I love what @eco-alex is proposing and working towards -
I have been posting about a new Steem ecoVillage concept based on the gift economy. I am working hard behind the scenes to manifest a solid vision and way to make this happen that will allow anyone with the desire to live in a totally off-grid community based on Earthship Biotecture. This is a an exciting project with huge implications for anyone wanting to embark on the quest to create community and live off-grid and self sufficiently. I will be posting soon with more detail on this, and have already received so much support from my initial posts that I am very optimistic that I will find all the people and support I need to complete this mission from the Steem community.
To move towards this end he has asked for people's thoughts and ideas on -
The three things that are most important to you in your ideal ecoVillage
Join in the coversation and respond to @ecotrain QOTW here
I would highly encourage folks, if you have the opportunity to join in such a community, to do so!
I have been fortunate to have been a part of a forest community (hippies as the town folks would call us), which I found to be a wonderful place to bring up my child.
In this natural forest setting with a small lake, a group of tree planters (who had been accustom to living together in tree planting camp,) worked together to build their homes and a gathering place of the community hall. It is wonderful to have a group of like-minded people coming together, helping each other with loads of work-bees, sharing resources and working towards a future in a place they wanted to be and to raise their families in!
My suggestions for an eco-village of tomorrow, based off my experience, would be:
1)To find a natural setting, with access to good water - a place where you want to live and feel drawn too.
We were fortunate to have a small lake where there was land available (it was owned by a couple of the member's families). The lake was called Clearwater and thus our community took on the name of Clearwater Community.
It was fabulous, after a hard days work building our homes, to all meet at the lake for some skinny dipping and to relax and enjoy each others company!
People purchased there own pieces of land and a parcel of land was donated for the community hall. This seemed to work best with people investing into their property which added to their commitment. One thing that was rather sad though, was when some money came into the community, given to each individual (matching forgivable loans from the government for building your home) which made us less reliant on each other to make things happen. This kind of caused a drifting apart.
2)Shared spaces are really important too!
We had our community hall for all our different events. This could also include a shared kitchen. It's wonderful to come together to share meals!
I would like to see a shared forest garden set up for the community which adds to the sustainability and it also enhances the natural setting.
Another shared space could be a workshop with shared tools and shared vehicles.
3)Make it a legitimate village or hamlet.
We never did make it into a hamlet, although we had the required number of people living there to do that. We just remained a part of the R.M. and paid their taxes, although because we were on the far edge of the R.M. we never got much service for those taxes. If you are a registered village or hamlet you would not have to pay those taxes but you would be responsible for maintaining you community and supplying it with all the necessary services. With this set up it would be good to have a town council with people voted in to sit on the council.
I'm real excited to watch the progress of this eco-village and hope that it catches on and we see lots of these eco-villages popping up!. I feel that is the way our settlements should be set up and if I were younger, that is where I'd like to build my home!
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