Intentional community: “a small group of unrelated people who come together
to share the rhythm of daily life and to pursue some noble end.”
— William H. Thomas, M.D

The Intentional Ingredient

Intention provides an added dimension to community — the “noble end” that binds people together in commitments or work that reach beyond their individual lives.

EcoVillage at Ithaca is more than just a cohousing community. It is, in their own words, “part of a growing global movement for a saner, more sustainable human culture.” The difference is not simply one of scale, though EVI IS ambitious: its 175 acre site (80% of it preserved as green space) supports two 30-home neighborhoods (with a third being planned), organic CSA¹ vegetable and berry farms, common houses and office spaces for cottage industry. Possible future development, including onsite biodiesel/vegetable-oil fuel production, is even more ambitious. The difference lies in intention: The residents of EVI are not only seeking “an alternative model for suburban living,” they are actively committed to sharing the results of their experiential research with an interested national and international audience through an active outreach efforts by their educational nonprofit.

Like the country mouse, ecovillages have their city cousins. Case in point: Enright Ridge Eco-Village in the Price Hill section of Cincinnati and the Los Angeles EcoVillage (left) located three miles west of downtown L.A.

These urban pioneers seek to model low-impact living patterns, as they increase neighborhood self-reliance in a variety of areas, such as livelihood, food production, energy and water use, affordable housing, transit, recreation, waste reduction and education.²

TREEHOUSE, a multigenerational community in Easthampton, MA, represents an innovative approach to solving a social problem: in this instance, the overstretched foster care system in Massachusetts. When completed, Treehouse will provide residences for 12 adoptive families and affordable housing units for another 48 elders “who want to make a difference” and commit a specified amount of time to mentoring the foster children in the community and at the adjacent elementary school. An outer layer of market-rate housing allows the investment of mid-life families to contribute to the project. Treehouse will provide built-in professional support and programs for residents of all ages — while focusing particularly on healing children who have experienced trauma and loss. If successful, the experiment will be replicated at sights across the state.