In the 1970s, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren coined the term "permaculture" to indicate a cultivation technique which, rather than using fertilizers and high maintenance machines, follows the principles of nature. Initially linked to a niche of specialists, the discipline has gradually gained increasingly mainstream visibility.
A "human organic system", as Mollison defined it over thirty years ago, permaculture seems to be successful precisely because it is a holistic discipline capable of offering practical tools to build a concrete modus vivendi and operandi,
"With permaculture we teach people to use knowledge of ecosystems and complex theory to transform waste into resources",
"It's about intelligently using natural laws to promote human development, rather than spending unnecessary resources trying to change a natural system that is already perfect in itself."