Communities Articles
Here is a selection of articles from previous back issues of Communities magazine. All back issues up to issue #184 are available for download here.
For more information about Communities magazine, visit its new publisher at GEN-US.
Community as Economic Engine
Posted on June 21, 2017 by1 Comment
A long-time communard suggests ways non-income-sharing communities can better support their members’ economic well-being.
Participatory Budgeting in an Income-Sharing Community
Posted on June 11, 2017 by1 Comment
How does one share income and expenses among a hundred people? Twin Oaks discovers how to supplant apathy with widespread engagement.
The Gift Economy of Standing Rock
Posted on June 1, 2017 by1 Comment
The principles of indigenous culture informed the Water Protectors’ camps: generosity, compassion, and collective survival took precedence.
Towards a Joyful Economics
Posted on May 28, 2017 byFrom Gift Circles in Brooklyn to the sharing economy at an ecovillage-based collective house, the author explores practical applications of Sacred Economics.
Economics in Cooperative Culture, #175 Contents
Posted on May 26, 2017 byEconomics in cooperative culture—the focus of our Summer issue—is expressed in myriad forms
From cohousing developments to gift-economy activist camps, from spiritual communities to mobile home parks, from income-sharing communities to intentional neighborhoods, people across a wide range of economic circumstances and approaches are discovering the benefits of cooperative economics. Their stories suggest new ways of “stewarding our home” and transitioning into a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Variations on a Theme: Low-Carbon Communities of All Sorts
Posted on May 1, 2017 by2 Comments
Three innovative non-residential groups use community as a tool to address climate change.
Affordable, Developer-Driven Ecovillages: Meeting an Unmet Need
Posted on April 21, 2017 by1 Comment
A replicable ecovillage model is our best hope for achieving essential, global-scale changes.
Soil, Communities, and Climate Change: An Interview with Nikki Silvestri
Posted on April 11, 2017 byAs a climate solutions advocate explains, carbon is not a bad thing; it’s often just in the wrong places right now.
The Question I Get Asked the Most
Posted on April 1, 2017 by“What can I do?” It’s the right question—almost.
Addressing Climate Change: Two Generations at Heart-Culture Farm Community
Posted on March 21, 2017 byFor the next generation, planting trees, growing food, and living in community are only the start.
Local Solutions to Global Warming: Paying for Our Carbon Meal
Posted on March 11, 2017 by5 Comments
Compared to carbon offsetting, carbon onsetting may be a more effective strategy to build sustainability.
Living Energy Farm: An Answer for Climate Change
Posted on March 1, 2017 byA fossil-fuel-free community empowers its members to dramatically reduce their dependence on the corporate economy.
Climate Crisis, Dystopia, and Community
Posted on February 25, 2017 byFrom the personal to the global, with hard times undeniable, community may be our life-support.
Communities and Climate Change, #174 Contents
Posted on February 20, 2017 byOur Spring issue examines how intentional communities and other groups are responding to the challenges presented by climate change. Through stories from more than a dozen diverse communities, we learn about steps being taken both to mitigate the intensity of climate disruption and to adapt to its effects. Innovative approaches include carbon onsetting, biochar production and use, personal/spiritual work, strategies for fossil-fuel-freedom, and more.
Nine Traditions that Draw Us Together: How a Small Town Nurtures Community
Posted on February 1, 2017 byThe art of creating community spirit within mainstream towns and neighborhoods has much potential to change the world for the better.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Happiness in Communal Life: A Scientific Project
Posted on November 1, 2016 byStatistics don’t lie: communal living seems to help people be happier.
The Case for Mass Civil Disruption and Resistance: The story of how 15 intentional communities and experiments came together to form a national coalition to defend life, come hell or high water
Posted on October 21, 2016 by1 Comment
Activists and communitarians gather to ask: “How do we respond to our current global crisis?”
Grassroots Activism Starts at Home
Posted on October 11, 2016 byAt the RareBirds Housing Co-operative, community life and outside activism deepen and strengthen each other.
Not the Last of the Mohicans: Honoring Our Native Predecessors on the Land
Posted on September 30, 2016 by1 Comment
How can we do right by the native peoples whose ancestral homelands now host our intentional communities?
Coming of Age in Service Community
Posted on September 21, 2016 by1 Comment
Growing up in a community with a strong commitment to changing the world can be both enlivening and challenging.
Activism and Service at Black Bulga Community: Inspiring, Nurturing, Challenging, and Not All Hard Work
Posted on September 11, 2016 byAt Black Bulga, the experience of community provides vital support for members to be effective change agents in the wider world.
The Gesundheit! Institute: A 45 Year-Old Communal Hospital Experiment
Posted on September 1, 2016 byIn a decades-long project with worldwide reach, medicine, humor, and community become vehicles for social change.
