This book uses permaculture principles as a framework for an empowering but challenging vision of creative adaptation to a world of energy descent. David Holmgren builds on the extraordinary success of the permaculture concept (which he co-originated with Bill Mollison 30 years ago) and the global permaculture movement, to provide a more cerebral and controversial contribution to the sustainability debate. Unlike previous books by David Holmgren which have highlighted practical case studies in permaculture design, Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability brings into sharper focus the powerful and still evolving Permaculture concept he pioneered with Bill Mollison in the 1970's. It draws together and integrates 25 years of thinking and teaching to show a whole new way of understanding and action behind a simple set of design principles. This book is relevant to every aspect of how we reorganise our lives, communities and landscapes to creatively adapt to ecological realities which shape human destiny. For students and teachers of permaculture this book provides something more fundamental and distilled than Mollison's encyclopedic Designers Manual. For the general reader this book provides refreshing perspectives on a range of environmental issues and shows how permaculture is much more than a system of gardening. For anyone seriously interested in understanding the foundations for sustainable design and culture, this book is essential reading. Although a book of ideas, the big picture is repeatedly grounded by reference to Holmgren's own patch, Melliodora and other practical examples.