News Articles
Christian Group Finds Power in Communal Living
Posted on June 24, 2008 byThe St. Petersburg Times has an article about a group of Christian intentional communities in St. Petersburg and Tampa whose mission is enhanced by simple, communal living. The article profiles one house in a group of communities calling themselves New Monasticism. (Note, at time of writing, their “map of communities” is broken) The residents of… Read More
Valuing Community in Traditional Neighborhoods
Posted on June 23, 2008 byThe New York Times carried an op-ed about forming community bonds in existing neighborhoods. A do-it-yourself approach, with no investment needed, other than time and effort. Peter Lovenheim writes, Why is it that in an age of cheap long-distance rates, discount airlines and the Internet, when we can create community anywhere, we often don’t know… Read More
Exploring Community in Western Mass
Posted on June 19, 2008 byThe Valley Advocate out of Northampton, MA has an extensive article on intentional communities in western Massachusetts. The author starts her exploration in a book about Total Loss Farm, a community formed in the late sixties out of the peace movement. Amid concerns for peak oil and sustainability she heads off to explore a smattering… Read More
Back to ‘The Land’ – Sixties Commune Reunion
Posted on June 17, 2008 byInsideBay Area.com has an article about a group of communities that formed in the hills near Palo Alto, CA in the late sixties and early seventies with such names as Struggle Mountain, Rancho Diablo, Earth Ranch and most famously, “The Land“. Most of these communes disbanded in the 70s but members reunited this year for… Read More
Milagro Cohousing Demonstrates Water Conservation in Tucson
Posted on June 15, 2008 byThe Arizona Daily Star has an article on water conservation that highlights water conservation expert Brad Lancaster of Milagro Cohousing. The article doesn’t have much about cohousing, but describes the water conservation techniques that Lancaster demonstrates at Millagro Cohousing. In the foothills of the Tucson Mountains west of town, the residents of Milagro Co-housing have… Read More
Texas Raid Stirs Commune Memories
Posted on June 14, 2008 bySlate has an article by Lee Ann Kincade where she reflects on the similarities of her upbringing at Twin Oaks and the life of children in the recently raided FLDS community in Eldorado, Texas. The children who were removed and the parents to whom they are returned seem like strangers from a distant world (or… Read More
Cohousing News From Around the World
Posted on June 11, 2008 byIn honor of the National Cohousing Conference which starts tomorrow in Boston, MA we’ll do a little round up of cohousing in the news lately. This will also help me catch up on the news as I’ve gotten a little behind lately, in no small part due to the success of cohousing and its mainstream… Read More
City of Cleveland Promotes Cohousing
Posted on June 10, 2008 byCity officials in Cleveland, Ohio hosted a workshop with cohousing architect Chuck Durrett to explore the possibility of cohousing in Cleveland. This is a great step for the aging industrial city that is also the home of a burgeoning ecovillage project. Most cohousing is initiated by future residents or more recently by professional cohousing developers,… Read More
Financier Got His Start on a Commune
Posted on June 4, 2008 byHere’s an interesting one from Investment News: a very successful financier who says “his best business lessons came from a commune”. Malon Wilkus now manages a $21 billion private-equity firm but he got his start at East Wind, an income sharing commune in southern Missouri. Returning to the United States and college in 1974, he… Read More
Ecovillage Helping Start Charter School Focused on Sustainability
Posted on June 2, 2008 byTina Nilsen-Hodges, a resident of Ecovillage at Ithaca who is also an Ithaca College lecturer, is leading an effort to create a charter school focused on sustainability. The alternative high school, New Roots School, would not be a project of the ecovillage but might hold some classes there and be involved with the organic farm… Read More
Boomers in Cohousing Interview in Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Posted on June 1, 2008 byThe Seattle P-I Reader’s Blog has a great interview with Cohousing Association Executive Director Craig Ragland on the topic of what cohousing has to offer baby boomers. Craig gives the following benefits that cohousing offers: It brings more meaning to my life. I share leadership of this community with 25 other adults, and we learn… Read More
Children to be Returned to Texas Fundamentalist Mormon Community
Posted on May 31, 2008 byLast week a Texas appeals court ruled that the state of Texas had acted inappropriately when it seized 468 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in west Texas. That decision was upheld Thursday by the Texas supreme court. From the New York Times: The court said the record did “not reflect any reasonable effort… Read More
Cohousing Architects Win National Award
Posted on May 29, 2008 byKatie McCamant & Chuck Durrett won a Silver Award for Best of of Senior Living from the National Association of Home Builders on Tuesday according to various articles and a press release. Nevada City architects, McCamant and Durrett’s design for Silver Sage Village, a senior cohousing project in Boulder, Colorado, received the Silver Award for… Read More
Ecovillage Helps Cleveland Become an Eco-city
Posted on May 21, 2008 byThe environmental news site, Grist, has a great article about how Cleveland is going green. The article highlights the Cleveland Ecovillage a “pedestrian-friendly neighborhood linked to mass transit”. The project is the brainchild of five local nonprofits, the city, the regional transit authority, private developers, and neighborhood residents. They aim to bring residents back to… Read More
Brooklyn Cohousing: Creating Community in the Big Apple
Posted on May 17, 2008 by2 Comments
The local paper in Brooklyn, New York has an article on Brooklyn Cohousing’s efforts to start the first community in the New York burroughs. The Brooklyn group plans to buy an apartment building in the recently this recently trendy part of the city, sharing meals and common spaces within a condominium arrangement. The article follows… Read More
