Communitywith thegoalof becoming more sustainable
An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices.[1] It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groupswho are not members, at least at the outsetsettling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community.
Ecovillagers are united by shared ecological, social-economic and cultural-spiritual values.[2] Concretely, ecovillagers seek alternatives to ecologically destructive electrical, water, transportation, and waste-treatment systems, as well as the larger social systems that mirror and support them. Many see the breakdown of traditional forms of community, wasteful consumerist lifestyles, the destruction of natural habitat, urban sprawl, factory farming, and over-reliance on fossil fuels as trends that must be changed to avert ecological disaster and create richer and more fulfilling ways of life.
Ecovillages offer small-scale communities with minimal ecological impact or regenerative impacts as an alternative. However, such communities often cooperate with peer villages in networks of their own (see Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) for an example). This model of collective action is similar to that of Ten Thousand Villages, which supports the fair trade of goods worldwide.
Multiple sources define ecovillages as a subtype of intentional communities focussing on sustainability.[3][4][5] More pronounced definitions are listed here:
In Joubert's view, ecovillages are seen as an ongoing process, rather than a particular outcome. They often start off with a focus on one of the four dimensions of sustainability, e.g. ecology, but evolve into holistic models for restoration. In this view, aiming for sustainability is not enough; it is vital to restore and regenerate the fabric of life and across all four dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental, economic and cultural.
Ecovillages have developed in recent years as technology has improved, so they have more sophisticated structures as noted by Baydoun, M. 2013.
Generally, the ecovillage concept is not tied to specific sectarian (religious, political, corporate) organizations or belief systems not directly related to environmentalism, such as monasteries, cults, or communes.
The modern-day desire for community was notably characterized by the communal "back to the land" movement of the 1960s and 1970s through communities such as the earliest example that still survives, the Miccosukee Land Co-op co-founded in May 1973 by James Clement van Pelt in Tallahassee, Florida. In the same decades, the imperative for alternatives to radically inefficient energy-use patterns, in particular automobile-enabled suburban sprawl, was brought into focus by recurrent energy crises. The term "eco-village" was introduced by Georgia Tech Professor George Ramsey in a 1978 address, "Passive Energy Applications for the Built Environment", to the First World Energy Conference of the Association of Energy Engineers,[11] to describe small-scale, car-free, close-in developments, including suburban infill, arguing that "the great energy waste in the United States is not in its technology; it is in its lifestyle and concept of living."[12] Ramsey's article includes a sketch for a "self-sufficient pedestrian solar village" by one of his students that looks very similar to eco-villages today.
The movement became more focused and organized in the cohousing and related alternative-community movements of the mid-1980s. Then, in 1991, Robert Gilman and Diane Gilman co-authored a germinal study called "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities" for Gaia Trust, in which the ecological and communitarian themes were brought together.
The first Eco-Village in North America began its first stages in 1990. Earthaven Eco-Village in Black Mountain, NC was the first community called an Eco-Village and was designed using permaculture (holistic) principles. The first residents moved onto the vacant land in 1993. As of 2019 Earthaven Eco-Village has over 70 families living off the grid on 368 acres of land.
The ecovillage movement began to coalesce at the annual autumn conference of Findhorn, in Scotland, in 1995. The conference was called: "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities", and conference organizers turned away hundreds of applicants. According to Ross Jackson, "somehow they had struck a chord that resonated far and wide. The word 'ecovillage'... thus became part of the language of the Cultural Creatives."[13] After that conference, many intentional communities, including Findhorn, began calling themselves "ecovillages", giving birth to a new movement. The Global Ecovillage Network, formed by a group of about 25 people from various countries who had attended the Findhorn conference, crystallized the event by linking hundreds of small projects from around the world, that had similar goals but had formerly operated without knowledge of each other. Gaia Trust of Denmark agreed to fund the network for its first five years.[13] Today, there are self-identified ecovillages in over 70 countries on six continents.[14]
Since the 1995 conference, a number of the early members of the Global Ecovillage Network have tried other approaches to ecovillage building in an attempt to build settlements that would be attractive to mainstream culture in order to make sustainable development more generally accepted. One of these with some degree of success is Living Villages and The Wintles where eco-houses are arranged so that social connectivity is maximised and residents have shared food growing areas, woodlands, and animal husbandry for greater sustainability.
