This Sunday 12-4: Joel Rothschild, Kathy Moser, & Community Progress Reports

Sunday, February 23, Noon-4 p.m. (NOTE New Time)

We’ll be back at the IYCC in Princeton this Sunday, but note the time change: Noon to 4 this time, starting off with a potluck luncheon.

Joel Rothschild will be our featured speaker. He’ll tell us about the progress being made toward developing an ecovillage neighborhood in Lancaster, PA based on the Community Land Cooperative model. He’ll also have information about the upcoming series of study groups that will focus on practical issues toward establishing, funding, and governing a regional network of eco-communities. (For more information see https://ecovillagers.org)

Kathy Moser, who has performed at several of our fundraisers, will join us to relate some exciting news. She lives on a 100-acre property near Long Valley (Morris County) which has a complex of five houses located on it. Three of the five have now come up for sale. If one or several of us ecovillagers could purchase these houses we’d have controlling interest in the homeowners association and thus a chance to implement some of our green-living ideas for the full site. The current asking price for the three houses is $650K (or about $220K each). The location is in-between I-78 and I-80 (about 20 minutes from each). Kathy is looking for others to work with her to buy the houses. It’s not clear at this point whether the town would consider allowing construction of additional units, but that’s a possibility worth exploring. If you have a pioneering spirit, love the Earth, and are looking to live with friends, this could be your opportunity.

 

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Community, Cooperatives, Ecovillage, Ecovillagers, Event Listings, Organization | Leave a comment

Reclaiming Our Place as a Commons

Sunday, February 23, Noon-4 p.m.

Re-taking the Land for the Commons,
Place by Place

with Joel Rothschild

Princeton Integral Yoga Community Center
301 N Harrison St #1E · Princeton, NJ

Joel Rothschild, Ecovillagers Alliance

“As Community Land Cooperatives gain ownership of land, neighborhoods gain security as a place for community. CLC holdings won’t be sold to speculators, developers, or gentrifiers. They won’t be ‘flipped,’ or suddenly cost double the price. Household and business equity in the neighborhood will tend toward more equitable distribution among members, without recourse to paternalistic state or philanthropic programs, and market shocks like the Great Recession won’t periodically liquidate the neighborhood’s real estate for the easy picking of outside investors.”

Joel is an ecovillage organizer with a social-change vision. Find out more at http://ecovillagers.org.

He’ll join us again at our February Meetup, with our usual fabulous potluck, and an update from our community leaders in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania. Please let us know if you can attend!

 

 

Posted in Cohousing, Community, Cooperatives, Ecovillage, Ecovillagers, Event Listings, Organization | Leave a comment

Jan 12, 2020 in Philadelphia: Regional conference on communities and cooperatives

Hosted by Roger Balson

Details
Sunday, January 12, 2pm to 7pm
Mt Airy Nexus, 520 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia

Hosted by Delaware Valley Co-Living Cooperative

http://delvalcoco.org/conferences/

Pot-luck dinner. Carpools available (let us know if you can drive or you need a ride).

Come hear about initiatives, proposals, and projects in the tri-state area:
* cohousing
* co-living
* house-sharing
* ecovillages
* co-working
* food co-ops
* credit unions
* workers cooperatives
* urban farming and community farms
* time banks
* land trusts
* community land cooperatives

Sign up here on our Meetup site, and also RSVP at http://delvalcoco.org/contact-us/ (with a note in the comments field “First Public Meeting”)

More details: http://delvalcoco.org/latest-news/ and https://www.facebook.com/events/2472444916300574/

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Community, Cooperatives, Ecovillage, Event Listings, Organization | Leave a comment

Saturday, Dec 14, 2-6 pm: Holiday Party & Fundraiser

You’re invited to our

 Join us for community, thoughtful discussion, and the opportunity to make a difference.

Saturday, December 14
2-6 p.m.
@ 8 Revere Drive, Basking Ridge, NJ

Bring something to share / BYOB
Bring your voices, instruments & holiday songs!

Meet people who care about restoring our communities and the climate.

Can’t Attend But Want to Support Us?

