Hi, I've heard Bill Mollison mentioning permaculture accountants in one of his lectures. Can somebody give me more information please. I am an accounting student and I would like to know how to become a permaculture accountant. Are there any accounting firms that already provide permaculture accounting services??? Thank you all for answering. Natasha
G'day Natasha The whole of permaculture is greater than the sum of its parts... As such, if you think you can align your knowledge and skills as an accountant within the ethical permaculture framework, then I am sure you will find a place for yourself somewhere on the spectrum. You might find the following papers of interest: Wackernagel et al (2001) Accounting for Sustainable Development: Complementary Monetary and Biophysical Approaches Holmgren (2010) Money vs Fossil Energy: The Battle for Control of the World Cheerio, Markos.
Some thought is being put into this idea by different people. One groupd would be https://www.financialpermaculture.org/?page_id=84 in America. They have links to wiki pages and discussion groups. I really dig Ethan Rolands piece on 8 forms of Capital https://appleseedpermaculture.com/8-forms-of-capital/ This would be the context I think monetary systems would be best applied to permaculture. Have a look through this website, it is a hive of fresh ideas and action. Great work! Another idea would be why stick to monetary systems for accounting. David Holmgren asks in his Principles and Pathways book that a worthy investment of someones time would be in researching and applying EMERGY accounting to find the true costs of any project. I know that the Mulloon Institute are having their egg operation studied by a Masters student, would be interesting to see the results of a true free range operation against a conventional system. I would expect to be a very wholistic appraisal. More info at www.emergysystems.org
