Preamble:
Each organization in this list supports a community or regional approach to combining the values of social, economic, and ecological well-being. The subcategories are listed in order of increasing geographic scale, from neighborhoods to ecosystems. "Eco-villages and Co-housing," also known as intentional communities, represent the smallest scale. At the scale of the city, "Urban Sustainability" refers to active work to eliminate the effects of the symbiotic relationship between environmental degradation and inequality. In the social realm, sustainability seeks to build participation and co-operation across lines of race, class, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Next, organizations in the "Conservation Economy" sections advocate restructuring economic activities so that high value is placed on social equity, environmental quality, and sustainability. The "Ecosystem Management" organizations are characterized by collaborative decision-making around ecosystem, not political, boundaries. Finally, the organizations in the "Ecological and Civic Literacy" section focus on the interplay between human society environmental awareness and can operate at any geographic scale. The premise is that informed and empowered citizens will be better stewards of the environment.
These organizations are either grassroots groups or directly support grassroots groups or local efforts. The organizations listed are primarily located in the United States and serve as examples of general trends.
List of Domains and Topics:
1. Community and Regional Planning
Eco-villages and Co-housing
Urban Sustainability
Conservation Economy
Ecosystem Management
Ecological and Civic Literacy
1.
Global Ecovillage Network
Ecovillage Training Center at The
Farm
(Summertown, TN)
"The Global Ecovillage Network
(GEN) is a grassroots non-profit organization that links together a highly
diverse worldwide movement of autonomous ecovillages and related projects.
GEN's main aim is to support and encourage the evolution of sustainable
settlements across the world through the following: Internal and External
Communications services, facilitating information exchange and flow about
ecovillages and demonstration sites, networking and project coordination
in fields related to sustainable settlements, and global cooperation/partnerships
(UN Best Practices, EU Phare, EYFA, Ecosoc). As defined by the GEN, an
ecovillage is an urban or rural community whose members try to provide
a high quality lifestyle without taking more from the Earth than they give
back. Ecovillages attempt to integrate a supportive social environment
with a low-impact way of life. To achieve these aims, ecovillages typically
build on various combinations of three dimensions: community, ecology and
spirituality."
2.
Manzanita Village
(Prescott, AZ)
"Manzanita Village is a resident
developed, cooperative neighborhood, modeled after the cohousing communities
of Denmark. Residents take an active part in planning and designing
our own village. We are united by mutual desires to know our neighbors,
live an environmentally friendly lifestyle and enjoy a safe, friendly atmosphere
for ourselves and our families. We are creating our own diverse community,
balancing group harmony with individual growth and following the principles
of ecological soundness, social awareness, and economic viability."
3. Earthhaven
(Black Mountain, NC)
"We are the members and pioneers of a
planned Permaculture ecovillage, actively engaged in building sacred community,
supporting personal empowerment, and catalyzing cultural transformation. We
want our lives to express how much we honor Nature's sacredness and the oneness
of all life.We share a vision of a community with a vital, diversified spirituality,
healthy social relations, sustainable ecological systems, and a low maintenance/high
satisfaction lifestyle. We are concerned with the health and future of the Earth
and the welfare of all living beings, and we look forward to sharing what we
learn in useful, replicable ways, with the world at large."
4.
Ecovillage of Loudoun County, Virginia
"Mission EcoVillage of Loudoun County
combines the cohousing ideal of people living together in community with the
ecovillage ideal of people living in harmony with Earth and its inhabitants.
We aim to restore nature and expand human potential by creating a lifestyle
that nurtures the human spirit and offers hope for future generations."
They value "A simple lifestyle which incorporates respect, work, open communication,
humor, free inquiry, fun, and creative expression that nurtures the human spirit
and A wise and sustainable society that restores biodiversity and integrates
the community with nature."
5.
Ecovillage at Burdautien, Ireland
"The Ecovillage at Burdautien is a community
initiative to create a model of a socially, economically, and environmentally
sustainable human settlement. Objectives: Land Stewardship, Human Scale Economy,
Enabling Small Business, Rebuilding Community, Reduced Resource Use, Sustainable
Technologies, and Improved Quality of Life."
