We Refuse to Be Enemies: Community Spirit as an Antidote to Separation by Leila Dregger. In 2005 and 2007, the founder of Portugal's Tamera Peace Community led international peace workers through Israel and the West Bank. These pilgrimages touched hearts, minds, and lives, becoming examples of political action totally imbued with the spirit of community.

A World of Possibility: Communities and Global Transformation by Ethan Hughes and Sarah Wilcox-Hughes. Visits to the Ark of Lanza del Vasto, a 60-year-old community movement in France, and the Possibility Alliance, a one-year-old community in Missouri, raise the question: What could society look like if the communities movement chooses to become socially and politically involved at a new level?

Living the Wild: Ecological Citizenship and the Audubon Expedition Institute by Arin Trook. How do we, as a community of engaged citizens, learn to reflect the lessons of nature in our own lives? How do we learn to think and act with a vision over years and decades and centuries? And can we resist those deep, deep outdoor gear discounts on Buy Nothing Day?

Email, Politics, and Permaculture by members of the Eugene Permaculture Guild listserv. A Sustainability Quiz posted on the Eugene Permaculture Guild listserv unleashes a torrent of discussion, criticism, counter-criticism, and appreciation, illuminating local political issues, the interface of politics and ecology, and the politics of talking about politics over email.

Every Politician Should Live in a Commune by Nick Licata. After living in the PRAG House collective for 25 years before running for office, a Seattle City Councilor recommends that anyone entering politics consider experiencing intentional community first.

Searching for Republicans...And Other Elephants in the Community Living Room: A Politics in Community Survey by Chris Roth. An informal survey raises several compelling questions: Can communitarians learn to focus on larger-scale politics as much as on internal politics? Should they? What's proper political etiquette in community? And have you ever met a communitarian who is not left of center?

Politics at Twin Oaks: Distinguishing "Acceptable" from "Combustible" by Valerie Renwick-Porter. When it comes to talking about politics, some topics are like opening a can of worms while walking through a field of landmines.

Pulling Proposals Out of a Hat (or Some Orifice) by Laird Schaub. Our newest FIC blogger offers aids to efficient and energizing group-proposal generation which replace battling, coercion, and rigidity with curiosity, flexibility, and bridge-building.

Politics on Open Land by Ramón Sender Barayón. Who's in charge? If the residents at Morningstar and Wheelers Ranches had not needed to answer that question repeatedly for county officials, they might have been able to avoid reproducing the external world's hierarchies altogether. As it was, the best meetings were called by the cows.

The issue also includes letters, notes from the new Communities team, a Good Meetings panelist discussion of "Business and Well-Being," a publisher's note on "Whole Foods: Half a Solution?," articles on Los Angeles Eco-Village, Ecovillage Network of Canada, and SomerVille Ecovillage, a review of Diggers & Dreamers, REACH ads, and four pages memorializing community visionary and founder Kat Kinkade.

Please ask for Communities at your favorite local cafe or natural foods store, or subscribe today.

Winter and Spring issues: The theme for the winter issue (#141) is Scarcity and Abundance and the theme for the spring issue (#142) is Festivals and Gatherings. If you're interested in submitting articles, photos, or illustrations to future issues of Communities, please follow this link for details.

Contact the Communities editor.

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3 FIC Events - Missouri, San Francisco, Philadelphia
  Fall FIC Organizational Meeting, Rutledge MO
  Help FIC Events Team Plan for San Francisco, Philadelphia

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Fall FIC Organizational Meeting, Rutledge, Missouri
Join us this fall in the Heartland!

For the first time, we'll be having an FIC organizational meeting within walking distance of our main office in Rutledge MO. The meetings will take place at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Oct 24-26, 2008, and you're invited.

In addition to the chance to visit not one, not two, but three area communities--Dancing Rabbit, Sandhill Farm, and Red Earth Farms--you'll get to meet the people who pilot the FIC and find out what we're doing. Highlights of the agenda include:

• Refining the FIC Events program (where will we go next?)
• Report on the Communities magazine staff summit happening in Sept
• Set the production schedule for the next book edition of Communities Directory
• Craft the 2009 budget

Join us for up-tempo meetings amidst the gorgeous fall colors of the Midwest. We'll save you a seat in the circle and you can learn first-hand what's happening in the North American Communities Movement, and where you might fit in.

