All Blog Posts
Finding Balance of Public and Private in Community
Posted on January 21, 2017 byThe erosion of the commons by private interests is a disaster for modern human settlements; a community without shared spaces is barely a community at all.
MTV Features Intentional Community on “True Life: I’m Joining A Commune”
Posted on January 19, 2017 byA recent episode of MTV’s “True Life” features two stories about community living. In one, 23-year-old Took Edalow attempts to start a commune with several friends on Staten Island. Another… Read More
Boulder’s New Co-op Ordinance is a Victory for Intentional Communities
Posted on January 16, 2017 by“Do you want a Picklebric next to you?” asked an alarmed op-ed in the Daily Camera last summer. Residents of a Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood were clashing with members of the Picklebric co-op over… Read More
Bridge Meadows Brings Foster Children Into Intentional Community
Posted on January 12, 2017 by1 Comment
For many intentional communities and cohousing projects, being “intergenerational” is a core value and long-term goal. Parents envision themselves raising children with the support of other community members. Elderly residents… Read More
Public vs. Private: Group Dilemma Laid Bare!
Posted on January 11, 2017 by1 Comment
For some neighbors, the logical leap from “glimpse of skin” to “nudist colony” is a surprisingly short one to make.
Play The Food Forest Card Game and Help Plant 1,000s of Trees
Posted on January 9, 2017 byLast year, permaculture educator Karl Treen released the Food Forest card deck, following a successful fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. Have you played it yet? We have, and it’s available for purchase at the… Read More
Sky Blue Featured on Utopian Realities Podcast
Posted on January 5, 2017 by1 Comment
Last month, FIC’s Executive Director, Sky Blue, was featured on the Utopian Realities podcast at BlockTalkRadio. In a wide-ranging interview, Sky shares his insights into cooperative culture, intentional living, sustainability, and more. Sky has… Read More
Interactive Documentary “One Shared House” Packs a Punch
Posted on January 2, 2017 byIt’s not often that we hear the story of an intentional community told by someone who grew up in one. And it’s even less common for that story to be… Read More
Ecosexuality: Embracing a Force of Nature
Posted on January 1, 2017 by1 Comment
Only when we create a container that is loving enough and strong enough to embrace the erotic, do we create a container that is loving enough and strong enough to embrace all of Life itself.
The P6 Project Uses the Principles of Cooperatives to Promote Local Business
Posted on December 29, 2016 byThis is a guest post by Erin Hancock of the Co-operative Management Education program at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. **** Graduates of “Cooperative MBA” work on P6… Read More
Take Part In The People’s State of the Union This January
Posted on December 26, 2016 byBeginning in 2015, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has led a project called the People’s State of the Union, to coincide with the president’s annual address to the nation.… Read More
Taking the Systems View: climate change as a driver of SDG implementation
Posted on December 22, 2016 byThis is a guest post by Dr. Daniel Christian Wahl, Head of Innovation at Gaia Education, which is based out of Findhorn Ecovillage. Once the doors closed on yet another United Nations… Read More
Five Tools to Help Groups Thrive
Posted on December 21, 2016 byA clearly articulated evolutionary purpose, a welcoming of the whole self, and governance through self-management are keys to collective success.
Digital Security For Your Intentional Community
Posted on December 19, 2016 byFor some high-profile communities, visibility is a good thing. The Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri, depends on workshops and other business endeavors to support itself. Many communities maintain a social media… Read More
The world, and the FIC, need you
Posted on December 17, 2016 byThe world, and the FIC, need you! Dear Friends, Is it just me, or is the world going a little more crazy than usual? Does it seem like more people… Read More
This Year, We’ll Need Community More Than Ever
Posted on December 15, 2016 byI woke up on Election Day ready to get the whole thing over with. My life was already in a state of transition: the eco-village I’d lived in for two… Read More
How This Toronto Nonprofit Encourages Collaborative Consumption
Posted on December 12, 2016 byFor years, the news media has been looking to Silicon Valley as the epicenter of the new “sharing economy.” Maybe it should be looking to Toronto instead. Over the past few years,… Read More
Social Permaculture: Applying the Principles
Posted on December 11, 2016 byPermaculture’s 12 principles apply to human groups just as much as to any other ecological system.
Orange Splot LLC Is Creating New Community Housing in Portland
Posted on December 8, 2016 byPortland, Oregon, is known for being ahead of the curve when it comes to alternative housing and co-operative living. From the Tiny House Hotel to the Columbia Ecovillage cohousing community, there… Read More
How Homeowners Can Be More Intentional Landlords
Posted on December 5, 2016 byNext month, I’ll be moving into a house owned by a “community landlord.” Rather than simply renting out rooms in the house, the homeowner (who no longer lives on the property),… Read More
What does it take to cooperate?
Posted on December 5, 2016 byWhat does it take to cooperate? Dear Friends, We all know that cooperation is the only way forward to actually address the monumental challenges facing humanity. But this isn’t easy.… Read More
The Class Cultures Toolkit Can Help You Host More Inclusive Meetings and Events
Posted on December 1, 2016 byTalking about class can be difficult – especially in intentional communities that include people from a variety of backgrounds. It can be a challenge to balance the needs of members… Read More
Social Permaculture—What Is It?
Posted on December 1, 2016 byEcological relationships are relatively easy to deal with. Human relationships are often much more difficult, but we can design social structures that favor beneficial patterns of behavior.
Help Kickstart This Composting Toilet Research Project!
Posted on November 28, 2016 byIntentional communities can be the perfect testing ground for new sustainability practices – whether it’s an innovative greywater system or an aquaponics garden. At my community in Portland, we use our own composting toilet system, specifically… Read More
Not Rocket Science, but Just as Important
Posted on November 25, 2016 byThe arts of cooperative living—supported tirelessly by the cash-strapped FIC, and worthy now more than ever of financial support—will be as essential as technical skills if our species is to survive on this planet or any other.
The Untold Story of Utopian Communes In America
Posted on November 24, 2016 byIt was a time of great change and social experimentation. Groups of like-minded people pooled their money to buy property in what one writer called a kind of “socialist land mania.” Another philosopher… Read More
The Damanhur Community In Italy Has Its Own Currency and Constitution
Posted on November 21, 2016 byThe community of Damanhur in northern Italy is known for the Temples of Humankind, a 5-story series of underground chambers built by residents of the community as a spiritual gathering… Read More
Social Permaculture, and Public vs. Private, #173 Contents
Posted on November 21, 2016 byOur Winter issue explores both Social Permaculture and the interface of Public and Private in intentional community. Starhawk and her colleagues share wisdom from the cutting edge of social permaculture practice, while diverse communitarians discuss how they find balance between the collective and the individual, openness and self-protection, outer-world activism and internal focus. We also learn about Sociocracy missteps, legal structures that help groups put their best feet forward (or not), and more.
Arcosanti Combines Architecture and Ecology in The Arizona Desert
Posted on November 17, 2016 byAbout 70 miles north of Phoenix, high in the Arizona desert, a blocky, concrete series of buildings rises out of the hillside. It looks like a cross between a futuristic… Read More
The First Seasteading Community May Be Closer To Reality Than We Thought
Posted on November 17, 2016 by1 Comment
In June, I wrote a blog post about the Ephemerisle Festival, a gathering on the Sacramento River Delta that imagines what a floating city might look like. The festival hopes… Read More
