Oh man, look at the pledge I took in 2007!!, while I attended the course: Creating Sustainable Communities: the social dimension in upstate NY Ithaca ->

- I pledge to move forward the development of an ecovillage
- I pledge to work to reduce my ego and attachment to the outcomes of my goals, remaining open to new learnings and perceptions
- I pledge to work in furthering the following areas: social sustainability, environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, health sustainability.
- I pledge to remember to lighten-up and have fun every day on the journey along this path.
- I pledge to consider my personal sustainability, meeting my own needs to keep my own cup overflowing so that I can contribute with joy oozing out of me.
- I pledge to furthering the sustainability of my health and not being a ‘know it all’ about it.

a good partner

I feel so supported by my husband, not in a namby pamby sort of way but in the continued application of his solid skills, experience and perspective in relation to the SCEV project. He is helping take the project forward in a big way and his applied strength is fertilising my resolve, that this project is the most worthwhile thing i can spend my waking hours on right now.

Is passion a good thing?

Man, am I preoccupied with this SCEV project or what!?
This morning I put an eggplant and some garlic in the oven with the buzzer on for an hour. When the buzzer went off I was deeply involved in an SCEV phone discussion. I ended the call and went back to making the notes that I had been doing beforehand. I worked on, occasionally thinking: ‘gosh, that’s a great smell, our neighbours must be cooking something delicious for lunch’. Until the penny dropped and I erupted up from my desk to find a burnt, shrunk offering in our oven. When we are living together in the ecovillage, please only allow me in the kitchen under strict supervision!

Having faith

Marg has me tweeting now so my blogging has slowed down a bit but i'm a bit hung up on FAITH at the moment and found this quote from Erich Fromm and it's too long for twitter.'To have faith means to dare to think the unthinkable, yet to act within the limits of the realistically possible; it is the paradoxical hope to expect the "Messiah" every day, yet not to lose heart when s/he has not come at the appointed hour. This hope is not passive and it is not patient; on the contrary, it is impatient and active, looking for every possibility of action within the realm of real possibilities. Least of all it is passive as far as the growth and liberation of one's own person are concerned.'

Dip in and out

What I’d like to say to people who really want to also get this project over the line is: ‘Please help us if you can, when I ask for bits and pieces’. I understand that everyone is so busy and it is my job to hold this project and take it forward for those of us who will be there at the end of the day, and that’s my pleasure and raison d'être. It may be overwhelming and scary for you to think of getting involved/overcommitted and that’s partly why we are planning much professional assistance. But if you can help us with bits and pieces, don’t hold that back – come and go as you wish, dip in and out and know that this is perfectly fine.

Dip in and out

What I’d like to say to people who really want to also get this project over the line is: ‘Please help us if you can, when I ask for bits and pieces’. I understand that everyone is so busy and it is my job to hold this project and take it forward for those of us who will be there at the end of the day, and that’s my pleasure and raison d'être. It may be overwhelming and scary for you to think of getting involved/overcommitted and that’s partly why we are planning much professional assistance. But if you can help us with bits and pieces, don’t hold that back – come and go as you wish, dip in and out and know that this is perfectly fine.

'How to Build a Village'

Just revisited a GREAT book I purchased in February 2008 called ‘How to Build a Village’ by Claude Lewenz who lives in NZ.
On the home page of the website (below) there are a couple of short videos….just in case we had forgotten why we want to develop an ecovillage! You might like to have a quick look when you get a moment.
http://www.villageforum.com/

“Creative Community Governance and Decision Making”

Yesterday I attended Robin Clayfield’s “Creative Community Governance and Decision Making” session at Bondi. She is an excellent facilitator. She introduced a number of techniques for encouraging discussion and decision making. The ones in particular that I thought could work well for SCEV are ‘World Café’ and ‘Open Space’ for encouraging conversations and discussion, A process she called ‘Synthesis’ for asking people to start narrowing down their answers, comments, opinions. There was also some discussion around ‘Dynamic Governance/Sociocracy’ as the new-kid-on-the-block when it comes to decision making. I am presenting “A taste of Dynamic Governance/Sociocracy” in about a fortnight as a way of pursuing a decision making system for SCEV that by design encourages inclusivity, equality, transparency, accountability, creativity and discipline. I hope you will come along, see what you think and tell us if you think it would be good for our purposes.
PS: also happy to send you my notes on the process mentioned above.

