Intentional - sustainable

It takes an intentional community to achieve sustainability. The inter-relationships necessary to establish sustainability and the energy needed to keep the exchanges balanced so that the whole project can continue to provide for each and every member requires an individual commitment to discomfort and the constant abrasion of a wide variety of concerns. It is easy for individuals in the community to lose contact with the reasons why they became involved in the first place and with the human factor in community - which includes being relaxed and having fun. Especially when the obstacles created by general society's resistance to intentional community as retro-revisionist (receding away from modernity instead of advancing toward it) are so numerous that they are nearly overwhelming when the community is just getting off the ground. The stress created by fighting general society while still having to refer to it to recover self-sufficiency can create an abrasive atmosphere among residents and diminish the commitment to the common ideal of sustainable self-sufficiency and eco-efficiency for spiritual depth. The intentional community then becomes a miserable experiment in personality conflict and ongoing failure with members leaving disillusioned and less likely each time to try again with a new community model.

Sometimes, rare enough to be exceptional, unintentional communities accidentally stumble into being a sustainable community - short-lived as those occasions often are they are a phenomenon unmatched in the memory of those lucky enough to be participants. Those rare freaks of circumstance are what all intentional communities are trying to achieve -the unintentional ideal. A beautiful thing!

setting up a sustainable community has been a dream ( I have the land now!) of mine for many years.
As a teenager I traveled across the country staying with small groups that got together to help each other,
build small houses and live sustainably off the earth.
I am looking for a few people to co-land mate with my family on  the  property.
Looking to be a farm situation raising  gardens , ducks, sheep, goats ( meat and milk) rabbits, and who knows what else for naturally raised consumption.
Looking for hard working, open minded, NON-religious- caring , sharing, artsy, crafty, sincere, peace
loving , human beings...
do not care if you are gay, straight, bi-sexual, celibate or poly-amorous... honesty, respect, more important.
Tell me what you think
nina

Nina,

How much land do you have? 

Can you post pics?

Whereabouts are you?

Hi paul,
we have 25 acres of hilly land over looking the Skagit River between Concrete and Rockport.
Can't post pics, changed from OS9.1 to OS X and my camera won't mount and download
anymore.  Sorry...
It was timber property.. got a lumber truck access roads on it but, it is raw land with great views,
an east, south, west exposure ( backs up against a large mountain- with only timber companies as
neighbors to the north. It has two lg year round streams and so many nooks and crannies ,
we are still discovering places we haven't seen after two tears of constant exploring.
Nina

paul wheaton wrote:
Nina,

How much land do you have? 

Can you post pics?

Whereabouts are you?

Can you paint a picture of how many people you would like to see living on the land and what it would be like?

I think that one of the biggest aspects of community is how decisions are made.  It might be good to paint a picture for that too.

Paul,
we believe that a maximum of 10 adults ( no children).
Each person (or  couple)  responsibile for their own income .
Each responsible for the cost of building of their own 200 sq ft house ( off grid)
( of course this is where the community comes in - helping build)
Each responsible for shared time in garden, doing chores related to food producing,
trails, firewood for shared community house , etc...
Decisions- there will be a core group to guide  and then decision by consensus of members living on property.
We have several friends who are in long running alternative intentional  community,
and there are sites set up to help people like us who want to set up a community
and do it in a sustainable fair way.
We have the water  resources to have year round hydro - power...
We realize their are many things to work out... but we have the biggest hurdle taken care of... the land!!
BTW we will take you over to have a look ( if you want ) when you are up here for the field dress class.

alexisavoire wrote:
It takes an intentional community to achieve sustainability. The inter-relationships necessary to establish sustainability and the energy needed to keep the exchanges balanced so that the whole project can continue to provide for each and every member requires an individual commitment to discomfort and the constant abrasion of a wide variety of concerns. It is easy for individuals in the community to lose contact with the reasons why they became involved in the first place and with the human factor in community - which includes being relaxed and having fun. Especially when the obstacles created by general society's resistance to intentional community as retro-revisionist (receding away from modernity instead of advancing toward it) are so numerous that they are nearly overwhelming when the community is just getting off the ground. The stress created by fighting general society while still having to refer to it to recover self-sufficiency can create an abrasive atmosphere among residents and diminish the commitment to the common ideal of sustainable self-sufficiency and eco-efficiency for spiritual depth. The intentional community then becomes a miserable experiment in personality conflict and ongoing failure with members leaving disillusioned and less likely each time to try again with a new community model.

Sometimes, rare enough to be exceptional, unintentional communities accidentally stumble into being a sustainable community - short-lived as those occasions often are they are a phenomenon unmatched in the memory of those lucky enough to be participants. Those rare freaks of circumstance are what all intentional communities are trying to achieve -the unintentional ideal. A beautiful thing!

I think I may have responded to another one of your post on here just a few seconds ago LOL
I dont normally like to nitpick but I see so many statements that we may have a difference of opinion on. This is what I have witnessed with intentional communities in my parts of the woods.
You dont have to have a intentional community to be sustainable. One person can achieve self sustainability on their own without any outside help.

every member requires an individual commitment to discomfort and the constant abrasion of a wide variety of concerns.

So we have to live in discomfort if we are in a intentional community? WHAT? Please!!! I would say that statement holds true for every living person on this earth. Everyone I know has a wide variety of concerns they are in constant turmoil with. People who live in New York City have to decide if they want to live there, fight traffic, walk to work, take the train, or drive, have a place in the country and have to drive further into town to work or live in town and pay more for rent but drive less. This is life! Living in an intentional community or not everyone has choices to make. Do I buy that new computer or do I wait 6 months till a better faster and cheaper one becomes available?
Why must they live in discomfort? They cant be comfortable in an intentional community??? I can have solar panels and wind power power my entire house and live comfortably. I would require no powerlines. there are people doing it today. Some live in million dollar mansions others live in shacks. both seem to be quite comfortable and living quite well and yet they are sustainable and comfortable and not in an intentional community. Some do live this way and are quite comfortable in intentional communities.


Especially when the obstacles created by general society's resistance to intentional community as retro-revisionist (receding away from modernity instead of advancing toward it) are so numerous that they are nearly overwhelming when the community is just getting off the ground.
I dont see any obstacles in todays society at creating a intentional community that is sustainable. lets see last time i checked you could still buy land, build homes on it, live on it, grow your own food(thats not illegal yet), have pets, etcetc. Granted you may not be allowed to have a cow in downtown (fill in the blank name of city) but they have agricultural land and rural areas for that you can buy land in that has little restrictions as to what size house you are required to build, what animals you may have etcetc.


Just my two cents worth.

I recently discovered something about myself and sustainable communities at the same time; I moved to a small 15 acre farm in the Pacific Northwest to learn about permaculture and wilderness stories and was looking for a way to support myself. Now, in the past, this has meant finding a job somewhere outside of the home, doing something totally unrelated (although possibly fun and fulfilling) and bring my paycheck home and pay for the things I need. But then, a new found friend and co-inhabitant, presented a totally new and unthought of path for me to take; why not use my skills and passions (cooking) and keep my energy within the community. Now, why I hadn't thought of cooking for my new friends and housemates to cover the cost of rent escapes me but I think it has a lot to do with the conditioning and expectations of our modern day society. How does it make sense to go to a job, get a paycheck, bring it back home and pay for the things you need with it instead of staying at home, doing what you love, and using your free time to gather wild foods, grow your own crops and provide for yourself and others in a real, tangible way. It blows my mind the way we live our lives these days, or rather, don't live our lives.

Hey Nina,
Congrats on obtaining the land. What a great feeling it must be to have such a valuable and sparse resource. I currently live on the same piece of land as Jase(15 acres). Residents here have been really interested in PSP (Post Shoring Polyethylene) underground homes. I was curious what types of homes you were hoping to build and if you've had any experience with underground homes in your travels. Obviously our main concern here is keeping things dry. Before we can start on such a fun and sustainable project, I was hoping to find someone who has first hand knowledge of an underground home in a climate as wet as ours. Thanks and again, congrats.