all the world’s problems. Since Mollison and Holmgren wrote the original
book, Permaculture One, in 1978, hundreds of thousands, if not
millions of people have been trained as permaculture designers, trainers,
and practitioners globally.
Considered the ‘father of permaculture,’ he understood the value of integrated systems of design that encompassed everything from agriculture, horticulture, architecture, and ecology, as well as economy and legal systems for businesses and communities. Much of the work he did focused on using patterns and mimicking natural ecosystems to provide self-maintaining habitat and regenerative ecosystems. These systems also produced significant yields in food, energy, and water. The overriding core tenets or ethics of permaculture are: Care for the Earth, Care for People, and Return of Surplus.
In conjunction with these
ethics, Mollison included 12 principles that underscored the design
concept and overall philosophy of permaculture:
The below quotes from
Mollison illustrate his practical approach to sustainability and his deep
understanding of the natural world. Rest in Peace, Bill Mollison…..
“Wealth is a
deep understanding of the natural world.”
______________
“The tragic
reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those
who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people
arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political
control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical
systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves.”
______________
“Though the
problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain
embarrassingly simple.”
______________
“Permaculture
is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems
which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It
is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food,
energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.
Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social
order.”
______________
“I teach
self-reliance, the world’s most subversive practice. I teach people how to grow
their own food, which is shockingly subversive. So, yes, it’s seditious. But
it’s peaceful sedition.”
______________
“The greatest
change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small
scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for
everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend
on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and
shelter.”
______________
“Permaculture
is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and
thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of
looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any
area as a single product system.”
______________
“The American
lawn uses more resources than any other agricultural industry in the world. It
uses more phosphates than India and puts on more poisons than any other form of
agriculture.”
______________
“If we lose the forests, we lose our only teachers.”
______________
“Permaculture
principles focus on thoughtful designs for small-scale intensive systems which
are labor efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels.
Designs stress ecological connections and closed energy and material loops. The
core of permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections
between all things.”
______________
“The important thing is not to do any agriculture whatsoever, and
particularly to make the modern agricultural
sciences a forbidden area
– they’re worse than witchcraft, really.”
______________
“We’re only
truly secure when we can look out our kitchen window and see our food growing
and our friends working nearby.”
Bruce Charles
'Bill' Mollison 1928-2016
Graham Bell
Sunday, 25th September 2016
Graham Bell's moving
tribute to Bill Mollison, who died 24 September in Tasmania, a true pioneer who
gave up a promising academic career to challenge the status quo and establish
the global Permaculture movement.
Bruce
Charles 'Bill' Mollison (born 1928 in Stanley, Tasmania, Australia and died
today, 24 September 2016 in Sisters' Creek, Tasmania).
A few
people are born who are world class heroes to those who know them and unknown
to the great majority, until one day their inescapable influence floats to the
surface and is generally recognised for the cream it is. In hindsight such
leaders go on to become household names.
Such a
man was Bill Mollison: backwoodsman, academic, storyteller, lady’s man and to
many just ‘Uncle Bill’, but doing all these things par excellence. In
consequence he has left a worldwide movement of remarkable resilience. He has
left much useful information and not a few words of guidance and encouragement
for those who will miss him most.
Growing
up in Stanley, Tasmania, he left school at fifteen to help run the family
bakery and before 26 went through the occupations of shark fisherman and seaman
(bringing vessels from post-war disposals to southern ports), forester,
mill-worker, trapper, snarer, tractor driver and naturalist.
His lack
of formal education gave him many learning opportunities in how the real world
works.
Bill
joined the CSIRO (Wildlife Survey Section) in 1954 and gained extensive
research knowledge. His time in the Tasmanian rainforests gave him the founding
structure for what became his life’s passion - Permaculture. The idea
that we could consciously design sustainable systems which enabled human beings
to live within their means and for all wild life to flourish with us.
A spell
at the Tasmanian Museum in curatorial duties, a return to field work with the
Inland Fisheries Commission took him back to college in 1966 living on his wits
running cattle, security bouncing at dances, shark fishing, and teaching
part-time at an exclusive girls' school. Upon receiving his degree in
bio-geography, he was appointed to the University of Tasmania where he later
developed the unit of Environmental Psychology. During his university period
(which lasted for 10 years), Bill independently researched and published a
three-volume treatise on the history and genealogies of the descendants of the
Tasmanian aborigines.
