The rise of the ecovillage.
Wow, I knew about Sustainable Ballard and the Phinney Ridge Ecovillage, but not all of the sustainable communities that are sprouting up all over the place.
Right now it seems like move of these groups are there to provide advice, suggestions, and ideas for how to make their neighborhoods more sustainable. This includes things like cutting emissions, growing and sourcing food locally, and of course - building design/planning.
As these groups grow in popularity it should be interesting to see what kind of political influence they will be able to bring to the land use table. It doesn’t appear that anyone is specifically driving this movement, so if you don’t see your neighborhood on the list - hey, feel free to start your own.
You can see a listing of all the sustainable neighborhoods on SCALLOPS.
3 comments
SCALLOPS (Sustainable Communities ALL Over Puget Sound), co-founded by 3 town groups in 2007 (Bainbridge, Ballard and Port Townsend), is a network organized by Vic Opperman and Neva Welton. SCALLOPS is about sustainability in our neighborhoods, towns, region, state (and beyond): respect, neighbors, community building, resource sharing, education, equal rights and diversity. Started a year and a half ago, we are a growing network of over 50 town groups in Washington state (neighbors working with neighbors) with organized events and Summits throughout the year and region. Please check our website calendar for larger regional events and Local Best Practices http://scallops.sustainableballard.org/. Come join us! Find your town and get involved. For more information, please contact Vic Opperman vic@sustainableballard.org or Neva Welton neva.welton@gmail.com
Thanks Vic, two other questions. How are your groups different from community councils and how are you engaged in the city’s planning process. I noticed someone from Ravenna/Roosevelt ecovillage speak up at this weekend’s Neighborhood Planning Forum who mentioned that she was trying to figure out how her group could become involved with neighborhood planning. The city didn’t really seem to have a good answer for them, and was just wondering if you’re finding this with other sustainable communities.
This is a great question Greg. I’m active in my local sustainability group — http://www.SustainableWallingford.us. Several of our members are also elected members of the Wallingford community council and Wallingford chamber of commerce. Sustainable Wallingford has a great blend of homeowners and renters, low income folks, people of color, and most importantly, lots of people under age 30.
We’re a new phenomena. Sustainable Wallingford is all of 6 months old. Ravenna/Roosevelt has met for barely 2 months. Even the groups in Ballard, Port Townsend, and Bainbridge are just a few years old. We’re still figuring out the systems we need to work with and within.
The cities SCALLOPS are located in are starting to wake up. After all, cities are just a collection of people working together. In the case of Seattle, the whole idea behind Neighborhood Planning and the Department of Neighborhoods is to seek out ever more diverse viewpoints. The SCALLOPS groups are growing fast because the Sustainable Communities movement tries to deliver a message of optimism about the future. We call on our better natures – our good humor, our sense of honor, our love of community as we build our coalitions. Give us a little time to get the city staff and elected officials on board too — but only give us a little time — we need to make some big transformations and time is short.
“If human beings possess endless possibilities then cities contain exponential hopes.” – Sherman Alexie
Leave a Comment