The distance between comfort and discomfort

‘Listen to your body’s wisdom which expresses itself through comfort/discomfort.’ When I read this the other day, I thought about joining an ecovillage. Over the past 10 years, I have visited villages all over the world. I stayed for a week in Ecovillage at Ithaca and felt very comfortable with the place and the people who lived there. At another ecovillage, I saw some people dancing and felt some discomfort....why, I don’t know - I love to dance! Then visiting yet another ecovillage, I thought: no way, not for me in this lifetime!

People will come along to check us out and some will say to themselves: Yes, I feel very comfortable with this project and these people. Others will say: No way, not in this lifetime! And that’s fine, this is a very small, special, niche project and it can’t accommodate a mass intake.

But what about those who might feel a little uncomfortable about some aspect - who hold some attraction but need something more to move into their zone of comfort? We need to make sure that we give people what they need – more information, education, space and time, so that they can understand and become comfortable. I have been on this journey, becoming more and more comfortable for nearly 10 years now, so i know that the process can sometimes take a while!

But also, to you people who have a little discomfort right now, be careful not to miss out on something that could really make your heart sing. Work out what you need and seek to get it.

Getting the word out

Last Thursday I presented the project as an after dinner speaker to Gosford Rotary. I used a powerpoint presentation with lots of images, people profiles, a few facts and some music. It seems a good way to get our message out. I am happy to bring it and speak about the project anywhere, anytime if you would like to set something up......better still, why don’t you speak about the project and I will provide you with anything to help.

It took over my life

14 July 2010:
Lindy from ABC Radio National’s programme ‘Life Matters’ plans to interview me in the next week or so for their segment ‘It took over my life’. The following is the gist of what I thought I’d say, if I get the chance. What do you think?

“During the 90’s, Dave and I were living with our children on a sheep farm near Cooma. We had a nice home, a swimming pool and a very rough, sheep-mowed tennis court and I often thought: ‘wish we had more people to play with’. I also thought that easier and more incidental social interactions, instead of my more common planned and diarised getting together with friends would be good too. So I first came to all this through the SOCIAL door.

I also had an interest in staying healthy by for example, sharing food preparation. Instead of daily getting the tomato out of the fridge and cutting off 2 or 3 wedges and then putting it back. What if I could be part of a cook team, say once a month (and others did the same) and what if we could use organic ingredients grown on site. I imagined the variety of our meals and the efficiencies in all this.
This staying healthy door led to the ENVIRONMENTAL door. How could we be healthy without fresh air, clean water and a few trees? Also at that time I was working as an accountant, so could see the obvious need to incorporate ECONOMIC sustainability in all this.

About then I became aware of places called ECOVILLAGES (you can do a web search) and they sounded to me like a vehicle for combining all this stuff. I thought: ecovillages display sustainability in a very broad sense.
I visited places around the world and did courses in the various aspects of ecovillage design. All this led to establishing a website, which my lovely daughter maintains from the US, and to setting up the SCEV Incorporated Association…….and somehow from there, about 500 people are now on our database and receive our newsletters.

Where are we today?
We have found THE best piece of land for an ecovillage – 160 acres, 1½ hours north of Sydney, near the coast and due to come up for sale in the next month or so. It has approvals for about 120 homes. Eventually, our plan is to offer a diversity of housing which will be owned in the normal way, with residents sharing in the rest of the land and facilities. No sharing of income at all and definitely combining privacy with social interaction when you choose.
This land has an area for chickens, flowers, fruit and vegie production, and whatever else the community decides down the track.
There are existing buildings for work and play and the property is located only 10 mins walk to the railway station AND the oldest rainforest arboretum in NSW.
The project is attracting all age groups and people with fire-in-their-belly about some or other aspect of life. I am learning so much just being on this ecovillage bus…I love it!

We have Tom the computer whizz, working images and designs for us all to comment on and engage our creative juices. We have two people, one an eco-sustainability director, the other director of social sustainability for an international consulting firm giving us a leg-up. A banker helping us structure up; a fella interested in doing father and son stuff; Linda keen to build a straw bale home; horticulturalists, permaculturalists, architects, renewable energy experts, and so many more.

Anyway, have a look at our website at www.scev.org and see what you think. Listen to your personal wisdom and if you feel comfortable (or even excited like me), leave your email address to receive our newsletter and see where it takes you. There is no obligation at all and actually at the end of the day, there are only 120 homes so it’s a very small, niche project.”.........seems pretty long hey? guess i can talk fast!