In 1974,
with David Holmgren, Bill developed the beginning of the permaculture concept,
leading to the publication of Permaculture One. He became fixated
on proving and promulgating what he saw as a world renewing concept. Leaving
the University in 1978, abandoning a secure academic tenure at the age of fifty
(an unheard of move) Bill devoted all his energies to furthering the
system of permaculture and spreading the idea and principles worldwide. He has
taught thousands of students, and has contributed many articles, curricula,
reports, and recommendations for farm projects, urban clusters and local
government bodies.
In 1981,
Bill Mollison received the Right Livelihood Award (sometimes called the
"Alternative Nobel Prize") for his work in environmental design. In
recent years, he has established a 'Trust in Aid' fund to enable permaculture
teachers to reach groups in need, particularly in the poorer parts of the
world, with the aim of leaving a core of teachers locally to continue
appropriate educational work.
We are
helped in remembering Bill by his 1996 autobiographyTravels in Dreams.
Typically he laughs at himself: “This book is awork of fiction: most if not all
of it is lies. Even the lies are imprecise reports of old lies overheard.”
He wasn’t universally liked. One reason being he was committed to disrupt the
status quo of misguided unfeeling management. “First feel fear, then get angry.
Then go with your life into the fight.” He was eloquent about the need for
peaceful ‘warriors’ as he called them to challenge the stupidity of
ill-governance on a global scale. His own fears about being ineffectual
were misguided: “Nobody takes any notice of me and even my friends
continually criticise me.” In reality he engendered a massive global
respect which will endure and grow as others develop his foundation thinking.
The
pinnacle of his career to his students was the publication in 1988 of The
Permaculture Designers Manual, honoured to this day by devotees as
'The Bible of Permaculture'. If devotees suggests falsely some religious
connotation it’s really that Bill pioneered a deep respect for the planet and
for more sensible approaches for how we could live on it: “We are true time
scouts finding places now for what will be needed then.”
Bill
asked: “Are we the public or the private person?” The truth of the matter is
that for all seasons we are both. Perceived as challenging, a huge
harvester of great ideas from around the world (and not always crediting their
sources) Bill was also a sensitive man, eloquent raconteur, poet and
appreciative of the poetry of others. He knew how to provoke others to action,
but also when to withdraw and let others carry on the work. He paraphrased
Lao Tzu: “True change is to so change things that it seems natural to
everybody but no-one knows who thought of it.” And: “Our best will not be
our children’s best.”
Though
often outwardly gruff and challenging there was real heart to everything he
did.
Bill
Mollison founded the first and original Permaculture Institute, which was
established in 1979 to teach the practical design of sustainable soil, water,
plant, and legal and economic systems to students worldwide. Bill’s legacy is
that hundreds of thousands of past students have created a world-wide
network to take his concept forward. This is a world in which we are acutely
aware of our environment, its capacity and its limitations, and we design
systems to meet human needs which respect that.
Bill
spent his final years in Sisters' Creek, Tasmania. The final words must go to
him in true classical tone:
“If you
hear that I am dead tell them they lie.“
Graham Bell is the author of The Permacultiure Way and The Permaculture
Garden and has been teaching
permaculture internationally for over two and a half decades. He has one of the
oldest forest gardens in the Borders of Scotland.
Cross-posted
from grahambell.org with
our thanks.
Help spread
the permaculture word...
Geplakt
uit <https://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/14748871427497/bruce-charles-bill-mollison-1928-2016>
Bill Mollison
By: Peter Horsfield
Throughout
Bill Mollison’s life, he has consistently promoted the concept of
“permaculture,” encouraging people to grow their own food and teaching
sustainable methods of producing it. Often called the “Father of Permaculture,”
Bill has contributed greatly to its international popularity through not only
his lectures, but also his bestselling books.
Why Bill Mollison is Extraordinary
Bill Mollison, also known
as the “Father of Permaculture,” is a widely-renowned writer, teacher,
researcher, naturalist and scientist who is one of the world’s greatest
proponents of permaculture (permanent agriculture), a sustainable, eco-friendly
system of architecture and agriculture. Throughout his life and career, Bill
has established a reputation as a world leader in agriculture,
having spoken to literally tens of thousands of people to teach the advantages
and benefits of permaculture.
