"We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure systems can continue to function well." -David Holmgren

The all-earth icon is the largest-scale example we have of a self-regulating "organism" that is subject to feedback controls such as global warming. The proverb “the sins of the fathers fall on the children of the seventh generation” reminds us that negative feedback is often slow to emerge.

Physical work requires self-awareness of technique and muscle use, motivating reflection on the value of work. One of the first jobs with bioconstruction that I participated in was with the superadobe technique, building a small house, which took months of work, the back pain was the feedback, until I found the correct position of the back, and managed to work with less wear and tear.

From a greater understanding of how positive and negative feedback works in nature, we can design more self-regulating systems, attention, thus the effort involved in corrective, repeat and adverse management.

By applying permaculture principles to our lives, family and community relationships, we rebuild the deep structures that provide collective security and an individual degree of security against disasters.

There are always limits to the effectiveness and degree of security offered by any self-sufficient attitude, but overall self-sufficiency remains one of the most important strategies for political and economic freedom, as well as for escaping the vicissitudes that nature has in store for us.