The Next Evolution for Ecovillages (and other test projects)
A Study of The Meaning and Relevance of Ecovillages Amid Today’s Urgency
In this essay I hope to convey my thoughts on the positive revolutionary impact of the ecovillage movement thus far, my respectful critique of some of its limitations, and why I believe that now is the time for the movement and its adherents to shift focus. While many of my perspectives and conclusions are based upon my own observations, this scholarly article and study from 2017 entitled The Meaning and Relevance of Ecovillages for the Construction of Sustainable Societal Models confirms the need for a new direction, if we are serious about creating a new world that works for everyone, and very soon.
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If I had a dollar from every person I meet these days who wants to run off and join or build an ecovillage I would be a rich man. But therein lies the problem…and the possibility. With a collective shift in our focus we could all be wealthy and sustainable beyond measure, sooner than you might think. Allow me to explain.
The Evolutionary Importance of Ecovillages
The ecovillage movement has been quite evolutionarily appropriate and powerful, helping to bring us to what’s needed next. I can’t say it any better myself, so I will highlight here some of the accomplishments of the ecovillage movement as stated in the study:
“ecovillage initiatives…have propagated by diffusing alternative ideas and practices throughout society
they promote concrete actions in the construction of societal alternatives
They are increasingly linked with other movements and social institutions, functioning as key nodes in sustainability-oriented networks
ecovillages significantly contribute to efforts of rethinking sustainability
have become especially visible since their articulation as a social movement in 1995 with the creation of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN)
common causes such as “economic re-localization”, poverty alleviation, global justice, respect for cultural and spiritual diversity, and the evolution of a post-consumerist culture
the majority of ecovillages have an explicit goal of outreach aimed at exchanging experiences with the world
acting as “models,” “examples,” “laboratories of sustainability” or “demonstration sites”
subvert the capitalist logic of infinite economic growth and profit above all else, in association with a worldview founded in the satisfaction of real human needs”
This is all good news in a world with so many problems, and the growing interest in ecovillages seems to make perfect sense. It would be so great if we could all just go and join a community of people who want to live in happy, healthy and sustainable relationships with likeminded people. Maybe we just need to “be the change” we wish to see in the world, and just go do it, go build it, get our hands dirty in the soil, and grow the new world. I get it, and I resonate with it.
Overlooking That Little Bit in the Middle Between Here and There
But I wonder if we are, as the founder of the World Summit Tonny Kregel always says, “forgetting that little bit in the middle”. In our work with the World Summit, Tonny is referring to the area of focus between our current flawed socio-economic system and the more beautiful world we know in our hearts is possible. But if we overlook that little bit in the middle then it may take decades or centuries to get there, if we get there at all. The fact is we don’t have decades; all signs are pointing to the need for radical change now, or at least in a couple of years. While I fully respect and admire the intentions, the theory, the passion, the compassion, and the “let’s stop talking and start building” sense of action of the many ecovillage enthusiasts, I have some concerns that we really may be putting the cart before the horse. This little bit in the middle is the urgent need to shift our focus from all the disparate, disconnected projects and groups and movements, and instead unify around the most important project of all, one which will positively affect everyone everywhere — the project of flipping the paradigm beyond our failed governments and economic system very soon.
Keeping in mind that little bit in the middle, let’s take a look at some of the problems with ecovillages that the study found, and other issues the study doesn’t address.
Can We Ever Have Sustainable Communities Embedded within a Global System of Capitalism?
The article states, “Other avenues are necessary for thinking — and practicing — sustainability in a more holistic form, which leads to questioning the founding principles of capitalist society.” I agree. In an essay I wrote about permaculture (the practice that many ecovillages embrace) entitled Planting the Seeds of a New Paradigm — Global Permanent Culture (Permaculture), I made the case that we need to take the “wholest of whole systems” perspective and see that we can’t have sustainable human culture embedded within an unsustainable ecosystem. Yet the fact is that ecovillages are trying to thrive, let alone survive, in an uphill battle against the dominating forces of global capitalism.
And even if the ecovillage movement tries to work within the existing systems at the highest governmental levels it is still problematic as long as those systems are unsustainable. For example, one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals is to create continued economic growth…this is a problem on a planet of finite resources. It also wants to create more jobs, yet we are entering into a post-jobs, post labor-for-income paradigm. As the study states,
“…[an ecovillage movement] partnership with the UN has its limitations, considering that the international entity follows a logic that does not seek the structural transformation of society (such as the economic or political-institutional order).”
So taking the wholest of a whole systems perspective, we must address our entire perpetual growth-based socio-economic system, which includes our politicians who can never challenge the growth paradigm or they would never get elected.
