One of the issues with our culture is that we have forgotten that we are Earth, that we are totally interdependent with It. Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage is a community of people who support each other in staying aware of this fact. It is so easy, in this culture to forget it, and live as if the Earth is here for us. Air, water, plants, trees, other animals, the ozone, and the list goes on of the elements of the Earth that we are dependent on. We forget that we are an animal. There is a song that goes: “I am an animal, you are an animal, we all are animals, we walk like animals, we talk like animals, I am an animal too.
One of the ways to remember this is to go into the woods, a park, a green area and listen, smell, taste, look, touch. Just be conscious that there are living, breathing, pulsing creatures all around us, and we are part of them and they are part of us.
When we retrofit a house we make the house as energy efficient as possible, but also try to make space for people to reach a green space very easily, preferably in the front or back yard. With the ecovillage we do have the Imago Earth Center and some 100 plus acres of other green space surround it. But almost anywhere one lives one can fairly easily find a green spot to spend some time.
Getting ourselves to go out and connect, that is an issue. It isn’t something that is strongly supported by the culture. It is good to have a culture of people around us that supports this. As one Yoga teacher once said to a group I was in, “I believe we have a little free will, and my recommendation is use it to decide the people you will have around you because they will be a major part in deciding how you live.” So, choose your friends carefully. Of course it is one of the reasons to live in an ecovillage.
COMMUNITY EARTH ALLIANCE 