Sustainability
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.
These Communities Offer On-Site Permaculture Workshops & Immersion Programs
Posted on March 9, 2017 byCurious about how you can apply permaculture principles in your community or ecovillage? There’s no better way than to visit a community in person and learn from hands-on workshops and… Read More
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.
Colonists Wanted: The Story of the Llano del Rio Commune of LA County
Posted on February 20, 2017 by“Colonists–Wanted,” the ad proclaims. “Llano del Rio, in the Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County, California, needs 900 single men and women and married men and their families. This is an… Read More
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.
Are Seasteading Communities the Next Wave of Sustainable Living?
Posted on February 13, 2017 byWayne Adams and Catherine King, two artists living in Tofino, Canada, couldn’t afford to buy a house of their own. Instead, they took their assets offshore — literally — and created a floating paradise… Read More
French Documentary “Tomorrow” Explores Transition Projects All Over the World
Posted on February 9, 2017 byA new documentary made by a French filmmaking duo takes a look at transition projects in Europe and all over the world. Cyril Dion and Melanie Laurent set out to find… Read More
Your Community Could Win Up to £25,000 For Regenerative Projects
Posted on January 26, 2017 byIs your community working on a project that supports “environmental and social regeneration”? The Lush natural cosmetics company is accepting applicants for its 2017 Lush Spring Prize, which will award up to £200,000… Read More
ThePOOSH Connects Volunteers With Natural Building Projects
Posted on January 23, 2017 byLots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic… Read More
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
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.
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
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
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
A New Book Combines Zen and Permaculture to Educate and Inspire
Posted on November 10, 2016 byStefan Geyer, a London resident active in the U.K. permaculture community, is releasing a new book called “Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design.” It’s not a guidebook to specific permaculture… Read More
The Micro-Nation of Liberland Could Be The World’s Biggest Planned Community
Posted on November 3, 2016 byPicture a country built from scratch: a city-state with open borders, where paying taxes is optional and there are no laws other than “live and let live.” At just three square miles, cars… Read More
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?”
How Seed Saver Networks Are Protecting The Planet’s Biodiversity
Posted on October 20, 2016 byAs more farmers and gardeners take an interest in permaculture, seed savers’ networks are becoming a vital way to preserve heirloom varieties and protect our planet’s biodiversity. Although not as… Read More
The Boat-to-Fork Movement Promotes Local and Sustainable Seafood
Posted on October 17, 2016 byMany of us are familiar with the farm-to-table movement: we might shop at our neighborhood farmers market, or even subscribe to a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) model as a way to… Read More
Shared Earth Connects Gardeners With Unused Land In Their Neighborhood
Posted on October 3, 2016 byFor years, projects like Fallen Fruit and the Urban Farm Collective have been making it easier for people to access the excess produce and gardening space in their neighborhoods. A… Read More
Are Worms and Crickets the Future of Sustainable Eating?
Posted on September 19, 2016 byCultures around the world have been including insects as part of their diets for millennia. But in the U.S. – where raising livestock accounts for a staggering percentage of greenhouse… Read More
