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Required Reading
www.permacultureactivist.net/booksvid/BooksnVid.htm Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities by Diana Leafe Christian editor of Communities Magazine foreword by Patch Adams. 2003 New Society Publishers, 272 pp. $23. Creating a Life Together is an overview of the process of forming new ecovillages and intentional communities, gleaned from founders of dozens of successful communities in North America formed since the early '90s. This is what they did, and what you can do, to create your community dream. It attempts to distill their hard experience into solid advice on getting started as a group, creating vision documents, decision-making and governance, agreements and policies, buying and financing land, communication and process, and selecting people to join you. It's what works, what doesn't work, and how not to reinvent the wheel. This information is not only for people forming new communities - whether or not you already own your land. It can also be valuable for those of you thinking about joining community one day - since you, too, will need to know what works. And it's also for those of you already living in community, since you can only benefit from knowing what others have done in similar circumstances. "Wow! The newest, most comprehensive bible for builders of intentional communities. Covers every aspect with vital information and hundreds of examples of how successful communities faced the challenges and created their shared lives out of their visions. The cautionary tales of sadder experiences and how communities fail, will help in avoiding the pitfalls. Not since I wrote the Foreword to Ingrid Komar's Living the Dream (1983), which documented the Twin Oaks community, have I seen a more useful and inspiring book." --Hazel Henderson, author, Creating Alternative Futures, and Politics of the Solar Age. "A great deal of research and trial-and-error has been assembled here, and every potential ecovillager should read it. This book will be an essential guide and msanual for the many Permaculture graduates who live in communities or design for them." --Bill Mollison, co-originator of the Permaculture concept, author of The Permaculture Designers Manual, Ferment and Human Nutrition. "A really valuable resource for anyone thinking about intentional community. I wish I had it years ago." -- Starhawk, author of Webs of Power, The Spiral Dance, and The Fifth Sacred Thing -- and committed communitarian. Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield 1993. 75 pp. The perfect gift to introduce friends & family to permaculture. Brief, concise, comprehensive, it shows how permaculture works in the city, the country and on the farm. Explores ways in which people can work together to recreate real communities. Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay. 2nd printing, 2000. 218pp. The basic argument for permanent agriculture: how to feed and house yourself in any climate with the least use of land, energy, and repetitive labor. Supersedes Permaculture One and Two. The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure by Joseph C. Jenkins, 1994, 198pp. Learn how to deal with your own shit. "Stop trying to change the world. Toilet-train the world and you won't have to keep changing it."(Swami Beyondananda) Here's all you need to know to make sewage treatment systems obsolete. Answers all the questions you never dared ask! The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movement by Sandor Ellix Katz 2006, 390pp "This is the story of the consumer revolution against globally industrialized agriculture and corporate domination of food production, processing, and distribution systems. Katz (Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods) asserts that there are alternatives to the dead, unhealthy, homogenized food commodities this system provides. He visited farmers' markets, food cooperatives, and communities in search of local initiatives that restore traditional food production and distribution methods and revive local economies. Katz found a broad movement of people and organizations involved in preserving native varieties, practicing humane and sustainable treatment of land and animals, supporting local producers and marketers, and using food to improve health. Of particular note is the rapidly growing 'slow food' movement, which rejects standardized fare and focuses instead on cuisine that has served ethnic and cultural preferences in the past. Each chapter cites references for further reading and organizations involved in keeping the programs active. This work is sure to enlighten readers and motivate many to join the revolution. Recommended."- Irwin Weintraub for Library Journal, December 2006 Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance edited by Fernando Funes, Luis Garcia, Martin Bourque, Nilda Perez, and Peter Rosset 2002, 307pp This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South. Get the acclaimed Video / CD The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil The Killing Time' Heuman Gad The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica Paper ISBN: 0-87049-852-5 The Killing Time' is the first full-length study of the Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica-an event that transformed the political system of the island and marked a watershed in Caribbean history. The Rough Guide to Reggae By Steve Barrow, Peter Dalton ISBN 1858282470 This guide charts the shifting world of Jamaican music through its various incarnations from Ska to Raggae. Focussing on the artists, musicians and producers who made it all happen, it presents the whole story. Chanting Down Babylon Nathaniel Samuel Murrell,William D. Spencer,Adrian Anthony McFarlane by Nathaniel Samuel ... Chanting Down Babylon Nathaniel Samuel Murrell,William D. Spencer,Adrian Anthony McFarlane by Nathaniel Samuel ... This anthology explores Rastafari religion, culture, and politics in Jamaica and other parts of the African diaspora. An Afro-Caribbean religious and cultural movement that sprang from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1930s, today Rastafari has close to one million adherents. The basic message of Rastafari-the dismantling of all oppressive institutions and the liberation of humankind-even has strong appeal to non-believers who are captivated by reggae music, the lyrics, and the "immortal spirit" of its enormously popular practitioner, Bob Marley. 1-56639-584-4 Temple Press |