Bill Mollison

Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison (born 1928 in Stanley, Tasmania) is an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher, and biologist. He is considered to be the "father of permaculture" (although Joseph Russell Smith was the first to write about a system of permanent agriculture in a book entitled Tree Crops, published in 1929, and also a book from 1910 entitled Breeding and Use of Tree Crops). Permaculture is an integrated system of design which Mollison co-developed with David Holmgren, and it encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture, and ecology, but also economic systems, land access strategies, and legal systems for businesses and communities. In 1978, Mollison collaborated with Holmgren and they wrote a book called Permaculture One. Mollison founded The Permaculture Institute in Tasmania, and created a training system to train others under the umbrella of Permaculture. Mollison's system of train the trainer has taught thousands of people how to grow food and be sustainable using the Permaculture method.