For the Sake of the Whole — A Moral Obligation
So let’s now build on our whole systems perspective all the way up to the greatest whole. The World Summit movement that I am involved with is developing some powerful foundational principles and criteria that we think will help form the basis of a new peaceful, sustainable, thriving and self-governing gifting culture. Among these is a notion — which also has spiritual significance if we take into consideration the “Bodhisattva vow” of Buddhism — that we should act “for the sake of the whole”, for the liberation of ALL sentient beings. (And maybe we should include our friends the bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses as we learn more about micro-biomes.) We recognize that we are one human tribe, merely one species embedded within an interdependent web of life on this planet. Any actions that fall short of this recognition of the whole has the potential to externalize harm to other people, especially the marginalized, and all other creatures and life forms. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized this when he said,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
So this means, at the very least, that we need to start basing our decisions on that which is most life affirming for the greatest number of people and sentient life. Anything short of that is not only myopic, but irresponsible and immoral.
Villages of Privilege
While individual ecovillages themselves may be based on sustainable practices, we can’t ignore the larger problems facing the rest of humanity from the somewhat privileged position that ecovillages find themselves in. The fact is, there are billions of people who can’t afford or can’t logistically uproot their families and relocate to an ecovillage. We must face the facts of what is actually happening within the ecovillage movement, as the study has found,
“despite the frequently expressed interest in diversity, [ecovillages] have a homogenous profile that is mainly middle or upper middle class, ethnically “white”, with higher education levels.
One of the large impediments to socioeconomic diversity in ecovillages is cost of the living. For example, in EVI some members of the original group advanced the goal of offering low cost housing, but this was abandoned.
…ecovillages may be creating new spaces of exclusion and injustice and perpetuating class and ethnic divisions.
Immersed in capitalism, ecovillages naturally tend to reproduce such patterns. For example, many demonstrate a social structure of owners and renters.”
…some inevitable tensions persist between Auroville and surrounding [poor] villages due to the wide socioeconomic disparity, which are reflected in housing policies, division of labor, and racial and gender relations.”
If we wish to acknowledge and ensure human rights for everyone, then there should be no exclusions and no one should get left behind. We must work on solutions for the sake of all humanity.
There is No Escaping our Systems, Only Transcending Them
While the study sheds light on these “moral responsibility” issues with ecovillages, assuming we choose to accept the “for the sake of the whole” perspective, there are also some very real effectiveness problems as well. The study states,
“Ecovillages face a series of difficulties in achieving sustainability (both internally as much as in their attempt to influence society). Some challenges emerge within the movement’s own process of legitimization. For example, Inclusive Democracy — a theory and political project that emerged through the work of philosopher and activist Takis Fotopoulos — presents some important criticism of ecovillages, by associating them with forms of utopianism, apoliticism, escapism/isolationism, elitism, or even individualism associated with escapism, which brings into question their status as a social movement and validity as a source of social transformation.”
My own belief is that nobody ever intends for this to happen — to become privileged, or elitist, or overly individualistic, or escapist — but it just ends up being the net effect. So there’s no one to blame; it’s a system problem, especially when you try to create sustainable ecovillages that are embedded within a socioeconomic system that isn’t sustainable.
Location, Location, Location
And here’s how geographic location can negatively affect ecovillage effectiveness, and can increase a sense of isolation that pulls people away from engaging with the world and its challenges:
“Many view rural geographic location as a factor that generates isolation. Most ecovillages are established in rural areas due to reduced economic and legal barriers…geographically isolated communities could have limited potential and reach in terms of their social impact.”
Ecovillages can develop a certain “isolation” from society by virtue of a loss in initial momentum. For example, in Toustrup Mark (Denmark) involvement in politics, the environmental movement, and cultural activities gradually weakened as the intensity of community life diminished. In EVI, over time, there was also an observable decline in social participation in meetings and decision making…There is a tendency for enthusiasm and initial energy of movements to lose strength over time…Thus, it is important to avoid…romanticizing: not all ecovillage members are highly idealistic or actively engaged
“Many intentional communities oriented towards sustainability (not necessarily ecovillages) do in fact “retreat” to remote locations in search of a “rural idyll” as a form of refusing to participate in society.”
I think we need to work on bringing back the lost sense of community and social participation everywhere…in our existing communities.
