It was a muggy August afternoon when I arrived in Earthaven Ecovillage, nestled in the foothills of Black Mountain, North Carolina. The musky smells of peat and sassafras and pine intensified as I exited the car. Children popped in and out of sight from the wood’s edge. Earth-buildings, scattered throughout the village, were dappled with mosaic and raw-wood banisters. Blackberries tempted us at every corner. Right angles were scarce. Circular spaces and circular systems were abundant. But I quickly lost any illusions about a quaint and woodsy retreat milking-cows and foraging for wild edibles. Earthaven is not a Disney-land for off grid living. It’s a laboratory for global systems transformation.
NikiAnne Feinberg welcomed our group to the Ecovillage Experience week hosted by SOIL, the School of Integrated Living. Thirty of us, diverse in age, gender, and ethnicity, sheltered from the summer sun under a large tent, outside of the earthen community hall. We eased into the week with a group meditation and intention setting. Then we jumped into a discussion about the inflation issues with the Ecovillage’s home-grown currency. “Inflation issues?” I was baffled. For five days, NikiAnne opened our eyes to the good, bad, and the ugly of community building, of Earthaven’s experiment with reimagining the basic systems of governance, economy, and culture over the last three decades.
To be fair, by day three, we did forage for wild edibles. A decorated botanist and chef guided us from plant identification to gourmet hors devours before dinner. Stinging nettles, chanterelle mushrooms, and wild garlic all starred in our rugged, culinary experiment. And as the week progressed, we slowly met the community’s 100+ permanent residents. Entrepreneurs and educators. Wilderness guides and wild haired accountants. And for people with such an audacious mission, to model another way of human settlement, they are incredibly grounded. There is a reverence for free time, connection with nature, respectful communication, and the wisdom of elders. Over my six week stay, these virtues revealed themselves as the real priorities of Earthaven. The new reality of humankind would emerge from this fertile soil, not grand plans for social transformation.
I have worked on sustainability transformation in some of the most complex urban environments across the globe. I have planned ecosystem restoration projects in the Bay of Mumbai. I’ve worked to overhaul the energy grid in the heart of Boston. But, until my visit to Earthaven, I overlooked the simplest, most essential ingredient for a sustainable future: human happiness. The ecovillage was full of quietly content, humble, yet world-changing innovators who were meeting their deep human needs at a fraction of the cost and ecological footprint compared to average Americans. But to get there, Earthaveners have cultivated a culture exploring the fundamentals of human happiness.
This text is an excerpt of an essay that originally appeared in Kosmos Journal in Fall of 2022. The original article can be found here: What I Learned Visiting Intentional Communities – Kosmos Journal
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