Attitudinal principles

Multiple elements x multiple functions

This principle asks us to look at how every element of our system performs multiple functions. Take a row of trees. These can act as a wind break, a source of firewood, construction wood and mulch, nesting opportunities for birds and insects, provide shade, stabilize and fertilize the soil, capture moisture and airborne matter from the air, etc.

And similarly that every function in our system needs to have a backup somewhere else. If we want to have a source of water on our site, this can be provided by a natural spring, by capturing rain water, by digging a well, etc. If one element fails to provide the required function, we can resort to a different one without much disruption to our systems. In our example above, if rainfall is insufficient we can supplement with well water or divert some spring water for our purposes.

Designing a system with this principle in mind will produce a smaller yet more resilient design.

Everything gardens

Gardening covers many different actions, like: scattering, sowing, thinning, gathering, harvesting, mowing, pruning, transplanting, constructing, digging, fertilizing, etc. etc.

Looking at how animals, plants, bacteria, fungi etc. change the environment you can easily see how they too are gardening in a sense.

Take the example of a bird harvesting (eating) a fruit. Some seeds get stratified in the bird's stomach. When the bird poops out the seed it gets sown with a bit of fertilizer attached. Later when the bird scratches the soil looking for seeds and insects, it scatters dormant seeds, it weeds and prepares the topsoil for planting and it removes potentials pests.

The problem is the solution

Change how you think about a problem and sometimes the problem is no longer a problem to be solved or the reformulation makes a solution obvious.

One famous saying by Bill Mollison is: "You don't have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency!". Meaning that by introducing ducks into the system, the snails will be dealt with as ducks eat snails.

Yield is theoretically unlimited

This again is about changing how you think. It asks us to take a broader perspective. Leave the narrow, human-focused mindset behind and think bigger and more-than-human!

Work with nature

Nature or reality is the ultimate arbiter. Working against nature will ensure a steady workload trying to counteract where the system wants to go anyway.

Minimum effort, maximum effect

This principle asks us to identify leverage points where small actions lead to big consequences over time. It is also an application of the Pareto Principle where 20% of (well applied) effort leads to 80% of results.

Planting a strategically placed row of trees in a meadow can lead to: a natural wind break, providing shade and shelter from the elements, nesting opportunities, as well as kick starting the change in the ecology from grassland to woodland with corresponding changes to animals, insects and other visitors and inhabitants.