ABC Radio National Life Matters

Seems like we may go National, after one of you sent this email to the ABC:
“Hi Richard, I am a newly retired teacher who has been loosely connected to a very interesting group of people who are interested in developing a multi-age multi-function sustainably designed ecovillage somewhere out of Sydney. They are looking for land and sympathetic developers to erect about 160 dwellings, parks, community buildings etc. It all seems very advanced for Australia and indeed I don't know if anything like it exists anywhere here. The woman who runs it, Lyndall Parris is a powerhouse of energy and it has clearly overtaken her life. I would like to nominate her for the like-named session; she'd be a great speaker and it would perhaps even develop some more interest in this socially and environmentally cutting edge project. Cheers, Libby”

Ecovillage purpose and values

Lately I have heard a couple of things that I think I’ll adopt. Firstly, Rama introduced me to the notion that the purpose of life is to ‘learn and grow in wisdom’ and last night I chatted with Andrew about his goals and plans for his young family and he mentioned seeking a place with the following values: ‘function, fun and beauty’……….the journey to and through ecovillage can provide so much for me. Thank you both.

Our Neighbourhood

Today is Day 3 of the US 2010 National Cohousing Conference that I am attending in Boulder, Colorado and the theme is ‘sustainability through community’. There are 4 other Aussies here, all from Victoria – more than from any other country in the world!
Cohousing is a contemporary version of an old world classic. I see the concept as a very important part of our ecovillage, whereby we can get smart with our village housing using intelligent, friendly, clever, innovative, inclusive design. It involves participative processes so that we can tap into the wisdom of the group, so please put on your thinking caps and capture what we really want in our daily lives….after all we are not part of the world’s ‘Cultural Creatives’ for nothing. Why not design what we want, rather than adapt to what exists.

Extra ordinary

I am going to pay more attention to doing and being extra ordinary - not extraordinary, that’s too far out for me but extra ordinary, this seems doable, achievable. I am not going to place limitations by defining this but ask for help from others who also seek extra ordinariness in their lives too.

I heard myself saying to a prospective developer the other day:

‘We are the type of people who, instead of having a bathroom for every bedroom and a separate media room, would prefer to spend that money on making our neighbourhood and home more environmentally and socially sustainable.’ I wonder is that right, or should I be saying ‘I’ am the type of person who………… What do you think?

My Gemini horoscope today

Twins are used to things being a bit two sided but right now this is extreme. There are many good things happening or on the horizon. And day to day challenges may seem overwhelming. Today it’s good to recognise that you are in a period of transition. The old is falling away, which might be disorientating or even painful and you can also see the light on the horizon. So at the risk of mixing metaphors, your stars ask you to remember that the darkest moment is before the dawn. Don’t give up. Victory is on its way………………….whoo hoo!!!

Yesterday i sent this email out to 59 developers.

I wonder what responses we’ll get?

Developer, why would you want to work with us?
- funds available for land purchase
- potential for significant pre-sales
- reduced risk means easier bank finance
- advocates can assist in approvals and sales

We are intent on developing a 100 lot village on land near Sydney.
If you have the passion and skills to develop a sustainable settlement,
please email or phone Lyndall Parris for more information
lyndall@scev.org and 0419 279 711


Developer/ buyer - joint venture
Expression of Interest from Developers April 2010

Dear ___________

I represent a group intent on developing an Ecovillage/sustainable development about an hour from Sydney.

We are an incorporated organisation set up to develop a cutting-edge, sustainable ecovillage in a coastal area near Sydney. We are seeking to work with a property developer to purchase and develop the land, located about an hour from Sydney. We intend to integrate the principles of ecological, social and economic sustainability and wish to find a developer who shares our approach and vision.

The site of interest is well located with regard to public transport and currently has planning approvals for 118 homes. Vendor due diligence and a valuation is available. Initial discussions with Council indicate potential support for an eco-village development. We currently have a database of 480 people interested in the project. A proportion of these people have funds to contribute to the purchase of the land as well as pre-sales. This would reduce the risk of the project, making bank finance easier. Our members, as advocates for the project can assist in council planning and neighbourhood matters too. Apart from risk, we hope this approach will reduce purchase and land holding costs.

We are now seeking an expression of interest from a developer willing to help bring the project to fruition. Interested parties will have a commitment for the long-held goals of the project to create a sustainable community through a collaborative yet commercial approach. We believe we can offer the right developer more fun and satisfaction and less stress and pressure with this joint venture approach whilst you achieve your financial goals.