6. Intentional Communities
(Ann Arbor, MI)
"Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing, residential
land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and other
related projects and dreams... This Web site serves the growing communities
movement. We provide important information and access to crucial resources for
seekers of community, existing and forming communities, and other friends of
community."
7. Caravana Arcoiris para la Paz
(Corcega Laureles Medellin, Colombia)
"La Caravana is an international, non-profit, mobile ecovillage, working
since 1996 in Central and South America. Its mission is to bring grassroots
ecological awareness and education to the Americas."
8. The Cohousing Network (TCN)
(Boulder, CO)
"The Cohousing Network is an organization whose purpose is to promote and
encourage the cohousing concept, support both individuals and groups in creating
communities, provide assistance to completed groups for improving their systems
for living together in community, and provide networking opportunities for those
involved or interested in cohousing."
9. The CoHousing Company - McCamant &
Durrett Architects
(Berkeley, CA)
"The CoHousing Company is an architectureand development firm that creates
communities that cluster private homes around extensive common facilities.
The firm works with resident groups and developers in the areas of group formation
and facilitation, site search and acquisition, land development and architectural
design, project management and finance."
1. CEDS (Community & Environmental Defense
Services)
(Owings Mills, MD)
This is where to go if you are working locally against unsustainable development.
They will give you advice on how to run a grassroots campaign and on where to
find legal and other professional help.
"Our mission is to help people defend their community and environment from the impact of poorly planned land development activities. These activities may include housing projects, shopping centers, highways, landfills, mining, and so on. We can help you identify and document how the project may impact your interests. We can then help you get the volunteers, funds, facts, political clout, and professional services needed to ensure that the project is not built until all impacts are resolved."
2. Smart Growth America
(Washington, DC)
"A nationwide coalition promoting growth that protects farmland and open
space, revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable, and makes communities
more livable."
3. American Farmland Trust
(Washington, DC)
Working nationwide to protect farmland from urban sprawl -- by working with
individual farmers and communities, and by promoting better public policies
at the local, state and federal level, and by educating the public. Also
encourages farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices.
4. 1000 Friends of Oregon
(Portland, OR)
This group lobbied to give Oregon the country's most effective land-use planning
laws, which require every city and town in the state to create an Urban Growth
Boundary. It is now working on integrated land-use, transportation and air quality
planning.
5. Environmental Justice Resource Center
(Atlanta, GA)
Based in Clark Atlanta University, this group works against sprawl and for environmental
justice in the Atlanta, GA, area, and it publishes studies and books about sprawl
in Atlanta.
6. GreenBelt Alliance
(Offices in San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco, Walnut Creek, San Jose, and
Santa Rosa)
Protects open space in the nine county San Francisco Bay Area. This group has
protected threatened lands and helped convince a number of local governments
to implement urban growth boundaries. It also actively promotes infill development
in already urbanized areas through its Housing Endorsement Program.
7. Committee for Green Foothills
(Palo Alto, CA)
Founded by author Wallace Stegner, this group based in Palo Alto, CA, has been
fighting sprawl for more than 30 years. It is currently working to promote a
sensible land use plan for Stanford University and continuing to work against
sprawl development on the San Mateo coastine, south of San Francisco.
8. PNA
The mission of PNA is to:
-protect the environment
-preserve the rural/residential character, and
-promote livable communities in the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsulas.
9. Sustainable Loudoun Network
(Leesburg, VA)
"A citizens' group dedicated to ensuring that any development in
Loudoun County, VA is fiscally, environmentally, and socially responsible."
The group works to keep "local officials accountable and to fight
uncontrolled growth that causes soaring taxes, declining home values, overcrowded
schools and road, and loss of Loudoun's beauty and quality of life."
10. California Center for Land Recycling
(San Francisco, CA)
(CCLR or "see-clear") is a nonprofit organization "focused on creating
sustainable communities by encouraging and facilitating land recycling
to revitalize urban areas, discourage urban sprawl, and conserve greenspace.
CCLR focuses on sites that are idle, abandoned, underutilized, or contaminated
(or perceived to be contaminated), known as 'brownfields'."
