Ecovillage Life: living into the future

In our search for ecovillage living we traveled north and west through Vancouver Island's forested mountains towards Shawnigan Lake, and stopped at O.U.R. Ecovillage (O.U.R. = One United Resource) in a rural suburban region. Co-founder Brandy Gallagher MacPherson told us that O.U.R. Eco-Village deliberately used the acronym O.U.R. so that everybody naming it was implicitly a partner, an owner, a member of it. One of their goals is to be and educational and demonstration center for sustainable building and living practices. What did we see here?

 On several acres of land we toured the "original" stick-built house where Brandy lives, a small office building behind which lay an outside covered kitchen and long tables where some people were cleaning up after lunch. Nearby several plastic-covered greenhouses sported healthy big vegetables. A group of folks were building a cob artisan's studio. Others were taking a class on using clay as an art form.

 We peeked in at the "Ch'illage", the children's village, a curving cob space decorated with playful colors and flower forms. Beyond the barns and chicken yard and salvage yard with re-usable building materials lay a large pasture and ponds. Some of the forested land has been protected with the local land trust. Beyond the kitchens were the solar showers, and downhill was the roundish cob building with a playful curving roof--a space with a teaching room, healing rooms, and bathroom. A workparty was happening beside the building.

 We set up our video gear in the shade of this building. Brandy had worked with local government before, and one of her claims to fame was getting the Ecovillage recognized in local land use policy--and thus paving the way for other such communities. It only makes sense for us to come together to use fewer resources--including automobile trips--in the times ahead. Brandy's emphasis was on partnering, on listening to one another, on cooperating together with all the players--be they governmental agencies, lending institutions, neighbors.

 My Peak Moment conversation with Diana Leafe Christian was full of wit and wisdom and experience. A compelling speaker, Diane is the editor of Communities Magazine and author of the book Creating a Life Together, on starting Intentional Communities that showed up several times on our journey. More and more people are drawn to this idea.
Diana's aqua-blue eyes danced as she passed along what she learned from the 10% of intentional communities that succeed--be they co-housing, eco-village, cooperative, or other forms. It all boiled down to shared values, clear agreements in writing, and communication, communication, communication. The same things that make things work among people in the "outside" world. Having written about starting intentional communities, Diana's next book will be about living in them and making community work.

Green Building

In a search for the future of building, we were referred to Joe Van Bellegham, a partner in Dockside Green, with whom we had a wonderful Peak Moment conversation. Joe had grown tired of ordinary development, but was inspired by the book Natural Capitalism. He and partners are transforming a brownfield site near the harbor. Dockside Green is mixed-use combination of retail, commercial and residential high-rise buildings which employ sustainable and efficient materials and processes.

 It was also suggested that we meet Ann and Gord Baird, whose ecologically-sensible home is in the early stages. This enthusiastic young couple are building their cob tool shed right now. We learned from them that cob isn't about corn cobs, but is short for cobble as in street cobblestones--hardened small material that still lets some of the rainwater permeate the soil. Their planned cob home--made of clay and straw--will house three generations and has lovely curving forms. Thick walls provide thermal mass--keeping the house cooler in summer, warmer in winter.

 They're planning a "humanure" system for using human wastes in the garden (it's composted very hot to kill pathogens). Photovoltaics for electricity. Graywater systems to irrigate the permaculture orchard and gardens. A low-energy, ecological, small-footprint homestead. We'll want to visit them in a few years to see how it has progressed.

To explore more of ecovillage life, visit OUR Ecovillage at www.ourecovillage.org