1. How Can the Three Ethical Principles of Permaculture be Applied to Business
Ethics?
James Llewellyn
Senior Managing Consultant, Atkins Limited
In recent weeks, the UK news has been dominated by increasingly lurid allegations that the
News of the World newspaper hacked into the mobile telephone voicemail accounts of a
murdered schoolgirl and relatives of UK service men killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rather
than being the work of a rogue individual, the phone hacking seems to have been
encouraged by an organisational culture of getting a news story (and hence selling
newspapers) at any price. The sight of the octogenarian Rupert Murdoch, scurrying to the
UK in order to try and limit the commercial damage to his business empire, is a somewhat
depressing indictment of the priorities that many businesses seem to have. The question is
whether there is a better way to do business?
The three ethical principles of permaculture provide an alternative vision for businesses to
conduct themselves; one based on dignity and respect rather than the relentless pursuit of
monetary profit.
Earth Care: Every business on the planet uses the earth’s natural resources – such as
water, plants, animals and energy. If these resources are not replaced and become less
common, the price will go up and directly affect the bottom line. It is basic economics. A
good example is oil, the cost of which is causing many businesses who rely on road or air
transport to complain to anyone who will listen (although they don’t seem to realise that as
consumers they are actually part of the problem). Both government and business have, to
date, been very slow to wake up to the fact that Peak Oil – the point at which supplies
descend into an irreversible decline – will completely change the way that we have to
organise business activity. Given the reliance on natural resources, care for the earth
should actually be a business imperative rather than a “nice to have”.
People Care: The recent economic downturn has unfortunately exposed many businesses
and governments as being more concerned with their short term financial bottom line than
the long term development of people and their careers. The mass redundancies seen in
many organisations have given the impression that people are commodities who can be
bought (in the good times) and sold (when things get tough). Apologists for the “hire and
fire” approach would no doubt say that businesses are not charities and have to make a
profit; and therefore the end justifies the means. In response it might be worth asking
where all the profits, generated in the economic boom years, actually went? Were they set
aside for a “rainy day” so that businesses and their staff could become more resilient
against future economic downturns? No, the profits were often invested in complex
financial derivative schemes as a means of making yet more money; and as it turns out at
least some of those schemes have made a direct contribution to the various debt crises that
have been sweeping the globe since the autumn of 2007. We can’t easily undo the
mistakes of the last four years; but we businesses can take a lead and make care for
people (staff, customers and local communities) a fundamental part of their future vision.
Fair Share: Anyone who watches the dismal TV show The Apprentice will know that, in the
eyes of business moguls like Lord Alan Sugar, there is only one winner. Business is
portrayed as a cut throat environment where you have to kill or be killed. In this kind of
world view, there is certainly little room for sharing of success never mind more financial
considerations such as wages and bonuses. Thankfully in reality, there is actually a fair
degree of co-operation and sharing within businesses as people recognise that they have to
work together to deliver an outcome that is greater than the sum of individual efforts. But
more could be done to promote genuine co-operation rather than the use of targets to
promote competition. Many of the “mis-selling” problems associated with financial products
such as mortgages and payment protection insurance can be directly attributable to sales

2. targets. And in the long term of course, companies found guilty of breaking financial
standards have paid a heavy price in terms of their reputation.
Therefore the three permaculture principles are not fluffy aspirations; they should be seen
as business imperatives to be ignored at our collective peril.
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