| Sustainable Body | Sustainable Business |
| Sustainable Community | Sustainable Planet |
Solutions
Sustainable Communities
Communities are more than just an aggregations of streets and housing units.
Communities possess a certain dynamism... the synergy which comes from many individuals directing energy toward a common good.
Unfortunately, what we are building today across America and, increasingly, the rest of the world, cannot be classified as communities. Rather, they are places convenient for exploitation. They may offer refuge from an increasingly crazy world, but they offer no alternative vision for those things people abhor about the world.
A few of the most direct threats to true "communities" include:
Sustainable communities offer dynamism, synergy and a reasonable chance for future generations to enjoy some of the comforts we enjoy today.
Sources of sustainable economic activity in a community should include:
- Constructing and maintaining housing: Exploring alternatives to single-family homes, such as intergenerational housing, co-housing, dorms and cooperative enterprises..
- Growing food: Supporting local farmers, building and conserving soil, composting, and encouraging local agricultural enterprises and community gardens.
- Developing and maintaining public spaces: Community gardens and community forests, parks, greenbelts, sports fields, paved and unpaved bike paths, rivers and beaches
- Modern utilities: Waste removal, recycling, composting, solar power... how about a long distance and mobile phone company which, instead of hiring telemarketers to call you during dinner, donates a percentage of its profits to charity?
- Drug policy: Some drug policies cost more, yield less, and degrade our communities.