Rather than against natural processes and assist rather than impede natural developments.
Applications: gravity, solar, native species, location, wind...
Everything works both ways
The problem is the solution. How we view things make them helpful or not; think outside the box.
Application: slugs are not the problem in a garden, it's the lack of ducks.
Least change for the greatest affect
Work a source not a sink of energy.
Application: storing water in the earth in the most efficient places possible for maximum water availability over an indefinite period of time.
Yield of a system is theoretically unlimited
The only limit on the number of uses of a resource possible within a system is in the limit of the information and the imagination of the designer.
Application: thoughtful research and an open mind govern our designs.
Everything is connected and has an effect on its environment in some way.
Application: rabbits garden by burrowing in the soil and displacing worms and beetles, mice control snails by taking them to their nests and eating them.
Every cyclical event increases the opportunity for yield to be increased. Increasing cycling is to increase yield.
Application: chickens eat insects and plants, they poop, we gather the manure and use it to make methane to power our stove to cook the egg harvested from the chickens.
All functions are supported by many elements while each element performs many functions; planned redundancy.
Application: the woodshed provides rain shelter for fuel, is covered by a vine that feeds us fruit, rainwater flows into a cistern that is used to water the vines...
Diversity creates stability
Stability is created by a number of beneficial connections between diverse beings.
Application: fruit tree diversity combined with species specific plant guilds and water harvesting earthworks to become self regulating ecosystems overtime.
Information as a resource
Information is the critical potential resource, share it.
Application: sharing information only broadens the potential for a just and rengenerative society.
Start small and build on success; through proper placement of elements we can save time and energy.
Application: south facing slope increases heat absorption in cold climate gardens extending the growing season for food production and warming homes/greenhouses.