Permaculture Designer

In the fight to make the world a little bit greener, Permaculture Designers are like the earth’s crusading Landscape Architects. Permaculture Designers create spaces that are self-sufficient and gentle on the environment.

The job of Permaculture Designer is all about working with what you’ve got. You start projects by observing the land, including the plants and animals that live there. You want to avoid doing things like introducing nonnative plants or using toxic materials to build new shelters.

Instead, you find ways to connect things in an earth-friendly way. For example, if a garden needs fertilizer, you might plant trees nearby in order to encourage local birds to move in.

You can imagine this job as one big circle. What one thing produces (say, animal manure) becomes something another takes in (fertilizer for plants). You use nature as your guide, taking the way things have been working for years, and applying it to all sorts of spaces, from homes to farms to large tracts of land.

The purpose of permaculture is to increase the output and health of the land, while at the same time decreasing the amount of work it requires. You want to reach the point where the plants or animals you have brought to the area can do things like propagate seeds, fertilize the ground, or provide shelter. This gives you or the person who owns the land less to do, but also makes the land more productive.