Successful Permaculturist
Some say a person’s
significance can be proven by the recognitions they receive, and Bill is a
great example of this. He is a recipient of the “Right Livelihood Award,” a
prestigious honor that is often nicknamed the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He was
also named one of the “Senior Australians of 2010,” and has received honors and
accolades from many places he has visited worldwide.
As an author, Bill has
written six bestselling books that are said to have revolutionized the
agriculture industry through the introduction of permaculture. Bill’s first two
books, “Permaculture One” and “Permaculture Two,” are considered by many to be
among the most important writings in sustainable agriculture, and their
teachings now influence farmers all over the world.
When he is [often] asked
about his secret to success, Bill always points to the word “commitment.” For
him, the best way to inspire others is to show them how inspired you are
yourself to do what you do. Passion and dedication are contagious, and when
people see just how passionate you are, something inside of them will rise up
and make them want to join in.
Bill says in an interview:
“I believe
the key word here is commitment. Self -government is the first thing each
individual has got to learn. Each person must make up his or her own mind and
make a commitment... only then is he or she ready to go out and convince
others. We all have to start within ourselves and get our own houses in
order... and then we'll be ready to become missionaries for order.”
The reason why Bill
dedicated his life to promoting permaculture is this: if the world continues
growing food using modern agricultural methods, it will eventually destroy
itself and leave nothing for future generations. Many of our modern
agricultural methods are not sustainable, and often cause damage to the
environment. Permaculture, on the other hand, uses methods that do not
interrupt the natural order of things: instead, it works with nature to produce
what humans need, thus benefitting both simultaneously.
This is why Bill has spent
his life spreading the concept of permaculture; it’s not just about us trying
to take something from the land - rather, it is us knowing what the land can
offer us and using what it gives so we can sustain it for generations to come.
As Bill states in an
interview:
“There are
two very distinct ways of looking at the land. One is to ask, 'What can I
demand this land to do?' That viewpoint — which is the prevailing philosophy of
commercial agriculture — can lead only to the use of force on the fragile soil.
A permaculturist asks instead, 'What does this land have to give me?' Anyone
who asks that question will naturally work in harmony with the earth to produce
a sustained ecology. Achieving that goal will naturally strengthen us, since
our survival depends on the health of the earth.”
Top Reasons
why Bill Mollison is Extraordinary
1. Bill
Mollison’s dedication to promoting permanent agriculture (more popularly known
as “permaculture”) has earned him the title “The Father of Permaculture.”
2. He is one of
the leaders and pioneers in the field of sustainable and permanent agriculture.
3. His books,
“Permaculture One” (co-authored with David Holmgren, based on David’s thesis)
and “Permaculture Two,” have greatly contributed to the popularization of
permaculture as an effective alternative to modern agricultural methods.
4. He is a
recipient of the “Right Livelihood Award,” a prestigious honor often cited as
an “Alternative Nobel Prize.”
5. He was named
as a “Senior Australian of the Year” for his work in the field of permaculture.
6. He was a
professor at the University of Tasmania for ten years and published his own
study of the Tasmanian Aborigines.
7. He is one of
the co-founders and directors of the Permaculture Institute.
8. He is
considered one of the greatest intellectuals today, in spite of not being able
to finish school when he was young.
9. Today, at the
age of 84, Bill still actively participates in spreading the concept of
permaculture around the world.
10. His work has
inspired thousands of farmers and agriculturists around the world to adopt the
system of permaculture.
Geplakt
uit <http://www.thextraordinary.org/bill-mollison>
TRIBUTE TO THE
LIFE AND LEGACY OF BILL MOLLISON
FROM PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE,
NORTH AMERICA, ISSUE 03
Bill Mollison while on a plant and seed collecting expedition in Northern Tasmania with David Holmgren in 1975.
Australian educator,
author, and co-founder of Permaculture, Bruce Charles ‘Bill’ Mollison, died on
September 24, 2016 in Sisters Creek, Tasmania, and has been praised across the
world for his visionary work.
