Concept

Permaculture ethics

Also known as: Three permaculture ethics

The three foundational ethics articulated by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren when developing permaculture in the 1970s: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share (sometimes 'Future Care' or 'Distribute Surplus'). The ethics function as the test for permaculture design decisions — does this practice care for the Earth, care for people, and distribute surplus fairly? Distinct from Mollison's twelve design principles (which are how-to); the ethics are the why. Foundational to all permaculture practice and influential beyond permaculture in broader regenerative-design and ecological-design movements.

The three ethics

1. Earth Care (Earth Care, Care for the Earth)

Care for soil, water, air, biodiversity, ecological systems
Recognition that human flourishing depends on Earth’s flourishing
Practical implications: regenerative practice, biodiversity protection, sustainable resource use, restoration of damaged systems

2. People Care (People Care, Care for People)

Care for self, family, community, and broader human society
Recognition that ecological work depends on human well-being
Practical implications: meaningful livelihoods, healthy communities, equitable access, mutual support

3. Fair Share (Fair Share, Limits to Consumption, Distribute Surplus)

Recognition that resources are finite
Setting limits on consumption to leave enough for others (humans and non-humans)
Sharing surplus rather than accumulating
Practical implications: redistribution, [[gift-economy|gift economy]], [[mutual-aid|mutual aid]], voluntary simplicity, generosity

The third ethic is the most-debated; some practitioners articulate it as “Future Care” or “Setting Limits and Sharing Surplus” or other variations.

How they function

The three ethics are the test for [[permaculture|permaculture design]] decisions:

Does this practice care for the Earth? If it damages [[soil|the soil]], water, biodiversity — no.
Does this practice care for people? If it harms workers, neighbors, families — no.
Does this practice fairly share surplus? If it concentrates wealth or excludes — no.

A [[permaculture|permaculture design]] that fails any of the three is not a working [[permaculture|permaculture design]]. The ethics are the gatekeeper for what counts.

Origins

[[bill-mollison|Bill Mollison]] and David Holmgren developed permaculture in 1970s Tasmania. The original 1978 Permaculture One book contained the framework; subsequent works (including Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, 1988, and Holmgren’s Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, 2002) refined and elaborated.

The three ethics emerged from the founders’ integration of:

Indigenous ecological knowledge (substantially through [[bill-mollison|Mollison]]‘s relationships with Tasmanian Aboriginal communities)
Western ecological thought (Howard Odum, [[aldo-leopold|Aldo Leopold]])
Practical farming traditions
Spiritual and ethical traditions broadly

Influence beyond permaculture

The three ethics have influenced:

[[regenerative-agriculture|Regenerative agriculture]] — broader movement adopting similar framing
Ecological design — from architecture to community planning
Social-justice frameworks — particularly the Fair Share ethic’s redistribution implications
Business ethics — triple-bottom-line and stakeholder frameworks

Critique and elaboration

Some practitioners consider the three ethics insufficient and add more (e.g., Future Care for descendants, Justice for marginalized communities)
Indigenous critique — some Indigenous practitioners argue the three ethics approximate Indigenous frameworks already articulated more fully
Practical tension — the three can conflict; permaculture practice involves navigating those tensions

Why this matters

Permaculture’s three ethics offer one of the most-developed practical ethical frameworks for ecological design. Combined with the twelve design principles, they provide both the why and how for designing systems — gardens, farms, businesses, communities, lives — that work with ecological function rather than against it.

For 0mn1.one’s [[mission-district-sf|mission]], permaculture ethics articulate the three-way commitment: ecological, human, and equitable. [[0mn1one|The platform]]‘s framing of regenerative commerce, “Rooted in life,” and worldwide abundance for all forms of life shares this triadic structure.

Sources

Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual, [[bill-mollison|Bill Mollison]] (Tagari, 1988)
Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability, David Holmgren (Holmgren Design, 2002)
Permaculture One, [[bill-mollison|Bill Mollison]] and David Holmgren (1978)

Rooted in life.

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