Cohousing in Delaware Evokes Historical Arden Villages
Posted on May 15, 2008 byAnother cohousing community is not big news these days but this article in Delaware Online had an interesting twist, drawing the connection to Delaware’s historical Arden Villages. The three villages of Arden, Ardentown, and Ardencroft were founded in the early 1900s based on Henry George’s single-tax theory and were part of the Garden City Movement.… Read More
Few Are Left at Texas Fundamentalist Mormon Community
Posted on May 13, 2008 by1 Comment
The news coverage of the Texas fundamentalist Mormon community that was raided by Texas authorities last month has dies down recently. This article in the Dallas Morning News gives a good picture of the raid’s effect on the 700 person community, where only a few dozen remain to keep up the physical plant and manage… Read More
Motley Fool Says Cohousing is a Better Way to Live in Retirement
Posted on May 12, 2008 byThe financial investment advice website, The Motley Fool has an article promoting Cohousing as a great option for retirement living. This fits with the recent trend of community on the business pages with recent articles in Forbes. For the most part it is your standard cohousing article with the added twist of stock symbols for… Read More
Ecovillage Helps Start Ithaca Car Sharing
Posted on May 9, 2008 byEcoVillage at Ithaca is helping set up a car sharing cooperative for the town of Ithaca, NY. Car Sharing co-ops are designed for people who don’t own cars but have occasional needs for them. Members are often cyclists, walkers, and frequent users of public transit. After about three years of planning, Ithaca CarShare is set… Read More
Music Thrives in Athens Georgia Community
Posted on May 5, 2008 byIts not uncommon to find musical artists with roots in intentional community making it in the industry. Its more rare to see a community that also operates its own record label promoting over a dozen artists. The Denver alternative weekly Westword has an article on Dark Meat, an 18 member rock ensemble that grew out… Read More
Community News Round Up
Posted on May 2, 2008 byA lot of news about communities comes my way and its hard to pick and choose what to highlight on Community Buzz. Today, nothing stood out so I figured I’d do a round up of some news thats been languishing on my list but didn’t seem quite enough for its own story. Ithaca has a… Read More
Colleges Go Green With On-Campus Ecovillages
Posted on April 29, 2008 byColleges and Universities around the country are wanting to improve their ecological impact while also providing students opportunities to learn about sustainable living. Some are taking the ecovillage model and integrating it into their campus planning and student residences. The University of Maine is exploring ecovillages with the notion of turning some of its less… Read More
Ecovillages Help Study Abroad Programs Focus on Sustainability
Posted on April 28, 2008 byThe Yale Daily News has an article on how study-abroad programs are beginning to focus on sustainability and highlights Living Routes which takes students to ecovillages around the world. The sudden interest at Yale in trying to make study-abroad activities sustainable – both environmentally and culturally – mirrors a similar move within the study-abroad field… Read More
Raid on Texas Fundamentalist Mormon Community
Posted on April 26, 2008 by1 Comment
By now, most have heard about the raid by Texas Rangers on the Fundamentalist Mormon community in west Texas. During the raid, 437 children were removed from the community compound based on concerns of child abuse and neglect, primarily based on the concern that underage girls were being forced to marry older men against their… Read More
Kibbutzim to be Rebranded as Ecovillages
Posted on April 25, 2008 byIsrael’s Kibbutzim have a media campaign in the works that highlights the ecological benefits of their communal groups according to the Guardian. The campaign, focusing on 140 sites in the north and south of the country, aims to tout the benefits of kibbutz living for a hip, new eco-aware generation. Re-branded for the 21st century,… Read More
Ron Paul Supporters to Form Libertarian Community
Posted on April 24, 2008 bySome of the followers of presidential candidate Ron Paul are planning to start a libertarian community in West Texas according to the Lone Star Times. This month has seen the first meeting of the shareholders in a fledgling community development planned in rural Texas, to be comprised exclusively of Paul’s supporters. It is to be… Read More
NPR Story on Spiritual Organic 60s Commune
Posted on April 23, 2008 byNPR recently did a three part series on a spiritual community from the 60s called The Source. The Source originated as one of the first natural foods restaurant and grew into a spiritual commune with an ex-marine turned charismatic leader called Father Yod. Founded by ex-Marine Jim Baker nearly four decades ago, the restaurant quickly… Read More
Arcosanti and Ecovillages in the Washington Post
Posted on April 21, 2008 by1 Comment
In honor of Earth Day, the Washington Post ran an article on Arcosanti with a sidebar on ecovillages as a green vacation destination. Arcosanti was started in the 1970s by Italian architect Paolo Soleri, a spitfire who seeks an alternative to a car-dominant, hyper-consumerist society. With his so-called urban laboratory, Soleri, 88, hopes to eliminate… Read More
Communes and Co-ops for Seniors
Posted on April 17, 2008 by1 Comment
Baby boomers are looking at moving into shared living and communal living according to the article Boomers go back to the commune in retirement on BankRate.com. Normally when a headline has the words ‘commune’ and ‘boomers’ in it they usually mean cohousing but this article is really about income-sharing communal groups. FIC’s directory lists about… Read More
Cohousing Helps Prevent Global Warming by Reducing Carbon Footprint
Posted on April 16, 2008 by1 Comment
Cohousing can help residents reduce their carbon footprint and help prevent global warming according to a paper from the University College London. Those living in cohousing consume nearly 60 per cent less energy in the home, and operate car-sharing and recycling schemes that greatly reduce the pollution from travel and landfill. Having facilities such as… Read More
