Models of Sustainable Communities

An Overview of The Communities Movement - A Source of Hope in a Troubled World

During the final session of the Enviornmental Ethics and Sustainability Seminar at Swarthmore College, while discussing our visions of a more sustainable future, we all agreed that a strong base in communiy was an important place to start. Several of us have felt the lack of a "sense of community" in today's more mobile and more individualistic society. Especially after looking at the increasing problems of overuse of fossil fuels, increasing population, and environmental degradation - and the challage set forth for reducing these harms in the 21st century, we found a vision of hope in the emergence of "Sustainable Communities" worldwide. This web site should serve as an introduction to the variety of Sustainable Community types that currently exist and are being formed in the United States and Internationally, and paint a picture of a way people can be empowered to improve their lives through combining community and sustainability.

I was inspired to look deeper into the phenomenon of Sustainable Communities after reading Alan Weisman's recent book, Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World, from Chelsea Green Publishing. Click HERE to see the transcript of Weismans' May 1, 1998 report on Gaviotas for NPR.

Types of Sustainable Communities:

• Ecovillage- a human-scale, full-featured settlement which integrates human activities harmlessly into the natural environment, supports healthy human development, and can be continued into the indefinite future. This implies a conscious awareness of inter-relatedness of all life and the cyclic sustainable systems of nature, an understanding and supporting of cultural, social, and spiritual values of this awareness and how humans can live ecologically balanced lives. Viable technologies are used that do not further harm, but rather help to heal the planet. Many use permaculture, organic gardening, grey water systems, solar and wind power, and passive solar home design.
• Intentional Community- a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. Primary values often include ecology, equality, appropriate technology, self-sufficiency, right livelihood, humanist psychology, creativity, spirituality, meditation, yoga, and the pursuit of global peace.
• Commune- a small primary group in which interactions are in the mode we would normally associate with a family - i.e. more intense. Decisions are made by the group on both intimate and secondary issues. Historically there have been two types: anarchist (popular in the 60s, usually short-lived) or intentional (more common today) in which the residents must commit to common purpose. Less energy used because space and property are shared.
• Co-housing Group- a small scale community of privately owned homes, green areas and a commonly owned house (commonhouse - usually with a dining area, sitting area, children's play room, guest room, laundry facilities, etc.) combining elements of the traditional village, town and neighborhood. Co-housing groups are planned from beginning to end by the people who will live in them. Decision-making is non-hierarchical. Energy consumption is reduced by eco-design and by sharing via the commonhouse.
• Other? - A sustainable community need not always be created from scratch. It is important not to leave out the many cities and neighborhoods which are integrating environmental goals into their local government or community programs.

What is out there now?

• Over 200 new intentional communities listed between 1990 and 1995.
• These include a continuum from rural (58%) to urban (28%), and from secular (65%) to religious (35%).
• American research shows that people living in communes use on average 36% less gasoline per person and 82% less electricity per person than their non-communal neighbors.
• Currently, more than 90% of intentional communities practice composting and recycling.
• Trends show a shift to more eco-villages and co-housing groups within the communities movement (less "communes")

How Can Sustainable Communities Change the World?

• Revolution by Lifestyle - establishing a small nucleus of living differently can serve as a model that other people can observe, and then learn from.
• Sustainable Communities serve as a testing ground for new ideas, techniques and technologies which can then be integrated into the mainstream. Many Sustainable Communities are constantly experimenting with new solutions to the problems they encounter. The combination of open-mindedness and a common vision makes them ideal laboratories for change.
• A trend toward integration with surrounding communities, including sharing technologies and learnings - often in the form of classes or conferences open to the public - instead of more isolationist communes of the past, lends hope for wider dissemination of ideas. Many Sustainable Communities today serve as teaching centers for appropriate technology and sustainable agriculture.
• Often, members of these communities claim to be living in a more supportive, enthusiastic environment, with a real sense of the possibilities out there. This type of atmosphere is essential for productive changes to be made in society.

