Aug 23, 2010
Shared eco-friendly living is becoming increasingly popular in places
that range from communes to co-housing, eco-villages or intentional
communities.
These are not the hippy, free-love communes of the 1960s, but living
arrangements that focus on organic farming, green building, communal
spaces and other aspects of sustainability.
"The future of housing, in general, is sustainable communities,"
Laura Mamo, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland and
co-author of Living Green, tells Green House. She argues that
single-family homes on large suburban lots have failed society,
because they've created social isolation, dependence on personal cars
and intolerably hefty mortgages for homeowners.
Mamo cites Takoma Village, the first co-housing community in the
Washington area. Located in Takoma Park, Md., it has 43 apartments
and townhouses that open to a central courtyard and a common building
where residents eat together.
Compact, walkable and energy-efficient neighborhoods are the goal of
a program launched nationally in April by the U.S. Green Building
Council, known as the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design) for Neighborhood Development.
"From Ithaca to Japan and Oregon to Sweden, green utopias are
sprouting around the world," writes The Huffington Post, citing
examples from Ithaca, N.Y., to Detroit, Ore. It elaborates on seven
of these modern-day eco-living alternatives:
EcoVillage (Ithaca, N.Y.) Ithaca, New York's answer to a modern day
commune is EcoVillage, a green utopia that houses 160 residents. Its
60 houses are split into two housing groups, FROG and SONG, and are
all low-impact and energy-efficient. The third housing group, TREE,
is currently being constructed and will house 30 more homes.
EcoVillage has a CSA vegetable farm and a U-Pick berry farm along
with a root cellar and community gardens. 80 percent of the commune's
175 acres will remain as green space, 55 acres of which are already
under protection through a conservation easement from the Finger
Lakes Land Trust. Residents volunteer 2 to 3 hours a week by building
furniture, farming or assisting with other necessary maintenance.
Future endeavors for EcoVillage include creating organic orchards,
greywater recycling, and biodiesel and vegetable oil fuel production.
Dancing Rabbit (Rutledge, Mo.) Missouri's Dancing Rabbit is an
intentional community and eco-village that houses 50 residents. The
goal of the intentional community is to maintain the rural prairie by
restoring the land to its pre-residential state. With 10,000 trees
planted already, Dancing Rabbit is on its way to achieving this goal.
All power stems from renewable sources, including solar and wind
power, and the homes are built from natural materials: straw veils,
cob, and reclaimed lumber. The water supply comes from rainwater.
Toyosato, a Yamagishi village (Mie Prefecture, Japan) A main
component of the Yamagishi movement, Toyosato, a sustainable farming
cooperative, is home to 550 residents. Started by ten families in
1969, Toyosato is now one of the main farming corporations in Japan.
Toyosato also attempts to make the neighboring area more sustainable.
The cooperative donates compost to neighboring farms and also uses
factory byproducts from soy sauce and tofu production as livestock
feed. Since 1960, the Yamagishi movement has created 30 villages.
Breitenbush Hot Springs (Detroit, Ore.) Breitenbush Hot Springs is a
cooperative that runs an on-site hot springs retreat and conference
center. Each year, the commune hosts 25,000 guests. Located east of
Salem, Oregon in the Cascades, Breitenbush houses 50 full-time
residents with 30 summer time employees. The commune uses geothermal
power and hydropower as off-the-grid energy sources. To join the
commune, members must work for the cooperative for one year and
purchase a member share for $500.
Twin Oaks Commune (Louisa, Va.) With 85 adults and 15 children, Twin
Oaks commune in Louisa, Virginia is a communal living destination.
Started in 1967, the residents at Twin Oaks share their incomes and
work 42 hours per week in the communal sectors by making tofu,
creating furniture and hammocks, farming, milking cows and aiding
with childcare.
Kolonilott and Understenhodgen (Stockholm, Sweden) Kolonilott are
Swedish communes ranging from gardening specific communes to summer
only communes. In the 1900s, Sweden's government devoted land to be
used for gardening as part of an act to provide land to the lower
classes. Although developed in Denmark, cohousing communes are
sprouting throughout Sweden. Located in Stockholm's wooded "green
fingers" area, Understenhodgen composes 44 cohousing homes. This
eco-friendly lodging is a car-free location that offers district
heating, waste recycling and a kindergarten program.
Nubanusit Neighborhood And Farm (Peterborough, N.H.) Nubanusit
Neighborhood And Farm is a cohousing community that boasts an organic
farm, communal office space and residences ranging from single family
to four-unit dwellings. Located adjacent to Nubanusit Brook,
residents reside in their own homes yet share seventy acres of farm
land, woodlands, pond and fields. The residents all participate in a
CSA and rely on on-site cows and chickens for dairy and milk. Each
residence in the commune is LEED Platinum certified.
--
Also, see:
7 Modern Day Green Communes From Around the World
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/20/photos-7-modern-day-green_n_687530.html#s128567
.
1 comments:
"From Ithaca to Japan and Oregon to Sweden, green utopias are
sprouting around the world,"
I think calling them utopias is not helpful, personally I think they are a better way, but they are not trouble free - people are harder to get along with than you'd think.
And I wouldn't write off the old hippie communes, along with Twin Oaks there is this intentional community - good to look at some of these older groups and see what they did that allowed them to stay together.
Post a Comment