Evergreen EcoVillage: A Development with A Conscienceby Susan Buis and Joanne Lee Special to the Green Pages EcoVillages are sprouting like the proverbial weeds in inner cities, suburbs, and rural communities around the world. EcoVillages? Is a definition in order here? An EcoVillage is a new or existing neighborhood that has chosen to work together to improve its environmental awareness and sustainability. Sustainability is an ethic that bases decisionmaking on present and future needs in the spirit of the Native American concept of considering the effects of your decisions seven generations into the future, rather than basing them on past conventions. Evergreen Ecovillage is a cohousing community which will be built in Thurston County around the sustainability ethic. Ambitious? Yes. Timely? Yes. Interested? Read on. Our vision is to create a cohousing community that respects the natural environment, generates abundant opportunities for friendship and personal growth, and will actively participate in the larger community around it. What is cohousing? There has been a trend in this country towards smaller households and often towards feelings of isolation as individuals and families live farther from relatives and long-time friends. Cohousing addresses these issues and others by providing an attractive balance between community and privacy in a diverse, inter-generational neighborhood. Cohousers feel a sense of security, belonging, and place and find their neighborhoods are safe and supportive for all, but especially children and elders. Many communities have provisions for on-site child care, or, if not, informal opportunities abound. Shared meals, which are optional, provide fellowship and opportunities for spontaneous socializing. The economic benefits of cohousing are noteworthy, with shared resources and tools at the heart of the benefit. Most cohousing communities restrict cars to the periphery of the property, creating a pedestrian neighborhood - a refreshing alternative to our vehicle-dominated lives. And particularly important to Evergreen EcoVillage is a commitment to environmentally sensitive design and extensive open space, with as much of it as possible left untouched. What makes cohousing so attractive to people? Imagine this ... You return home from a long day at the office (or the farm or school) and, as you park your car in the lot, you see one of your best friends and fellow residents just hopping off the bus. You exchange a few work-related comments, but your focus quickly changes to the playground where the community kids (from three to eighty) are launching a weather balloon. Your daughter is right in the thick of it, having decided recently to be a scientist. Your focus shifts again as you smell - mmm, what is that? Basil? Garlic? You head for the common house to pick up your mail and you see that dinner is almost ready and yep, you were right, it's the first fresh pesto of the season. It is so wonderful to come home to dinner prepared for you most nights of the week. You had noticed that the basil in the community garden was looking great (well, the second planting, after the first became a slug feast). The cooks tonight are laughing as they set the tables and arrange fresh flowers from the garden in small vases. You notice a cake on the way out and remember that it is birthday night for everyone born in August. You have some work to do tonight, but you will stay after dinner for a while because birthday parties bring out residents, neighbors, and friends, and are big fun. Your kitchen tour-of-duty is coming up next Wednesday, and meanwhile you get to just show up and eat. At home, your partner greets you with a smile and the latest kid joke circulating the community. You laugh, even though it is the second time you have heard it. The kids caught you on your way out this morning and wouldn't let you go until your heard their joke. They also roped you into a construction project this weekend - the treehouse is ready for a fourth floor. It didn't take much convincing, and you really enjoy every minute of it. The community of 23 families has a total of 34 kids. Since you work in town, you really enjoy spending time with the kids on weekends. You heard you were voted coolest cohouser by the teens by the time the third floor was up. Truth is, you love to go up there yourself, late on full moon nights when everyone's asleep. It gives you such a wonderful perspective on this place you call home. Two semi-circles of homes radiate out from the common house. From the tree tops, the structure of the common house is revealed. A large pentagon with a glass cupola on top. One of the wings houses the day care center, one has offices for the cohousing community and several self-employed residents and neighbors, one is the Creatrix Conservatory with rooms for music/dance and workshops for craftspeople and artists. Your partner works there designing and constructing water flow forms. You look out over the community gardens and notice the new beds are finished. That means you can go ahead with your fall plantings. Farther out to the north is the pond. The ducks and geese which came through this spring are gone, but the frogs are pretty raucous now. You notice a deer browsing on the edge of the woods. They frequent the property at night and in the early morning hours when the kids and dogs are asleep. Your view to the north and the neighbors is blocked by the woods, a nice buffer which provides greenspace and privacy. The wind generator is quiet now, although at times the blades circling in the wind remind you of your grandparents' farm in the midwest. You smile as you think how much they would have loved your community. Getting here took several years of planning and building, innumerable decisions, meetings to educate the city, county, and neighbors, and lots of what you came to call "creating and adjusting." This must be why it's so satisfying to survey the scene from up here and be able to say, "We did this!" If you can imagine yourself surveying this project with satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, your energy could help create it. Contact Susan Buis at 753-5919 or Debbie Jacqua at 491-3325 to find out more. Susan Buis and Joanne Lee are planning members of the Evergreen Co-Housing Association.
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