Re: ecovillage and sustainability

Dear brothers and sisters:

For what it's worth, I am enclosing a reply I made to an E-mail friend on 
another list who had argued that in our present global plight, the best thing we 
can do is give up trying to enlighten the world and instead focus on "lifeboat 
strategies" at the local, regional, and national level.



Dear Steve--

As usual, I agree with your argument, but have difficulty with your 
conclusion. It will avail us nothing to prepare a "local, regional, or national" 
lifeboat strategy if that "lifeboat" is awash in a tumultuous sea of hungry, 
desperate, violent, and ignorant souls, reduced by circumstances to a predatory 
lifestyle. The "lifeboats" will be attacked relentlessly, overrun, pillaged, and 
terrorized, and in consequence they will turn as vicious and barbaric as their 
attackers in self-defense.

Conversely, if our efforts to seek or create "lifeboats" coexists with, and 
complements, an ongoing effort at public education (for as long as such is 
possible), then there is a possibility that we can create a global network of 
ecovillages--a network of "lifeboats" which are, at the same time, sources of both 
relief, education, and support for others who seek to join us in creating 
their own "lifeboats."  The analogy that immediately arises is the network of 
monasteries throughout northern Europe during the "Dark Ages" following the 
collapse of the Roman empire--a period of total social disintegration, drastic 
population loss, endless internecine warfare, and piratical raids. These 
monasteries--many of which, indeed, succumbed to Viking raids themselves--were 
nevertheless not *simply* self-serving and self-sufficient "lifeboats" riding out the 
storm, but *also* actively engaged in outreach and education. What held them 
together was an *idea* that transcended personal concern for survival--that 
mandated outreach to others...

No, I haven't become a Christian!  I am still, as ever, a Gaian Buddhist. The 
"idea" need not have to do with mythologies of salvation and eternal life; it 
can also be an "idea" about our interdependence with each other and the 
planet; an idea I call Gaia, which is epitomized by the purely scientific (i.e. 
verifiable at every level--physical, biological, and social) insight of Martin 
Luther King, Jr.: "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in 
a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all 
indirectly."

If we are to have a future at all--something admittedly in doubt--it must be 
predicated on a visionary, inclusive *idea* like this--not "I've got mine, so 
screw you." As I see it, our two choices for the future are either (1) 
mutually antagonistic tribes, fighting out a war of all against all for what remains 
of our dwindling resources; or (2) a global network of ecovillages which are 
energetically local and informationally global. We will no doubt have both; the 
question becomes, which will prevail?  A Gaian future will happen only if we 
commit ourselves resolutely to such a vision now, while we have the chance, 
and work to make it happen, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally

So please don't give up yet.

Best wishes,

Tom