Skip to content
Terra Humana Foundation Logo
Terra Humana
ENDEIT
Mediterranean hillside garden in evening light with an old olive tree, a small pond and a wooden table full of figs, pomegranates, bread and jars of seed

Chapter 2 of 12

The attitude: three ethics

Care for the earth, care for people, fair share: the ground everything else stands on.

0 of 2 pages read. Read them all for the stamp in your travel passport.

Before permaculture offers a single technique, it asks what the work is for. Its answer is three ethics: care for the earth, care for people and fair share. They are short enough to remember on a walk across a field, and they act as a compass whenever a design decision is not obvious. The principles in the next chapter say how to act; the ethics say why.

That is why the attitude comes second on the journey, right after the history. Earth care means rebuilding what has been lost in soil, water and living things, not only protecting what is left. People care begins with oneself and widens to family, neighbours and community. For Terra Humana it is anchored in rehumanization: restoring people as conscious, caring participants in the living world, the human counterpart to ecological restoration. Fair share means setting limits and passing on surplus, whether harvest, seed, time or knowledge.

The three ethics are not a ranking. A good design looks for the place where all three are met at once. The pages below show what that means in practice.

Pages in this chapter

Try it yourself

Three questions for one habit

  1. 1Choose one thing you do regularly in your kitchen, on your balcony or in your garden, such as dealing with peelings or watering.
  2. 2Ask the first question: does this habit leave soil, water and living things a little richer or a little poorer?
  3. 3Ask the second: who benefits from it, you, your household, your neighbours?
  4. 4Ask the third: is there a surplus, of harvest, seed, time or knowledge, that you could pass on?
  5. 5Change one small thing and note over the next few weeks what happens.

At Sa Medada

At Sa Medada, earth care begins with water and soil: Project Eden starts with pioneer plants, ground cover and holding water on the land. People care is part of the plans, which include a permaculture academy, spaces for encounter and seminars, and non-profit hosting of volunteers and researchers. Fair share shows first in open knowledge: this TerraWiki is free to read.