A personal lifestyle change that I have considered within the past year would be to spend at least a year living in an intentional community. Last fall I went on a trip to Earthaven Ecovillage as a part of Dr. LeVasseur’s course on religion, sacred sites, and sustainability. We learned so much about sustainable building, farming, renewable energy, and living in harmony with the Earth in just four days. I can only imagine how much I would learn from fully immersing myself in an intentional community for a year. This lifestyle change would have a positive impact on the planet because I would be living completely off of renewable energy, as the ecovillage uses only solar and hydroelectric energy. My ecological footprint would greatly decrease, as my largest category is currently my energy-inefficient housing situation. In addition, this change would equip me with a greater knowledge of how to live sustainably which I could hopefully share with others. I know that many individuals are often resistant to change and do not wish to give up their unsustainable choices, so perhaps making this large change in my own life could provide greater insight into how to persuade people to make positive choices in theirs.

In my personal experience while on this trip, I found myself resistant at first to the prolonged outdoor exposure and composting toilets. I am a bit of a germaphobe in my everyday life, so I was not used to getting my hands dirty and being outside for the vast majority of the day. We also had no cell service up in the mountains, so I was completely disconnected from many of the things that had come to characterize my life. The first day I missed my phone and my warm bed (we were camping in November) and was honestly ready to leave. However, after I had gotten used to the change I realized how attached I was to all my things and how separated from nature I had been. I think this disconnect from real nature is what has caused a lot of the apathy surrounding environmental destruction in areas of the world. Since we do not see firsthand the rainforests being destroyed or the ice caps melting, we are able to put these issues on the back burner and carry on as usual. I think spending some time living in a community that celebrates and values nature rather than commodifying it would help me stay engaged with environmental issues.

I could not see myself sticking with the change of living at Earthaven Ecovillage for the rest of my life, only because it is relatively isolated from the rest of the world. I deliberately chose one year because I feel that would be long enough for me to gain the knowledge and experience I would need to positively impact those who are not as environmentally conscious. I want to educate more conventional communities too, so that we can all move toward a sustainable relationship with the planet.

Here are some pictures of the buildings at Earthaven:

(This large apartment building was built on a hill facing the sun, perfect for solar panels!)

(All of Earthaven’s buildings utilize passive solar design too!)