As a follow-up to my last video with Looby Macnamara, I wanted to share a bit more about the incredible experience that I had on a 5-day course at the Applewood Permaculture Centre in the UK back in June 2026. I have been studying Looby Macnamara’s work for quite some time and using her insight into social permaculture, people care and cultural emergence, in much of my teaching. So when the opportunity came up to learn from her in person, and the timing coincided with our trip to the UK, I knew it was meant to be. In this video, I talk with Looby Macnamara and Leona Johnson about why they crafted the PEACE course (Peace Empowerment and Cultural Emergence Course), why it is deeply needed at this time, and my personal experience during the course.
As Leona shares in the video, many of us are really longing for something different to emerge in the world right now. We know that the culture that we’re living in isn’t working and that many of the systems are broken. In some ways, the PEACE course is a social experiment in creating a culture where nature connection, ceremony, deep listening and community-building allow us to release the grief and challenge of our times in order to create space for imagination, creativity and something new to emerge.
Looby is the author of various books including People & Permaculture, Cultural Emergence and Design Adventures. She is also co-founder of the Applewood Permaculture Centre. Leona Johnson is the host of the Connection Matters Podcast as well as an eco–therapist, nature-based practitioner and ceremonial leader. Together, Looby and Leona crafted this 5-day experience to allow participants to deeply connect with themselves, each other and the more than human world.
To learn more about Looby’s work, go to www.cultural-emergence.com. To learn more about Leona’s work, go to www.leonajohnson.life or check out the Connection Matters Podcast on any podcast streaming service.