As the days grow hot and sunny, many of us find ourselves out in our green spaces, tending to gardens, watering and mowing lawns and enjoying time out in our carefully curated slices of nature. But science tells us that each year there are fewer buzzing bees, glowing fireflies and blooming wildflowers than before. Plus, in this Mid-Missouri heat, keeping the indoors comfortable can be difficult and uses a lot of fossil fuels and electricity. Taking steps to both enjoy the creature comforts we know, and still sustain our environment, is the driving force behind the philosophy of permaculture: a movement to create sustainable ecosystems in harmony with both what we humans need and what Mother Nature needs.
The modern lawn is one of the biggest contributors to water waste and soil pollution, and it has also led to loss of native flora and fauna. Creating a curated monoculture of a non-native plant species like lawn grass is a significant contributing factor to reduced populations of pollinators like bees and to diminished water tables. But, of course, it doesn’t have to be this way; “Lawns Into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative Landscape” by Owen Wormser is vehement in its indictment of modern lawn culture, and vigorously advocates for replacing so-called “deadscapes” with verdant, diverse and healthy meadows and permaculture yards.
“How Can I Help? Saving Nature With Your Yard” focuses more narrowly on biodiversity through permaculture. Author Douglas Tallamy, an entomologist, ecologist and conservation activist, answers hundreds of questions he’s received over his career about how individuals can help against the systemic issue of monoscaped environments like yards. Tallamy advocates for yards to be a bridge between natural preserves and wildland and human-centric nature spaces like parks, farms and cities.
The permaculture movement is not a new idea, nor is the self-sufficiency a green, off-the-grid lifestyle can provide. “The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It,” originally written by John Seymour in 1976, has seen many new and updated editions. This back-to-basics guide offers advice on growing and harvesting food; keeping livestock; building and maintaining a homestead; and harnessing natural forms of energy, covering everything from simple gardening and livestock to waterwheels, solar heating and wind turbines. This book is a bible for any homesteader or off-the-grid advocate, or anyone who wishes to provide for themselves in a sustainable, tried-and-tested way.
Living a greener lifestyle does not have to be a cold-turkey, all-or-nothing revolution in your life. It is better to have thousands of people living imperfectly eco-friendly lives, than one living it absolutely perfectly! Kathryn Kellogg’s “101 Ways to Go Zero Waste” highlights the aphorism “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” by breaking down a zero-waste lifestyle into 101 easy-to-understand concepts, techniques, recipes and advice that can be taken piecemeal or wholesale. From common-sense suggestions like “avoid plastic straws and bags” and “compost your food waste,” to more uncommon and unique ideas like environmentally friendly funerals and burials, Kellogg has a tip to reduce waste and materialism for just about every facet of life.
Adapting the imperfectly eco-friendly approach to housebuilding and renovation is another fantastic way to go green with your living space. The core philosophy of Dan Kolbert’s “Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes” is not to try and be perfect in every “green construction” metric, but to be “pretty good.” When building or renovating a home with environmental perspectives in mind, few people are going to have the capital to make it perfect. Kolbert’s tips and designs emphasize feasibility over ideals, without sacrificing the core of environmentalism.
A good companion to the previous book is Terence Conran’s “Eco House Book.” Bound in unadorned cardboard that is engraved rather than inked, this book takes eco-design seriously down to its printing. Conran’s expertise as a lifelong designer and architect is turned towards a house’s environmental impact, and provides many examples of houses that have been designed or renovated with this philosophy in mind.
If permaculture planning and green living have you dreaming off-the-grid fantasies, maybe you want to explore a firsthand account of someone who gave in to the “run off into the woods as a hermit” impulse. “Cabin: Off-the-Grid Adventures With a Clueless Craftsman” highlights the exploits (and, rather often, misadventures) of author Patrick Hutchison who, while struggling as a marketing writer in the Pacific Northwest, buys a dilapidated cabin on a road called Wit’s End, and strives to make it his own, despite knowing nothing about carpentry, housebuilding or off-the-grid living as a whole. Through many trials and errors, Hutchison finds and describes the peace that can come from being one with nature with a humorous, yet sincere, writing style.
