A congress member speaks at the morning fire ritual

In October, I traveled to The Farm in Tennessee, where the 10th Annual Bioregional Congress was taking place. I was excited to be there, though I couldn’t help but wonder…

What’s a bioregional congress?

Good question. To understand it, you need to understand “bioregionalism”. From biocongress.org:

[Bioregionalism] is taking the time to learn the possibilities of place. It is a mindfulness of local environment, history, and community aspirations that leads to a sustainable future. It relies on safe and renewable sources of food and energy. It ensures employment by supplying a rich diversity of services within the community, by recycling our resources, and by exchanging prudent surpluses with other regions. Bioregionalism is working to satisfy basic needs locally, such as education, health care and self-governance.

Essentially, bioregionalism boils down to getting more out of what you have, instead of importing what you don’t. Many new organizations and communities are working in this way, with an eye toward resource (and human-resource) management.

Shared meals in the common center, prepared and paid for by attendees

The Congress started in 1984, at which age your humble author was just learning to sing to trees. Since then, it’s continued to grow into a vibrant semiannual gathering of people from throughout the Americas who are actively experimenting with new forms of community and environmental awareness.

For example:

• a group called Ecobarrios who are working with residents in Mexico City’s housing developments to institute sustainable practices, composting and gardening (more on Ecobarrios);
• a housewife from Nashville who just got involved in nonprofits and wants to find out what the challenges are from a marketing perspective;
• a self-described eco-punk from LA who organizes traveling shows to teach underprivileged communities around the world about sustainability;
• several members of intentional communities from North to South America, here to discuss what works, what doesn’t, and where they are headed.

There is a fair share of outré hippie yahooism here as well. Tie-dye, massage, singing with the earth, singing Woody Guthrie songs: it all happened. But that hippie veneer was only skin-deep: beneath the surface, every person here is honestly, fully dedicated to working for change.

These guys talked animatedly for a long, long time.

Hippie Soup to Nuts

Each morning, the entire group met to discuss the day’s topics. Nothing was predetermined; it all had to be hashed out by discussion and vote. Laborious, yes—but it meant that everyone present had a voice.

These folks have their system down TIGHT. I’ve never seen anything like it. They conducted a huge meeting, circle-style, in a format where everybody got a chance to talk, with minimal interruption, almost no off-topic ranting, and not a single insult. You try that sometime with a group of 100 people.

That was my first sign that the people here were not just trying to share, give and change, but making it happen.

Proposed lecture topics for a single afternoon

The next sign was the depth, breadth and complexity of the discussion topics. People here were not speaking in generalities, but addressing topics that had direct effects on their work.

One woman wanted to discuss GMO seeds, and how we can keep them out of gardens. A small group proposed a new community and asked for potential members. A man offered dowsing lessons. A Venezuelan woman offered to share stories from the revolution. A short film on Cuba’s survival without petroleum drew a crowd.

Throughout the day, people gathered in various groups and addressed various questions and topics. The level of intellect was high, and the work accomplished was impressive.

In the evening, there was food, music and dancing.

I could only stay one day at the Bioregional Congress, but I left completely inspired. I fully intend to take part in future Congresses: as the environmental movement ramps up, these are the people who are leading the way to the future. I have faith they’ll get us there.

Related posts:

1. Life on The Farm
2. 5 (and a half!) free things to do in Asheville
3. Save the World, Ride a Bike

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alternative, buy nothing, community, ecotourism, energy-efficient, environment, green living, nature, starving artists, sustainable

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Intern housing at The Farm

Way out in the Tennessee hills lies a 1750-acre establishment that has been quietly affecting change for almost four decades.

The Farm, an intentional community, was formed in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin and a group of hippies who were tired of the status quo. Like so many other groups at the time, they chose a new path, dropping out of society and moving to a plot of land outside Summertown where they could start fresh. Like other groups, they were dedicated to peace and love and new age spirituality.

Unlike many other groups, The Farm survived.

39 years later, it’s not much of a farm. In fact, almost no farming goes on. It feels more like a small town with its own roads, store, school, town hall and university. The long-term population is around 150 people, with plenty of visitors who come and go. This is a huge drop from the peak population of 1500.

People used to drop their lives and come live on The Farm, but it doesn’t work that way anymore: now, they come for education and training, then take their knowledge back home.

One of The Farm’s biggest draws is its school of midwifery. Ina May Gaskin is the author of Spiritual Midwifery, a seminal book that reinvented childbirth practices in the 1980s. Ina May is now considered “the mother of authentic midwifery,” and continues to practice, teach and write. Together, the five Farm midwives have birthed over 3,000 babies in 38 years.

But that success couldn’t shield The Farm from the harsh realities of survival in America. By the mid-1980s, the group was deep in debt and, to save themselves, had to abandon some of their more radical practices. From a loose commune, they became an intentional community: a group of like-minded individuals who are responsible for their own wellbeing, while still sharing the most important resources.

Residents own the land in common and share property taxes, roads and water costs. Apart from that, they’re on their own to build their homes, create their lives, and figure out how to survive.

