Inside Ithaca's EcoVillage

They are not hippie communes. They are not even about “living off the grid.” Largely unknown and misinterpreted, ecovillages are communities striving to “integrate a supportive social environment with a low impact way of life” according to the Global Ecovillage Network.

[8]Green living: Homes in the EcoVillage at Ithaca’s Second Neighborhood Group.Just a few miles from Cornell’s campus is the EcoVillage at Ithaca (EVI), a secluded, beautiful community consisting of residential groups, farms and a spirit of cooperation. EVI is the brainchild of environmental activist Joan Bokaer, who developed the idea after a cross country environmental walk, where she visited over 200 communities and learned how to demonstrate a sustainable way of life.

EVI is comprised of two living communities, with a third slated for construction in the near future: the First Resident Group (FRoG), Second Neighborhood Group (SoNG) and Third Residential Ecovillage Experience (TREE). Designed with sustainability in mind, the homes employ passive solar heating, photovoltaic solar cells, super-insulated roofs, straw bale insulation and rainwater collection.

Houses are built with fewer rooms because common houses (found in each residential group) allow access to large kitchens, offices, meeting areas and other amenities in order to cut down on each villager’s individual ecological footprint. In an effort to eat locally, the community purchases from West Haven Farm, an organic produce farm that feeds about 1,000 people a week. The farm sells directly to customers through its Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program and the Ithaca Farmers Market. Also on EVI grounds is Kestrel Perch Berch Berry Farm, another organic farm and CSA that grows strictly berries and allows its customers to pick their own fruit.

In addition to sharing appliances such as lawnmowers and laundry machines, citizens contribute to the community personally, volunteering to do chores that range from cooking to composting.

Stephanie Greenwood moved to EVI from England three years ago. “The best part of living here,” she said, “is being able to have total privacy as well as the support of a community.”

Characterized by its accessibility, EVI was purposely settled outside of the city of Ithaca to allow for more of a “regular middle class organization,” co-founder Liz Walker said. While many other ecovillages are more secluded and rural, EVI aims to influence the mainstream.

Furthermore, co-housing initiatives allow for families to purchase smaller, cheaper homes and allow access to a multitude of resources through common houses, which make living in EVI affordable. Walker said, “One of my friends likes to say you could picture your mom living at the EcoVillage at Ithaca.” With earth colored homes, gardens abound and cars parked only on the outskirts of the village, a warm, pedestrian community exists.

Propsective residents undergo a self-selection process that involves group meetings and attendance at training sessions meant to acclimate would-be residents of EVI with the rhythms of everyday life in a shared-work environment.

Jennifer Lewis of Dallas, Texas came with her husband and son to explore EVI because, “nothing else looked as established or settled.”

United by a common goal and characterized by local culture, ecovillages are a vast and growing phenomenon. Daniel Greenberg ’85 founded Living Routes, an organization dedicated to exposing students to such communities.

After two years in graduate school, Greenberg opted for firsthand experience at an ecovillage in Findhorn, Scotland. “I believe I learned more in the first day I stepped foot in an actual community than probably the two years I spent studying,” Greenberg said.

He then spent several years studying and teaching in ecovillages before founding Living Routes, which offers study abroad opportunities in ecovillages throughout the world. With credit offered from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the program has an array of classes and sessions throughout the year. The program limits enrollment to about a dozen students per semester, and is meant to foster cooperation through communal living amongst students and the community.

Greenberg said, “They make the best campuses for students to learn about sustainability by working and living among people who are actually doing it. That’s what’s transformative for students; they can take any of our programs and afterwards they can no longer say ‘it can’t be done’ because here are people living their lives with that purpose.”

Since there are no strict guidelines that determine a community’s status as an ecovillage, a wide variety of communities exist, each sustaining unique values and systems of operation. Economically and socially, each site has its own rules and regulations. For example, some communities share only cars while others pool their money into one “collective income.”

Lois Arkin, founder of the Los Angeles Eco-Village, has an ecovillage experience vastly different from the residents of EVI. “The major challenge is learning to live a kind of schizophrenic life, since life here on our block and within the confines of our buildings is rather idyllic. But walk a block away, and one is surrounded with the worst of our city in terms of traffic and ugliness, concrete and commercialization,” she said.

The functionality of each ecovillage is wholly dependent on its inhabitants — everything from community gatherings to decision making processes is flexible. By avoiding restrictive regulations while upholding values of community, the options offered by ecovillages aim to make sustainability a fit for a variety of lifestyles.