* No more houses that are giant storage units for too much STUFF
* Simple mobile structures
* Eliminate divide between indoors/outdoors. Build outdoor kitchens, living spaces, and gathering spaces.
* State where we are; work with what we have. Transform pre-existing structures, remove asphalt, and retrofit our urban spaces to build ecovillages.
* Creating jobs for green builders artisans, and people who really care about the craft of building
* Access to land is a basic human right
* Building in place with on-site materials and appropriate technology
* Designing homes that get us outside and doing permaculture
* Homes that can adapt over time (Moveable walls, etc) “LivecycleBuilding.org”
* Reading the fine print, understanding the meaning and consequences of the loan and purchase documents we sign. Making informed choices. SLOW choices.
* Creating our homes, not just buying mass-produced cookie-cutter homes.
* Building with local materials, non-toxic, renewable, recycled, and recyclable materials
* No more “Buy and Flip!”
* Homes are not stock markets. No more “flippin’ it,” and investing in bigger and bigger homes. Slow down. Put down roots.
* Lots of campgrounds for longer-term living in mobile structures
* Design of communities to facilitate open space preservation
* Investing in lifestyle, not just houses
* No more billboards (especially lighted)
* Take your time for LUNCH!
* Removing land and homes from the market, preserving them for the commons; ensuring long-term affordability; limited equity housing
* Finance that does not come from big evil lenders. (Citibank = Boooo!)
* Tasting our homes, savoring our homes, experiencing our homes, breathing our homes, loving our homes, sharing our homes.
* Creating a space for solitude, sanctuary, stillness – an uninterrupted place to dream
* Bau-biologie
* Combining residential and commercial spaces to facilitate walkable communities, and allow people to work near home. Fosters local economy.
* Designing homes that foster interaction, sharing, community, and connection among residents
* Homes that inspire creativity, beauty, and joyful activities. Aesthetically pleasing, brings pleasure to the senses.
* Barn raising!
* Slow water!
* Homes that encourage slow food, slow water, slow everything!
* Home as a conduit for relationship. Home as a place that connects us to Earth and people.
* Housing integrated with smart transportation, bus routes, bike sharing, car sharing, and no more laws requiring 2.3 parking spots per household.
* More hostels and networks of simple housing for people who travel
* Home ownership and stewardship based in permaculture and whole systems ethics and principles

This is Frugal Foodies, a Bay Area group that brings people together to cook and eat in community. Founded by J Moses Ceasar in 2005, Frugal Foodies has thrived since then in Berkeley and San Jose. Menus vary (according to the site’s blog, a recent evening was an experiment in veganism) but are always vegetarian and mostly organic.

My friend Margaret went a couple weeks ago and came back glowing with great things to say about how it works and how much fun she had. I hope to try it soon and report back on another fun way to share food.

Here are some of the answers:

• Petty issues that get people angry and make them shut down to cooperation
• Zoning issues and codes that don’t support sustainability
• Hyperindividuation
• Egos
• People who are unpredictable, irrational, and uncontrollable 
• The digital divide (the fact that poor and marginalized communities do not have access to the online community-building tools that many others have)
• Large communities that are hard to organize; it’s difficult to create a unified voice or vision

As usual, the general sentiment is that sharing would be great…if it weren’t for the other people. Conflict, difficult personalities, egos – it seems like everyone has a story about how they got burnt in a sharing plan or cooperative effort that went sour.  Honestly, this does seem like the biggest barrier to the sharing revolution. But those of us who are mediators, or who have taken classes in non-violent communication or powerful non-defensive communication, know the potential for any conflict situation to transform into something positive and constructive, so we feel confident that this barrier is entirely surmountable. 

