This is the first book to explore how to use permaculture design and principles for people – to restore personal, social and planetary well-being. People & Permaculture widens the definition of permaculture from being mainly about land-based systems to include our own lives, relationships and society. This book provides a framework to help each of us improve our ability to care for ourselves, our friends, our families and the Earth. It is also a clear guide for those who may be new to permaculture, who may not even have a garden, but who wish to be involved in making changes to their lives and living more creative, low-carbon lives. People & Permaculture transforms the context of permaculture making it relevant to everyone. Including over 50 practical activities, People & Permaculture empowers readers with tried and tested tools to initiate positive change in their lives. It is a hands-on yet powerful guide to creating a sustainable world.
Looby Macnamara has been teaching permaculture since 2002 and is a partner of a leading teaching and consultancy venture, Designed Visions. She runs full permaculture design courses as well as teacher training, advanced permaculture design and peoplecare courses. Looby travels to Nepal to support the Himalayan Permaculture Centre. She has supported the development and growth of permaculture nationally through her input as trustee of the Permaculture Association (Britain) for 5 years (2001-2006) and was the Chairperson for two of these. She is still an active member of the permaculture community; she is a diploma tutor and is engaged with the education working group. Looby lives in Herefordshire with her partner Chris Evans and two daughters. She enjoys singing, yoga, gardening and making all sorts of things from cakes and wine, to clothes and blankets.
"Picking up this book for the first time is to hold a route map to the future in the palm of your hand. Use what you learn from it and be warned your life will change forever. You will become a co-creator of a beautiful new world. People & Permaculture is a pathway to this new world. It will indeed change your life if you absorb its wisdom and apply its tools and techniques. It will enhance your personal and professional relationships and help you to design better projects. It is a big step forward in permaculture thinking and a valuable addition to any library. May it bring you balance and fulfilment and enable you to become an even more effective advocate for the Earth."
– Polly Higgins, Barrister, author of Eradicating Ecocide
"This book is cause for celebration! Many of us have long hankered for the insights and principles of permaculture to be translated to serve all aspects of our lives. Looby Macnamara has been worth waiting for: she fills the bill with luminous clarity, lean eloquence and an exquisite knowledge of systems. Her opening chapters on 'Thinking like an Ecosystem' should be required reading in every classroom from third grade through graduate school. Equally rewarding are her applications of permaculture to health, communication and the life of the mind. It's part of the genius of the book that all this, once you see it, can seem as natural as breathing."
– Joanna Macy, co-author, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in Without Going Crazy
"The application of permaculture principles and thinking to peoplecare has long been a vexed issue for permaculture activists, designers and teachers. In this book Looby Macnamara uses her solid grounding in permaculture to show that its principles and thinking can help us all be effective and hopeful in an age of change and challenge. In the process she draws in kindred ideas and influences from the field of peoplecare, making a significant contribution in the ongoing evolution of permaculture as a concept and a movement creating a better world."
– David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept