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Author Archive
Monday, May 12th, 2008
The financial investment advice website, The Motley Fool has an article promoting Cohousing as a great option for retirement living. This fits with the recent trend of community on the business pages with recent articles in Forbes. For the most part it is your standard cohousing article with the added twist of stock symbols for any company mentioned.
The idea of settling into a rich, close-knit community in your post-working years appeals to many folks contemplating retirement. Such a community can be hard to find under the best of circumstances. As you age -- and as you or your old friends move to warmer climes or to downsized houses in different neighborhoods, grown children disperse, and interests long shared with friends start to diverge -- community can be a downright scarce resource.
As I've noted in the past, choosing to downsize one's house runs counter to the way many of us think about our own paths to success in life, but it can make a lot of sense. A smaller house costs less to buy, heat, and maintain -- good aspects anytime, but even more so during retirement. And if you can have a smaller house without losing the functionality of a larger home, why not?
Cohousing isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a comfortable, friendly place to retire to, cohousing communities deserve serious consideration.
The author mentions plans to move to a cohousing community and follow-up blog posts indicate that it is Mosaic Commons in Massachusetts.
Read the Motley Fool article on Cohousing
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Related Posts Tags: cohousing, Mosaic Commons, Motley Fool, senior cohousing
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Friday, May 9th, 2008
EcoVillage at Ithaca is helping set up a car sharing cooperative for the town of Ithaca, NY. Car Sharing co-ops are designed for people who don't own cars but have occasional needs for them. Members are often cyclists, walkers, and frequent users of public transit.
After about three years of planning, Ithaca CarShare is set to launch June 1 with six Nissan Versa hatchbacks and a Ford Ranger pickup. The organization expects to add more vehicles in August.
Jennifer Dotson, executive director of Ithaca CarShare, said the average car sharing member spends $100 a month compared to the $600 a month that AAA says the average car owner spends.
Nancy Jacoby, an Ithaca resident, said, "I'm really excited. It's been rocking my world all week. It's the missing link to getting rid of my car."
One of the locations cars will be available is at the Ecovillage. I'm sure a number of Ecovillage members will take advantage of the program.
Read the article on Ithaca CarShare.
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Related Posts Tags: Car Sharing, Ecovillage at Ithaca, ecovillages, New York
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
 Meredith Medland of Living Green interviews Diana Leafe Christian on the subject of Ecovillages and Intentional Communities in this 24-minute podcast.
Diana was the editor of Communities Magazine for 14 years and is now the editor of the Ecovillages online newsletter. She is the author of two books Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community and Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities.
Diana shares her immense experience of community living and the communities movement in this interview. Here's some highlights:
I feel like I'm in a network of a lot of brothers and sisters and cousins. I feel like I'm living inside of a family of likeminded people going towards the goals of learning how to live more ecologically and economically and socially sustainably, and also we're learning, we're teaching what we learn to others through classes and workshops.
I got interested in intentional communities because I, like thousands and thousands of people across the country, this is in the early 90's, I began to feel like something was missing and I finally could feel my way to identify that what it was, was community.
Diana goes on to describe "13 kinds of Intentional Communities" including ecovillages, cohousing, communes, christian communities, other spiritual communities, retreat centers, student co-ops, and more.
She even explains how to find the community oyu are looking for:
Well, when you're checking communities out on the internet, and the website you need to know about is directory.ic.org, where you can look up any community by its name alphabetically or you can go to any state or province or country and look up the community. It's North America based, so you'll find most communities in the US and Canada, and then you can read the listing about the community and you can read their website if they've got one. Here's some things to look for: does the community have a lot of people? Do they have land and have they been there for a number of years? That tells me that they actually exist as a community. Read their mission and purpose. Is it in alignment with yours? Could you make a living there? Is it in the part of the country that you're interested in? Is there internal community finances, one that you like, income sharing, independent income? How would you make a living? What are the annuals dues and fees? What's the joining fee? How can you, can you afford it?
Diana gives a vision of the future where community is much more common:
Meredith asks: If you look ahead thirty years from today, what kind of transition and awakenings and new emergings do you think are going to be happening in the co-housing and intentional communities based?
Diana Leafe Christian: Well I think that many, many more people will be living in various kinds of intentional communities, including ecologically oriented ones like Eco Villages in cities and towns out in the country, I think that income sharing communities and independent income communities will be everywhere, and food co-ops and worker owned co-ops will be everywhere. People will be getting around I would say by bicycle and donkey cart and not using petroleum and using all kinds of transportation methods from olden times, people will be growing their own foods in urban areas, on their rooftops, on their balconies and in public parks in the median strips just like in Havana today, and people will be growing most of their food in towns and in rural areas because of the industrial shifts without petroleum.
This podcast is a great overview of intentional communities and a great listen. There are also a ton of community resources in Diana's bio on the site.
Listen to the Ecovillage interview with Diana Leafe Christian (also includes a full transcript).
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Related Posts Tags: cohousing, communes, Creating a Life Together, Diana Leafe Christian, ecovillages, Living Green
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
An interesting article on how communication and community are essential in surviving in a post collapse post peak oil world is being posted on various blogs titled "We Can Survive, But Can We Communicate?"
While I don't personally go in for survivalism, the article is a great piece on how creating a sense of community and building trust with those around us is a key to mutually-dependent survival.
Let's first identify what we are talking about when we talk about community. In this context community does not refer only to individuals or families who own land together or who happen to live in proximity to one another, although proximity will more and more be the rule as fuel becomes scarce and travel is limited. We define community, in this context, to be a congregation of people who have, by the commitment and skills they possess, learned to establish relationships characterized by trust, understanding, mutual respect, and bonding that transcends personality and allows and even embraces differences of background or ideology. Such a group is able to think together effectively and to tap into deep wisdom about challenging issues. They can do this because they trust each other enough to question and suspend the assumptions and core beliefs that limit their insights as individuals. Such a group does not come together, as a therapy group does, for the purpose of healing per se, although insight and healing of isolation, unresolved past conflict, fears, and insecurities often occurs. The purpose of the kind of community we are speaking of is to come together to glean wisdom from listening and speaking with one another and to offer connection, support, comfort, and mutual respect. Such a group of people learns together to find better solutions, wiser actions and more joy together than is possible for them to do as isolated individuals, couples or families.
My question is, "Why wait for collapse?" Let's do it now. It doesn't seem like we should need the motivation of surviving collapse to see the benefits of connection, support, and mutual respect. The article goes on to address one of the most challenging aspects of creating community:
Conflict is inevitable. A community must develop skills to effectively resolve conflict so that people feel cared-for and respected. Its apparent absence is a red flag signaling the likelihood of dysfunction, of unspoken feelings and truths that need to be told, or of a strict authoritarian hierarchy that keeps conflict as well as individual creativity submerged. Indigenous cultures at their high points skillfully navigated conflict, and in fact probably welcomed it. They evolved creative skills for addressing it compassionately and assertively, with elders, both men and women, who carried those skills and wisdom down through generations. Those of us reared in the hierarchies of empire are not so lucky. Most people don't feel fully adult much less secure enough to be considered real elders. We are having to glean the best we can from older cultures and learn from the most innovative practices that have come from psychology and organizational development to find our way in to creative, cooperative relationship.
So whether you think the collapse is near or just want more community in your life, there is no time like the present to start creating or finding community in whatever form it may take for you.
Read the We Can Survive, But Can We Communicate article
Community resources for Peak Oil
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Related Posts Tags: collapse, communication, conflict, peak oil, survivalists
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Its not uncommon to find musical artists with roots in intentional community making it in the industry. Its more rare to see a community that also operates its own record label promoting over a dozen artists.
The Denver alternative weekly Westword has an article on Dark Meat, an 18 member rock ensemble that grew out of the Orange Twin Conservation Community near Athens, GA.
Part of what makes the band and the town special is the nearby intentional community called Orange Twin. Part record label and part commune, Orange Twin Conservation Community was founded by Elf Power's Laura Carter to support the arts and eco-friendly living in the Athens area. "On a random Wednesday," enthuses McHugh, who also works on the farm and does copywriting and administrative work for the record label, "there'll be an outside show at the farm, with a punk band and a potluck with a roadkill deer that they've cooked up."
Elf Power is another Athens area band that runs the Orange Twin record label and community.
Its great to see a place where community nurtures the musical arts and in turn the music nurtures the community.
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Related Posts Tags: Athens, Dark Meat, Georgia, Orange Twin
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
A lot of news about communities comes my way and its hard to pick and choose what to highlight on Community Buzz. Today, nothing stood out so I figured I'd do a round up of some news thats been languishing on my list but didn't seem quite enough for its own story.
Ithaca has a new community in the works, Farm Pond Circle, and they are already getting press in the Ithaca Journal for planting trees on their new community land. Obviously folks in Ithaca know about community and must be interested in whats new in their area.
The AP Wire put out a story on how many people are choosing to have only one child and they have quotes from folks at Tryon Life Farm community in Portland.
The local paper in Worcester, MA has an article highlighting the new cohousing communities in the Worchester area. They highlight Mosaic Commons and Camelot Cohousing but also have a nice map of cohousing throughout Massachusettes.
Champlain Valley Cohousing was in the Burlington Free Press in an article about the farm they have on site. The 22 unit cohousing community has a 25 acre farm on its land that works as a CSA and sells to wholesalers.
The Portland Oregonian had an article about Columbia Ecovillage, a community developing in Portland that started as a farm and sustainability education center and just bought the adjacent apartment complex with plans to convert them to green living cohousing. See photos on the Oregonian blog.
Then there's all the reviews of the movie Mister Lonely that is about impersonators (look-a-likes of Michael Jackson , Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, etc.) who come together in a commune in Scotland. The kicker is that according to some reviews filmmaker Harmony Korine spent some time as a child "on a commune near Nashville, TN". Most likely The Farm but there are many communes in the Nashville area.
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Related Posts Tags: Camelot Cohousing, Champlain Valley, cohousing, Columbia Ecovillage, ecovillage, Ithaca, Massachusettes, Mister Lonely, Mosaic Commons, Oregon, Portland, Tennessee, The Farm, Tryon Farm, vermont
Posted in Blog posts, News Articles, Video and TV | No Comments »
Written by:
Tony Sirna
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Colleges and Universities around the country are wanting to improve their ecological impact while also providing students opportunities to learn about sustainable living. Some are taking the ecovillage model and integrating it into their campus planning and student residences.
The University of Maine is exploring ecovillages with the notion of turning some of its less attractive dorms into an ecological demonstration project:
An energetic group of students and faculty have been developing plans to convert these former apartment-style dorm rooms on the fringe of campus into an "ecovillage."
Organizers envision the so-called "York Ecovillage" as a model of sustainable living where students will eat food from local greenhouses and gardens, recycle almost all waste and live in rooms powered by the sun and heated by the Earth.
Berea College Ecovillage in Kentucky has been providing ecological living for students since 2003.
Guided by intertwined educational, environmental, and social goals, the Ecovillage is an ecologically-sustainable residential and learning complex designed to meet housing needs for student families, childcare for campus children, and provide a living/labor opportunity for students interested in sustainability.
Rigorous performance goals for the Ecovillage include: reduction of energy use by 75%; reduction of per capita water use by 75%; treatment of sewage and wastewater on-site to swimmable quality, and recycling, reusing or composting at least 50% of waste.
Giving students an opportunity for community living is not new. There are hundreds of student co-ops at colleges and universities around the country and many of them have a simple living or ecological focus.
The Homestead at Denison University in Ohio has been offering community and simple living experience for students since 1977.
We are off the grid, utilizing solar energy to pump water and to power some appliances. Cooking and heating are accomplished with wood-burning stoves.
At Stanford University they have plans in the works for a Green Dorm which would house students ecologically. Unfortunately Stanford's plans do not incorporate cooperative living into the dorm, despite the fact that their feasibility study shows that some campus co-ops such as Synergy already use 30% less energy than the average.
Hopefully colleges and universities will include the aspects of the ecovillage model which incorporates both sustainable technology and principles of cooperation in their efforts to green their campuses.
Sources
University of Maine Campus article on York Ecovillage
Bangor News article on York Ecovillage
Richmond, KY Register article mentioning Berea College Ecovillage
NASCO Student Co-op Directory
Stanford Green Dorm Feasibility Study
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Related Posts Tags: Berea College Ecovillage, ecovillage, Homestead at Denison, Stanford, Student Co-ops, Synergy Co-op, University of Maine
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Monday, April 28th, 2008
 The Yale Daily News has an article on how study-abroad programs are beginning to focus on sustainability and highlights Living Routes which takes students to ecovillages around the world.
The sudden interest at Yale in trying to make study-abroad activities sustainable - both environmentally and culturally - mirrors a similar move within the study-abroad field as a whole. As increasing numbers of American students hop on carbon-spewing planes to exotic destinations, college administrators and study-abroad programs alike have started to focus on what impact these students may be having, both on the environment and on the local cultures themselves.
As a result, some organizations - like Living Routes - encourage students to offset the impact of their flights by making their lifestyles more environment-friendly or by purchasing "carbon credits," which pay for a tree to be planted or for part of a solar power project in a developing country.
But even at Living Routes, which offers programs designed to encourage students to develop more environmentally sustainable lifestyles through these types of opportunities, doubts remain about whether the results justify the flights.
"We would like to believe that [the programs] change students and that they are therefore worth the environmental impacts," Greenberg said. "But if over the years that doesn't pan out, we're going to be hard-pressed to justify the flights and the travel."
Read the article on Sustainable study-abroad programs in the Yale Daily
More info on Living Routes
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Related Posts Tags: ecovillage, living routes, study abroad, yale
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
By now, most have heard about the raid by Texas Rangers on the Fundamentalist Mormon community in west Texas. During the raid, 437 children were removed from the community compound based on concerns of child abuse and neglect, primarily based on the concern that underage girls were being forced to marry older men against their will.
We couldn't possibly keep up on all the coverage of the story here but it seemed incongruous to never mention this major media event in this blog about communities in the news.
Below is a small sampling of news and blog coverage on the story. We invite comments if people are interested in sharing.
New York Times Coverage of the story
NPR Coverage
CNN story on how the call precipitating the raid was a hoax
Civil Rights questions raised and ACLU questions threat to constitutional rights
An interesting Blog post comparing the historic Oneida Community to the current events
Blog post from Laird Schaub on the Texas Raid
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Related Posts Tags: Mormon, Texas
Posted in News Articles, Uncategorized, Video and TV | 1 Comment »
Written by:
Tony Sirna
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Israel's Kibbutzim have a media campaign in the works that highlights the ecological benefits of their communal groups according to the Guardian.
The campaign, focusing on 140 sites in the north and south of the country, aims to tout the benefits of kibbutz living for a hip, new eco-aware generation. Re-branded for the 21st century, socialist ideals are downgraded in favour of environmental ethics and organic farming replaces conventional agriculture.
Others describe the development of the new kibbutzim as a confirmation of a changing world. Their reinvention will concentrate mainly on the communes' eco-credentials in an attempt to add ballast to Israel's environmental reputation. All new construction will be energy-efficient, using solar power and recycling water where possible. Plans to phase out conventional agriculture and replace it with organic farming are advanced, a move welcomed by the Negev Desert kibbutz, which is suffering from the effects of climate change. Another nod to the modern age includes the installation of wi-fi internet access.
It sounds like the Green Kibbutz Movement, which has been encouraging a movement towards ecology within Kibbutzim, has fully taken root.
Read the Guardian article on Green Kibbutz.
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Related Posts Tags: ecovillage, green, kibbutz
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Written by:
Tony Sirna
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