The principles on which ecovillages rely can be applied to urban and rural settings, as well as to developing and developed countries. Advocates seek a sustainable lifestyle (for example, of voluntary simplicity) for inhabitants with a minimum of trade outside the local area, or ecoregion. Many advocates also seek independence from existing infrastructures, although others, particularly in more urban settings, pursue more integration with existing infrastructure. Rural ecovillages are usually based on organic farming, permaculture and other approaches which promote ecosystem function and biodiversity.[15] Ecovillages, whether urban or rural, tend to integrate community and ecological values within a principle-based approach to sustainability, such as permaculture design.[16]
Johnathan Dawson, former president of the Global Ecovillage Network, describes five ecovillage principles in his 2006 book Ecovillages: New Frontiers for Sustainability:
Effective governance is important within ecovillages. It provides a model to implement and promote sustainable lifestyles (Cunningham and Wearing, 2013). While the first generation of ecovillagers tended to adopt consensus decision-making as a governance method, some difficulties with consensus as an everyday decision-making method emerged: it can be extremely time-intensive, and decisions too often could be blocked by a few intransigent members.[17] More recently many ecovillages have moved toward sociocracy and related alternative decision-making methods.[18]
In addition, ecovillages look for alternative forms of government, with an emphasis on deeper connections with ecology than economics.[19]
Kellogg, W. Keating, W. (2011), "Cleveland's Ecovillage: green and affordable housing through a network alliance", Housing Policy Debate, 21 (1), pp.6991
Cunningham, Paul A. and Wearing, Stephen L.(2013).The Politics of Consensus: An Exploration of the Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Ireland.[electronic version]. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies. 5(2) pp.128
The rest is here:
- 10 Utopian Intentional Communities with Distinct Values [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Communities Directory - Find Intentional Communities [Last Updated On: June 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 12th, 2016]
- Intentional Communities | Touchstone Mental Health [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2016]
- Intentional community - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Welcome to FIC - Fellowship for Intentional Community [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2016]
- Intentional Communities | Touchstone Mental Health [Last Updated On: June 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 19th, 2016]
- Intentional Communities - A Fairer World [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2016]
- Intentional Communities Asheville (Asheville, NC) - Meetup [Last Updated On: June 27th, 2016] [Originally Added On: June 27th, 2016]
- What is an Intentional Community? - Meadowdance [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2016]
- Plan B Retirement - Intentional communities [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2016]
- Jewish Intentional Communities Initiative - Hazon [Last Updated On: July 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: July 29th, 2016]
- Twin Oaks Intentional Community - Twin Oaks Intentional ... [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2016]
- Acorn Community [Last Updated On: August 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 19th, 2016]
- Map - Fellowship for Intentional Community [Last Updated On: August 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: August 21st, 2016]
- Home Page - Elder Intentional Communities [Last Updated On: October 1st, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 1st, 2016]
- NW NJ Ecovillage - Fellowship for Intentional Community [Last Updated On: October 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 8th, 2016]
- Intentional Eucharistic Communities - Home [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2016] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2016]
- Intentional Housing Communities | www.hampshire.edu [Last Updated On: November 19th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 19th, 2016]
- The Camphill Assocation of North America Communities [Last Updated On: November 25th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 25th, 2016]
- Communes: the pros & cons of intentional community ... [Last Updated On: November 29th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 29th, 2016]
- Brooklyn Street | Neighborhood Alliance [Last Updated On: November 30th, 2016] [Originally Added On: November 30th, 2016]
- Cohousing - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 11th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 11th, 2016]
- Jewish Intentional Communities Conference - Hazon [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2016]
- As Trump's policies stoke fears, Denver's Muslim community worries about eroding trust in law enforcement - The Denver Post [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Disparities in minority unemployment targeted by Iowa officials - DesMoinesRegister.com [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- ACE program benefits low-income communities - Observer Online [Last Updated On: February 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 6th, 2017]
- Coalition Calls Itself The 'Eyes, Ears & Voice' Of Pittsburgh's Black Community - 90.5 WESA [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- 'A community remembers' coming to Hesston - Leavenworth Times [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Take a bow, Sheldon Theatre - Republican Eagle [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Want a happy old age? Get your friends to be your neighbours - Independent Online [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- 'A community remembers' coming to Hesston - News - Butler County ... - Butler County Times Gazette [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Krista Tippett February 01, 2017 - America Magazine [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- To truly serve the public, community stations must apply standards for what's said on-air - Current [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Pastor: We must build bridges between police and local black communities - Fort Worth Star Telegram (blog) [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- A Business Plan for Healthy Communities - Hospitals & Health Networks [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Appalachian's Alternative Service Experience among nation's top 10 ... - Appalachian State University [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- The Death of the Ski Bum and Intentional Tourism - The Catalyst [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Heroin hits home: Highways provide "easy access" for drug trafficking in Franklin County - Herald-Mail Media [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- How Anarchists and Intentional Communities Are Reacting to ... [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Herrick Library: Libraries: The Living Room of our Communities - HollandSentinel.com [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Ohio Continues with Next Phase of InsideOut Initiative to Combat Win-at-All Costs Sports Mentality - 13abc Action News [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Ohio Continues with Next Phase of InsideOut Initiative to Combat Win-at-All Costs Sports Mentality - Norwalk Reflector [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Ithaca organization encourages people to participate in National Random Acts of Kindness Week - The Ithaca Voice [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Portland groups form coalition to eradicate hate - KOIN.com [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Dynamic Communities Announces Eric Pearson, Information Security Expert, As GPUG Amplify 2017 Keynote Speaker - MSDynamicsWorld.com (press release) [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Anson County community meeting to fight poverty planned for Feb. 18 - Ansonrecord [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Nash says 'there's more to be done' on diversity at State of the County address - Gwinnettdailypost.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Spreading the Faith: Moving Coins and Moving Communities - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- If It Walks Like a Duck - ChicagoNow (blog) [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Renting land to highest bidder a stumbling block for young people ... - AG Week [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Immigrant Round-ups Stir Fears - Consortium News [Last Updated On: February 19th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 19th, 2017]
- Pace: What Should I Give Up This Year? - Covington News [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- J Mase III of #BlackTransMagick seeks to redistribute resources - Daily Illini [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Best approach to panhandlers? Ignore them - Richmond Register [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- South Side getting trauma center, but it'll be far more than just an emergency room - Fox 32 Chicago [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- St. Louis Park cohousing community welcomes home all ages - Minneapolis Star Tribune [Last Updated On: February 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 22nd, 2017]
- The Christian Retreat From Public Life - The Atlantic [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- In 'The Unsettlers,' Mark Sundeen looks for lives well lived | Books ... - Missoula Independent [Last Updated On: February 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 23rd, 2017]
- Column: Community will miss Rev. Irwin's impact - Wicked Local Waltham [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Cohousing communities gain popularity, including here in Nashville - WKRN.com [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Better health needs a diverse workforce - Greenville Daily Reflector [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- Cohousing communities gain popularity - WDTN [Last Updated On: February 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 25th, 2017]
- Letters: Dismiss Schimel, others for maps - The Sheboygan Press [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- 12 band members struck by vehicle at Alabama Mardi Gras parade - Chicago Tribune [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Drums, Voices, and Circles - Memphis Democrat [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Family School rebuts report on lack of diversity - Coastal View News [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Food: Four Short Talks brings community to the table - Dailyuw [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- The Wall Street Journal explores trends in Christian community life sort of - GetReligion (blog) [Last Updated On: March 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 2nd, 2017]
- Renting land to highest bidder stumbling block for young people looking to start in agriculture - INFORUM [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Transportation/Traveling While Living Off Grid - Mother Earth News [Last Updated On: March 4th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 4th, 2017]
- Reforestation and Civil Disobedience: Aldeia Maracan Urban Indigenous Community Reclaims Olympic Parking - RioOnWatch [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2017]
- Worcester's retiree health costs 'unsustainable' - telegram.com - Worcester Telegram [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- 12 on Tuesday: Leslie Orrantia - WISC - Channel 3000 - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- By walking the beat, Kalamazoo officers nurture genuine relationships with community - Michigan Radio [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- Sometimes the Grass Really is Greener - Memphis Democrat [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2017]
- Is Clallam opening the door to tiny houses? | Sequim Gazette - Sequim Gazette [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- Healthy communities have engaged members - Centre Daily Times (blog) [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2017]
- New St. Paul police program aims to mentor recruits - Minneapolis Star Tribune [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2017]
- A New Kind of Homeless Village is Coming to Kenton. It's a Big Deal. - The Portland Mercury (blog) [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2017]
- Why We Need the Benedict Option and How It Doesn't Have to ... - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: March 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 10th, 2017]