The Sunday gathering was fabulous

Tom displayed his computer 2D/3D visualisation skills that he is generously applying to the Narara land. Linda had sent us her page of bullet point possibilities for the site and Dave led a session applying her ideas through Tom, onto an aerial plan of the site and around the existing buildings and infrastructure. All this watched by our new friend Guido, a young Italian architect from Tuscany, passionate about sustainable architecture. How does a gathering get better than this and i can’t wait to see what manifests through Guido…..i have a bit of a ‘thing’ for Italians!

You must give birth to your images.
They are the future waiting to be born.
Fear not the strangeness you feel.
The future must enter you long before it happens.
Just wait for the birth, for the hour of new clarity.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

No need for words?!

Gary and the Tarot Cards

In January 2008 at Mollymook, I encountered Tarot reading for the first time. Gary and his cards told me to look north of Sydney for our ecovillage land at a time when we had fully decided that our search for land should be south. He sowed a seed and two weeks later, Dave found the advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald for the beautiful land at Narara.

So when I spent this Easter at Mollymook, I was keen to revisit Gary and his cards. Here are his interpretations of my chosen cards with my reactions. You are welcome to email me with your thoughts and reactions too.

‘Lots of possibilities are coming my way’……[good start, I thought!]

‘It is the spiritual side of things that will ground me [funny that my yoga teacher told me just a month ago that to ground me and the project, I must do my 5 Tibetans (yoga series) daily] and that I can’t do this venture alone, I need someone in particular to thoroughly support me’ [I thought: thank you Dave]

‘My role is to keep in mind the basic structures and not lose sight of how we set this up, to be the adviser to the doers, my role as mentor’…..[encouraging]

‘Things will have a slow progressive feel, [so what’s new here!] trust that everything will work itself out’

I need outside juice, need people in my life with nothing to do with the project.[thank you my good friends]

To the question ‘How is the project to go forward?’: find out what’s opposing the project and work on that.[finding the finance and developer partner?]

With my accounting background, I am very pragmatic so it’s great to have an ethereal hit once in a while!

It's going to happen, Lyndall

 
Interesting morning today. Met up with Roger and Allison, Sustainability and Social Planning and Research people from a Sydney consulting firm. They are going to help us in our search for a developer with whom we can work our Ecovillage project forward. They are generous in wanting to give us a leg-up. I loved Allison’s confident little aside as we parted: ‘It’s going to happen Lyndall. I know it’s going to happen’. Yes, baby!
Also the State Property Authority have appointed a new agent (from Newcastle) to take over the Narara sale process. I have a call into him right now and I will be asking him also to scout and introduce us to a suitable developer with whom we can enter a joint venture to take forward this beautiful and important project. Why wouldn’t the agent want to do this with much energy? – it will make his sale more likely; provide us with the developer’s expertise to move forward and we can put some cash on the table and provide solid pre-sales to help the developer. I love it: win, win, win……….win (the NSW government get some more funds to spend!)
This same week my yoga teacher said I must get back to doing the 5 Tibetans daily, that I need to ground myself to ground this project….yep, I’m doing them.

Our growth, The World’s Gain

I am starting an on-line course this week with Dave called ‘Renewing your Relationship’. I am quite excited about it. I know it is about my own personal growth and I hope that it will assist me in a more heartfelt progression to ecovillage.
How would it be to develop an environment where consciousness thrives, maturity reigns, growth exudes so that we are nurtured and supported to do whatever work in life, we feel drawn to. I have a hunch what might emanate from this place, could go a long way to improving our world.
What do you think, shall we all give it a go??

Changes and Optimism

I am full of optimism for the Narara project. We are speaking to a developer and to some consultants about possible ways forward right now. At the same time the NSW government is appointing a new marketing agent to take the sale of the property forward. There is new energy in the air and I am breathing it in and working from its inspiration.

RIP

Earlier today i received an email informing me of the suicide of a man whom i met just once, 12 months ago in the U.S. It struck me more deeply than others that have gone before him. I find it very hard to get my head around suicide except to acknowledge that at that period for him his world was very black. Out of his passing, i think more about the responsibility i have to make the most of my little drop in the bucket to positively influence our world. His death has hit my energy field, way over here in Oz and i am further strengthened in my resolve to work the ecovillage project forward and keep fresh the possibilities that could emerge from this. Rest in Peace beautiful soul.