Bill Mollison
Permaculture as a practical design system
Read Mark’s appreciation →Academy Library collection
People and Ideas
Thinkers, practitioners, process contributors, teachers and learning companions who shaped my permaculture journey
Ideas become practice through people
Why people and ideas matter
Permaculture is carried through books, farms, classrooms, conversations, questions and long practice. This collection traces some of those lines of influence without turning them into a single approved history. It asks what each person contributed, which drivers shaped their work, how I have interpreted that influence and where a constructive critical reading is still needed.
The five relationship lenses recognise foundational thinkers, ecological and regenerative practitioners, design-process contributors, mentors and teachers, and peers, collaborators or learning companions. They are not ranks or sealed categories. Each profile states the evidenced relationship and remains a distinct editorial page, with sources and related paths into the wider Library.
Domain 1
Foundational Thinkers
The foundational voices and adjacent traditions that helped establish permaculture as an ethical, practical and ecological design discipline.
David Holmgren
Principles for resilient living and cultural change
Read Mark’s appreciation →Masanobu Fukuoka
Natural farming and the discipline of doing less
Read Mark’s appreciation →Domain 2
Ecological and Regenerative Practitioners
Practitioners whose work tests ideas through plants, water, soil, climate, communities and the continuing management of living places.
Toby Hemenway
Ecological gardens, human settlements and accessible systems thinking
Read Mark’s appreciation →Dave Jacke
Forest gardening as applied ecosystem design
Read Mark’s appreciation →Eric Toensmeier
Perennial crops, useful plants and productive polycultures
Read Mark’s appreciation →Geoff Lawton
Demonstration, water harvesting and practical implementation
Read Mark’s appreciation →Sepp Holzer
Water landscapes, microclimates and practical experimentation
Read Mark’s appreciation →Narsanna Koppula
Dryland regeneration, water self-reliance and community knowledge
Read Mark’s appreciation →Rosemary Morrow
Permaculture education for restoration and human need
Read Mark’s appreciation →Domain 3
Design-Process Contributors
People whose published work keeps design responsive, relational and open to learning rather than reducing it to an assembled sequence of techniques.
Looby Macnamara
The Design Web and permaculture for people and culture
Read Mark’s appreciation →Dan Palmer
Living design rather than assembled solutions
Read Mark’s appreciation →Domain 4
Mentors and Teachers
People whose teaching, assessment and questions directly changed how Mark designs, evaluates and facilitates learning.
Tom Henfrey
Reflection, resilience and the courage to transform
Read Mark’s appreciation →Tomas Remiarz
Ethics, ecological limits and forest gardens in practice
Read Mark’s appreciation →Chris Evans
Food sovereignty, practical education and learning from farmers
Read Mark’s appreciation →Domain 5
Peers, Collaborators and Learning Companions
People encountered through shared learning spaces, facilitation and exchange, with the precise relationship stated on each page rather than assumed from the category.
Carla Moss
Learning communities and the questions that strengthen design
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