Intentional Communities:

Intentional Communities:Intentional Communities:

Wave of the Future or Relic of the Past?

Wave of the Future or Relic of the Past?

By Clay McGlaughlin

Communes

Source: http://www.freehomepages.com/gingras/hip-01.htm

Communes

Source: http://www.isar.org

Goals of Intentional Communities

• Share Resources• Create Healthy Neighborhoods• Pursuit of Ecologically Sustainable

Lifestyles• Self-reliance and voluntary

simplicity• Help refugees, homeless, disabled

Background

• Roots in counter-culture of 1960’s.• Over 700 Intentional communities

worldwide.• 540 communities in the United

States.

Source: Intentional Communities Directory, 1995, http://www.ic.org

Types of Intentional Community

• Ecovillages – Dedicated to alternative power, water and sewage systems. Seek to minimalize ecological impact.

• Cohousing Arrangements – Planned, owned and managed by residents. Extensive common areas for cooking, socializing.

• Residential Land Trusts – NPO created to hold land for benefit of community. Promote ecologically sound land-use. Preserve affordable housing.

Source: http://www.homesteadclt.org/CLTFAQ.htm

Types of Intentional Community

• Communes – Shared resources, little or no personal property.

• Student Co-ops – Affordable student living provided through low interest loans managed by cooperative.

• Urban Housing Co-ops – Disadvantaged people work together to save money, find financial assistance, access land, and build infrastructure.

Demographics

• Most members are between 30-60 years old.

• Twenty-somethings and children growing in representation.

• 54% Rural, 28% Urban, 10% Mixed, 8% Undeclared.

• Tend to be politically “left of center”.

Source: http://www.ic.org

Spirituality

• Many communities share a religion or spiritual practice.

• 35% are explicitly religious.• 65% are secular or don’t specify.

Intentional Communities: Sandhill Farm

Source: http://www.sandhillfarm.org

Intentional Communities: Dancing Rabbit

Source: http://www.dancingrabbit.org

Evaluating Communities

• Quality Education• Affordable Housing• Low Poverty Rates• High Employment• Low Crime Rates• Healthy Environment and People

Source: http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org

SARE’SThree Pillars of Sustainability

•Economic Stability•Environmental Soundness•Social Justice

Economic Stability:Economic Stability:

Mainstream CommunitiesMainstream Communities

Economic Stability:Mainstream Communities

• Composed of individual wage earners clustered by economic worth.

– Wealthy communities stress city resources to meet infrastructure costs of suburban growth.

Source: http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org

Economic Stability:Mainstream Communities

• Composed of individual wage earners clustered by economic worth.

– Poor communities don’t receive necessary infrastructure while paying to cover costs of suburban sprawl.

Source: http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org

• Both dependent on outside industry.• Far from centers of production and

employment.• Continuous, conspicuous consumption is

extremely resource intensive.– Avg. American uses 300 shopping bags

worth of raw materials each week.– We would need 3 planets to support

everyone at same level of consumption.

Economic Stability:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.creativeaction.org/Facts/consumption.htm

• Centralized food sources, very little food production.– SARE estimates food travels an

average of 1500 miles before consumption.

– Creates fragile, vulnerable system.– Prone to price fluctuations, collapse.

Economic Stability:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.sare.org

Economic Stability:Mainstream Communities

• Lifestyles in mainstream communities require exploitation of foreign labor.– Workers in Bangladesh receive 9 cents an hour to

stitch shirts for Wal*Mart.– Wal*Mart buys from Chinese sweatshops.

• 90 Hour work weeks• Exceptionally low wages• Prison like conditions

• American labor is suffering as well:– Bottom 40% of families declined from 2001 to 2004.– Average income fell by 2.3%.

Source: http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/walmart/sweat_shops.cfmhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2006-02-23-fed-incomes_x.htm

Economic Stability:Economic Stability:

Intentional CommunitiesIntentional Communities

Economic Stability:Intentional Communities

• Economic situation varies widely.• Communal Resources• Individual Resources• Egalitarian structure allows rich

and poor equal access to resources.

• Revenue Sources:– Produce– Crafts\Jewelry– Labor– Value-added products

• Jam\Preserves• Honey• Processed meats• Nuts

Economic Stability:Intentional Communities

• Alternative currencies• Everyone’s time is valued equally

Economic Stability:Intentional Communities

Source: http://www.dancingrabbit.org

• Focus on reducing consumption and achieving voluntary simplicity allows members to live better lives while consuming fewer resources.

• Food is produced on-site or acquired locally.

Economic Stability:Intentional Communities

Environmental Soundness:Environmental Soundness:

Mainstream CommunitiesMainstream Communities

• Wealthy communities have huge houses, but few residents creating a tremendous waste of space.

• Poor communities are often cramped and squalid.

• Lack of affordable housing elsewhere forces poor into ghettos.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

• Low income housing is often built near chemical plants and other unpleasant and dangerous areas.

• Less political power to fight environmental hazards.

• Higher morbidity and mortality rates caused by poor conditions.

• Impact compounded by lack of health care and health insurance.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org

• Urban Sprawl– Uses up fertile, productive land– Perpetuates problems it is trying to solve:

• Poverty• Crime• Bad housing• Bad schools

– Creates disinvestment from impoverished communities.

