Change Here Now: Permaculture Solutions for Personal and Community Transformation

by Adam Brock

Award-winning social entrepreneur and permaculturalist Adam Brock draws from ecology, sociology, community economics, social justice, and indigenous practices the world over to present more than eighty proven solutions for building healthy communities. Using the "pattern language" framework developed by architect Christopher Alexander and his colleagues in the 1970s, Brock outlines strategies for redesigning our social and economic systems to mimic nature's resilience and abundance.  Practical, innovative, and visually compelling, this book presents actionable and easy-to-understand tools for a compassionate and methodical approach to building better communities. Sidebars and diagrams supplement the text, while case studies illustrate endeavors such as starting a business, launching a social change project, or setting personal goals. Brock suggests ways to engage disempowered communities in a meaningful and authentic way, and draws on eight years of in-depth research and investigation to demonstrate what makes communities work at the most fundamental level. Anyone looking for concrete solutions to many of the social and economic ills that plague our current society will discover a rich resource for growth and change.

Genres: Social Justice, Politics, Nonfiction, Environment

371 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 30, 2017

Reviews

[Rivera Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep renewing the book from the library, but I'm halfway through and convinced I need a copy for my bookshelf. This isn't a book that you read and forget about. This is a living volume that you grow with, studying the patterns of change like you would the I-Ching or the Tao Te Ching. It's fascinating. As someone who teaches strategy for nonviolent movements, this book is a revelation. As a novelist who writes about nonviolent movements for change, it's giving me lively plot ideas for the third part of The Dandelion Trilogy (Dandelion Insurrection, Roots of Resistance, and Unnamed #3). If you're the kind of person who a) likes to stick your hands in the dirt, b) is working for social change, c) studies permaculture design, or b) all of the above . . . this book is definitely for you.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I genuinely enjoyed this book and I’m not sure how to describe it in a way that doesn’t seem technical and how-to because it is a guide but it is also a warm hug and a beautiful vision for our future. Lots of good tips and resources for personal activism, community work, imagining the future, changing our workplaces, etc. but also a very good overall resource for looking at not only is wrong with the world but how we can tangibly make it better. Reading about time banks and mutual aid networks and alternative currencies and self-care and more all in one book was just very very nice !! Definitely recommend for anyone working on personal/community activism or just trying to make the world better!

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and practical guide to transforming society via principles from permaculture. Obviously not an exact how-to, but some really helpful principles that can be implemented in groups with utopic politics.

[James Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brock's Change Here Now arrives not a moment too soon to conclusively shepherd the Permaculture movement beyond its roots as a land design method squarely into the realm of social design. Thoroughly researched and thoughtfully presented, Brock draws on a wide variety of sources to present eighty proven solutions, in the form of a pattern language, for building healthy communities.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent guidebook for the coming times. Accessible, encouraging and inspiring.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claimed to be about permaculture but seemed more for community organizing. Useful for that but very long (though chapters are short — it’s supposed to be a reference book).

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful book of ideas for building healthy and thriving communities. Recommended for anyone interested in doing this work.