Tiny Houses And Permaculture For A Resilient And Sustainable Future

Peak Oil, economic collapse, global warming. There is little question that if humanity remains on the path we are on now, then there is little hope for a sustained existence on the planet. We need to change our thinking and adopt a more harmonious stance to our relationship with the biosphere. The principles of permaculture teach us how it is possible to thrive on the earth and actually have a positive impact on the environment around us and together with the tiny house movement they provide a hopeful model for the future.

Andrew Martin is the author of the book Rethink: …Your world, Your future. After waking up to the worlds sustainability crisis, Andrew left the high flying world of  finance to move to New Zealand and start a permaculture farm where he now lives with his wife Beth. In this interview, we talk about his research, permaculture and how the tiny house movement provides insight into potential models of sustainable living.

‘As we move past overshoot in the use of natural resources, humanity is faced with two questions? The first being, do we continue down the ‘business as usual’ road, or do we ‘rethink’ our current paradigm and change our trajectory? One way will lead to certain collapse. The other will give us a better chance of mitigating catastrophic disruptions, lead us to greater connection and the ability to rebuild communities and ecosystems, and deliver real prosperity to all.’