Eco-Village showcases green living

Earth Day is my favorite holiday. I’m part of the growing minority that doesn’t just recognize Earth Day on April 22, instead considering the entire month of April “Earth Month,” during which you too can celebrate with Environmental Student Assembly. I’m on the E-Board, so a shameless plug felt necessary.

In honor of Earth Month, I paid a visit to the Los Angeles Eco-Village, where every day is Earth Day. According to a handout I received on my tour, an Eco-Village is defined as a sustainable community that iterates human activities to the natural world harmlessly, while supporting healthy human development, among other criteria. The L.A. Eco-Village’s specific vision is “re-inventing how we live in the city.”

Forty residents live in the Los Angeles Eco-Village Intentional Community, which sets an example of sustainable living by minimizing environmental impact through various initiatives, including bikes, solar energy, compost and organic gardens. Though only 40 people reside in the official Intentional Community housing, an estimated 500 residents live within the Eco-Village’s two-block radius.

Due to typical Los Angeles parking problems, I was more than a few minutes late to the home’s weekly Saturday morning tour and feared an awkward entrance. Instead, I was warmly welcomed by both the bright paintings on the pavement leading up to the home and by Lois Arkin, the home’s founder and tour guide.

We were invited to peruse the items in the home’s “free” corner, which includes used cookware, clothes and books. Not the types to waste goods, the home’s residents place their unwanted items in the corner, and once a month, leftover goods are donated to Goodwill.

Overwhelmingly, my fellow tour attendees weren’t there simply because they were curious about the village, but with a specific purpose. Attendees were mostly on the younger side and included people working in relevant fields such as permaculture design, sustainable planning and food justice. A few were interested in moving into the intentional community, creating their own, dutifully taking notes on Lois’s commentary.

Arkin’s dream of forming an Intentional Community began in 1980; the community was officially founded in January 1993 in a retrofitted apartment complex that had been damaged by fire in the L.A. riots. For Arkin, this was part of the area’s draw — she wanted to prove that a strong community could be developed, even in a crime-ridden locale.

The first members of the L.A. Eco-Village Intentional Community built community with neighborhood residents through what Arkin called “positive gossip.” Instead of making conversation by talking about negative neighborhood occurrences, Intentional Community members spread positive news about neighbors.

Though it took 23 years for Arkin’s Intentional Community to come to fruition, she optimistically shared that she believes a similar community could be started in just a few years.

The community’s goals and practices are split into three categories: social, ecological and economic. Socially, all major decisions are made at weekly community meetings, and members eat vegetarian/vegan meals together a few times a week. If residents take issue with each other, they’re sent to the “Conflict Resolution Team.”

Many economic initiatives have spurred off the Eco-Village, such as the Food Lobby food cooperative and the Community Land Trust, a nonprofit that owns land under three neighborhood buildings.

Of course, the Eco-Village is known for its ecological initiatives. Residents plant gardens, compost their food waste, rely primarily on bikes for transportation and tend to bees and chickens. The community even has its own grey-water (recycled water) system.

In order to ensure that members are dedicated to the community’s cause of demonstrating sustainable living, becoming a community member is an extensive, multi-month process.

As a result, the community is full of members dedicated to outreach. Laura Allen, who cofound-ed the Greywater Action network, frequently leads workshops on greywater systems, and recently wrote a guide book, “The Water Wise Home.” A group of other members founded The Bicycle Kitchen, now a successful nonprofit that repairs bicycles.

As much as I love environmental organizations, I usually think of them as niche groups; the problem with environmentally conscious groups is that they’re only appealing to people who already care about the environment, so they lack outreach potential.

The Eco-Village’s commitment to outreach and increasing environmental awareness is obvious, however. The home frequently houses demonstrations and talks, and even developed a learning garden for local schools.

These initiatives prove that the Eco-Village isn’t an exclusive environmentally conscious community, but an inclusive, educational space for the surrounding neighborhood. Sustainable development is development that can be continued through the indefinite future, and by sharing their tips with local residents, the Eco-Village ensures that their work will continue.

Erin Rode is a freshman majoring in environmental engineering and print and digital journalism. Her column, “The Rode Less Traveled,” runs Thursdays.