The Permaculture Promise: What Permaculture Is and How It Can Help Us Reverse Climate Change, Build a More Resilient Future on Earth, and Revitalize Our Communities

by Jono Neiger, Toby Hemenway (Foreword)

Permaculture is a sustainability buzzword, but many people wonder what it actually means and why it is relevant. Originally coined by combining the words permanent and agriculture, permaculture has evolved into an optimistic approach connecting all the systems of human gardening, housing, transportation, energy, and how we structure our communities. The Permaculture Promise explains in simple terms why permaculture may be the key to unlocking a livable future on our planet. Author Jono Neiger asserts that humans can thrive while simultaneously making Earth healthier and not destroying it. The book shows 22 ways that permaculture can create a better future for all living things. Profiles of people and communities — including an urban dweller who tore up her driveway to create a vegetable garden and a California housing development that dedicates a third of its land to parks, orchards, and gardens — will inspire you to incorporate permaculture principles into your life today. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 31, 2016

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear introduction to permaculture principles and practices

[Christine K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Someone else here mentioned it, but this book talked about a lot of big ideas without really a lot of discussion of practical implementation. Not to mention there were a lot of ideas that could only be implemented by someone with quite a bit of extra spending money. I also thought the discussion of the benefits of invasive species was highly speculative in places and, honestly, came off as a little irresponsible. Yes, some non-native species can be low impact, but many invasives (e.g. zebra mussels, which the author mentioned) have had HUGELY negative impacts on ecosystems and to minimize those impacts makes me question the reliability of information in this book in general. Look for native species for your permacultures, folks! I appreciate the idea of the book, but it doesn't offer a lot for people in a lower income bracket and honestly came off as a little out of touch.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed and formatted, a very introductory book to the concept. It frequently strays from permaculture to what it calls Permanent Culture. Might be a good book for someone resistant to the idea but needing an explanation of the concept

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good general introduction to permaculture. It’s written for people such as myself who know absolutely nothing about permaculture, and is not necessarily for someone already making use of the principles in their gardens. Author Jono Neiger shows how permaculture is about far more than having a compost bin and low-flow toilet - it is a philosophy for building a sustainable future for all human beings and every other living thing:

Permaculture: A way for humans to consciously design systems that support ourselves - food production, energy, buildings, transportation, technology, even human relationships, and financial systems - while acknowledging our roles as equal, co-creative members of natural ecosystems with the ability to regenerate our environment while we’re providing for our own needs. (p. 11).

The Permaculture Promise has many appealing photographs and is a fast read at only 160 pages. It does suffer from, perhaps, being excessively simplistic and many of the recommendations are outside the financial means of the average person. I’d recommend using the book as a start-point, using other more specific books for practical implementation in your homes and gardens.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES:

“The romantic archetype of the lone pioneer making it on his own is embedded in our society. We love to idealize the rugged individual. Think of Thoreau in his cabin on Walden Pond, escaping human society and waxing poetic on the beauty and immeasurable characteristics of nature. In reality, though, Thoreau was just a few miles from the center of Concord, Massachusetts, and regularly went into town to socialize and get supplies.” (p. 40).

*

“Modern food production is a huge and complex corporate system with many weak points that threaten its stability. The entire system is based on the availability of cheap fossil fuels for producing food and transporting it; our food comes from around the world via ship, truck, and train to get to our store shelves. As such, any disruption in the fuel supply has the potential to cut off the food supply.” (p. 62).

*

“As it turns out, where I live in the northeastern United States is actually a great place to grow rice. The more rice we grow here, the less rice needs to be grown in California on important wetland edge habitat. Growing rice in the Northeast can also mean that we’re able to use low-lying agricultural lands as they are, instead of draining them for crops that need drier conditions.” (p. 70).

*

“Although it covers 71 percent of the earth’s surface, there is a limited supply of fresh water, which exists primarily in the ground (groundwater), but also in streams and lakes. Only 3 percent of water on the planet is freshwater, and a mere 0.03 percent is not in glaciers or deep groundwater.” (p. 107).

*

“The idea that humans are separate from nature (indeed, that humans are a danger to nature) continues to this day, making it difficult for people to see themselves as a part of the landscape, with the potential to help heal the land. But we have the potential to initiate a tremendous revitalization of natural places, simply because nature itself has huge potential for regeneration.” (p. 128).

*

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Citation:
Neiger, J. (2016). The permaculture promise. Storey Publishing.

Title: The Permaculture Promise
Author(s): Jono Neiger
Year: 2016
Genre: Nonfiction
Page count: 160 pages
Date(s) read: 5/21/24 - 5/25/24
Book # 108 in 2024
**

[Felicity Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went back and forth on whether to give this a 3 or 4 star review. I settled on 4 stars because it's one of the few permaculture books I've read that discuss permaculture in all areas of life, not just the garden.

It's not a 5 because the book is mostly an overview of the various permaculture aspects of an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Some sections go into some detail, but many sections present the concept followed by general "we should do this to solve this issue" and then move into the next section without any attempt at describing how to implement the solution.

