US- Earthaven

to: carfreeecovillages
xpost to: ourcultureourcapitol and carfree_cities

I should eventually write up a doc on Carfree
universe, but here are some first thoughts on
earthaven
http://earthaven.org

If you're in the US, and plan to do most of your
future work/ living in the US, you should visit this
place.

They are starting on 340 or so acres of undeveloped
land and attempting to create an actual eco
"village".... with high-density development, its own
economy... and everything else a village should have.

It will (Ideally) someday be carfree.
It is already more carfree than when it started.

The people who are here are accomplished (editors of
permaculture activist and communities magazine are
both here, as are many who have been successful in the
business world, and so on), and have joined the
earthaven project after explorations of many other
ecovillages.

It is easy to come and live here during the warmer
months-- as a work exchanger, ~24hrs work for a tent
space and food- or for $60 you can stay for two weeks
and either cook your own food or pay for common meals.

This project is very much like a real sim-city game!

Their biggest problem: they need more participants to
realize their vision-

My plans with respect to earthaven:
I am a nomad, and headed to the west-- this is not my
country-- if it were in the west would I stay and help
build the village? Possibly. I will be here either
till friday or possibly for another month.

I also wish to head into mexico, where few(er) have
cars, and more still live close to the earth, without
needing to make special effort.

This place is definitely a Nexus/capitol of the "new
culture" in the United States.

I can't help but think things are better in Europe--
but we in the US have our visionaries as well (and
possibly a greater need for them!).



A few questions of relevance to the carfree movement:

(1) The carfree movement needs more philosophical
depth: we're not just about carfree, but about
minimizing the resources devoted to moving things
around (I believe).... what about minimizing time
devoted to moving things around?? How can we come up
with a more clear statement of our vision that offers
guidance beyond what to do about cars?

(2) The issue of how to build the carfree ecovillage--
there are roads here- machinery is used to build that
needs these roads... Are there road-free approaches to
ecovillage construction? Are people attempting them?
How were the old hill-towns built? Can we revive those
methods of construction?

(3) _Permaculture_ all of you, in addition to
communities magazine, should be familiar with
permaculture and _permaculture activist_ especially,
which has a clear ecovillage focus (at least some
issues).

(4) Permaculture is about food production, and many
other things... it has philosophical depth-
One of its tenets that (may) conflict with some
carfree ideals is that the farmers need to be near
their land... A high density center surrounded by
fields that farmers must travel to may not be the best
approach.

That's enough for now... wanted to let you know
there's something very cool happening at earthaven.

BTW- the blue ridge parkway is a beautiful road, with
so few cars it is practically a bike path, although it
is rather hilly. If you count Skyline drive in
Virginia, it might total 600 miles of _very_ bicycle
friendly riding north to south.

here's one more URL for you:
http://ecovillagesroadtour.net/

Colin
http://j9k.org




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