Participation in the Market (Eco Gentrification) — The reality is that we can’t escape or retreat entirely from our economic system even if we wanted to, even if it weren’t morally unjust to do so, because it is so ubiquitous. Our monetary market exchange system is built into the fabric of life everywhere on this planet and unjustly demands our participation in it. As such, the problems inherent to market economies — scarcity, competition, inequality, artificial boundaries and restrictions, inherent quality limitations due to cost, governmental control, etc. — are the same problems that prevent us from building ecovillages of the highest quality possible that can scale up to accessibility to everyone, even in urban areas where they are most needed. Because of cost constraints, many ecovillages are low-tech, are strapped with scarce resources and money (which can negatively affect even the best relationships), can’t scale up, and struggle to merely survive, which causes many ecovillages to cater more and more to wealthy tourists. The sad reality is that all wannabe ecovillage projects are competing against each other for the same startup seed funding, preventing many of them from ever coming into fruition. So despite the seemingly increased interest to create ecovillages, the fact is that they are NOT growing in numbers, precisely because of our monetary economic system. The study reveals,
“Counter to what was originally expected by the movement, there has been no significant increase in the construction of new ecovillages. In fact, this is becoming even more difficult…due to high land prices and government zoning and building regulations. When possible, establishing new ecovillages occurs in very specific and restricted scenarios: as we have seen, generally it is necessary for there to be a considerable financial investment and the majority are established in rural areas (while urban areas are home to more than half of the global population and will continue to grow). Thus, the idea of ecovillages as “replicable models” that was important for the movement has become anachronistic.”
As finances get tougher as we enter late-stage capitalism things will get even more difficult for the ecovillage movement. In order to really flip to a sustainable global paradigm, and do so with the urgency that is called for, we must transcend the current systems that limit us and stifle the original intentions of the ecovillage movement. As the study hints at we need to begin, “questioning the founding principles of capitalist society” and bring about the “structural transformation of the economic [and] political-institutional order”. In short we need a revolutionary movement to transcend our systems, and we need to avoid continuous failed attempts to reform the systems by working within them. (Note: the World Summit only advocates peaceful revolution.)
Permission from the State — If our political elites in any government anywhere really thought that ecovillages were a threat to the status quo of their power, do you really think they would allow them to exist? There seems to be a tenuous relationship between governments and some ecovillages, especially if they are doing anything outside the mainstream. I personally visited Tamera ecovillage in Portugal and learned that they have had extensive negotiations with the local government. While I was told relations with the authorities were mostly positive, ultimately the government imposed growth restrictions on Tamera by regulating how many permanent structures they can build on the land. So how much freedom does Tamera really have? How scalable is their model?
Aside from the significant economic hurdles of establishing new ecovillages, the study also discusses the governmental hardships involved.
“before their installation, [ecovillages] needed to go through extensive negotiations with local authorities to accommodate municipal requirements.”
So at the end of the day ecovillages are ultimately still under the thumb of governments and still need permission from “authorities”. In many places, unduly strict ordinances and zoning restrictions discourage off-grid or experimental lifestyles. And in a time of great urgency when a more revolutionary stance is called for, what seems to have taken its place is a more submissive, or cajoling, stance with governments, as the study suggests,
“Previously ecovillages tended to locate themselves “outside” or “in opposition” to the mainstream, seeking to achieve as much self-sufficiency as possible; but, today they are increasingly involved in alliances with…institutions.”
If governments and industry had the ability to radically affect the scale and scope of positive change we need, I would be supportive of alliances with them. But I am convinced that not only are governments and industry NOT capable of solving our problems; they ARE the problem. That’s why the World Summit is about bypassing — not fighting — our existing systems to create new ones.
A Shift in Focus to the Root Cause
I wrote an essay entitled Imbalanced Spheres of Activism and “The Great Turning” that Needs to Get Turning to address this shift in focus that’s needed so we don’t overlook that “little bit in the middle”. It’s time to address the structural root cause of our problems that so many ecovillages in good faith are wanting to respond to…our outdated socio-economic system, which includes both the economic system and our political system as two sides of the same coin. But here’s the two critically important points to understand that can help us make the mental shift:
- It is POSSIBLE to flip our paradigm
- It is possible to flip the paradigm SOON, in a year or two
When we see this, as does the World Summit, as not only a possibility, but a necessity, then it changes everything. It changes where we decide to place our focus. It changes where we choose to gift our efforts, our time and our money. Maybe we decide to stop competing against each other in raising funds for ecovillages or other projects that will take years and decades, if ever, to complete and will be of inferior quality when we are technically capable of so much more. Perhaps instead we decide to focus on unifying groups and movements around the world, for sake of the greater good of all humanity, for the most urgent purpose of flipping the paradigm, first and foremost. In my essay From Dystopia to a Utopian Reality as Soon as Now I describe how we literally have at our fingertips the possibility of flipping to a post-capitalist, post-scarcity world that is is no longer the stuff of science fiction. And after we do that, we will no longer be hamstrung by economic or resource constraints. We can use the best resources available to build any type of ecovillages we want to the highest standards of quality, so that things last. This in itself is a high sustainability measure. Whether you want shiny modern hi-tech dome houses, or back-to-nature tree houses, or we radically retrofit our already beautifully built structures (I’m in Prague, Czech Republic at the moment and I’m in awe of the beautiful architecture of even basic apartment buildings from a hundred years ago). Renewable energy will be open source and freely available to everyone. Take as many solar panels as you need for your ecovillage, free of charge…we have them and can make more. We will use the best designs that optimize sustainability, and not just go with used shipping containers for houses because we have so many of them. Unless that’s what you want. I’m reminded of the Buckminster Fuller Quote,
If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver. But this is not to say that the best way to design a life preserver is in the form of a piano top.