11. The Dismantlement
Website
(no office location given)
Cities that have been heralded for their sustainable development practices.
They include Curitiba, Brazil; Toronto, Canada; Milton Keynes, England;
Scheidam, Holland; and Davis, California, USA.
12. Results - Atlanta
(Atlanta, GA)
"Is a non-profit, grassroots citizen's lobby that identifies sustainable
solutions to the problems of hunger and poverty, in our world and in the
U.S., and works to generate the resources necessary to make those solutions
succeed. The Atlanta group is one of more than 80 RESULTS groups
around the U.S. working together to ensure that our government makes ending
hunger and poverty a priority on the nation's agenda. We accomplish this
by educating ourselves on the issues and taking actions such as letter-writing,
meeting with members of Congress and generating editorials that support
the issues."
13. Atlanta Neighborhood Development
Partnership
(Atlanta, GA)
"The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. (ANDP) is
a housing development catalyst created to rebuild neighborhoods where people
can sustain full, safe, and secure lives. ANDP will continue to work toward
revitalizing Atlanta's forgotten neighborhoods by building relationships,
identifying and developing resources and collaborating with our many friends
and partners who share our vision of developing healthy, viable neighborhoods
throughout metro Atlanta."
1. Ecotrust
(Portland, OR)
"Ecotrust was created in 1991 by a small group of diverse people
with the goal of fostering the development of a conservation economy. Our
work is predicated on the notion, gaining an ever wider currency, that
economic and ecological systems are mutually interdependent. To this formulation
Ecotrust and others have sought to add a third "e" - social equity - to
ensure that conservation-based development has positive benefits for all
members of the communities in which we work, particularly those who have
been economically marginalized."
2. Northwest Environment Watch
(Seattle, WA)
"Northwest Environment Watch is a non-profit organization that aims
to foster a sustainable economy and way of life in the Pacific Northwest,
a bioregion defined by the watersheds of rivers flowing through North America's
temperate rainforest zone."
3. Planet Drum
(San Francisco, CA)
"Planet Drum was founded in 1973 to provide an effective grassroots
approach to ecology that emphasizes sustainability, community self-determination
and regional self-reliance. Planet Drum helps start new bioregional groups
and encourages local organizations and individuals to find ways to live
within the natural confines of bioregions."
1. Rogue Institute for Ecology
and Economy
(Ashland, OR)
"In 1990 the Rogue Institute for Ecology and Economy was founded
on the belief that our well-being is dependent on vibrant, healthy environments
and vibrant, healthy communities. Although society often acts as if these
are opposing demands, we believe that the futures of our environment, communites
and workforce are interdependent. The Rogue Institute (RIEE) is in the
process of executing a wide range of innovative programs to strengthen
these relationships."
2. Sonoran Institute
(Tucson, AZ and Bozeman, MT)
"Established in 1991, the Sonoran Institute is a tax-exempt organization
dedicated to promoting community-based strategies that preserve the ecological
integrity of protected lands and at the same time meet the economic aspirations
of adjoining landowners and communities. Underlying the Institute's mission
is the conviction that community-driven and inclusive approaches to conservation
produce the most effective results. We are committed to testing a wide
range of approaches to community-based conservation, evaluating the results,
and adapting our approaches based on these real experiences. We also are
committed to widely disseminating our findings and the tools we develop."
3. Applegate Partnership
(Applegate, OR)
"The Applegate Partnership is a community-based project involving
industry, conservation groups, natural resource agencies, and residents
cooperating to encourage and facilitate the use of natural resource principles
that promote ecosystem health and diversity. Through community involvement
and education, this partnership supports management of all land within
the watershed in a manner that sustains natural resources and that will,
in turn, contribute to economic and community stability within the Applegate
Valley."
4. Quincy Library Group
(Northeastern California counties of Lassen, Plumas, and Sierra)
"In late 1992 a timber industry forester, a county supervisor, and
an environmental attorney began private discussions, recognizing that the
"timber wars" damaged everybody and served nobody's true interest. These
discussions led to the development of the Quincy Library Group, which stabilized
at about 30 members on the steering committee. The Quincy Library Group
has approached the inter-dependent goals of forest health and community
stability from these different angles, because it believes that sustainable
resource management must have a sound technical foundation, a broad political
base, and strong local participation."
