Free Resources for a New Earth
“Transition means change — a shift from one way of living to another. The Transition Movement, which began in Britain and Ireland in 2006, has since grown into an international network of communities spanning 67 countries. It envisions a world where every individual can become part of a supportive community, feeling safe, welcomed, and empowered to thrive.”
Read free. A history of the EcoVillage at Ithaca, by one of its founders. “Rather than pull apart in destructive conflict, the human community could choose to pull together in cooperation and work collaboratively to create a sustainable future. I am heartened by research that indicates public attitudes and behaviors seem to be shifting in favor of more sustainable ways of living.”
Read free. “A residential or land-based intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live with or near enough to each other to carry out their shared lifestyle or common purpose together. Families living in a cohousing communities in the city, students living in student housing cooperatives near universities, and sustainability advocates living in rural back-to-the-land homesteads are all members of intentional communities. Community is not just about living together, but about the reasons for doing so. ‘A group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values,’ is one way the non-profit Fellowship for Intentional Community describes it.”
Read free. “Today, many people dream of community, beautiful surroundings, and meaningful jobs. These people have an inner craving for a more balanced and spiritual life, a loving place for their children to grow up, and a lifestyle which does not force them to leave their children all day as a price for being full members of society. A place full of life, joy and sharing, of living close to nature with plants and animals around them, where love is more possible. All the necessary wisdom, knowledge and technology are available to help this dream come true for everybody on this planet. Ecovillages are emerging attempts at realizing it, or at the very least parts of it. They are paintings in progress, of an envisioned Paradise on Earth.”
Read free. “Conditions for Establishing Interpersonal Relationship that Builds Up Community: To build up a community one must be (1) sensitive, (2) open, (3) sharing (receiving and giving), (4) one must call others into existence, and (5) love, (6) in an atmosphere of freedom, confidence and understanding.”
The Foundation for Intentional Community offers a free online directory of over 1000 intentional communities. Also courses and info about joining, starting, and growing an intentional community.
Read free. “This compilation of essays represents a wide variety of perspectives of what it will take to renew one of our most depleted resources—a sense of community with each other. In our modern quest for the ‘perfect part’ we have lost touch with the ‘interconnectedness of the whole’—a byproduct of our fixation with the Industrial Age and its requisite mechanistic thinking.”