Born 1928 in the Bass
Strait fishing village of Stanley, Tasmania, Bill’s colorful life story
included backwoodsman, academic, storyteller, lady’s man, and to many just
‘Uncle Bill’, doing all these things par excellence. Bill was co-founder, with
David Holmgren, of the permaculture movement – a worldwide network of
remarkable resilience, with organizations now operating in 126 countries and
projects in at least 140, inspiring individuals and communities to take
initiatives in fields as diverse as food production, building design, community
economics, and community development.
Bill left much useful
information and numerous words of guidance and encouragement for those who will miss him
most: “The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production,
even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there
is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no
gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and
bullets, not food and shelter.”
Growing up in Stanley,
Tasmania he left school at fifteen to help run the family bakery and before 26
went through the occupations of shark fisherman and seaman (bringing vessels
from post-war disposals to southern ports), forester, mill- worker, trapper,
snarer, tractor-driver, and naturalist. His lack of formal education gave him
many learning opportunities in how the real world works.
Bill joined the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Wildlife
Survey Section) in 1954 and gained extensive research knowledge. His time in
the Tasmanian rainforests gave him the founding structure for what became his
life’s passion, Permaculture, the idea that we could consciously design
sustainable systems which enabled human beings to live within their means and
for all wildlife to flourish with us. After a spell at the Tasmanian Museum in
curatorial duties, a return to field work with the Inland Fisheries Commission
took him back to college in 1966 living on his wits running cattle, security
bouncing at dances, shark fishing, and teaching part-time at an exclusive
girls’ school. Upon receiving his degree in bio-geography, he was appointed to
the University of Tasmania where he later developed the unit of Environmental
Psychology. During his university period (which lasted for 10 years), Bill
independently researched and published a three-volume treatise on the history
and genealogies of the descendants of the Tasmanian aborigines.
In 1974, he with David
Holmgren developed the beginning of the permaculture concept, leading to the
publication of the book, Permaculture One. He became fixated on proving and
promulgating what he saw as a world renewing concept.
Leaving the University in
1978, abandoning a secure academic tenure at the age of 50 (an unheard of move)
Bill devoted all his energies to furthering the system of permaculture and
spreading the idea and principles worldwide. He founded the Permaculture
Institute in 1978, his ideas influencing hundreds of thousands students
worldwide. As
a prolific teacher, Bill
taught thousands of students directly, and contributed to many articles,
curricula, reports, and recommendations for farm projects, urban clusters, and
local government bodies.
In 1981, he received the
Right Livelihood Award (sometimes called the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for his
work in environmental design. In recent years, he established
a ‘Trust in Aid’ fund to
enable permaculture teachers to reach groups in need, particularly in poorer
parts of the world, with the aim of leaving a core of teachers locally to
continue appropriate educational work.
Of all the accolades he
received, however, the one he was most proud of was the Vavilov Medal, in large
part due to the tenacity, courage, and contributions of the award’s namesake,
who Bill considered a personal hero. Bill was also the first foreigner invited
and admitted to the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
We are helped in
remembering Bill by his 1996 autobiography Travels in Dreams.
Typically he laughs at himself: “This book is a work of fiction: most if not
all of it is lies. Even the lies are imprecise reports of old lies overheard.”
He wasn’t universally liked. One reason being he was committed to disrupting
the status quo in its misguided and unfeeling management. “First feel fear,
then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” He was eloquent about
the need for peaceful ‘warriors,’ as he called them, to challenge the stupidity
of ill-governance on a global scale. Despite, or perhaps because, he was an
iconoclast, he engendered a global respect which will endure and grow as others
develop his foundational thinking.
He authored a number of
books on the permaculture design system, the best known being Permaculture:
A Designers’ Manual, published in 1988, and often cited as his most
outstanding work. Bill collected solutions and his Permaculture Book of
Ferment and Human Nutrition, is an outstanding compendium of traditional
food storage systems from across the world. Few could match his intellectual
vigor or ability to recount stories that thrilled and taught deeper lessons
about our relationship with each other and nature.
Bill asked: “Are we the
public or the private person?” The truth of the matter is that for all seasons
we are both. Perceived as challenging, a huge harvester of great ideas from
around the world (and not always crediting their sources), Bill was also a
sensitive man, eloquent raconteur, poet, and appreciative of the poetry of
others. He knew how to provoke others to action, but also when to withdraw and
let others carry on the work. He paraphrased Lao Tzu: “True change is to so
change things that it seems natural to everybody but no-one knows who thought
of it.”
Bill Mollison could be
called the Grandfather of Permaculture and will be missed around the world.
And: “Our best will not be our children’s best.” Bill’s legacy is that hundreds
of thousands of past students have created a worldwide network to take his
concept forward. In a world in which we are acutely aware of our environment,
its capacity and limitations, permaculture design offers a systemic approach to
meeting human needs which respect those limitations and provide strategies to
actively repair ecosystems. The effect of Bill’s legacy will only grow as the
world recognizes the urgent need to work together on environmental solutions.
By Permaculture Association
(Britain) and Permaculture Magazine, International
Community Reflections
You started a quiet
revolution. You have sown the seeds of change, and you will live in the
bounties of nature, in every flower, in every tree, in the soil and the water,
and in every hand that nurtures nature.
– Vani Bahl, Building
Designer and Permaculture Practitioner
Bigger than
life…biogeographer, story teller, inspiration for sustainable design practice.
From the backyard to the “Global” gardener. Bill wasn’t perfect (who is?), but
we loved him, and the worms will too. – John Valenzuela May his words and
teachings of permaculture continue to spread like chickweed in our gardens.
– Women Who Farm Facebook
Page
From the Patterns of Life
to the Details of Death – thanks Bill for helping so many around the world to
keep the Circles Unbroken, and inspire so many to repair the ones that are.
– Brock Dolman
His complex character, his
genius, and ability to synthesise knowledge from so many places – and above all
his uncompromising commitment to the survival of our beautiful planet Earth –
has left me both awed and with a real sense of loss.
– Maddy Harland, Editor
& Co-Founder, Permaculture Magazine, International
Dear Bill: Your life was
like a bright light. You have gone to another dimension before us … we who
remain must carry the light forward … until we too pass the torch to the next
generation and they to the next, forever. Thank you for your wisdom … the road
is visible because of your life and leadership. You will be remembered and
honored for sharing your vision. See you soon.
– John Dennis Lui
Bill Mollison was a dear
friend, mentor, and uncle to me. I was blessed to get to host him at my home
many times, hang out, learn, and teach with him. I got to know the real Bill.
His idea of a good time was going to good books stores (especially if they had
a good used book section), learning new amazing things, cooking fresh seafood,
enjoying friends, and sharing stories. I will deeply miss him. He now gets to
be in the deep mystery that he loved. I share the gratitude of many for a man
who truly changed the world for the better and empowered others to do so as
well.
– Penny Livingston
In honor of Bill, thousands
of people have planted trees around the world to commemorate how he touched
their lives. Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts,
and we are never the same.
– Yongo Otieno Wycliffe
A Cup of Tea For Grandpa
Grandpa (Bill) meant a lot
of things to a lot of people. I was just a baby when I first spent time with
grandpa in Stanley (TAS) then Tayalgum (N.S.W) with mum, dad and my brothers
(Jack and Jerome). Experiencing many of the same things he did around Stanley,
such as rolling rocks down the nut, fishing, spearing around the coast, and
searching around the rock pools. Grandpa was quite the mystic not being present
for much of my childhood and suddenly appearing out of no where laden with
gifts (like father Christmas) with his great salt and pepper beard.
It was not until I was 12
when he moved back to North West Tasmania, with his wife Lisa to establish
their property in Sisters Creek, North West Tasmania. My brothers Jack and
Jerome and I grew up working on the farm with grandpa and Lisa with as many
mates as we could muster for tree planting, mulching, pruning, and editorial
work. Transforming 17 acres of pasture to what is now a complex ecology of
forests abundant in wildlife. We all grew up completely oblivious to the global
impact our grandfather had made. To us he was just our wizard of a grandfather
that told us stories from far away lands and tales that would captivate an
audience. Often set against the background of storm on the farm, told over
great big pots of roibus tea (with local honey and soya milk). Stanley in
Tasmania, is set in a district much like the shire from lord of the rings. With
me and my brothers being the Hobbits and grandpa being Gandalf. Luring us into
great adventures, with stories over the great sea to the north (Bass Strait).
He popped my bubble (and many others) of ignorance as a young child with tales,
stories and lessons only a true mystic, adventure, pioneer, and ecological
warrior could muster. Inspiring my imagination and lust for adventure.
For me personally he was a
mentor, mate, pioneer, warrior, bushman, botanist, story teller, mystic, and
writer which is all held in the form of grandpa. His favorite comedian was Bill
Bailey, with his sense of humor that related to bewilderment, jazz, inter-
dimensional travel, and ad hock humor. His favorite joke being the Take 5 song
(accidentally played at a funeral), which would always cause grandpa to bellow
with laughter. The underling esoteric wisdom, dimensional thinking, disguised
with his sense of humor, lessons, stories, and mate ship is how I will remember
grandpa.
If there is a heaven, I am
sure grandpa will be planting and mulching a forest before moving onto the next
dimension…
His last wish was that
people could plant a tree to remember him.
Bill Mollison is survived
by his wife Lisa, 4 daughters 2 sons, 7 grandchildren, and 2 great grand
children.
Warmest regards, Stuart
Muir Wilson
Bill’s brilliance was in
gathering together the ecological insights, principles, strategies, and
techniques that could be applied to create the world we do want rather than
fighting against the world we reject.
– Co-Founder of
Permaculture, David Holmgren
I met Bill for the first
time on one of his visits to Tagari Farm some time in 1999, I guess. He stayed
for a few days on that visit and spent quite a bit of that time sitting on the
verandah of the Teahouse “talking story” with whoever happened to be around. At
that time we had quite a few trees beginning to outgrow their pots in the ad
hoc nursery around the edges of the Teahouse verandah. Not wanting to just sit
around and fawn over the great man, I decided that I might as well pot some of
the nursery trees while I sat around fawning over the great man…
After a while I’d potted up
most of the trees that were worth potting – the few that remained were pretty
badly pot-bound I reckon. During a lull in the conversation
I wondered out loud if it
was worth trying to save the tree that I had just pulled out of its undersized
pot. Bill immediately barked at me, “Give it a bigger pot!” in a slightly
admonishing tone. I looked over at him quizzically and meekly asked, “Don’t you
reckon it’s a bit too pot- bound?” Again, he just barked, “Go on, give it a
bigger pot!”
I had given up hope for the
little tree, and here was the bloke who’d done more than anyone else to inspire
me to have hope in the future, refusing to give up hope for the future of this
one little tree. So, I gave the tree a bigger pot! Good on you, Bill!
– Richard Foster
Bill Mollison is no more in
a physical way with us, but he was right as usual, “If you hear that I am dead
tell them they lie.” He can’t die, the transformational concepts and design
science he defined has grown far more than his material presence. So Bill, you
did it again you blew your knowledge in the wind and those words continue to
swirl and be understood in any language, and will continue indefinitely. Thank
you Bill. – Lorenzo Costa
Fall is an auspicious time
– when the veil between worlds is thinnest – for such a nature connected spirit
to pass on. May we all find our gifts and deliver them as fully – in service of
our beautiful living world – as our elder Bill Mollison. – David Shaw
The greatest honour was to
work with you old fella, saved my life, thanks mate.. – David Spicer
Pictured here planting is Speedy (aka Paul Ward ) who did his PDC with Bill Mollison, and following that, moved in with him for about 18 months and did work on his property. Speedy selected what he called an “ecology bomb” to plant in Memory of Mollison. This contained an English oak, violets, bladder campion (Silene vulgaris). If you look closely you’ll see the hessian pot, which was full of life such as worms, mycelium, and other soil biota which was giving the oak a head start to life. (In the hessian pot, the roots had formed, but you could just see the oak sprouting above the soil, so you will have to look close to see it!)
– Kirsty Bishop-fox
Bill’s work seriously
influenced my life beyond most of my schooling and years of work experience.
When I found permaculture, it was as if everything I had been looking for,
everything I had wanted to do to make the world a better place, was right there
in this toolkit of strategies. Although I never was able to meet him, a piece
of him is with me and all of us in the community and in every design.
– Ian Johnson
I was just commenting to
Narsanna at NAPC how much Bill meant to me, and how even with all his
imperfections, his rascally nature, he was my hero. He made such
a difference in my life, I
am so grateful he shared his immense knowledge with us all, I don’t think I
would have gotten permaculture from another teacher the same way I did from
him, he literally changed my brain, it shifted.