At the party, we’ll share our mission and initiatives, and you can contribute to the “mother ship,” Possible Planet, or earmark your donation to one of our initiatives:

Global Carbon Reward 
Ecovillage New Jersey 
Ecovillagers Alliance
New Jersey PACE / Regenerative Financing 
Possible Planet (General Fund)

Attend the Party

Posted in Agendas, Celebration, Cohousing, Community, Ecovillage, Event Listings | Leave a comment

Sunday, November 10 at Princeton’s IYCC: Building Eco-Communities in an Age of Transformation

There’s no doubt that we’re living through a remarkable time in human evolution, both because of the urgency and severity of our challenges, and because of the possibilities that are available to us in meeting them. There is an imminent existential threat to humanity, from global warming, biodiversity loss, toxic waste accumulation, soil depletion, and so on — not from some new capacity for self-destruction, but simply from our unwillingness to wake up and take action in time. At the same time, many people are waking up, and building communities and organizations designed to address our most important challenges, from reducing carbon emissions to actually restoring the climate to what it was for the most recent ten thousand years in which humanity has flourished.

Some of the people responding to this situation are doing so by building communities founded on different principles and seeking different outcomes. Joel Rothschild, of the Ecovillagers Alliance (EVA), is one of these visionaries, who has laid out much of his thinking in several articles in Green Horizon Magazine (beginning with this issue), will be introducing the Alliance’s new programs on Sunday, November 10, at the IYCC in Princeton, along with updates from a growing number of communities in formation.

Sunday, November 10 … 2:15pm
Princeton Integral Yoga Community Center
301 N. Harrison Street, Bldg A, Suite 1E, Princeton, NJ 08540

The usual potluck, so bring something yummy to share. If you can’t make it, join by Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/8283857296.

EVA’s program involves a high level of engagement, a deep and experiential dive into what it takes to develop a thriving ecovillage, starting with the people who will bring that ecovillage into being.

Continue reading

Posted in Cohousing, Community, Cooperatives, Diversity, Ecovillage, Ecovillagers, Event Listings, History, Organization | Leave a comment

Nov. 10: Digging Deeper into the Northeast Ecovillage Movement

Our next meeting at IYCC will feature Joel Rothschild of Ecovillagers Alliance and a new in-depth study program, along with a round-up of reports on the emerging communities in NJ and PA.

Sunday, November 10 … 2:15pm
Princeton Integral Yoga Community Center
301 N. Harrison Street, Bldg A, Suite 1E, Princeton, NJ 08540

Joel Rothschild of Ecovillagers Alliance (EVA) will preview the program his organization has developed for those who are considering joining an ecovillage, either now, or in the future. Since Ecovillage NJ (EVNJ) now has three or four ecovillage communities in development, this is the perfect time for these newly-forming groups to start learning and growing together. EVA’s program involves a high level of engagement, a deep and experiential dive into what it takes to develop a thriving ecovillage, starting with the people who will bring that ecovillage into being.

Joel and his expert team have a vision and a plan for educating, incubating and helping to launch ecovillages all over the Mid-Atlantic region. Ecovillagers Alliance’s financial and legal approaches are designed to enable ecovillages to be established, at scale. Joel will also be highlighting Community Land Trusts, as some of our members are looking into this legal structure for their new communities.

Meanwhile, our members have been busy gettin’ around. So at our November Meetup there will be report-backs from visits to the first cohousing community in Connecticut and the first Community Land Cooperative in Pennsylvania. We’ll hear about progress toward a farming-based intentional community in West Windsor, the vision of an urban cohousing neighborhood in Trenton, and updates from Altair, as well as a report from a visit to Lancaster planned for November 5.

The usual potluck, so bring something yummy to share. If you can’t make it, join by Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/8283857296.

And remember, the ecovillage movement is about more than building a few neighborhoods here and there — it’s about demonstrating a better way to live, ecologically and in community.

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Ecovillage, Ecovillagers, Event Listings, Organization, Yoga | 3 Comments

An Opportunity to Revisit Rocky Corner, CT’s First Cohousing Community—Saturday, October 5, 2019

Appleseed watercolor of Rocky Corner land & buildings

We visited the Rocky Corner Cohousing project last January as construction was starting. Now they’re getting close to move-in!

