People everywhere have had enough. They’re taking off. They’re leaving the city, leaving the high-rises, leaving the 9-5 and they’re heading for something better, something many of them knew existed but had only dreamed about – an ecovillage. Known as communes in the 60’s and later as intentional communities, ecovillages continue to thrive even after the effects of free love and chemical experimentation have worn off. And they challenge the hippy stereotype in every possible way. People living in ecovillages run editing businesses (Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, United States), make $2 million a year processing and selling organic nut butter (East Wind Community, United States) and produce organic condiments that are sold on the open market (Sandhill Farm, United States). In fact, the only ecovillages that survived the flower power heyday were those that ran on good business sense. To understand the concept of an ecovillage, one first needs to understand what constitutes an intentional community.
Intentional communities are formed when people choose to live with or near enough to each other to carry out a shared lifestyle, within a shared culture and with a common purpose. – Bill Metcalf, The Findhorn Book of Community Living
Intentional communities exist in urban and rural settings all over the planet. They bring together people with a shared world view, religious bent, sexual orientation or goal for existence. An ecovillage is an intentional community where environmental awareness is the common factor between residents. In addition to the close proximity of residents with a shared existence, an ecovillage is:
...a human-scale, full-featured settlement … (with) multiple centers of initiative … in which human activities can be harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.” – Robert Gilman, cited in “Finding Community” by Diana Leafe Christian
How does this translate into practice in some of the world’s most successful ecovillages?
 An Ecovillage Design |
Human-scale The size of the community allows for development of meaningful relationships between members. Ecovillage residents work together, socialize together and problem-solve together. In order for the community to achieve its social purpose there must be some sense of connection between everyone. An ecovillage can have as few as eight members or as many as 500 (such as Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland), and one would expect to know almost every individual in the community, including their family connections and role in the group. One of the main reasons people join an ecovillage is to recapture the sense of togetherness that is lost in many of our modern cities. Full-featured settlement An ecovillage is a self-sustaining settlement, following the model of a traditional village with industries like its own blacksmith, baker and vegetable market. Members need not travel outside the village to get provisions to satisfy a simple existence. If this sounds unlikely, that’s because it’s very difficult to achieve. Not many modern ecovillages are full-featured settlements probably because humans have lost many of the skills necessary to produce and process their own food, and because they have become accustomed to the modern convenience of a varied diet (no-one wants to live on potatoes and pig fat these days). Ecovillages strive to improve their self-sufficiency in entrepreneurial and creative ways, such as running Community Supported Agriculture businesses - demonstrated at Abundance Ecovillage and Eco Village at Ithaca, both in the United States - where resident gardeners grow vegetables for other ecovillagers in exchange for an annual fee. Multiple centers of initiative In addition to members of an ecovillage working together on a number of group ventures, there may also be room for individuals within the community to run their own businesses. In this way the group has multiple sources of income, contributing to a financially robust community fabric. For example, East Wind Community produces nut butters and sandals; it also made hammocks until a few years ago when a deal with a retail outlet fell through. In response, the community fell back on its other businesses, which insured it against major financial problems. Sandhill Farm grows its own sorghum, which is sold in the wider community, but also sells honey from its own bees and bottles mustard for sale. At Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage many residents work on their own freelance ventures such as editing and I.T. consulting, while the community runs an online bookstore for the Fellowship for Intentional Communities. Human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world An ecovillage strives to decrease its ecological footprint as much as possible. Given the inevitable side effects of modern existence, harmless integration into the natural world is more of a goal than an actual achievement. Ways to work toward this goal might include growing organic vegetables on site with seed saved from previous crops (obliterating the need to transport vegetables or seed over long distances), using alternative sources of energy (like photovoltaic cells, biodiesel and wind powered energy) and minimizing the use of cars. For example, East Wind Community asks that all residents and visitors leave their cars at the entrance gate, walking or cycling into the community grounds. East Wind residents enjoy the occasional trip into town, in a car full of fellow residents (maximizing the benefit of fossil fuel use), but only when necessary. Supportive of healthy human development Ecovillage activities support the mental, spiritual and physical health of residents, rather than damaging it. The idea of working a 60-hour week under fluorescent lighting in front of a computer, and coming home to mindlessly watch television, slumped in an armchair, is exactly the kind of societal norm ecovillagers find completely ludicrous. Ecovillages are organized in such a way that community work is not dangerous, shifts are manageable and there is plenty of non-work time to pursue spiritually nurturing and entertaining activities. During sorghum-harvesting season at Sandhill Farm, sorghum pickers are invited to stay in the community in exchange for room and board; however there is no minimum labor requirement, and no one watches over workers to ensure they are pulling their weight. Allowing self-monitoring recognizes that each individual can ascertain for themselves the value of the food and board they are toiling for, and also respects different personal abilities, resilience and energy levels from one day to the next and from one person to the next. It recognizes that workers who are well rested, spiritually alive and unoppressed are productive and contribute to a happy workplace – something modern management theory teaches, but modern managers can choose to ignore. This is not to insinuate that ecovillages avoid issues over differing perceptions of fair exchange and job prioritization.
 There's little more conducive to an appreciation of nature than actually spending time in it |
Can be successfully continued into the indefinite future Community sustainability is achieved through land stewardship, resource allocation and social practices that move the group into the future for years, even generations, to come. At Tuntable Falls community in Australia, practices established over 30 years ago (such as organic gardening and alternative power generation) survive to the present day because they are sustainable and take into regard availability of resources, practicality and economics. Ecovillagers recognize the imperative of sustainable existence if the human race is to retain its quality of life into the future: providing for human needs does not need to come at the expense of natural habitat. Living in an ecovillage, although not suitable for everyone (especially those who despise group processes and need to be highly autonomous), is a healthy step forward for the planet. It can be a great place to raise children, earn a wholesome living and withdraw from the chaos and impersonal nature of cable TV, rush hour and sleeping pills. There are hundreds of ecovillages spread across the earth where people have turned the once-unrealized dream into their daily reality. Further reading:
