Reddit reviews Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities

I don't know if this link is going to work for you or not. I'm having lots of trouble with it on Firefox, but the Fellowship of Intentional Communities maintains an IC database and directory.

Word of caution. I toured a dozen of these in NC and VA and would say "Run Forrest, Run". If you want to see rule by committee run amok, sitting in on monthly meetings for various ICs would be one way of convincing yourself of the folly. I've tried and failed twice to make a life boat community and think the idea has serious flaws when put to real world tests. If you want an education, start with Diana Leafe Christian's Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. Then tour several existing ones, and make as many friends as you can in the IC circles.

This is so kind of you. I already have the book I want, but I want to gift a copy of it to someone else.


I created a free database of tiny house communities (SearchTinyHouseVillages.com) and I travel to tiny house festivals each month teaching people about creating & living in tiny house communities. I bring this book with me as a recommended read for those that want to start their own tiny house community. At many of the festivals, I meet inspiring people who are trying to create tiny house communities for all of the best reasons (social health, reduced carbon footprint, helping those who are marginalized, etc). I'd love to be able to give the next one the book to help move their projects along more efficiently.

I lived in north Florida for a while and based on my research into homesteading, I've found this region to be the best bang for your buck in terms of climate, fertile land, affordability and proximity to urban centers and resources. The building codes in florida are rather strict, but there is an actual earthship project in the building stage so that sets a precedent.

I am very excited by your ideas, but I also have a lot if reservations. I advise that you heed the advice of the other skeptical commenters, and try to get more from them if you can. Also you should check out this book

There is a book I recommend:

Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities by Diana Leafe Christensen.

I strongly recommend the book [Creating a Life Together] (http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Life-Together-Ecovillages-Intentional/dp/0865714711)

Are you perhaps looking for something along this line?

[Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities Paperback – January 1, 2003
by Diana Leafe Christian] (http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Life-Together-Ecovillages-Intentional/dp/0865714711)

I would buy land and books.

With the land, I would set up ecovillages, and I would (also) set aside vast areas where the plants and animals would be able to rejuvenate uninhibited.

I would find like-minded people, and I would ultimately try to integrate them into the enviornment with the wolves and the buffalo and the other animals. Humans can, and have been, ecologically sustainable organisms in natural environments. Not all agriculture is bad. Many Native American groups practiced agriculture in harmony with the rest of the environment.

I am also not against technology. A bow and arrow is technology, any tool that people use is technology. I am, however, against plastics and other harmful chemicals.

I would also build an army with the people who come to live on my land. There is no shortage of people - homeless people, high-school and college dropouts, homeless children, the unemployed, environmentalists, and lots of people I talk to IRL would be down for this idea.

I would learn assorted martial arts, I would teach them to others, and I would have the others teach them to more people, and we would spend a lot of time on it. This would be both for the health benefits and the self-defense benefits. It would be an army of ninjas, who also grow their own food and are self-sustaining. This will be great in case of societal failure or economic collapse. I would also teach/learn as many natural survival skills as I can. The goal of the army would be to establish peace and not wars, and to help people achieve independence (from money, oil, and industry) while also keeping a healthy relationship with the environment and the other animals.

We would also care for our children. We would raise them to be physically healthy and open-minded. We would not overshelter them, or put taboos on their sexuality, and we would make it the job of the entire community (especially the elders) to educate and take care of them. We will not over-shelter them or raise them to be weak. We will teach them how to socialize with each other in healthy ways, in an open, nurturing, loving environment. We'll also make it official policy that everything we do is done with the well-being of the next seven generations in mind.

There are also some books that I would want to buy and distribute. They include Circle of Life Traditional Teachings of Native American Elders, by James David Audlin, The Other Side of Eden, by Hugh Brody, The Conversations with God trilogy, by Neale Donald Walsch, The Art of Shen Ku, by Zeek, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, by Thom Hartmann, A Practical Guide to Setting Up Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, by Diana Leafe Christian, and I'm sure there's lots of other good ones. You should really conduct your own search, but I feel all the ones I've listed have valuable information and the power to change the ideas of large groups of people. Anything on Native American culture, history, and philosophy, or on organic gardening, or self-sustainability in general. I might even set up my own bookstore or library, now that I think about it, and make more money. I'm definitley not against making money, because everyone in our world believes in money and money is power in our society.