If you're looking for a quick read overview of permaculture as it applies to all aspects of life, this would be a great book. Personally I found The Permaculture City by Toby Hemenway covers the same concepts in more depth.

[Hannah Lulu]

A fairly simple book that offers an overview of Permaculture principles. This doesn't dive deep into permaculture practices for technical application, but does help one understand what permaculture is all about, what the basic tenets are, and provides a nice outline that can serve as reminders for sustainable living.

I think this is a great reference book for someone who is looking to adapt more sustainable practices in their lifestyle. It's an easy-to read book that can be referred to again and again for thoughtful reflection on making ecologically and socially responsible choices. It can help someone start integrating permactulure principles into their lifestyle even if they are not ready to dive into an intensive study of permaculture. It's kind of a superficial overview, but still useful.

[Kimberly Carren pescosolido · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the information about the theory of permaculture, but it didn't really give me many specifics that I felt that I could implement. I was a bit unhappy about the treatment of native plants. There was nothing about how important they are in the ecosystem as food for insects, and how much better they are at that than introduced species. They even recommended planting the invasive autumn olive in one of the guilds/companion planting. They also argued that the introduced species would take their place in a working ecosystem, without mentioning that they often do not host caterpillars and therefore don't feed birds. No less than thousands of years of coevolution can adapt insects to introduced plants so they really are not serving the same role as native plants, even if they have been here for 100s of years.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a practical guide to implementing permaculture principals and this book was not it. It covered permaculture principals at a high level and at the community level but left the specifics for a homesteader like me out. Examples focused on high income, Eurocentric culture only; out of touch especially about invasive species.

[Connor Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Read half way through and put down***
The book itself is okay, however, if you're like me and know a thing or two about ecology or know what permaculture is, you probably won't gain much from this book. However, this book is a GREAT introduction to permaculture practices to people who know nothing about permaculture.

[Sukie Conley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great introductory book for permaculture practice. It’s not a book full of explicit how to’s, but rather it provides an overview to inspire creativity in the reader on how they might start something. The resource list at the end is also quite helpful.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big on ideas, small on implementation.

[Narise Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for explaining what permaculture is and what it can do. Don't expect it to be a guide to actually doing permaculture though, that's not the goal of this book. Great pictures!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated/photographed, easy to follow, great intro to Permaculture, a little vague on implementation overall

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides an overview of permaculture. The author defined permaculture as including human relationships and financial systems, how we grow food, build housing, structure communities, and gather energy. It uses interconnected, self-sufficient designs and views people as a part of nature, not above it.

The book is more a summary of what is being done than a how-to guide. For example, he mentioned rain gardens, showed a picture of a rain garden, and might have done a profile on someone who put one in, but he didn't provide enough detail that you could go make one. He did give some suggestions of what the reader can do, but it was mainly along the lines of "learn a new self-sufficiency skill" or "install a compost toilet."

He covered topics like regenerative farming, soil fertility using nitrogen-fixing plants and dynamic accumulators, composting and humanure, sharing resources with those in need, building community relationships and learning self-sufficiency skills, using wetlands instead of destroying them, urban planning and urban gardens, buying local or growing heirloom plants and heritage livestock, growing food rather than ornamental plants, building energy efficient homes, preventing erosion, collecting rain water, and using renewable energy sources.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Michelle]

Have you ever wondered how we can reverse climate change, or any other damage we have done to our earth. Even though I don't do much in the way of building a more friendly earth, my husband does. `The Permaculture Promise` was written by Jono Neiger to help each individual understand what they can do. The promise of permaculture is to create a more livable world for all of us. The book has many colorful photos to encourage the reader to think about our earth.

I like the idea the book shows in capturing rainwater for garden irrigation. I noticed how green the grass is in the photos. Perhaps we do need to concentrate on our earth for it to become more vibrant. This book is easy for a young teen to understand, one that could be taught in a class, yet it's not childish in its approach.

It seems like a lot of work, but if each person does their part it won't be as hard. I believe if we had more trees we would not be as hot. We need trees to make paper and other items, but I wonder if we could find a better way.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this ARC through Net Galley for my honest review.

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to thank Jono Neiger, NetGalley, and Storey Publishing for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is chalk full of inspiring, useful, and necessary ways to create a rich environment for all of us to reap from its benefits. I have little hope though in my lifetime that I will see the likes of my current neighborhood follow the path of permaculture. Too often, people say the care about the planet, environment, and global warming but do little or nothing in preventing global catastrophes or even help and support those ideas.

[Polly Krize · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Jono Neiger has done such a good job of explaining the whys and wherefores of permaculture. Written simply and informatively, all aspects of permaculture and its importance in rebuilding our environment are explored. As a very important buzzword these days, permaculture is within all of our reaches. Recommended.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was all over the place. Not really about permaculture, more of a general book about environmental concerns — in a very superficial way.

[Nona · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5

[Justin]

More of a why than a how