These Tools Can Help Your Community Make Better Decisions
Posted on October 6, 2016 by1 Comment
One of the biggest hurdles an intentional community can face is figuring out how to make decisions. There are dozens of decision-making strategies to choose from, from consensus to sociocracy. But in today’s busy world, simply gathering around the table together as a community can be a challenge. At my community, meeting attendance takes a dive during the… 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 new project called Shared Earth brings the concept to a wider market, using the latest peer-to-peer technology to connect gardeners with unused lawns and gardens… Read More
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?
A New Site Called Simbi Lets You Barter Your Skills, Lessons, and More
Posted on September 29, 2016 byA lot has been written about how the “sharing economy” isn’t really about “sharing” – many of the companies that use the term are more about renting, buying and selling, or even just working. A new site called Simbi wants to change that, offering a platform where users can exchange services for Simbi credits (short… Read More
A New Game Called “Rise Up” Explores Cooperative Social Movements
Posted on September 26, 2016 byThe Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA) is launching a Kickstarter for a new board game on September 27th. Called “Rise Up: The Game of People and Power,” the game is a great way to spend time with friends, while exploring social movements and learning to cooperate to achieve shared objectives. According to TESA, “The game weaves… Read More
This Women-Only Village In Kenya Is Challenging Traditional Gender Roles
Posted on September 22, 2016 byFor over 20 years, a small community in Kenya has been embarking on a rare experiment: a community without men, where women are the homeowners and breadwinners. Around 50 women and 200 children live in Umoja, a small village several hundred miles north of Nairobi, in the dry grasslands of the Samburu region. According to… Read More
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.
Watch Community Bookstore Videos on Any Screen!
Posted on September 20, 2016 byCommunity Bookstore Featured Watch Community Bookstore Videos on Any Screen by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Watch Your Favorite Community Stories Anywhere You Like on Any Device! All of our documentary films are now available through Vimeo, a fast and easy way to download films from your PC, tablet, or mobile phone, wherever and whenever! Visit us… 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 gas emissions – eating insects as a source of protein has been slow to catch on. Could that finally be changing? Cricket Flour Several companies… Read More
How A Mystical Novel Spurred the Ecovillage Movement in Russia
Posted on September 15, 2016 byOver the years, many intentional communities have drawn on works of fiction for inspiration. They can serve as cultural touchstones, helping connect the communities in a particular region with a shared philosophy or way of life. Here in the Pacific Northwest, books like Ecotopia and The Fifth Sacred Thing sit on many communal bookshelves. The… Read More
This Eco-Community in Peru is Known for Its Cone-Shaped Structures
Posted on September 12, 2016 byJust over an hour north of Lima, Peru, a circle of cone-shaped buildings rises beside a sandy beach. These structures are called “trulys,” and they’re part of a spiritual eco-village built by Hare Krishnas on the Peruvian coast. The village is a popular stopping place for travelers looking for a peaceful, meditative retreat in rural… Read More
What are you doing this Fall? Find us at these events!
Posted on September 12, 2016 byWhat are you doing this Fall? Find us at these events! Fall Events by Sky Blue, FIC Exec. Directory Summer’s over, but Fall’s just beginning, and the movement for cooperation, sustainability, and justice charges on! We’ll be representing at several more great events this year. Come hang out with us and help change the… Read More
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.
A Free Documentary Series Shows You How To Live In A Tiny House Legally
Posted on September 8, 2016 byFor many tiny house enthusiasts, building the house itself isn’t the hard part. There are lots of resources out there for designing and constructing a tiny house, as well as companies that will build the whole thing for you. More and more people are coming to see tiny homes as a viable living option. These… Read More
“Ecotopia” Art Installation Brings Visions of Permaculture to the London Design Festival
Posted on September 1, 2016 byFrom Sept. 17-25, 2016, the London Design Festival will feature an art installation inspired by Ernest Callenbach’s 1975 book Ecotopia. In the book, a journalist visits a newly-formed country in the Pacific Northwest that’s built on sustainable permaculture principles. The installation will explore ways that “Utopian thinking” can help us find solutions to our modern-day… Read More
At This Hawaiian Eco-Community, You Can Stay In A Bamboo Hut In A Volcanic Crater
Posted on August 29, 2016 byA few weeks ago – as the prospect of spending another winter here in rainy Portland began to dawn on me – I started looking into some travel opportunities in warmer climates. One of my goals as a blogger is to get to visit some of the intentional communities that I write about – and… Read More
How can we bring more life to meetings?
