Next General Meeting: 7/29 at 7:30pm

Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 by Styna Sol☀️

EVNJ Meeting Flyer 7/29/23

New and former members welcome!

We are excited to re-energize our efforts and re-start regular meetings, potlucks, and educational events. We are hosting this low-key event to get to know one another better and build some momentum!

In this meeting we will..

  • Introduce ourselves and get to know fellow communitarians
  • Hear updates on developing communities in the region
  • Plan for an in-person meeting in July
  • Discuss our plans for a trip to Ecovillage at Ithaca in August

Please RSVP via Meetup to receive the Zoom link

https://www.meetup.com/ecovillage-new-jersey-meetup/events/294308856/

Questions?
Email us at evnj@ecovillagenj.org

Seeking online community?
Join our facebook group: EVNJ Community Connections
https://www.facebook.com/groups/640820611223552

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External Event: Sustainable Living Empowerment Conference

Posted on Friday, June 16, 2023 by Styna Sol☀️

Ecovillage New Jersey sees itself as a regional clearinghouse for tools, resources and happenings related to sustainability, cooperative culture, and community living. To that effect, we promote local events that help us to network with and learn from others who share like values.

Check out this virtual conference coming up on June 22:

Please join Newark Science and Sustainability virtually for their 11th annual Sustainable Living Empowerment Conference:

Branching Communities together through Sustainability

Hosted by moderators Tobias A. Fox and Jaqueleen Bido, the conference will feature a panel of presenters discussing:

  • Creating a Sustainable Food Economy
  • NJ’s Transition to Clean Energy
  • Food Waste Recycling
  • Local Environmental Advocacy

You will hear from

  • Sandra Meola Bodner of Energy Foundation
  • Isaiah Greene of Green Bucket Compost
  • Sarah Mack of the Lesniak Institute for American Leadership
  • Jonathan Wetstein of Roots to Prevention

Registration is FREE at the following link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/branching-communities-together-through-sustainability-tickets-628840156837

For more information about Newark SAS, click here:
https://www.sasglocal.com/

To contact the event organizer, reach out to :
tobiasfox1@gmail.com

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Our visit to Altair

Posted on Sunday, May 21, 2023 by Jonathan Cloud

We had an excellent afternoon with the members of Altair Ecovillage on May 20th! We enjoyed getting to know the land and getting to know one another. We look forward to future social events with the EVNJ membership

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Spring Reemergence Zoom Call

Posted on Friday, May 5, 2023 by Styna Sol☀️
After a long pandemic hiatus, we are back and excited to build together!
On the agenda for Sunday 5/21:
– Hello & Introductions
– Report back from 5/20 Altair Meet & Greet and progress update
– Progress update on Towaco site
– Envisioning the future of EVNJ
– EVNJ Survey! What are your ideas & desires for EVNJ?
– New FB group
Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZIufuCorDMqGNcGqbtDtR35ERQ0h…
The pandemic unfortunately put a halt to much of EVNJ’s activities, which at the time were regular potlucks and meetings. The excitement over a property in Towaco, NJ has revived our common energies around creating an Ecovillage in New Jersey. The regular meetings held by farmer Barbara Joy Hertz on Sunday nights throughout fall and winter of 2022 have attracted many curious people to learn more about the possibilities for her parcel and beyond.
We are encouraged by this momentum and eager to build together after a long pandemic hiatus. Due to changes in geographic location and personal priorities among the EVNJ founding members, there is now an opening for new leadership within the organization. Adam Salem of Eden Ecovillage and communities enthusiast Krystyna Soljan have stepped up as interim coordinators to help usher forward the work of EVNJ. We envision a group that supports both local projects to develop into ecovillages as well as promotes overall education and outreach about the idea of sustainable community living.
Please join us for this conversation!
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Altair in nearby Kimberton, PA now has zoning approval

Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2022 by Steve Welzer

It looks as if Altair will become the first ecovillage project to come to fruition in our area. It’s located about an hour’s drive west of Trenton:
https://AltairEcoVillage.org

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We have access to a parcel of land in Hillsborough

Posted on Thursday, October 21, 2021 by Steve Welzer

In October a group of us toured the property and started to brainstorm projects that could establish it as an environmental and cultural center promoting green lifeways.

At 3.5 acres it’s large enough that we could envision:
. community gardening
. drumming circles
. informal camping
. movie nights
. study groups
. mushroom farming
. musicales (around a campfire!)
. an ecological education center for children and others

In the long run perhaps an intentional community.

We’re considering sponsoring some “field trips” to visit existing ecovillages (suggestions: the Ecovillage at Ithaca (NY) and the Sirius Community in Shutesbury, MA).

In the wake of the pandemic, there’s much interest in overcoming the kind of isolation that’s endemic to our current society. People are looking for support, as well as ways to help each other live more lightly. Ecovillage Hillsborough has a land base and now will be working to mobilize the kind of resources that will enable us to realize our vision. Human resources are key! We invite you to participate.

Posted in Ecovillage | 5 Comments

This Sunday – the Opportunity to Join a New Ecovillage/Cohousing Initiative

Posted on Friday, May 22, 2020 by Jonathan Cloud

Welcome, Fellow Founders

We’re launching an effort to create a new ecovillage/cohousing neighborhood in central New Jersey or Eastern Pennsylvania. We have some pretty definite ideas of what we want: (a) a site of 10+ acres that could be ecologically restored/enhanced with permaculture; (b) a variety of building styles; (c) agricultural potential; (d) a receptive local community (e) carbon-neutral (or “carbon positive”), (f) nondenominational (g) all of us being interested in both the natural ecosystem and the human one.

Who’s the “we” in this initiative? The core group consists of four individuals / households, combining experience, intention, and understanding of what it takes to establish a new eco-community. Some of us are focused more on the eco- part or more on the community; in reality both are needed, at the level appropriate to each.

Ecologically, our goal is to restore and enhance a degraded property, in such a way that the humans living on the land and its natural inhabitants can coexist for the benefit of the place and of all life. Socially, our goal is to build a cohesive, collaborative, and congenial community made up of individuals who are effective at living and working together towards common goals, and find a municipality that will welcome us and that we can contribute to. Join us online this Sunday to find out more about how you can become involved.

Building a Post-Pandemic Community

Sunday, May 24, from 2-4 pm

Please RSVP for this event.

Please note that this is not our regular Zoom meeting room. You must be registered to attend the event (limited to 100 participants).


If you’re not able to attend the event, but want more information, please email evnj@ecovillagenj.org. Thanks.

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Community, Dynamic Governance, Ecovillage, Education, Empowerment, Energy Efficiency, Investment, Organization, Properties, Renewables | 1 Comment

May 24 Virtual Meetup: What the Pandemic is Showing Us

Posted on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 by Jonathan Cloud

It is self-evident that a community of healthy, economically stable, and happy people can withstand the onslaught of a pandemic better than a group of sick and sad people. (Dr. Allen Weiss, Blue Zones)

We know from anecdotal evidence that people in ecovillages, cohousing neighborhoods, and other intentional communities live longer, happier, and more meaningful lives. Increasingly, though, there is concrete scientific evidence that some environments are better for our health than others.

Allen S. Weiss, MD, FACP, FACR, MBA

A recent article by Dr. Allen Weiss in Blue Zones[1] points out that some people and places are more susceptible to the coronavirus while others are much less so. In particular, Dr. Weiss argues that our ability to withstand pandemics has more to do with social determinants of health (“SDOH”) than with genetics.

Join us online on May 24  to learn more about how ecovillagers are coping with COVID-19:

EVNJ Virtual Meetup — Living in Cohousing
in the Midst of the Pandemic

Sunday, May 24, from 2-4 pm

Please RSVP for this event.

Please note that this is not our regular Zoom meeting room. You must be registered to attend the event (limited to 100 participants).

Continue reading →

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Sunday, May 24, 2020, 2-4 pm: EVNJ Virtual Meetup
— Living in Cohousing in the Midst of the Pandemic

Posted on Sunday, May 3, 2020 by Jonathan Cloud

Jordan Hopkins

We can meet up this month, but it will still have to be virtual!

April has turned to May, but in-person Meetups still might be a couple of months in the future.

There’s nothing like face-to-face interaction (that’s one of the reasons we want to create an intentional community!), but for the time being virtual is the way to go. So we’ll be hosting an online Meetup on Sunday, May 24, 2-4pm, on the topic of how cohousing and ecovillages are surviving the pandemic… what’s possible, what’s feasible, and what the future holds for eco-communities in the post-COVID-19 world.

There’s one thing we feel certain about: Change is in the air. The unusual situation we’ve all been facing clearly has ecological, economic, and social implications. Many feel this could be a turning point. There’s a sense that a more cooperative and communitarian lifestyle would provide the kind of support (and hope) people need during times like these when the global economic and public health systems demonstrate their unsustainability.

Continue reading →

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Community, CRCS, Ecovillage, Finances, Possible Planet, Properties | 1 Comment

How We’re Responding to the Pandemic

Posted on Friday, April 3, 2020 by Jonathan Cloud

Out of deference to concern about the spreading virus, we’re moving all events online — for now. Stay tuned!

* * * * * * * * *

Our movement advocates that humanity get back to living in more humanly-scaled communities. There are many, many reasons why this would be advisable.

Problematic trajectories of population growth and population concentration have led to the insane megalopolis densities we witness worldwide in modern mass society. And: from the standpoint of social change, if we desire a participatory form of democracy we’ll have to decentralize. Meanwhile, it may be pandemics that finally make it clear why we need to get back to living in more humanly-scaled communities.

https://www.amazon.com/Human-Scale-Kirkpatrick-Sale/dp/1897408064

Size matters. And “progress”—as it translates into sprawl, congestion, resource depletion, overpopulation, the decline of communities and the rise of corporate rule—is quite literally killing us. In his landmark work “Human Scale,” Kirkpatrick Sale details the crises facing modern society and offers real solutions, laying out ways that we can take control of every facet of our lives by building institutions, workplaces and communities that are sustainable, democratic, ecologically balanced, and responsive to the needs of the individual. As relevant today as when it was first published in 1980, this remarkable book provides a fascinating perspective on the folly of “growth” and anticipates by decades the current movement towards rejuvenation of local community life.

—Steve Welzer

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