For details about attending the FIC meetings contact
  Jenny Upton
  jenny [-at-] ic.org
  434-361-1417

We hope to see you in Rutledge this fall.

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Help The FIC Events Team Plan For San Francisco, Philadelphia

Come behind the scenes of the FIC! The FIC events team is seeking a few enthusiastic (and preferably, but not necessarily, experienced) volunteers to help with our next events. If you live in the Philadelphia or San Francisco Bay areas, we're coming to your neighborhood in the next year!

If you would like to help make our upcoming events locally relevant and just plain more successful, please connect with
  Ma'ikwe, our events team coordinator
  (660) 883-5881
  maikwe [-at-] solspace.net

Thanks!
Ma'ikwe

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4 Community Bookshelf Title At Sale Price
  Featured by Catherine Nicosia, Community Bookshelf Manager

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Voices Of Cohousing (Video): Building Small Villages in the City
A Documentary by Matthieu Lietaert
2007; 59 minutes; DVD (NTSC); ISBN: 4-29940-04-1

The concept of cohousing took root in Denmark in the early 1970s and has led to the development of a number of communities in Europe during the past thirty years. This well-made documentary takes a look at several of these cohousing groups. In a series of fascinating interviews conducted in English, Matthieu Lietaert offers us a chance to meet some of the people who have chosen this lifestyle.

One of the things that I found engaging about the film is that the interview subjects include children, young adults, middle age folks and some very lively seniors. You get a range of opinion and experience that lends a depth to the information offered. There is also some nice footage of the communities visited. It is hard to believe that some of them are actually in urban areas, which offers food for thought for community designers and builders.

There is a lot of inspiration here for everyone who has some interest in cohousing. As the movement moves from occupying a small niche to being more of a presence in the United States, perhaps there will a similar film made about communities here. Dave Wann's book Reinventing Community is currently the best source for the stories of American cohousing members.

Regular price $22.00  Special price $18.00

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Shipping/handling on mail or phone orders
4.00 S/H for first item
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S/H prices shown are for Standard Mail postal delivery within US.

Community Bookshelf
RR 1 Box 156
Rutledge MO 63563
800-995-8342

Shop online for lower shipping rates, more shipping options, and more sale items.

Information, catalog, ordering
http://store.ic.org/bookshelf 

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5 How To Multiply Your Good Works For The Planet: Share!

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Q: How can I save energy and money around the house and also help the climate?
A: Switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Q: But how can I do more than that, and have more fun too?
A: Start an eating co-op! Host a sewing circle! Join a car-sharing group! Share stuff!

Many of us are examining our lives to find ways we can reduce our impact on the overheating, overfished, eroded, paved and poisoned planet. Of course there are lots of little things we each can do that will make a small change in our individual footprint, and those are good places to start. But we're realizing that we've reached a time when big changes are called for--and lots of them.

Are we up to it? Well, the good news is that many of the changes we need to make will also improve our quality of life. They don't mean more drudgery and boredom--they mean more companionship, support, freedom, and downright fun. I'm talking, of course, about joining our lives with other people: about community.

More and more people now understand that community and cooperation are a central part of the way forward to a healthier planet and a thriving society. Our communities are even getting positive coverage in places like USA Today and US News & World Report. Over 5,500 people are reading this enewsletter with you, and new communities are constantly appearing online at directory.ic.org--and in the beautiful new print edition of the Communities Directory.

Who talks to the media about community, distributes this enewsletter, and keeps improving that directory? The FIC does. Who refers callers to communities they might like, publishes Communities magazine, and hosts regular events offering the tools and skills needed for cooperative living? The FIC does.

Who needs your membership support in order to keep offering these things? The FIC does! Please join today, and keep multiplying your good works through sustaining the cooperative spirit. For more info on member benefits and to join online using our secure server go to

http://store.ic.org/membership

To request a membership form by mail, or to email, or to talk with a human,
contact us at:

RR 1 Box 156
Rutledge MO 63563
800-995-8342

To learn more about the mission of the organization visit
http://fic.ic.org

Many thanks from all of us in the Fellowship.

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