Eco Sustainability... Is It For You?

Have you ever thought about living in an ecovillage? It would mean raising your own food, making your own clothing, and using renewable energy. There are many small ecovillages all over the United States. Each of these communities make their own impact on the environment. However, a society can't become ecologically sustained by itself. It takes a "cultural revolution" to truly create a sustained environment.

Many ecovillages like Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage have their own culture. According to PlanetSave.com, the community within Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage "operates on consensus decision-making". They have developed their own government in which they rely on a consensus rather than a majority rule. They also value "non-violent communication" or NVC. NVC is based on compassion and clarity rather than criticisms and judgments.
Communities like Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage are perfect examples of an ecologically sustained community. The one thing to remember about these villages though, is that each of them have their own culture. According to PlanetSave.com, "Sustainability is defined as the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely." If you apply sustainability to the environment, it translates to an environment that can exist indefinitely. If a community can develop its own culture, it is more likely to be sustainable.

If you look at American society, it is obvious that the "community" is not sustainable. We feed off of other countries and the environment in order to survive. Having a job is based on the need, not the want to have one. In almost all industries, competition is the best way to get ahead of the game. In order to "fix" American society, we're going to have to go through a radical cultural change. "Ecological sustainability requires cultural sustainability. And vice versa. They go hand in hand. They support one another. To more successfully achieve sustainability, a cultural revolution is required" (PlanetSave.com).