Our second Journey: Reasons to live in community

The reasons why people chose to explore living in an intentional community differ. For this reason this blog article features different people in different stages of their lives sharing with us their personal “Why?”, plus additional resources to further explore the topic.

If I had to choose 3 reasons from all the many good reasons to live in community, I would currently choose the following:

For most of my life I was painfully aware of the urgency of the climate crisis for example but felt a disparity between my values and wish to meaningfully change something for the better and my actual lifestyle. Deep down I felt that we have to “be the change that we want to see in the world” (Ghandi), but in reality I was caught in the system, working a full-time job with hardly enough time to take care of my most basic needs.

Living in the ecovillage Arterra Bizimodu now for three months, I am impressed by the number of practical and creative solutions implemented in order to have a lower environmental impact. Just to give a tangible example, the building is now heated by burning olive pits instead of wood, with the effect that no trees need to be cut down and a heating material is used that otherwise would just be waste.

Apart from the many inspiring examples of sustainable life-practices that you can find in ecovillages, there is also “hard” scientific data that shows that ecovillages have a much lower environmental impact, as you can see in this graphic for example:

Source: Comparison between the ecological footprint of different ecovillages in Europe and average German ecological footprints. Source: Bocco, Andrea et al: The ecological footprint of Siebenlinden, 2018, p. 27

After having spent the last years as a teacher observing the behaviour of pre-teen kids, I believe that a “longing to belonging” is a deeply human need, despite the fact that this need can also be exploited and lead to unhealthy forms of conformity with a group. My explanation for this is the following:

For most of our human history we have lived in tribes where there has been mutual support and the togetherness of different generations beyond the nuclear family. Humans are meant to be – and can achieve so much more – together and it makes me sad to see so many people of all ages lonely and disconnected. And this doesn’t mean that solitude and introspection don’t have their place. Especially after having spent 3 months living in a community I feel that connection with myself and nature go hand in hand with making meaningful and deep connections with other people.

Picture from: https://www.tamera.org/article-children-in-community

It was during a seminar on alternative education, during my studies to become a primary school teacher, that I first heard of the African proverb, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” Since then, I was intrigued to further explore the benefits of growing up in an intentional community.

From the limited observations I have made, I would conclude that not only the child but also the family, as well as other people in the community, can really benefit. The child ideally comes into contact with and can learn from a range of different personalities, ages, and skills. The parents can share part of the responsibility for their kids with other members of the community, and these people, in turn, can enjoy the presence of kids even if they cannot or do not want to have children of their own…

In an international community, kids often also learn several languages naturally and from an early age on.

1. Living in a beautiful natural environment

2. Like-minded neighbors to work with, play with, and create with

3. Always having help for whatever projects you might have

4. Support for daily tasks, including taking care of things and people, pets, emotional support, and illness, especially as old age approaches

5. People living together with different skills and backgrounds, exploring what they can achieve and what creative solutions they can find when working together

6. A sense of family, especially for those who didn’t have one, or for whom it was less than ideal

7. A sense of fulfillment from contributing to the preservation of the land

8. A sense of satisfaction from contributing positively to other people’s lives through their personal transformation by creating authentic and deep social connections, and providing a space for experiential learning about group social dynamics. This could help overcome trauma and betrayal in people’s lives by regaining a sense of recognition, self-confidence, and self-worth, and learning about setting boundaries, communication, and cooperation. Moving from fear to possibility

9. A safe place to live and for children to grow up

10. Living more in accordance with values of sustainability and regeneration / Embodying a sustainable lifestyle / Exercising your right to live sustainably

11. Becoming more self-sufficient and resilient, to be less vulnerable to the ups and downs of the economy and labor market