5. Florida Conflict Resolution
Consortium
(Four regional offices covering Florida: Tallahassee, Orlando, Bonita
Springs, and Boca Raton)
"The Consortium represents the State of Florida's commitment to
finding productive and cost-effective solutions to public disputes. Since
1987, the Florida State University based Consortium, with the support of
the Florida Legislature, has taken a leadership role in promoting the informed
use of consensus building and alternative dispute resolution to meet the
growing demand for better and more durable solutions to Florida's public
problems. The Consortium, in partnership with other dispute resolution
professionals and organizations, assists public and private interests in
designing and securing appropriate dispute resolution and consensus building
services for public issues throughout Florida."
6. McKenzie Watershed Council
(Springfield, OR)
"The McKenzie Watershed Council represents key interests and stakeholders
in the watershed, ensuring a comprehensive look at watershed issues from
the perspectives of its 20 partners from 19 different agencies and organizations.
The majority (15) of the Council partners are local citizens who represent
the general public. Of these local citizens, eight partners are from private
interests and seven are local elected officials. The remaining six partners
are agency representatives."
1. Earth Force: Youth for a Change!
(Alexandria, VA)
"The creation of Earth Force in 1994 by The Pew Charitable Trusts
recognized two emerging national trends: young people's overwhelming desire
to act on behalf of the environment and their desire to help their communities
through voluntary service. Through Earth Force, youth discover and implement
lasting solutions to environmental issues in their community. In the process
they develop life-long habits of active citizenship and environmental stewardship.
Educators turn to Earth Force for innovative tools to engage young people
in community problem solving."
2. Illinois EcoWatch
Network
(Six regional offices in Illinois: Oregon, Oakton, Heartland, Lewis
& Clark, Quincy, and Marion)
"Help keep an eye on the environment. Become a Citizen Scientist
with the Illinois EcoWatch Network. Through programs such as RiverWatch,
ForestWatch, PrairieWatch, WetlandWatch, and UrbanWatch, adult volunteers,
high school science teachers, and students monitor rivers, prairies and
more."
Sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
3. DuPage Volunteer Stewards
(DuPage County, Illinois)
"We are a group of individuals committed to preserving the native
plants and animals of DuPage County, Illinois, in healthy, viable ecosystems.
We are volunteers that come from many walks of life and backgrounds. What
we all have in common is a love for our natural areas and wild things.
We are part of the Volunteer Stewardship Network (VSN) of The Nature Conservancy.
We work in partnership with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County
and other local landowners, to restore prairies, woodlands, and wetlands
to ecological health."
4. High Country News
(Paonia, CO)
"High Country News on the web is sponsored by readers. HCN is a
non-profit, every-other-week Western newspaper dedicated to creating what
Wallace Stegner called 'a society to match the scenery.'"
6. The Orion Society
(Great Barrington, MA)
"The Orion Society is an award-winning publisher, an environmental
education organization, and a communications and support network for grassroots
environmental and community organizations across North America."
Their mission is: "To heal the fractured relationship between people
and nature by undertaking education programs that integrate all aspects
of the relationship: the physically immediate, the analytical and scientific,
the inspirational and creative. To support changes in ethics and action
at the local level that will offer genuine solutions to the global environmental
crisis. To cultivate a generation of citizen-leaders whose wisdom is grounded
in and guided by nature literacy."
7. International School of Curitiba
(Curitiba, Brazil)
Mission: "To prepare young people for a fulfilling life in a rapidly
changing world by challenging them to develop the capability to understand,
enjoy and positively impact the physical, social, political, intellectual,
artistic, ethical, and spiritual aspects of their environment. The International
School of Curitiba was founded in 1959. It is a private, non-sectarian,
co-educational institution enrolling students from Nursery through Grade
12. The school is legally owned and operated by the Associacao da Escola
Internacional de Curitiba. The Association is a non-profit organization
composed of parents of students enrolled in the school and is democratically
run through an elected seven parent Board of Directors. The school has
a very active Parent-Teacher Organization."