As a part of the community’s evolution, Farm residents began taking on individual projects that were supported by community money and chosen by a vote from all members. This led to the founding of Gaia University, Plenty International, Kids to the Country and other endeavors. The Farm had become, rather than a unidirectional commune, a diverse community united by a desire to improve the world.

From what I could tell, the key to The Farm’s success is that it has adapted over time. From a fever dream of hippie farmland to a grown-up, idyllic town, this group has clearly dedicated their lives to finding the answer to that age-old question: how can we all live together in peace, without going broke?

Not to wax overly poetic, but that’s really what it’s all about. Residents of The Farm appear to have figured out that their work here can have wider effects: they are a testing ground for a new type of community that most people only dream of.

That’s why The Farm was chosen as the host of the Bioregional Congress in 2009. And that’s how I came to visit Summertown, Tennessee.

Hilarious: a TVP silo.

Next up: uh, what’s a bioregional congress?

Related posts:

1. Welcome to the Bioregional Congress
2. Little Farm on the Subdivision
3. The Waterpod: life on a New York boat

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: alternative, community, ecotourism, education, farm, featured posts, gaia university, green living, intentional community, sustainable, Tennessee, the farm

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Tracy L. Barnett
Photo ©2010. All rights reserved.

I arrived in Mexico three weeks ago as the first leg of my yearlong journey through Latin America documenting the environmental movement across the continent, from the perspective of its protagonists. I’ll be traveling through Latin America for this entire year, interviewing green architects and guerilla gardeners, indigenous farmers and bicycle activists, journalists and academics, even public officials engaged in the transition to a more sustainable lifestyle. I’ll be reporting on what I find – in Spanish and in English – on the Esperanza project, a new media initiative.

Inside the theater at Huehuecoyotl, an ecovillage in the mountains of Morelos, Mexico.
©2010 Tracy L. Barnett. All rights reserved.

Here’s how it all began. About 10 months ago I was working as the travel editor at the Houston Chronicle, when a round of cutbacks slashed a third of the staff, including me. It was a shock, but it ended up freeing me up to launch a project that feels meaningful and exciting to me in a way that working for a daily newspaper never could.

The roots of this project really began long ago in Columbia, Missouri, long before I became a travel writer. Back in 2000, I started the bilingual newspaper Adelante, and my student reporters and of course our readers came from all over Latin America. I accepted every invitation I could to visit friends and their families in the South. Before that, I was an environmental writer at the Columbia Daily Tribune. The Esperanza Project tries to pull all of those themes together—travel, Latin America, and the environment—using the multimedia tools I learned as a travel writer and the Spanish I learned as an immigrant affairs reporter in Missouri, California and Texas.

Community members at Teopantli Kalpulli, an intentional community near Guadalajara.
©2010 Tracy L. Barnett. All rights reserved.

Some people have asked me, why Latin America? I can give several reasons for that: First, I wanted to do it. All my life I’ve wanted to take that trip where I just keep on going. Now I’ll be headed south for a whole year, and I’m really excited about that.

But more importantly, I think we in the States get a little self-important thinking we have all the answers. But there’s a lot we can learn from other cultures, ones that aren’t quite as caught up in the consumerist, carbon-dependent model we’ve adopted in the States.

Latin Americans, in particular, bring a different perspective and a level of creativity and passion to their activism really inspires me. My hope is that it will inspire my North American compatriots, as well.

Right now a completely unexpected green revolution is going on in Mexico City. Rooftops of homes and factories are being planted in gardens to provide an alternate food supply and offset carbon emissions.

A young activist in Coyoacán.
©2010 Tracy L. Barnett. All rights reserved.

In Guadalajara, bicycle activists are taking to the streets by the thousands, demanding green spaces, bike lanes and a more people-oriented approach to transportation and city planning. In the mountains not far from here, the Huichol people are fighting a groundbreaking legal battle to take back their ancestral lands and manage them in their own integral way.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everywhere you look in Latin America, local groups have formed to raise consciousness about the urgent need to shift to a more sustainable lifestyle. They don’t have a lot of resources, but what they do have is creativity, passion and spirit.

One of my first articles, though, has to do with a more personal dilemma: Whether to buy carbon offsets to help compensate for the pollution my travel will inevitably cause. Carbon offsets have become pretty controversial of late, but after a lot of thought, I decided to donate $10 a month to the Marda Permaculture Project to plant olive trees and build greenhouses in the town of Marda, Palestine.

Composting at the ecobarrios in Mexico City.
©2010 Tracy L. Barnett. All rights reserved.

I don’t claim that this is the answer to corporate pollution on a broader scale, but on a personal level, it felt like the right thing to do. It’s a wonderful project that builds community resilience using tried-and-true permaculture techniques, and you can read all about it here.

This year I’m going to be using video and photography and my best reporting skills to bring these people to life for The Esperanza Project readers. I’ll also be seeking collaborators, people to write stories from their eco-experiences in Latin America, and people to help with translations. I hope some of you will join us at theesperanzaproject.org.

