Toby Hemenway - Earth Action Mentor

Recent articles

The Third Ethic of Permaculture: Finding a Sense of Surplus Apr 6, 2010: One of permaculture's strengths is that its solutions are not one-size-fits-all techniques, but derive instead from a way of looking at things, and at this new vantage many problems dissolve into solutions. Permaculture suggests that the best solutions to most problems is to observe, and to model designs and actions after natural rhythms and time-tested ways. Learning to share the surplus follows this pattern.

Designing Beyond Disaster Dec 31, 2009: Designing Beyond Disaster is a great way to look at our current living situation, resource use and dependence on fossil fuels. In this article Toby Hemenway talks about the difference between the urban and rural ways of life. It offers great insight to those who may be going out to the country to live more sustainably, even though they may be able to find less dependence on non-renewable energies right in an urban setting.

The Three Sisters—or Is it Four? Oct 5, 2009: This is an excellent excerpt from Gaia's Garden on plant guilds. It is a great introduction for thos of you just getting into this stuff. Did you know there was a fourth sister? By extending the three sisters, we've moved into three kingdoms: animal, plant, and bacterial. Creating this connectedness allows us to draw upon three billion years of life's wisdom for aid.

Learning from the Ecological Engineers: Watershed Wisdom of the Beaver Aug 31, 2009: Do you know what a natural North American stream actually looks like? The beaver, earth's most incredible engineer, was the keystone water-managing species of Eastern north America for thousands of years. Read Toby Hemenway's excellent article to learn how you can design & restore healthy watersheds - like a beaver.

Native Plants: Restoring to an Idea Jul 1, 2009: Oh,I have visions of how city and suburban landscapes could be functional ecosystems, but that’s another subject. My point is, we need to be putting money and energy into growing indigenous species where they will do the most good, where they can truly contribute to ecosystems and their functions.