Social Permaculture—What Is It?
Posted on December 1, 2016 byEcological relationships are relatively easy to deal with. Human relationships are often much more difficult, but we can design social structures that favor beneficial patterns of behavior.
Help Kickstart This Composting Toilet Research Project!
Posted on November 28, 2016 byIntentional communities can be the perfect testing ground for new sustainability practices – whether it’s an innovative greywater system or an aquaponics garden. At my community in Portland, we use our own composting toilet system, specifically… Read More
Not Rocket Science, but Just as Important
Posted on November 25, 2016 byThe arts of cooperative living—supported tirelessly by the cash-strapped FIC, and worthy now more than ever of financial support—will be as essential as technical skills if our species is to survive on this planet or any other.
The Untold Story of Utopian Communes In America
Posted on November 24, 2016 byIt was a time of great change and social experimentation. Groups of like-minded people pooled their money to buy property in what one writer called a kind of “socialist land mania.” Another philosopher… Read More
The Damanhur Community In Italy Has Its Own Currency and Constitution
Posted on November 21, 2016 byThe community of Damanhur in northern Italy is known for the Temples of Humankind, a 5-story series of underground chambers built by residents of the community as a spiritual gathering… Read More
Social Permaculture, and Public vs. Private, #173 Contents
Posted on November 21, 2016 byOur Winter issue explores both Social Permaculture and the interface of Public and Private in intentional community. Starhawk and her colleagues share wisdom from the cutting edge of social permaculture practice, while diverse communitarians discuss how they find balance between the collective and the individual, openness and self-protection, outer-world activism and internal focus. We also learn about Sociocracy missteps, legal structures that help groups put their best feet forward (or not), and more.
Arcosanti Combines Architecture and Ecology in The Arizona Desert
Posted on November 17, 2016 byAbout 70 miles north of Phoenix, high in the Arizona desert, a blocky, concrete series of buildings rises out of the hillside. It looks like a cross between a futuristic… Read More
The First Seasteading Community May Be Closer To Reality Than We Thought
Posted on November 17, 2016 by1 Comment
In June, I wrote a blog post about the Ephemerisle Festival, a gathering on the Sacramento River Delta that imagines what a floating city might look like. The festival hopes… Read More
This Binational City Would Make Borders A Thing of the Past
Posted on November 14, 2016 byArchitect Fernando Romero has a plan for a binational city stretching over the U.S. and Mexican border. The project was on display last month at the London Design Biennale 2016. The designers… Read More
You Are The FIC
Posted on November 14, 2016 byYou Are The FIC! After last Tuesday, could it be any more obvious that the world is in crisis? When the unimaginable happens, how do you respond? My request to… Read More
A New Book Combines Zen and Permaculture to Educate and Inspire
Posted on November 10, 2016 byStefan Geyer, a London resident active in the U.K. permaculture community, is releasing a new book called “Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design.” It’s not a guidebook to specific permaculture… Read More
Buy, Eat, and Live Local With Help From BALLE’s New Toolkits
Posted on November 7, 2016 byWhether it’s eating local, supporting worker-owned businesses, or taking money out of Wall Street banks, the “localist” movement is on the rise. While the dominance of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Amazon may… Read More
The Micro-Nation of Liberland Could Be The World’s Biggest Planned Community
Posted on November 3, 2016 byPicture a country built from scratch: a city-state with open borders, where paying taxes is optional and there are no laws other than “live and let live.” At just three square miles, cars… Read More
Happiness in Communal Life: A Scientific Project
Posted on November 1, 2016 byStatistics don’t lie: communal living seems to help people be happier.
How Does Your Community Create Space for Romantic Partnerships?
Posted on October 31, 2016 by1 Comment
In the popular imagination, intentional communities have a reputation for being free-for-alls when it comes to love and relationships. But in reality, that’s rarely the case, and many communities have guiding… Read More
How to find your community
Posted on October 29, 2016 byCommunity Bookstore How to Find Your Community by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Best of Communities II Seeking and Visiting a Community A special selection of articles from Communities: Life… Read More
The Jewish Intentional Community Conference Takes Place December 1-4
Posted on October 27, 2016 byThe FIC’s Intentional Communities Directory includes communities that range from the spiritual to the secular. If you want to find a religiously affiliated (or unaffiliated) community, there’s a good… Read More
These Apps Connect Excess Food With People Who Need It
Posted on October 24, 2016 byNearly $500 billion worth of food gets thrown away in the U.S. each year – while nearly 50 million Americans go hungry. A new app hopes to use peer-to-peer technology to… Read More
Why does this matter to me?
Posted on October 24, 2016 by3 Comments
Anyone with idealistic tendencies loves the idea that a crisis is an opportunity. I certainly qualify. But as a California boy who’s spent most of his adult life in Virginia,… Read More
The Case for Mass Civil Disruption and Resistance: The story of how 15 intentional communities and experiments came together to form a national coalition to defend life, come hell or high water
Posted on October 21, 2016 by1 Comment
Activists and communitarians gather to ask: “How do we respond to our current global crisis?”
How Seed Saver Networks Are Protecting The Planet’s Biodiversity
Posted on October 20, 2016 byAs more farmers and gardeners take an interest in permaculture, seed savers’ networks are becoming a vital way to preserve heirloom varieties and protect our planet’s biodiversity. Although not as… Read More
The Boat-to-Fork Movement Promotes Local and Sustainable Seafood
Posted on October 17, 2016 byMany of us are familiar with the farm-to-table movement: we might shop at our neighborhood farmers market, or even subscribe to a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) model as a way to… Read More
Crisis = Opportunity: Taking it to the next level
Posted on October 15, 2016 byPeople keep asking me, what’s your vision for the FIC? It’s a fair question to the new Executive Director of an almost-30 year old organization. I want to help intentional… Read More
How These Communal Residences Help Artists Thrive
Posted on October 13, 2016 bySome intentional communities focus on organic gardening and permaculture. Others are all about activism and social change. Some exist primarily for the art. That’s the intention behind the Los Angeles… Read More
Grassroots Activism Starts at Home
Posted on October 11, 2016 byAt the RareBirds Housing Co-operative, community life and outside activism deepen and strengthen each other.
This Peer-to-Peer Credit Exchange Could Be Great For Intentional Communities
Posted on October 10, 2016 byFor a while, peer-to-peer lending platforms were going to be the next big thing. Instead of borrowing from big banks, we could borrow from each other, on platforms like Lending… Read More
These Tools Can Help Your Community Make Better Decisions
Posted on October 6, 2016 by1 Comment
One of the biggest hurdles an intentional community can face is figuring out how to make decisions. There are dozens of decision-making strategies to choose from, from consensus to sociocracy. But in… Read More
Shared Earth Connects Gardeners With Unused Land In Their Neighborhood
Posted on October 3, 2016 byFor years, projects like Fallen Fruit and the Urban Farm Collective have been making it easier for people to access the excess produce and gardening space in their neighborhoods. A… Read More
Not the Last of the Mohicans: Honoring Our Native Predecessors on the Land
Posted on September 30, 2016 by1 Comment
How can we do right by the native peoples whose ancestral homelands now host our intentional communities?
A New Site Called Simbi Lets You Barter Your Skills, Lessons, and More
Posted on September 29, 2016 byA lot has been written about how the “sharing economy” isn’t really about “sharing” – many of the companies that use the term are more about renting, buying and selling,… Read More
