Permaculture: Regenerating Humanities Relationship to the Natural World

Penny Livingston-Stark is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer and speaker.

She is the founder of:

• Regenerative Design Institute (RDI) - a non-profit education program focusing on hands-on skills development. RDI is currently working in collaboration with the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Commonweal (a Cancer healing and retreat center) and the Institute of Nature Awareness.
• The Permaculture Institute of Northern California (PINC) - an educational and research organization promoting sustainable technologies and methodologies. PINC offers certification courses in permaculture design.
• Sustainable Living Designs (SLD) - a professional permaculture design/build firm integrating landscapes and structures with water, soil, plants, animals and energy efficiency.

Penny has been teaching and working professionally in the land management, regenerative design & permaculture development field for 25 years and has extensive experience in all phases of ecologically sound design and construction as well as the use of natural non-toxic building materials.  She specializes in site planning & design of resource rich landscapes integrating, rainwater collection, edible and medicinal planting, spring development, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses and diverse yield perennial farms.

Penny is co-managing, with her husband James Stark, a 17-acre certified organic and certified Salmon Safe farm in Bolinas called the Commonweal Garden in collaboration with Commonweal, a cancer health research and retreat center.

She co-created the Ecological Design Program and its curriculum at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture and co-founded the West Marin Grower’s Group, West Marin Farmer’s Market and the Community Land Trust Association of Marin. Penny has also worked with the Marin County Community Development Agency & Planning Department to develop recommendations on sustainability for updating the Community Plan.