In 1993, some Stanford University students in California set their sights on establishing a post-petroleum off-grid ‘eco-town’ of some 500–1000 residents. Subsequently, they met regularly to discuss the realisation of an ecovillage of individuals and fluid self-organising smaller communities. By 1995, many had joined a shared household within a multi-house community, which enabled greater interaction and progress. It became apparent that Californian planning laws and land prices effectively prohibited establishing the ecovillage there, so a desktop search for a promised land ensued. In August 1996, those still
keen rode off to physically search for, and finally settle, temporarily, at an established community already known to them, Sandhill in Scotland County (north-east Missouri).
Community land trust
Using a community land trust (CLT) model, early in October 1997, the community now known as Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage (DRE) finalised the purchase of a US$190,000 property in the vicinity of Sandhill – 113 hectares of depleted farmland with a couple of farm buildings.
Subsequently, they reserved around 5 per cent for dwellings, a common house and other facilities, 36 hectares are reserved for food production and sustainable forestry and 65 hectares has become part of a funded US Conservation Reserve Program. Their mission is deeply ecological – as indicated by an aerial view of their ecovillage in Figure 6.5 – their approach experimental and their sustainability practices broadly community-based. In 2014 its population was around 75 mainly adult member-residents, a dozen or so children and several non-member residents (such as those on work-exchange).41
The CLT model enables every member to lease plots, but they must seek ecovillage approval to build a dwelling, develop gardens or farm.
These plots can be sold on to any prospective buyers who, however, must be pre-approved members. By the mid-2010s, there were around 25 Figure 6.5 Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage: An aerial view
Source: Jim Barmore, photographer
small, mainly self-built, dwellings and further community buildings and other facilities. Members have no buy-in charge, low leasing rates (circa US$300 per annum in 2016 for dwelling plots) and memberships are a progressive 2 per cent of any level of income.42
DRE has an outward focus through their educational Centre for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture, which has been attracting some 1000 visitors per annum, many staying for weeks at a time. They produce webinars, on ‘low carbon, high quality’ lifestyles, that are easily accessible worldwide. Furthermore, partly due to their proximity to Sandhill and Red Earth Farms, they have administered the international Fellowship of Intentional Community and its publishing arm.43
Governance and culture
Members are expected to be active on committees and the structure includes a board of directors and village council featuring consensus decision-making. Two distinctive foci of DRE are an explicit stand on encouraging population degrowth and a determinedly feminist ethos.
Sustainability guidelines include voluntary population control and shared responsibilities for children, which fulfil feminist approaches.
Many secular sustainability-oriented ecovillages make a concerted effort to open all roles, learning opportunities and responsibilities to every member irrespective of gender or other characteristics. Sharing skills and empowerment for women are explicitly advocated. A feminist ethos and practice is seen to be of strong benefit, releasing males from stereotypical limitations and expectations as much as women, as males participate in childcare and nurturing roles.44
Perhaps the achievements in these directions are best expressed in the words of one DRE resident – they call themselves ‘Rabbits’ – contemplat-ing impendcontemplat-ing parenthood:
Whether it’s a boy or a girl (or however they choose to identify later in life), we will teach them the basic necessities that our education system does not (in addition to going to school, of course). They’ll know how to grow organic fruits, vegetables, and herbs; how to navigate without GPS; how to source and filter water; how to craft basic shelters; and how to limit their personal impact on both the environment and other people and cultures by recycling, repairing, and reusing as much as possible. They’ll know how to defend themselves as well, without the
gaudy pride and trendiness that has become synonymous with guns and violence nowadays.45
Strict sustainability practices
Several covenants bind all Rabbits to sustainable practices along specific sustainability guidelines focusing on renewable energy and material use.
No personal motorised vehicles can be used or kept there; the ecovillage has a car cooperative using energy-efficient vehicles, biodiesel and solar energy, and car-pooling with member contributions covering costs proportional to use. Fossil fuels cannot be used either in vehicles or for heating or cooling spaces or water, or for refrigeration. Only sustainable energy is generated onsite and any imports of energy must be offset by communal energy exports.
Many DRE households do not have a kitchen in their dwelling; instead they share preparation and eating of meals in a food cooperative and common house kitchen. Similarly, a Rabbit is likely to launder in one of just a few washing machines in a general cooperative. Besides an assembly room, the community’s common house has offices and a library, showers and sinks, and a room for children to play in.46 Organic standards are observed, organic materials are composted onsite from household waste, and humanure is used. Recycled materials are reclaimed, timber must be second-hand and locally grown or certified as sustainably harvested, and paper must be made from re-used materials or sustainably regenerating resources. Purchase of necessary goods and services is limited to non-exploitative or ‘the most socially progressive source’.
There is minimal husbanding of domesticated ruminant animals producing methane.47
As mentioned, Rabbits live on a fraction of their land, leaving the rest for farming, including orchards and gardens, woodland under ecoforestry and 65 hectares under a remunerative federal Conservation Reserve Program contract to control erosion and conserve wildlife.
They have regenerated the land with local indigenous plants, such as 8 hectares of native prairie grasses and thousands of trees, to encourage wildlife habitat and restore the landscape to its precolonial eco-diversity.
No mean feat, this continuous work-in-progress requires sharing and developing special knowledge and skills. In February 2017, for instance, the Rutledge Fire Department assisted in managing a burn of approximately 25 hectares of grasslands to encourage local ecological
regeneration. The fire brigade brought crucial equipment and tools vital to managing a fire subject to windy conditions.48
Carbon footprint
DRE uses the US average as a yardstick for assessing the progress of its socio-material structure and culture for environmental sustainabil-ity. In 2013, the average US emission per capita per annum was around 20 metric tons of CO2-e (Table 6.1). An average Rabbit’s energy use within the home was less than 20 per cent the US average. Moreover, the community wholly relied on generating its own renewable (solar and wind) energy and exports through a community-wide solar electricity cooperative. So, even with the embodied energy of its energy-generating equipment included, the ecovillage had an almost zero electricity footprint in 2013. Food sustainability is notoriously hard to measure, but DRE residents calculate that their consumption generates only 50–70 per cent of the carbon emissions of an average US resident. By minimising car usage, in 2013, the average DRE resident used around 11 per cent of the US average for local transport. Harking back to the discussion regarding Findhorn and BedZED in the LAEV section, where DRE members fell down was long-distance travel – consuming 90 per cent of the US average level of emissions due to long car trips and air travel.49 Table 6.1 DRE average carbon footprint compared with the US average (CO2-e metric tonnes)
Sector Rabbit average US resident average
Electricity 0.02 2.87
Transport, local 0.31 2.90
Heating and cooking 0.35 2.23
Goods 1.04 2.30
Food 2.10 3.00
Services 1.76 2.52
Travel 2.58 2.86
Other 1.90 1.90
Waste –0.63 –0.60
TOTAL 9.43 19.98
Source: Data drawn from Tony Sirna, ‘How Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage’s footprint compares to America’s footprint’ in Cutting Our Carbon Footprint at DRE site, accessed 28 June 2017
Four Rabbits have summarised their approach in the following inter-connected points:
Basically we do as much as we can to reduce our impact on the earth.
We do this, not only by making serious changes in our daily lives but also by working together to create a new culture.
A culture that supports and encourages its members to live more consciously…
… that encourages experimentation and that offers lots of opportuni-ties for creativity, compassion and connection.50