Posted on August 26, 2016 byCommunity Bookstore Featured Group Works card deck by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Group Works card deck A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings created by the Group Pattern Language Project NEW! $35 Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the organizing, role-setting, and facilitation of a meeting? Perhaps you want… Read More
A Planned City In Australia Will Feature Tesla-Powered Homes
Posted on August 25, 2016 by1 Comment
Planned communities have had a long and somewhat mixed history. From the Familistere in Guise, France, designed to house factory workers, to the Disney-fied Main Street of Celebration, Florida, they differ from cohousing projects and intentional communities in a major way: they’re generally created from the top-down, by developers and business owners, rather than by… Read More
Innisfree Village: Lifesharing in a Service Community
Posted on August 24, 2016 byAdults with disabilities and residential caregiver volunteers share the challenges and joys of community life at Innisfree.
KCET Visits the LA Eco-Village for A Look At Sustainable Urban Living
Posted on August 22, 2016 byWhen you hear about life in Los Angeles, you probably think about traffic, smog, and sprawling suburbs. But LA has a thriving network of intentional communities, many of which exist just under the radar of activity in neighborhoods like Silverlake, Mar Vista, and Koreatown. I spent several years living in the city and got to… Read More
Available now: new Communities Directory book!
Posted on August 20, 2016 byCommunity Bookstore Featured Communities Directory Book New 7th Print Edition by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Communities Directory Print Book New 7th edition, August 2016 Available and shipping $35 We are so grateful for our supportive community that contributed to our kickstarter campaign last fall. Together, we exceeded our goal and created an updated seventh edition… Read More
The Diggers Started Their Own Back-to-the-Land Movement in 1649
Posted on August 18, 2016 by“In 1649/to St. George’s Hill/a ragged band they called the Diggers/came to show the people’s will.” So starts Leon Rosselson’s song, “The World Turned Upside Down,” which tells the story of a radical Protestant sect in Surrey, England, that became one of the earliest examples of the agrarian socialist movement. The group formed during a… Read More
Service and Activism, #172 Contents
Posted on August 18, 2016 byOur Fall issue explores Service and Activism in intentional communities. Authors share their stories of living and working in both service- and activist-oriented groups, including Camphill communities, Innisfree Village, Gesundheit!, Konohana Family, Magic, Black Bulga, and more. How do service and activism build community, both within a group and in the larger world? How can communitarians contribute to the well-being of the planet and its people? We also explore how long-standing, mission-focused communities—including Harbin Hot Springs, ZEGG, and EcoVillage at Ithaca—have evolved over time, and the latest research about happiness in community.
This Alaska Community Took Its Own Approach To Treating Mental Illness
Posted on August 15, 2016 by3 Comments
The philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” It’s a quote often repeated by alternative healers and counter-cultural thinkers. In the 1980s, four families from Boston – who suffered from depression, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses – put that philosophy to the… Read More
What does it take to go back to the land?
Posted on August 13, 2016 byCommunity Bookstore Featured Two New Films by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager What does it take to go back to the land? Perhaps you have explored the answer in your own unique way. And now FIC has two new films available at our bookstore that offer another possible answer. Independent film-maker, Helen Iles, has spent… Read More
How These Bike Festivals Bring Community To City Streets
Posted on August 11, 2016 byForty years ago, a group of Columbian bicycle activists started a tradition that would eventually spread to hundreds of cities around the world. Called Ciclovía, which means “cycleway” in Spanish, the event shuts down automobile traffic on over 70 miles of streets in Bogota every Sunday – creating space for up to 2 million bicyclists,… Read More
A New Book Takes A Close Look At Plants and Animals In The Human Habitat
Posted on August 8, 2016 byWhen Nathanael Johnson began taking his two-year-old daughter on nature walks in Berkeley, CA, he realized that he didn’t know the names of half the trees, bugs, and other creatures she pointed to. Even the most common urban animals – pigeons and squirrels – were a mystery to him. How did they manage to become… Read More
This TED Talk Shows How Ecovillages Can Bring About Global Change
Posted on August 4, 2016 byLast year, Kosha Joubert, President of the Global Ecovillage Network, delivered a powerful talk at TEDxGeneva on the impact of ecovillages around the globe. Joubert lived in South Africa as a child, spent time in Amsterdam as adult, and now lives at the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland. After studying cultural anthropology, she says she felt… Read More
The Community Land Trust That Arose Out of the Civil Rights Movement
Posted on August 1, 2016 bySo many of the community structures that we write about here at FIC – such as community land trusts – have a long, but often overlooked, history. That’s why it’s important for writers, filmmakers, and historians to document stories of intentional communities over time. A new documentary, Arc of Justice, does just that. Made by… Read More
Nature, Belonging, Path to EU Residency, and a Beautiful Life– in Greece!!!