Related posts:

1. 5 (and a half!) free things to do in Asheville
2. The Real Dirt on America’s Counterculture
3. SURPRISE! “Carbon Offsetting” Doesn’t Work.

© tracylbarnett for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, americas, community, ecotourism, ecotravel, ecovillages, environment, esperanza, featured posts, green living, latin america, mexico, photography, sustainable, the esperanza project, tourism, tracy barnett, travel

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

This is the Waterpod™.

If you live in New York—or if you’re a sustainability geek—you probably heard about this highly ambitious project: 5 artists living on a barge on the waterways of New York, creating their own food, water and shelter in a demonstration of sustainable technology. The Waterpod visited each borough of New York, hosting events and offering free demonstrations and information to all visitors.

Cool stuff, at least in theory. Apocalypse enthusiasts and Kevin Costner fans alike have long toyed with the idea of living on the water; finally, somebody (one Mary Mattingly) got up the gumption to try it. And as it prepared to launch this spring, everyone from Discover to Inhabitat was singing its praises.

However, by the time I arrived in NY, the project had gotten some mixed press. Questions of the barge’s true sustainability were rampant—and my interest was piqued.

I tried to find information on the technical details via the project’s website, but only found a lot of artist-speak and a long James Joyce quote about water. What was the Waterpod exactly, and was it actually a viable living space—or just a high-concept artpiece created by ambitious amateurs?

The answer, not surprisingly, was a little of both. What I found at the Waterpod was not so much a fully-functioning project as a demonstration of possibility. Maybe it doesn’t work perfectly, but it offers fantastic food for thought and a lot of inspiration.

(...)
Read the rest of The Waterpod: life on a New York boat (883 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: agritourism, alternative, art, biotecture, chickens, citizen science, design, diy, ecotourism, education, energy, energy-efficient, environment, experimental, farming, featured posts, gardening, green building, green living, habitat, New York, organic, permaculture, radical, recycling, reuse, river, solar, starving artists, sustainable, teaching, water

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

R.E.A.C.H. (or “Rural Earthship Alternative Community Habitat” if you favor flavor over brevity) is a PRIVATE community, so don’t just go traipsing up here uninvited— but realistically, you probably couldn’t make it if you wanted to. The roads are only accessible with a 4×4, and then only when the snow isn’t too thick.

(...)
Read the rest of R.E.A.C.H. Earthship Community, a pictorial (661 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: adventure, art, biotecture, design, earthship, earthships, ecovillage, energy-efficient, environment, green building, hiking, nature, New Mexico, outdoors, photography, solar, superhero, sustainable, Taos, volunteer, voluntourism, wood

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

After two full weeks of hard work and some pretty rough weather on the Earthship job site, we were all feeling kinda beat. But things are changing! There’s still snow on the mountaintops, but down here in Taos it’s a sunny day; spring is officially around the corner, and it really feels like the change in seasons has arrived.

Original photo by John Kejr, Dreamcatcher Real Estate

We’re still working in the Greater World Community, but are now focusing on the “Euro”— so named because it’s based on the Earthship built in Normandy, France.

It’s a great design: a double greenhouse for maximum temperature control; north-sloping roof for easier construction & water catchment; and a blueprint that can be contracted or expanded horizontally to fit any need. (This is a 3-bedroom house, but the site we were working last week will only be a 1-bedroom.)

All the structure of the Euro has essentially been built. We’re working on the cosmetic details, which are physically easier than big ol’ tires full of dirt (though more time-consuming). And because it’s practically the most beautiful day ever ever, we’re all working outside.

(...)
Read the rest of Springtime in the Greater World (705 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: art, biotecture, design, earthships, ecovillage, energy-efficient, garbage, green building, New Mexico, outdoors, recycling, reuse, solar, sustainable, Taos, volunteer, voluntourism, water

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

611 street view

Yep, it’s possible, and 611 EcoVillage is the proof: you can live sustainably, and artfully, and even happily, all in the middle of a city.

Of course, it helps if you’ve got founder/builder Dan Antonioli’s temperament: love for life and a passion for creative construction. And it helps even more that he’s done it first, because now you can follow his lead. So let’s see what he’s done, shall we?

611 is a sort of eco-tastic rooming house created from two neighboring buildings in Oakland’s “ghost town” (the area between freeways and BART, Temescal and West Oakland). From the outside, it looks like any other place, but as soon as you pass through the gate you can see differences.

(...)
Read the rest of Green Living in Oakland: 611 EcoVillage (800 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: art, California, design, ecovillage, energy-efficient, green building, Oakland, solar, sustainable, voc

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

That’s a photo that Face took of the cabin we’re staying in. As you can see, there’s not a lot out here. Just about nothing, actually. This cabin is up in the wilds of BFE, a fair piece off Route 96 on a mostly-deserted mountain. A small group of white people have settled up here on the bits of land that don’t belong to the Karuk, Yurok, or Hoopa; they lead quiet lives centered mostly around their crops and the weather.

(...)
Read the rest of Greetings from Scenic Northern California! (261 words)

© jessicareeder for Uprooted, an eco/travel blog, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: California, Humboldt, Siskiyou

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh