But Is It Really an “Ecovillage”?
Submitted by Finding Your Co... on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 14:22
Print this pageBy Diana Leafe Christian
If a cohousing community uses the word “ecovillage” in its name, is it really an ecovillage? What does that mean, anyway?
Today I got an email from a cofounder of a cohousing project in the Northeast. She wrote, “Can you tell me how a community gets to use ‘ecovillage’ as part of their name? Is there a process, or does the group build the principles into their vision and just use the term? I’m just beginning to organize a group for a cohousing community in my rural village. I think that a group will form and very likely want to be an ecovillage.”
In my experience, cohousing communities that use the term “ecovillage” in their name either did it because they planned to be ecovillages and the founders cared about ecovillage principles and practices or because they wanted to market their project in a way that would appeal to potential buyers. The word “ecovillage” sells.
Examples of cohousing communities that also are ecovillages: EcoVillage at Ithaca in New York; Columbia Ecovillage in Portland, Oregon; Munksoegaard in Denmark; and Earthsong EcoNeighbourhood in New Zealand.
Sawyer Hill Ecovillage in Berlyn, Massachusetts is comprised of two adjacent cohousing communities, Mosaic Commons & Camelot Cohousing. One of their founders told me that their development advisor, Chris Scott-Hanson, suggested they call their project an ecovillage in order to market their units. I can sympathize — forming groups need to sell units!
The only other cohousing community I’m familiar with that uses the term is Ecovillage at Loudon County, in Virginia. I believe the founder-developers called it an ecovillage because they built energy-efficient passive-solar homes with green building materials, perhaps thinking that that’s what makes an ecovillage.
But I see it differently. In the last few years I’ve visited ecovillages in the US and Canada and interviewed many ecovillage founders and members. I live in an ecovillage myself (Earthaven in North Carolina); publish an online newsletter about ecovillages [ http://www.ecovillagenews.org ]; and in 2007 was the keynote speaker at the Urban Ecovillage Conference in Chicago and one of several keynote speakers at the Japanese Ecovillage Conference in Tokyo. I believe I know what ecovillages are, and know well that just having green and sustainable alternatives does not an ecovillage make.
I think increasing numbers of cohousing communities and plain old housing developments will call themselves ecovillages in the future, either because they are in fact ecovillages, or to sell units, or else because they just want to help motivate us all to live in more green and sustainable ways. And I believe that as it’s increasingly co-opted, the term will gradually become meaningless.
So if you’re looking to join a cohousing community that really is an ecovillage, please know that ecovillages seek to learn, and then model and demonstrate to others (often with classes and tours), examples of (1) ecological, (2) economic, and (3) social/cultural/spiritual sustainability.
Some resources:
Definitions of an ecovillage: http://www.ecovillagenews.org/wiki/index.php/What_is_an_Ecovillage%3F
Online and other resources for learning more: http://www.ecovillagenews.org/wiki/index.php/Ecovillage_Resources
Best book out there on ecovillages, in my opinion: Ecovillages, by Jonathan Dawson, Chelsea Green Publishers, 2005.
Wonderful cohousing-ecovillage to visit to get a first-hand experience of being in an ecovillage: EcoVillage at Ithaca http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us
—Diana Leafe Christian
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Found another cohousing community that's also an ecovillage
Today I learned about WhiteHawk Ecovillage in Danby, New York, near Ithaca. Their website is http://www.whitehawk.org/
—Diana Leafe Christian
Ecovillages
Thanks Diana. I have had these questions myself. We here in Belfast Maine are also committed to the ecovillage principles, but interestingly, a number of our members think ecovillage might NOT sell homes...they're concerned that, here in rural Maine, the term will either seem elitist or conjure up a hard life having to build your own home of mud and straw and live off the land...making a 'real' job near impossible. Guess it's all in how much you're really striving for living more lightly on the land, not the name.
The key elements of our mission, which is an invaluable tool that guides us in making decisions (we're now in the design phase), are to be ALL of these:
* environmentally-sustainable (prioritizing those areas where our negative impact is the greatest)
* affordable (can average people in our area afford it?)
* walkable/bikeable to a population ctr (jobs, retail, etc)
* preserving farmland and open space, and
* seeking innovative development strategies to offer a model for protecting rural Maine landscapes.
The hardest two for us to achieve are the combination of the first two, and necessitates that we give up on customization, large size and complexity...but that's okay.
Interestingly, you didn't mention commerce. I think a neighborhood of just homes does not make a village. 200' commutes, being able to buy products/services, etc, IS part of village life as I see it, so we aim to encourage home-based businesses, a farmer's market, and more so there is a buzz eminating from our little village and attracting our neighbors and others to add to that vitality.
Sanna McKim
Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage (see? we can't decide! But we're moving on nonetheless)
Names
This is fascinating to me. My family just moved to White Hawk Ecovillage one week ago. I suggested to the group that we change our name, and several other people had the same idea.
People tend to have either/or reactions to the ecovillage term. Some of my friends have said that they aren't eco enough. So some people use the term to evaluate themselves and find themselves wanting. Other people use the term to evaluate us and find us wanting.
I did that myself when touring Ecovillage at Ithaca years ago. I was shocked by the Tide in their laundry room. I determined that they didn't have enough solar panels. Silliness! Now I'm here in an ecovillage home with not enough solar panels on my own roof.
I realized that while we (my husband and I) are strongly drawn to the idea of sustainability, and that reflects itself in our lives exactly as much as it does or doesn't in any given moment, I am more interested in enjoying this beautiful piece of land with the people who are drawn to it and us. I learned that I am not interested in deciding how sustainably other people around me should live. I do enjoy seeing how it all unfolds without fuss and labeling.
For those of us who are drawn to a name change, we love the idea of something like White Hawk Neighborhood or White Hawk Community. In a neighborhood or community, you aren't putting yourself forward as better than those other guys. I know a word has only the power you give it, but I have felt the weight of judgment attached to "ecovillage" these days.
I think that by taking such a strong focus off eco, we can emphasize the other wonderful aspects of living here, like neighbors and the creativity that comes from sharing.
I've just learned from our Google ads results that there is a lot more interest in the term homesteading than ecovillage. Pondering and discussion continues. Despite all my big ideas, our current name is fine with me as long as it lasts. For now, we remain White Hawk (sometimes too and sometimes not enough) Ecovillage.
-Julie Boerst