Directories of Sustainable Communities:

• The Global Eco-village Network

  "Eco-villages are attempts to create complete, working communities in which people can live sustainably, in harmony with each other and nature."

• Sustainable Communities Network

   "Linking citizens to resources and to one another to create healthy, vital sustainable communities."

• Intentional Communities Web Site

  "This Web site serves the growing communities movement. We provide important information and access to crucial resources for seekers of community, existing and forming communities, and other friends of community."

• The Co-housing Web Page

  Includes a listing of Co-housing groups in the U.S., Canada and abroad, as well as information about Co-housing and Frequently Asked Questions. 

• Sustainable Communities and Industrial Ecology

  "Creating systems solutions for sustainable development through industrial ecology"

• The Earth Wave Directory

  "The Earth Wave Directory provides links to communities and organizations around the world working towards the development of Sustainable Communities and a sustainable way of living."

• Homepage for the Sustainable Future WebRing

  "The Sustainable Future webring is focused on information, ideas and technologies which suggest a possible way forward for life on the planet, given the unsustainability of the current socio-economic system. Content of sites added to the ring will include sustainable agriculture (permaculture), sustainable technologies (eg solar power), intentional communities, eco-villages, human equality issues, local economies (LETS schemes), self-sufficiency, conservation and related subjects."

• EcoIQ Online Resource Guide

  "This guide serves the information and communication needs of individuals and organizations working to protect our environment and build sustainable communities." It contains links to more than 5,000 web sites and pages.

   

Resources for Eco-Design Technology:

• Community Eco-Design Network

  "Creating Sustainable Communities Through Ecological Design and Construction"

• Center for Neighborhood Technology

  "Promoting public policies, new resources and accountable authority which support sustainable, just and vital urban communities."

• Solstice - Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology

  "Solstice is the Internet information service of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST), and is your site for Sustainable Energy and Development Information."

• Global Energy Marketplace

  "This powerful, on-line, searchable database of more than 2500 energy efficiency and renewable energy annotated Web links has been sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency and created by CREST to promote a more sustainable energy future and mitigate global climate change that results from energy use. You will find highly useful case studies, reports, publications, economic analyses, product directories, discussion groups, country profiles, mitigation assessments, and other beneficial resources."

• Sustainable Building Sourcebook

• Humusphere

  Linking composting and Sustainable Communities

• EcoSystems

  "EcoSystems is planning, developing and marketing a network of environmentally sound, affordable and sustainable communities."

   

Resources for Traditional Communities To Become More Sustainable:

• Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

  "The Joint Center is helping local elected officials build sustainable communities by promoting community leadership initiatives, providing technical assistance and training, and conducting community policy and educational forums."

• National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America Web Site

  http://www.sustainableamerica.org/

• Community Based Environmental Protection

  http://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity/

Sources for Grants:

• Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation

  Providing grants "to promote communities that are environmentally sound, economically vital and socially just"

• The MacArthur Foundation

   

Gaviotas Links:

• Living on Earth Transcript - May 1, 1998

  Original transcript of Alan Weisman's report on NPR about Gaviotas - a good summary of the major ideas in the book

• Gaviotas - Chelsea Green Publishing

Other Links:

•  Community Building Links

   

• Definition of Humane Sustainable Culture (Context Institute)

  Definition 'Humane Sustainable Culture": A good life for all life that can be passed on to everyone's great, great ... grandchildren and a culture (or society) that is meaningful and satisfying to its members today and that does not need to destroy or deplete its environment in order to be that way."

• Internet Sources on Sustainability

  http://csf.colorado.edu/sustainability/

• The Venus Project

  The Venus Project is working toward putting its ideals into practice by constructing an experimental city. The plans for The Venus Project offer society a broader spectrum of choices based on the scientific possibilities inherent in current technology and direct that knowledge toward a new era of peace and sustainability for all. Through the implementation of a resource-based economy, and a multitude of innovative and environmentally friendly technologies directly applied to the social system, The Venus Project proposals will dramatically reduce crime, poverty, hunger, homelessness, and many other pressing problems that are common throughout the world today.