(Don’t worry, we will find other uses for shipping containers :)
Let’s build the entire world as one global eco-village, one that works for everyone in sustainable harmony with the earth and all sentient beings. Sound impossible? Let me tell you…it is getting more and more possible every day. When the bio-psycho-social pressures become great enough what once seemed radical becomes practical. As the daily news reports suggest, we are getting very close to some radically practical emergence.
The Geotribal Paradigm
What happens after the flip? Well, I think we retribalize on a glocal level (global and local), but in a healthy holistic way; not in a way that creates separation. We begin to recognize and allow for the fact that there is not “one right way to live”, and that not all people need to live as I do. We will finally realize that we are one global geotribe that allows for the beautiful diversity of many different tribes of people coexisting within the open-source circle of humanity. People can go off and find their unique tribe which is a perfect match for their heart and mind and spirit. Each and every tribe will be allowed and encouraged to live in a way that works for them as long as it doesn’t interfere with other tribes living in the way they want. We will have geek tribes, the freak tribes, the burners, the techies, the tree huggers, the scientists, the new agers, the light beings, the atheists, the religious tribes, the intergalactic beings, the LGBTQ tribes, the artist and musician tribes, the indigenous tribes, the individualist libertarians, the anarcho-primitivists who want to wear loincloth, and even the traditional values tribes (who now have a healthier expression of their worldview because they are not threatened by economic survival and politically manipulated). Just like how one flower is not better or worse than any other flower, or doesn’t hate or feel threatened by any other flower, merely because it is different, we begin to appreciate the added beauty of each flower’s diversity, as it enriches the whole garden.
We’ve Already Proven the Ecovillage Ways of Living Can Work and Are Sustainable
Many people seem to think that we need more proof that sustainable ways of living work. So we need to build more and more experimental test cities. I suggest that we already have the proof; we know they will work. We know their ways are sustainable. The fact that ecovillages have done as well as they have, even while being embedded within a harsh and unsustainable system called capitalism, speaks to their success. Seeing how well ecovillages have done to this point despite being under conditions of economic scarcity and difficult governments, helps me visualize what will be possible when we take away these artificial limitations. Fully utilizing our whole-systems knowledge, our scientific understandings, our higher technology and higher consciousness, we already know we can build amazing cities that will work for everyone. And just like in the Parable of the Rosebush we know that if we take a dying rosebush out of bad soil and plant it in optimum soil conditions it will indeed thrive. So we don’t need any more testing. It’s time to do this. It’s time to shift our focus and create one global ecovillage and call it Earth.
Unity — Pointing Our Arrows in the Same Direction
In conclusion, I think the desire by so many people to run away and join or create ecovillages speaks volumes to how broken our current systems are. Our social systems are failing to meet — referring to Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs — not only the physiological needs of billions of people around the planet, but also our most basic social and safety needs. We have lost much of our sense of community, our connectedness with not only each other, but also with nature. Perhaps most importantly we have lost our sense of meaning. In my essay about the labor-for-income revolution that’s needed I reference anthropologist David Graeber who points out that so many of us are working meaningless bullshit jobs that we ourselves believe contribute nothing to society. We are spending way too much of our lives commuting to soul-sucking jobs in loud and crowded cities and cubicles. We struggle to make ends meet and we can’t enjoy nearly enough time with our friends and family. It’s no wonder that so many of us just want to say to hell with it all and walk away. To paraphrase Graeber, there is something very wrong with what we have made ourselves into, and now we must collectively aim our arrows at the heart of our civilizational problem — our entire bullshit socio-economic system itself — and transcend it. We can do this. If we unify and point our arrows in the same direction — at the beast itself — we can liberate ourselves and all of humanity from its wrath. And then we will blossom.