While talking to Bioneers conference attendees, we also brainstormed ideas about ways to manage our differences, including:

• Hear people out. Even if you think they are “unpredictable, irrational, and uncontrollable,” they will probably be much easier to talk to if they feel they are being listened to.
• Remember that what we interpret as “unpredictable, irrational, and uncontrollable” may actually just come from a miscommunication.
• Remember that most people are well-intentioned. Most of the time if someone is acting “unpredictable, irrational, and uncontrollable,” it’s because they feel their needs aren’t being met.
• Use meeting facilitators to talk through difficult topic.
• Postpone discussion of issues that tend to trigger people, and start by finding common ground on other issues.

Of course, whole books could be written on this topic. For now I just wanted to share some of the thoughts we collected at Bioneers.

Post-its

In my next few blog posts, I’ll list some of the ideas that we brought home on post-it notes attached to out brainstorm boards. First, here are some of the ideas we collected in answer to the question: “How do we create STRONG COMMUNITY in our neighborhoods?”

* Remodel the suburbs
* Reclaim your suburban neighborhood!
* Set up a barter system, produce share, and clothing swap
* Neighborhood kiosks and bulletin boards
* See what City Repair did
* Draft ethics and agreements that the whole group creates and supports, creating a sense of ownership/accountability to the community
* Front yard and safe active common space
* Connect food and home. Agriculture where we live.
* Collaboration between landlords and tenants.
* Create unity among tenants of rental housing.
* Get out from under the hypnosis of consumerist society and realize a new world is possible.
* Foster multigenerational communities: children and elders together!
* Map the skill base of your neighobrs (find out who are the painters, builders, doctors, lawyers, gardeners, massage therapists, etc.)
* Regular annual food-based house parties
* It’s all about architecture
* Foster compassion toward yourself and extend it to others.
* Imagine you’re an ecosystem nurtured by “THANKS!!!!” from the future. (We thank Paul Horan of Young Ecosystem Scholars Support Services for sharing that piece of wisdom.)
* Bring together a community and ask: What are we going to do that is EXTRAORDINARY?
* Feast together!

Living Green

But the other day, I had tea with writer Jennifer Fosket who has co-opted the C phenomenon and created “The Ten Cs of Social Sustainability.” In her book, Living Green: Communities that Sustain, she and co-author Laura Mamo, both sociologists, look in depth at ecovillages, cohousing, affordable housing communities, and even single-family housing neighborhoods around the country and explore how those communities have made sustainability a way of life.

The questions they ask go far deeper than questions about how to recycle, use green energy, etc. They ask: What
motivates people to change their lifestyles? What factors affect the choices people make in their homes? How does the built environment affect the way people live? In what ways do people connect with each other and how does this contribute to the strength of the community? What helps communities to endure through time?

In many ways, these are the most crucial, yet most challenging questions to explore in building a more sustainable world. The Ten Cs of Sustainability came out of Fosket’s and Mamo’s observations in the communities they visited, and begin to answer the question of what makes a sustainable community successful. The Ten Cs are practices and considerations that could apply in any development or community. They include:

• Culture
• Context
• Citizenship
• Commitment
• Collaboration
• Connectedness
• Care
• Contact
• Commons
• Continuity

Anyone who is currently working to build community around living sustainably could benefit from reading Fosket’s and Mamo’s book. The communities described in each chapter provide inspiring examples, and the Ten C’s are a great framework around which to structure discussions about what it means to build community, connect with one another, collaborate in designing the community, and commit to long-term sustainably.

I wrote a piece for Shareable entitled The Four Degrees of Sharing, which I see as a sharing manifesto of sorts.  I give examples of the ways people are taking sharing to new levels, creating new organizations around sharing, establishing community-wide sharing programs, and cooperating in new and amazing ways.  Emily Doskow and I will regularly contribute articles and a Q&A column. If you have any sharing questions, please send them to us!

Shareable is sponsored by non-profit Tides Center.  The publisher, Neal Gorenflo, and editor, Jeremy Adam Smith, are social entrepreneurs and visionaries. They have created an amazing space to grow the sharing revolution!