I’m hoping at IPC India
there can be a special remembrance, in detail about how he first came to India,
all he shared. Also something that honors the other pioneers in the movement
like Tony Andersen, Declan Kennedy, Ali Sharif, others that made sure, almost
like missionaries, that Permaculture went out around the world in those
earliest days.
– Margie Bushman
Like so many others, we
would not be where we are without the work Bill did. Our lives are forever
changed due to his contributions to the world, and we will work to carry on his
legacy of caring for this planet and all who inhabit it.
– Permaculture Magazine,
North America
Timeless Wisdom From Bill
“I can’t change the world
by myself, it will take at least 3 of us.”
“The only ethical decision
is to take responsibility for our own existence, and that of our children.”
“Sitting at our back
doorsteps, all we need to live a good life lies about us. Sun, wind, people,
buildings, stones, sea, birds, and plants surround us. Cooperation with all
these things brings harmony.”
“Each… cycle is a unique
event; diet, choice, selection, season, weather, digestion, decomposition, and
regeneration differ each time it happens. Thus, it is the number of such
cycles, great and small, that decide the potential for diversity. We should
feel ourselves privileged to be part of such eternal renewal. Just by living we
have achieved immortality – as grass, grasshoppers, gulls, geese and other
people. We are of the diversity we experience in every real sense.”
“If we lose the forests, we
lose our only teachers.”
“If, as physical scientists
assure us, we all contain a few molecules of Einstein, and if the atomic
particles of our physical body reach to the outermost bounds of the universe,
then we are all de facto components of all things. There is nowhere left for us
to go if we are already everywhere, and this is, in truth, all we will ever
have or need. If we love ourselves at all, we should respect all things
equally, and not claim any superiority over what are, in effect, our other
parts. Is the hand superior to the eye? The bishop to the goose? The son to the
mother?”
“There are a thousand
lessons to learn, some so obvious that we could pinch ourselves for failing to
notice them.”
“Permaculture is the
conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which
have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.
It is the harmonious
integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and
other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent
agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order.”
“I teach self-reliance, the
world’s most subversive practice. I teach people how to grow their own food, which
is shockingly subversive. So, yes, it’s seditious. But it’s peaceful sedition.”
“Permaculture is a
philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and
thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of
looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any
area as a single product system.”
“Permaculture principles
focus on thoughtful designs for small-scale intensive systems which are labor
efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels. Designs
stress ecological connections and closed energy and material loops. The core of
permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections between
all things.”
“We’re only truly secure
when we can look out our kitchen window and see our food growing and our
friends working nearby.”
“In microcosm and
macrocosm, we can learn from the world, and these are the very best lessons to
adopt. There are a thousand lessons to learn, some so obvious that we could pinch
ourselves for failing to notice them. Such an experiential system of design, in
broad and in detail, is almost obliterated by the classroom, the sterile
playground, toys, and didactic education. The huge information store that is
nature is a primary reason for its preservation. We can never afford such a
fine teacher or an equivalent education system that operates without cost or
bureaucratic involvement.”
“The tragic reality is that
very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power,
and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own
food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them.
We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or
governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves.”
“It’s a revolution. But
it’s the sort of revolution that no one will notice. It might get a little
shadier. Buildings might function better. You might have less money to earn
because your food is all around you and you don’t have any energy costs. Giant
amounts of money might be freed up in society so that we can provide for
ourselves better… So it’s a revolution. But permaculture is anti-political.
There is no room for politicians or administrators or priests. And there are no
laws either. The only ethics we obey are: care of the earth, care of people,
and reinvestment in those ends.”
“Although the problems are
increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.”
“The important thing is not
to do any agriculture whatsoever, and particularly to make the modern
agricultural sciences a forbidden area – they’re worse than witchcraft,
really.”
“Permaculture is something
with a million heads. It’s a way of thinking which is already loose, and you
can’t put a way of thinking back in the box.”
“Anyone who ever studied
mankind by listening to them was self-deluded. The first thing they should have
done was to answer the question, “Can they report to you correctly on their behavior?”
And the answer is, “No, the poor bastards cannot.”
“If you you hear that I am
dead tell them they lie.”
Geplakt uit <https://permaculturemag.org/2017/02/tribute-to-bill-mollison/>
