Radical Sustainability Defined

Radical Sustainability Defined
 
I do appreciate all the constructive criticism.
 
The Sustainable EcoVillage is a new concept. We don't really know
what that is yet. I will say that Self Sufficiency should be planned for in great detail.
 
That means you should not have to ever leave that village for all the food, water, shelter, warmth, safety, and the
comfort of inclusion in an amicable society of friends and generally
having more than enough and some to share.
 
No need for cars. No need for outside inputs of fertilizers, seeds,
fuel, things, money or people. That means we need to be able to
reproduce. Multigenerationalism is Key without selling out to the old folks at every turn. Broodstock.
 
No need for manufactured items of any kind other than what we can do
with what we have right there on the land. That is a basic level of
understanding that is often very badly misunderstood by those who choose to look only for some kind of misunderstanding they can hang on to for dear life because that is their ticket into darkness. No phones and no internet. No store bought anything.
 
The purpose of clarifying this most simple level of a very complex
idea is only to allow us to build upon it much better so that we can
expand from this elegantly simple platform that could only be called
Radical Sustainabilty. 
 
We care nothing about pleasing Third Party interests.
First we boil it all down like this. Then it will be fit to build
upon. Not the other way around as is so common elsewhere in our lives.
We are not planning on limiting our selves within the narrow
confines that we have just described and that is the big mistake so
many people fall right into on purpose. 
 
That is just to lay down the solid foundation upon which every one
of these real EcoVillages must be well built around. We will Trade
and we wil Travel and we will spend and earn and we will buy and
sell on a Global Scale. We will drive and we will build bridges into
other worlds. But first things come first right here on Earth.
 
Size does matter here for these reasons. Just to get the idea across
I will attempt to offer an imperfect example of a fairly reasonable
size expectation which may vary due to land variations.
 
You will need about 250 acres minimum in the Temperate Zones or about
100 Hectares just to keep it simple for those who really have no
idea how big their ecological footprint really is.
 
On that you can have as many as 100 people. That is a very simple
global standard for what an EcoVillage needs to be just to help
people get the general idea.
 
Eden will be over 2,000 acres with maybe 300 to 500 people. Limiting
the number of Homesteads and the number of people who can live on
them is one way to control the populations to keep things within the
limits of what the land can support.
 
A Sustainable MicroEconomy must be there in case the global economy
goes up in smoke overnight. Not that that is ever going to happen. These are just a few things I would begin with to define what an EcoVillage should be if I were to be asked to speak on the matter.
 
We need to start building things that cannot go up in smoke quite so easily
as the very ordinary things we all depend upon for the most part
every day of our lives. 
 
Now is the time for the new Radical
Sustainability Concept to be given its rightful due. It is the best foundation for all that must follow in rightful accordance in the very near future. - T
http://edenvillage.net/
 



"E.Christopher Mare" <[email protected]> wrote:
>And yet...and yet...the time is coming soon when our choice will be
>either to form or join ecovillages, or perish with the rest of the
>collapsing industrial world order, once petroleum peaks and declines, the
>global market collapses, and prices of everything start skyrocketing
>uncontrollably. We face either a Gaian future, or no future. 

These are strong, vivid words Tom. And if what you say is true, then
that's all the more reason to focus energetically on polydimensional
ecovillage educational programs, where a typology of sustainable community
models can be researched and articulated: eco-enclave, eco-hamlet,
eco-village - each scale has its own set of potentials and design
criteria, and each scale has a different function and purpose within the
larger bioregional whole. This is ekistics: the scientific,
multi-disciplinary study of human settlements. The Village Design
Institute defines "ecovillage" as the sustainable "unit" of human
settlement in a theoretical ekistics for the 21st century. By the way,
"sustainable city" is an oxymoron.

Towards a Gaian future,
Chris Mare
-VDI






writes:
>Dear brothers and sisters,
>
>The issues we are dealing with here are timeless, of course: inclusion
>vs. exclusion, individual autonomy vs. group solidarity, structure and
>hierarchy vs. consensus and flexibility; conformity to established
>behavioral norms vs. self-expression and spontaneity...So we should not
>be dismayed that we have not solved them, nor that different communities
>solve them in very different ways, with differing degrees of success.
>
>Having not yet directly experienced life for an extended period in an
>"intentional community" or ecovillage, I lack expertise, and would be
>very presumptuous to claim any. But I clearly remember the gut feeling I
>had after spending a weekend at a very enlightened spiritual community
>(whose name I will omit) in the Pacific Northwest. Although the people
>there were gracious and openhearted, full of interesting visionary ideas
>and smiles, by the end of the weekend I felt a bit stifled. I remember
>one evening when we were all cooperatively washing the dishes, everyone
>joined into one of their group anthems about creating an enlightened,
>peaceful, and ecologically sustainable future "day by day, stone by
>stone." All I remember at the time was a sudden craving for my usual
>dishwashing music--the Rolling Stones, turned up loud. Needless to say,
>any such suggestion would have completely ostracized me from the rest of
>the happy, enlightened group...
>
>Likewise, a year or two ago, I spent a week at a Buddhist retreat, and
>while it was, overall, a wonderful experience, I was similarly glad to
>leave--no longer obliged to recite the "five remembrances" before every
>meal, nor maintain a "noble silence" in the interstices of the various
>activities. While the mindfulness training was very good for me, I was
>relieved to return to "the world" where I could drink coffee (and beer or
>wine, if I liked), speak freely and openly, and do as I wished.
>
>So, needless to say, I am still quite hesitant about creating or joining
>my own ecovillage. On the other hand, I wholly endorse all the basic
>values underlying ecovillages--permaculture, sustainability, community.
>But I also need, in my life, the freedom to say exactly what I think
>(albeit tactfully), and the spice of wit, irony, and sarcasm. These
>would be hard to come by in any "intentional community;" they would
>likely be seen as indicative of a bad attitude, and get me expelled. 
>
>And yet...and yet...the time is coming soon when our choice will be
>either to form or join ecovillages, or perish with the rest of the
>collapsing industrial world order, once petroleum peaks and declines, the
>global market collapses, and prices of everything start skyrocketing
>uncontrollably. We face either a Gaian future, or no future. 
>
>Can there be an ecovillage--urban, suburban, or rural--that is not
>"intentional" per se, but rather the evolving consequence of free,
>uninhibited people recognizing their common interest in sustainability
>and solidarity, complemented by respect for individual differences, and
>above all a sense of humor? Can it be a true Sangha--a community without
>boundaries, in which, like a Moebius band, those "outside" are also
>inside? A community that takes care of everyone, and abandons no one;
>that takes care of ever ything, and abandons nothing?
>
>I certainly hope so...
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Tom




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