Do you want to live in an ecovillage based on cohousing?
/Cohousing is an innovative residential model where private homes are clustered around shared space. Community members benefit from participatory process (including neighborhood design), common facilities, resident management, and democratic decision-making.
The term ‘ecovillage’ encompasses a wide variety of communities that are committed to the idea of living more lightly (low impact) for the sake of the planet. Many ecovillages in the US use the cohousing residential model.
And since the start of the cohousing movement thirty years ago, participants have become increasingly aware of the environmental issues that humanity is facing, So now just about all cohousing communities have embraced the interrelated ideas of ecological and social sustainability.
Our lifeways must, of course, be sustainable. The alternative implies some kind of crisis or cataclysm. The sharing aspect of cohousing fosters sustainability. The term ‘ecovillage’ embodies it directly:
* ’eco’ for the ecological aspect
* ’village’ for the social aspect
It has been wonderful to see how both the cohousing and the ecovillage movements have been resonating more and more worldwide; and how their visions of sustainability have been melding toward what the United Nations calls “best practices.” Unsurprisingly, articles about eco-living have been popping up in media of all kinds worldwide. Here’s a recent one:
Reporter Una Ruddock notes that “ecovillages provide socially, ecologically, and economically sound lifestyles.” On that basis we can be proud that our work to establish Altair Ecovillage will help model the vitally-needed pathways toward a future green and socially sane society. Our efforts, along with those of other like-minded trailblazers around the world, will create a legacy that our grandchildren will appreciate. As the article says:
“If we learn from the living laboratories that are ecovillages, we may look to the future with some hope.”