Communities Magazine — Winter 2016 Social Permaculture Latest Issue in Print (and Digital) Free Articles Published Online Social Permaculture—Issue #173 Our latest Communities issue on Social Permaculture reached subscribers last month. If you haven’t seen it yet, get a copy by subscribing or ordering a sample now! Our Winter issue explores both Social Permaculture and the interface… More…
Vegvisits Is An Airbnb Alternative for Vegans and Vegetarians
Over the past few years, peer-to-peer homesharing platforms have been making it easier to connect with like-minded people when you travel. While Airbnb is still the most well-known platform, it’s no longer your only option. You can choose from homesharing sites specifically intended for elderly travelers, LGBT guests, eco-friendly lodgings, and more. There are even sites… More…
Nine Traditions that Draw Us Together: How a Small Town Nurtures Community
The art of creating community spirit within mainstream towns and neighborhoods has much potential to change the world for the better.… More…
Communities Directory book now cheaper!
Community Bookstore Special Communities Directory Price Drop by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Communities Directory print book Over 600 pages, 8 1/2 x 11 August 2016, published by FIC $30―was $35 Wow! The response to our new Communities Directory has been enormous. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this essential resource we… More…
An App Called Teem Helps You Designate Tasks Within Your Community
One of the challenges of living in a community with lots of new residents or guests is getting everyone oriented to the tasks and projects at hand. When I lived at Foster Village, a 10-person community in Portland, Oregon, we had a membership committee in charge of welcoming new residents, and a liaison assigned to… More…
Your Community Could Win Up to £25,000 For Regenerative Projects
Is your community working on a project that supports “environmental and social regeneration”? The Lush natural cosmetics company is accepting applicants for its 2017 Lush Spring Prize, which will award up to £200,000 to eco-communities and permaculture projects around the world. According to its website, “For many years, environmental campaigners have focused on the idea of sustainability – that… More…
ThePOOSH Connects Volunteers With Natural Building Projects
Lots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board. But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects people interested in natural and sustainable building projects?… More…
See What’s Free at FIC Bookstore
Community Bookstore Feature Free Downloadable Resources at the FIC Bookstore by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Free Downloadables Our primary aim at the FIC Bookstore is to get essential information about community and cooperation to you, our readers. Sales help us keep the bookstore going, but we want our resources to be accessible too. Have… More…
Finding Balance of Public and Private in Community
The erosion of the commons by private interests is a disaster for modern human settlements; a community without shared spaces is barely a community at all.… More…
MTV Features Intentional Community on “True Life: I’m Joining A Commune”
A recent episode of MTV’s “True Life” features two stories about community living. In one, 23-year-old Took Edalow attempts to start a commune with several friends on Staten Island. Another follows Emet, 26, as he leaves home and moves into a community called the Garden of Eden in Arlington, Texas. Edalow is an artist with years… More…
Where do we find Collective Courage?
Community Bookstore Special Collective Courage by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Collective Courage A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought & Practice 328 pages; paperback; 2014 By Jessica Gordon Nembhard $40 Cooperative culture has a deep, rich history that has often been omitted from the history books. Particularly the union of cooperative groups and… More…
Boulder’s New Co-op Ordinance is a Victory for Intentional Communities
“Do you want a Picklebric next to you?” asked an alarmed op-ed in the Daily Camera last summer. Residents of a Boulder, Colorado, neighborhood were clashing with members of the Picklebric co-op over the city’s occupancy laws. As of January, the answer is “Yes.” The Boulder City Council voted 7-2 to pass an ordinance that will allow up… More…
Kozeny Communitarian Award seeks nominations
Nominations for the 2018 Kozeny Communitarian Award by Sky Blue, FIC Executive Director The Fellowship for Intentional Community announces that nominations are now open―Jan 1 to April 1―for the 2018 Kozeny Communitarian Award. The award honors the indomitable spirit of Geoph Kozeny, who devoted his adult life to creating community in the world. Geoph was integrally involved… More…
Bridge Meadows Brings Foster Children Into Intentional Community
For many intentional communities and cohousing projects, being “intergenerational” is a core value and long-term goal. Parents envision themselves raising children with the support of other community members. Elderly residents want to share meals and social activities in their old age. But for some families – such as foster children and their adoptive parents –… More…
Public vs. Private: Group Dilemma Laid Bare!
For some neighbors, the logical leap from “glimpse of skin” to “nudist colony” is a surprisingly short one to make.
… More…
Play The Food Forest Card Game and Help Plant 1,000s of Trees
Last year, permaculture educator Karl Treen released the Food Forest card deck, following a successful fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. Have you played it yet? We have, and it’s available for purchase at the FIC’s online bookstore for $25. The game is a great learning experience for kids and adults alike, allowing players to visualize how plants and animals relate… More…
Social Permaculture – Communities Winter Issue
Communities Magazine — Winter 2016 Social Permaculture Latest Issue in Print (and Digital) Free Articles Published Online Social Permaculture—Issue #173 Our latest Communities issue on Social Permacultre reached subscribers last month. If you haven’t seen it yet, get a copy by subscribing or ordering a sample now! Our Winter issue explores both Social Permaculture and the interface… More…
Sky Blue Featured on Utopian Realities Podcast
Last month, FIC’s Executive Director, Sky Blue, was featured on the Utopian Realities podcast at BlockTalkRadio. In a wide-ranging interview, Sky shares his insights into cooperative culture, intentional living, sustainability, and more. Sky has decades of experience in the intentional community movement. He’s lived in several different types of communities, including Twin Oaks, a 50-year-old income-sharing commune in Virginia,… More…
2017: A Year to Organize
Community Bookstore 2017: A Year to Organize by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Happy New Year, friends! Have you noticed 2017 is a “1” year, numerologically speaking? 2+0+1+7=10, or 1. And because 2016 was a 9 year, we have completed a cycle and returned to the beginning. A new chapter. A new opportunity. The start… More…
Interactive Documentary “One Shared House” Packs a Punch
It’s not often that we hear the story of an intentional community told by someone who grew up in one. And it’s even less common for that story to be told through a beautifully designed 10-minute interactive documentary. At OneSharedHouse.com, Irene Pereyra tells the story of Kollontai, a cohousing experiment in Amsterdam in the 1980s.… More…
Ecosexuality: Embracing a Force of Nature
Only when we create a container that is loving enough and strong enough to embrace the erotic, do we create a container that is loving enough and strong enough to embrace all of Life itself. … More…
The P6 Project Uses the Principles of Cooperatives to Promote Local Business
This is a guest post by Erin Hancock of the Co-operative Management Education program at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. **** Graduates of “Cooperative MBA” work on P6 project to create equitable relationships between farms and retailers If you’re familiar with the principles of cooperative organizations, you may know that Principle Six is… More…
Take Part In The People’s State of the Union This January
Beginning in 2015, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has led a project called the People’s State of the Union, to coincide with the president’s annual address to the nation. Taking the perspective that democracy is “a conversation, not a monologue,” the PSOTU is a chance for communities to come together and share the hopes and challenges… More…
Taking the Systems View: climate change as a driver of SDG implementation
This is a guest post by Dr. Daniel Christian Wahl, Head of Innovation at Gaia Education, which is based out of Findhorn Ecovillage. Once the doors closed on yet another United Nations climate gathering – this time in Marrakech – Paula Caballero, director of the climate program at the World Resource Institute, summed up a growing insight… More…
Five Tools to Help Groups Thrive
A clearly articulated evolutionary purpose, a welcoming of the whole self, and governance through self-management are keys to collective success.… More…
Digital Security For Your Intentional Community
For some high-profile communities, visibility is a good thing. The Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri, depends on workshops and other business endeavors to support itself. Many communities maintain a social media presence as a way to attract new members and promote co-operative living on a global scale. But some communities have good reason for wanting to… More…
The world, and the FIC, need you
The world, and the FIC, need you! Dear Friends, Is it just me, or is the world going a little more crazy than usual? Does it seem like more people than usual are extra busy, stressed out, or overwhelmed? Wherever you land on the spectrum, no one seems to think humanity’s current situation is tenable.… More…
This Year, We’ll Need Community More Than Ever
I woke up on Election Day ready to get the whole thing over with. My life was already in a state of transition: the eco-village I’d lived in for two years was on the of cusp of disbanding. The new collective house I was moving into into had a lot of things to get in order:… More…
Best of Communities III. Leadership, Power and Membership
Community Bookstore Special Best of Communities ― The Cream of Our Crop Leadership, Power, and Membership by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Best of Communities Volume III Leadership, Power, and Membership A special selection of articles from Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture $15 in print; $10 in digital The Fellowship for Intentional Community is pleased to… More…
How This Toronto Nonprofit Encourages Collaborative Consumption
For years, the news media has been looking to Silicon Valley as the epicenter of the new “sharing economy.” Maybe it should be looking to Toronto instead. Over the past few years, the Institute for a Resource Based Economy has been expanding the concept of collaborative consumption throughout the city, helping Ontarians reduce waste and make the… More…
We happily link to the following organizations, all of whom share our strong commitment to promoting community and a more cooperative world:
