Readings
Introduction to Permaculture
The permaculture perspective has more resonance now than at any other time since the term ‘permaculture’ was coined in 1978. The Paris Climate Agreement of 2016 has the world admitting it needs to turn civilization onto a different road. Permaculture design has been scouting out that path for nearly 40 years, and now it’s time that the world sees some of what we have learned about living in cooperation with nature.
This free introduction to permaculture is meant for the novice and the professional alike, with no prior experience necessary. For the person new to permaculture design and land stewardship, this book will provide a foundation from which to build upon with subsequent training, and introduce a new perspective that can be applied in many careers and facets of life.
For the gardener, farmer, nurseryman, architect, landscaper, land manager, developer, engineer, aid worker, planner or activist, this book can help to deepen and focus the good work you’re already doing, and provide a grounding in the permaculture design process that you can apply in your current endeavors. The book is not teaching specific techniques as much as a system and process of design which can be used to enhance work in many different fields.
Introduction to Permaculture
Links to an external site.
Permaculture Design: Tools for Climate Resilience
One of the 12 Permaculture principles articulated by its co-founder David Holmgren encourages us to “Design from Patterns to Details.” This means that we establish a general ecological and social context for a site before ever examining and designing intricate details of a place. We begin to establish our site context from the widest possible view. Climate is the largest scale geophysical pattern that we need to understand in order to place ourselves within the world.
This book is predominantly about climate, and the macro influences of climate and climate change on design. As we get through the topics of climate analogues and climate change forecasting, we will end up moving down this list to see the climate’s influence on specific design choices.
Permaculture Design: Tools for Climate Resilience
Links to an external site.
Select web readings
Definition of Permaculture: An Interview with Bill Mollison (https://www.context.org/iclib/ic28/mollison/ Links to an external site.)
David Holmgren interview (https://holmgren.com.au/samuel-alexander-interviews-david-holmgren/ Links to an external site.)
David Holmgren's Permaculture Design Principles (http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/ Links to an external site.)
Dryland: The Man Who Farms Water by Brad Lancaster (https://cals.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln46/lancaster.html Links to an external site.)
How to Build a Gravity Fed Aquaculture System (http://permaculturenews.org/2015/03/21/a-rough-guide-on-how-to-build-a-gravity-fed-aquaculture-system/ Links to an external site.)
Lancaster Books: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond (http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/ Links to an external site.)
Overview of Design Methods (http://www.self-willed-land.org.uk/permaculture/design_methods.htm Links to an external site.)
Pacific Edge: A Short and Incomplete History of Permaculture (https://pacific-edge.info/2007/07/a-short-and-incomplete-history-of-permaculture/ Links to an external site.)
The Permaculture Association 12 Design Principles (https://www.permaculture.org.uk/knowledge-base/principles Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Ethics (https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/permaculture/permaculture-ethics/ Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Guidebook (https://permatilglobal.org/ Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Handbook (http://permaculturehandbook.com/ Links to an external site.)
Permaculture Magazine (https://www.permaculture.co.uk/ Links to an external site.)
Permaculture principles (https://permacultureprinciples.com/ethics/ Links to an external site.)
Regrarian's eHandbook (http://www.regrarians.org/product-category/ebook/ Links to an external site.)
Retrofitting the Suburbs for the Energy Descent Future (https://holmgren.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2003/11/RetrofittingTheSuburbsSimplicityInstitute1.pdf Links to an external site.)
Starting Your Permaculture Garden (http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/starting-your-permaculture-garden/ Links to an external site.)
A Way of Seeing by Joel Glanzberg (http://patternmind.org/permaculture-a-way-of-seeing/
Links to an external site.)
Select biographical links
Albert Bates (http://www.thefarm.org/etc/etc-staff/ Links to an external site.)
Robin Clayfield (https://permacultureglobal.org/users/428-robin-clayfield Links to an external site.)
Darren Doherty (http://www.regrarians.org/about/darren-j-doherty-cv/ Links to an external site.)
Brock Dolman (https://oaec.org/about-us/staff/brock-dolman/ Links to an external site.)
Robyn Francis (http://permaculture.com.au/meet-team/ Links to an external site.)
Joel Glanzberg (http://patternmind.org/about-joel/ Links to an external site.)
Eugenio Gras (https://www.designedvisions.co.uk/index.php/biographies/guest-tutors-mainmenu-73-2/236-eugenio-gras Links to an external site.)
Maddy Harland (https://www.motherearthnews.com/biographies/maddy-harland Links to an external site.)
Toby Hemenway (https://tobyhemenway.com/about/ Links to an external site.)
David Holmgren (https://permaculture.fandom.com/wiki/David_Holmgren Links to an external site.)
Brad Lancaster (https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/about/ Links to an external site.)
Mark Lakeman (https://marklakeman.wordpress.com/ Links to an external site.)
Penny Livingston-Stark (http://www.regenerativedesign.org/instructors/penny-livingston-stark#.XrLyQBNKh-V Links to an external site.)
Andrew Millison (https://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/users/andrew-millison)
Bill Mollison (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Mollison Links to an external site.)
Rosemary Morrow (http://seedsustainabilityconsulting.com/rosemary-morrow/ Links to an external site.)
Michael Pilarksi (https://friendsofthetrees.net/about-friends-trees/about-friends-of-the-trees Links to an external site.)
Julious Piti (http://poret-zimbabwe.org/about/org/julious_piti.php Links to an external site.)
Scott Pittman (https://permaculture.org/author/scott-pittman/ Links to an external site.)
Patrick Whitefield (http://patrickwhitefield.co.uk/about-contact-us/
Links to an external site.)