Eco-Building

For reasons both practical and ideological, intentional community has long been a hotbed of eco-building activity—optimizing available resources while enriching participants’ relationships to self, others, and nature.

In Communities’ “Eco-Building” issue (Summer 2018, #179), authors share their eco-building journeys, ranging from nearly-free stick-framed shelters to high-end green developments.

They examine how to assess whether a building is actually “eco,” hard choices they’ve needed to make, the benefits and challenges of taking on eco-building projects in community, or of retrofitting vs. building new, and much more. We hope you’ll draw useful information, inspiration, and insight from their stories.

To purchase a print copy of this issue, contact Communities new home at GEN-US.

Articles in “Eco-Building”

• Notes from the Editor—Building for the Future by Chris Roth
• Adventures of the Mini Moon: Realities of building your own earthen house with reused materials and volunteer labor by Jenny Leis
• Building Collectively Is Greener, Easier, and Cheaper by Jenny Pickerill
• Harmonious Homemade Habitat by Laura Harris
• Building in an Ecovillage: Lessons Learned by Tony “Papa Bear” Barrett
• Ionia’s Barn Project: Where Community and Natural Building Meet by Eliza Eller
• Building with Respect by Alexis Zeigler
• Eco-Building at the Ecovillage (I Have Built a Home) by Arjuna da Silva
• Good Neighbours with Earth: Using natural building materials in community-scale construction by Robin Allison
• A High-Performance Building for Cohousing: From Vision to Move-In by Michael Mariano
• From Blight to Beautiful: Renovating an Urban House By and For Community by Lindsay Speer
• A Life Recycled by Helen Iles
• A Family Builds its Breeze Home in Paradise by Stefano Quarta
• An Ax, a Rope, and Teamwork: Build a Simple A-Frame Shelter for Under $100 by Murphy Robinson
• The Concrete Thinking of Hobbits by Dan Schultz
• Rebuilding Remote Island Communities, One Adobe Cottage at a Time by Philip Mirkin
• Eco-Design for Behavior Change by Cheryl Gladu
• Learning to Say “ECO-BUILD” in Your Own Vernacular—Or, What Is Eco-Building, and How Do You Know You’re Doing It Right? by Oliver Ogden
• Eco-Energy at Heartwood Cohousing by Richard Grossman and the Common Facilities Team of Heartwood Cohousing
• Remembering Zendik: Mating in Captivity by Chris Roth