Until recently New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut were the only states in the region without an intentional community living option. But now one is being built in Connecticut:

http://rockycorner.org/

Figuring that it will be instructive for us to watch their development, we’ve arranged a re-visit for October 5. Carpools will be available. Please let us know if you can be a driver.

The schedule for the day, tentatively, will be:
* drive to Connecticut in the morning (3 hours from central NJ, 2.5 hours from northern NJ)
* Noon – gather for lunch at Grimaldi’s Italian Kitchen – 1646 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge, CT 06525 (same place where we ate lunch last January … phone no. 203-553-9889)
* presentation at the restaurant from Rocky Corner representatives (with time for Q&A) 1:00 to 2:00
* 2:30 – tour the under-construction site of the community – 58 Old Amity Rd, Bethany, CT 06524
* dinner together in New Haven for those who want to discuss what we’ve seen … 5:00 to 6:30
* drive home, arriving back in NJ around 9 or 9:30

For carshare arrangements, email ecovillagenj@gmail.com.

Posted in Agendas, Carshare, Cohousing, Ecovillage, Event Listings, Properties, Visit | Leave a comment

**9/22/2019** – Updates on Cohousing Initiatives & Membership Profiles

Our September 22 meeting will include updates on all of the communities-in-formation, including a special video appearance by Mike Bellamy & Peg Hoh (on their 29th wedding anniversary, no less!). We’ll also demo the new Co-op web site, and discuss how we can create an online listing of interested cohousing participants.

As we did last month, we’ll be meeting at the Princeton IYCC at 2:15 p.m., having the meeting – and then having a potluck starting at 5. Bring something yummy to share.

 

Sunday, September 22, 2019 
Meeting from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. with Potluck at 5:00

Princeton Integral Yoga Community Center
301 N. Harrison Street, Bldg A, Suite 1E, Princeton, NJ 08540*

* The Studio is located in the Princeton Shopping Center above the McCaffery’s Market. As you face the Market from its big parking lot, go to the far right side of the building and take the elevator to the second floor. 

Meanwhile, the proposed NJ Cohousing Development Cooperative has gotten off to a bit of a difficult start. All of the original circles that were set up have met, and have done useful work and had important discussions.

Here, for example, is what the Membership Committee has developed.

What’s now needed is to translate all of this into further action. And frankly we need a lot more in the way of participation by the self-declared members of the Cohousing Development Cooperative.

If you’re one of those who expressed interest but did not join a Circle, or chose to step forward in some other way, now is the time to do so. What that looks like is really up to each of us as individuals, but your voices need to be heard, your needs, interests, and abilities shared, and your commitment fully engaged. Please step forward and be heard, acknowledged, and celebrated.

 

Posted in Agendas, Cohousing, Event Listings, Organization | Leave a comment

End of Summer Ecovillage Concert

PartyPoster

Posted in Celebration, Ecovillage, Event Listings | Leave a comment

Reminder: Saturday, September 7, 2019: End-of-Summer Party for Cohousing Community

Music, Food, & Community:
Come Celebrate Our Progress on Saturday, Sept 7, 6-10 p.m.

Let’s celebrate our milestone accomplishments with the wider Cohousing Community in NJ and the Region. Could this be an annual affair?

Whether you’ve been involved with Ecovillage New Jersey (EVNJ) — or if you’ve just heard about us, you’re invited to an evening of Music, Great Food & Community!

Saturday, September 7, 6 – 10 pm
8 Revere Drive, Basking Ridge (or Bedminster, depending on GPS)

Live Music + Potluck + BYO
Suggested donation: $10 (tax-deductible if requested)

Our new Cohousing Development Cooperative represents a milestone accomplishment for EVNJ and the surrounding NY/PA/DE region. We are inviting people who’ve gotten us to a new stage in our evolution, from NJ, eastern PA, the Hudson Valley & Metro NY. Community is what we are creating as we foster and build Cohousing and Ecovillage Communities in the region.

Posted in Ecovillage, Event Listings, Organization | Leave a comment