Cohousers don’t only talk the green talk, they walk the green walk.

Yet the sustainable lifestyle inherent in intentional neighborhoods is not always outwardly apparent to the greater community (minus solar panels on rooftops or street-facing gardens). It’s a goal of many forming communities to demonstrate these built-in savings, embodied in greener-built homes, on-site activities resulting in less driving and the overall sharing culture.

Fair Oaks EcoHousing, an intergenerational community with plans to break ground in early 2017, hit a milestone for sustainable recognition last month. Members were rewarded for their efforts to seek endorsement from the Environmental Council of Sacramento. ECOS is a non-profit dedicated to “achieving regional and community sustainability and a healthy environment for existing and future residents.” Their endorsement puts a local accolade in the group’s cap, and helped placed cohousing front and center in the Sacramento Bee. Article here.

Seeing community as the key ingredient to sustainability, future resident Marty Maskall championed the statement to the ECOS board, saying: “We believe this development offers a model of environmentally sustainable, socially vibrant infill housing for the region.”

The list of cohousing’s sustainable living features the group used for their presentation to ECOS could be useful for other cohousing groups. Visit Fair Oaks EcoHousing’s website here to view the one-page Sustainable Living

Summary.

Read more on the ECOS endorsement here.

Cohousing is able, better than any other housing option available, to create communities that sustain us and the environment too. In fact, the 2017 National Cohousing Conference will focus on “Building Sustainable, Resilient Neighborhoods.” Sustainability is more than just a buzzword in cohousing, and groups around the country are proving that.