Permaculture and utopian romanticism (online)

Permaculture and contemporary utopian romanticism

Permaculture grew out of an opposition to industrial farming techniques and preference for traditional (indigenous) land management and spread across the world with 400,000 projects in 120 countries. This paper provides an analysis of the key principles of Permaculture and its affinities with Romantic thought. The author explains the Permaculture movement and its principles followed by an examination of Romanticism from a political and socio-cultural focus. This leads into a discussion of prior links between political ecology and Romantic conservatism. The following sections expand upon Permaculture’s vision of society as expressed by David Holmgren and identify affinities to Romantic thought.