– Problems causing sprawl can only be stopped by reducing inequality.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org

• Wildlife patterns are severely disrupted by sprawl and urbanization.

• “Sprawl is one of the leading causes of species decline in the country.” –John Kostyak, NWF attorney.

• Sprawl is also likely to reduce nitrogen in watersheds, resulting in loss of agricultural land and reduction in forest cover along streams and waterways.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

Sources:http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1170/is_2000_Sept-Oct/ai_64196598http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1440-1770.2002.00203.x

• Urban\Suburban communities are heavily reliant on industrial agriculture.

• Industrial Agriculture puts a tremendous load on the environment.

• Nitrate runoff creates “dead zones”.• Monocultures leech nutrients from soil

and require large external inputs to maintain.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

• As animal concentrations increase, risk of evolution and transmission of infectious diseases also increases.

• High concentration of humans and animals leads to higher incidence of zoonoses (diseases transmissable from animals to humans).

• Prolonged use of low-level antibiotics leads to resistant pathogens.

Environmental Soundness:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.ehponline.org/members/2006/8837/8837.pdf

Environmental Soundness:Environmental Soundness:

Intentional CommunitiesIntentional Communities

Environmental Soundness:Intentional Communities

• Small scale housing reduces need for large structures.

• Houses are often made using alternative materials (strawbales, adobe, recycled materials).

• Even ‘poor’ intentional communities often work to improve land and soil quality.

Environmental Soundness:Intentional Communities

• Potential to use undesirable properties in urban and rural settings.

• Urban sprawl can be minimized by living smaller.

• Intentional communities also reduce impact on wildlife.

Environmental Soundness:Intentional Communities

• Local production reduces reliance on markets and industrial agriculture.

• Agricultural efforts are generally small and organic with an emphasis on sustainability.

• Poor intentional communities have a high level of food security compared to poor mainstream communities.

Social Justice:Social Justice:

Mainstream CommunitiesMainstream Communities

• Social justice is secondary to profit and convenience.

• Huge underclass required to serve the needs of the wealthy.

• Decisions are made by groups of powerful elitists.

Social Justice:Mainstream Communities

• The world economy is largely dependent on exploited\slave labor.

• Antislavery International estimates that there are at least 12 million slaves in the world today.

• More than 6 million of these are children.

Social Justice:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.antislavery.org

• Slave and sweatshop labor is used to produce many products consumed in modern homes:– Electronics– Carpets\Textiles– Charcoal– Bricks– Jewelry– Plastic goods

Social Justice:Mainstream Communities

Source: http://www.antislavery.org

• U.S. Agricultural system exploits immigrant labor and mistreats workers.– Ag industry accounted for 2% of overall employment,

but had 13% of all occupational deaths from 1994-99.

– Seasonal workers often live in unsanitary conditions in overcrowded and deficient housing.

– Up to 85% of migrant workers are minorities.– Workers are paid avg. wage of less than $7,500/yr.

Social Justice:Mainstream Communities

Source: National Center for Farmworker Health http://www.ncfh.org/docs/02%20-%20environment.pdf

• Individuality and privacy are highly valued.

• Community support is sacrificed in many cases.

• People are cut off from each other, resulting in alienation.

• Lack of social security nets.

Social Justice:Mainstream Communities

Social Justice:Social Justice:

Intentional CommunitiesIntentional Communities

• Work is shared equally among members.

• Member’s skills are used to the fullest, increasing satisfaction and sense of wellbeing.

• Products not produced on-site are purchased locally whenever possible to reduce reliance on exploitive systems.

Social Justice:Intentional Communities

• Important decisions are made by consensus, allowing for a greater sense of self-actualization.

• Most communities strive for as few restrictive laws as possible.

• Commonality and community are primary values, taking precedence over profit.

Social Justice:Intentional Communities

• Lesser degree of privacy, more community support and camaraderie.

• Shared goals and ideals allow for a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment.

Social Justice:Intentional Communities

Sustainable PracticesSustainable Practices

• Agroforestry– Alley Cropping– Forest Farming– Riparian Bufferzones– Silvopasture– Windbreaks

Sustainable Practices

• Integrated Pest Management – builds and preserves soil health. Attracts beneficial insects, reduces destructive insects.

Sustainable Practices

Source: http://surgery-graphics.med.umich.edu/~matt/archives/images/Ladybug.jpg

• Management Intensive Grazing– Rotate animals through series of

fields, allowing vegetation to regrow.– Distributes nutrients to depleted soils.– Easier on environment than feedlots.– Reduces risk of virulent diseases.

Sustainable Practices

Source: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/cows.jpg

• Urban Agriculture– Makes use of abandoned land and empty lots.– Phytoremediation removes pollutants from soil.– Provides abundant food for poor urban populations.

Sustainable Practices

Source: http://www.fao.org/NEWS/FOTOFILE/IMG/20860lg.jpg

• Grass Roots Democracy

Sustainable Practices

Source: http://concernedpeople.org/party/Circle.jpg

Resources

• http://www.creativeaction.org• http://www.homesteadclt.org• http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org• http://www.ic.org• http://www.sare.org• http://www.ufcw.org

• http://www.dancingrabbit.org• http://www.sandhillfarm.org• http://www.antislavery.org• http://www.ncfh.org