The Politics of Permaculture

by Terry Leahy

Permaculture is an environmental movement that makes us revaluate what it means to be sustainable. Through innovative agriculture and settlement design, the movement creates new communities that are harmonious with nature. It has grown from humble origins on a farm in 1970s Australia and flourished into a worldwide movement that confronts industrial capitalism.

The Politics of Permaculture is one of the first books to unpack the theory and practice of this social movement that looks to challenge the status quo. Drawing upon the rich seam of publications and online communities from the movement as well as extensive interviews with permaculture practitioners and organizations from around the world, Leahy explains the ways permaculture is understood and practiced in different contexts.

In the face of extreme environmental degradation and catastrophic climate change, we urgently need a new way of living.

256 pages, Hardcover

Published July 20, 2021

Reviews

[Sam Pointon · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good overview of permaculture as it exists today and how it came to be as a movement, addressing many of the class, colonial and gendered critiques i have from a largely anarchist perspective. permaculture is shown to be multifaceted and contradictory, but overall a valuable framework for transitioning away from industrial agriculture and building societies and ecosystems that benefit both humans and non-humans in the long term. anyone got a landowning family member who wants to let me tend to a water efficient food forest?

[RMD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summary of permaculture as a social movement, including a multi layered definition of permaculture in theory/practice as well as analyses of its political positions in theory/practice.

Becomes essential reading for anyone interested in social movements and particularly environmental action.

Even if many, like myself, would not expect much from permaculture politically, this book provides a good summary of what is being done and what isn't and why.

The successes and failures of permaculture are also essential to consider for any of us who realize the necessity of system change - and the difficulties in the process.

In terms of accessibility, I give it 4 out of 5, which is probably the highest score I could imagine on such topics.

[Jack Peacock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m still not entirely sure what a swale is.

[Roxana Sabau · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a bit of an irony here, our parents and grandparents thought the ultimate goal was higher education and life in the big cities. Meanwhile, more and more of us are looking into ways of reverting to an agrarian lifestyle.

I am one of those people so maybe part of the reason why I loved the book so much rests in a bit of confirmation bias.

I loved the chapters on gender and colonialism and how well it underlined that in a lot of counter culture "back to the land" communities there is a tendency to revert to traditional, sometimes sexist gender roles.

I also loved how it highlighted that the view that we all can become our own gardener/farmer is an extremely idealistic one and it rests on a very middle-class assumption that everyone can just buy land/acquire farming knowledge. It's great to encourage people in this direction, but keep in mind that an exclusively agrarian society is not likely to emerge overnight (and frankly, that's not a bad thing).

The goal is to combat large scale industrial capitalism and to propose a viable alternative to a post-capitalist society.

[Susylangsdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful summary about permaculture, helping me to understand why I have never (in 7 years of being interested) felt I could quite grasp it in its entirety. Felt like listening to an authority voice on it, despite his attempts to centre other voices, meant that it did feel a bit like listening to another white man's opinion as still came from that epistemic position. But still a valuable read for me as he was knowledgeable and very experienced.