Page 20 - C.A.L.L. #33 - Winter 2010/2011

Green living thrives in communes, eco-villages

USA Today

Aug 23, 2010
By Eileen Blass

Shared eco-friendly living is becoming increasingly popular in places that range from
communes to co-housing, eco-villages or intentional communities.

These are not the hippy, free-love communes of the 1960s,
but living arrangements that focus on organic farming, green
building, communal spaces and other aspects of sustainability.

"The future of housing, in general, is sustainable
communities," Laura Mamo, a sociology professor at the
University of Maryland and co-author of Living Green, tells
Green House. She argues that single-family homes on large
suburban lots have failed society, because they've created
social isolation, dependence on personal cars and intolerably
hefty mortgages for homeowners.

Mamo cites Takoma Village, the first co-housing community in
the Washington area. Located in Takoma Park, Md., it has 43
Alex Gibbs, 9, left, and his apartments and townhouses that open to a central courtyard
brother Austin Gibbs, 8, ride a and a common building where residents eat together.
pony cart on the grounds of
Lake Village Homestead in Compact, walkable and energy-efficient neighborhoods are
Kalamazoo, Mich., in July 2007.
the goal of a program launched nationally in April by the U.S.
Green Building Council, known as the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
for Neighborhood Development.

"From Ithaca to Japan and Oregon to Sweden, green utopias are sprouting around the world,"
writes The Huffington Post, citing examples from Ithaca, N.Y., to Detroit, Ore. It elaborates
on seven of these modern-day eco-living alternatives:

1. EcoVillage (Ithaca, N.Y.) Ithaca, New York's answer to a modern day commune is
EcoVillage, a green utopia that houses 160 residents. Its 60 houses are split into two
housing groups, FROG and SONG, and are all low-impact and energy-efficient. The
third housing group, TREE, is currently being constructed and will house 30 more
homes. EcoVillage has a CSA vegetable farm and a U-Pick berry farm along with a root
cellar and community gardens. 80 percent of the commune's 175 acres will remain as
green space, 55 acres of which are already under protection through a conservation
easement from the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Residents volunteer 2 to 3 hours a week
by building furniture, farming or assisting with other necessary maintenance. Future
endeavors for EcoVillage include creating organic orchards, greywater recycling, and
biodiesel and vegetable oil fuel production.

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