RETURN TO LOCAL SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
Sustainable & Intentional Community
Until recently the general trend in community development has been to
'escape' from the limitations of narrow village life and to embrace the free and
cosmopolitan lifestyle of the cities. To go from local life and a local outlook
to a cosmopolitan life and a global outlook. Both of these contrasts have their
critical limitations and neither of them, in isolation, is completely desirable.
In the strong push towards social globalisation it is becoming increasingly
evident that a major casualty is the local community. Not any particular local
community, but all local communities. When local economies collapse, under the
competitive pressure of global enterprise, so the social infrastructure also
collapses. It is a truism to say that everybody lives somewhere, however global
and liberated they may feel, and so wherever one lives that somewhere is
somewhere local. If the fabric of the local community collapses under the
pressure of globalisation then, in the long run, everyone suffers, no matter who
they are.
The movement towards intentional and sustainable community is a conscious attempt by an increasing number of people worldwide to square the circle and reconcile the competing tension between the twin demands of individual liberty and community obligation. This process invariably includes an emphasis on personal inner-spiritual development and on developing a sustainable economic local economy, with its attendant due regard for the environment. Many communities have an emphasis, (personal development, political views, therapeutic, environmental, etc). The kind of social relations also differ greatly. All have one thing in common, namely a belief that a better life and a better world are only possible if individuals begin to take active responsibility not only for their own well-being but also for that of the wider community.
For more information on Sustainable and Intentional Communities please explore the links below.
Books on
Sustainable Community
http://www.ecovillages.org/scotland/scns/
http://www.tlio.demon.co.uk/tinkers.htm
http://www.gaia.org/about/guide-gen-start.asp
http://www.ecovillages.org/uk/network/
http://antenna.nl/eyfa/ecotopia.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/castaway2000/
http://www.tnews.com/ecotopia/
the slow city movement