Thoughts on how we can create federated and interconnected ecovillages, create networks of semi nomadic housing, and use technology to help us make it happen.
Great read, and glad to hear you are taking the steps in your life. My wife and I have been learning and seeing how such places work in East Asia for the past decade. For sure, all the really good points you make, about communal support for building homes and procuring basic needs, are completely valid and can and do happen. This dance between reasonable capitalism and federated communal democracies is where many of us are, and it can work to bring us to some place better.
These sorts of communities are happening all over Japan, mainly because, for multiple reasons buildings there tend to lose value over time, not gain in value. When old homes "in need of love" are basically free, suddenly it opens up a wealth of possibility for a new way of living. Waiting for that "housing price ethic" to reach other places...
My wife and I are in Korea and slowly but surely looking for the place where we can become stewards of land, and build some semblance of a reasonable future with others.
At any rate, keep at it. Definitely on board to build the new federation ;-)
By the way, have you read "News from Nowhere" by William Morris? The book is 130 years old, and yet I am reminded of it when I read your newsletters. A lot of anarchist solar punk ethics happening in that book.
Super enjoyed this! But as a socialist feminist am always looking for futures that address things like what does a family look like in these scenarios and how social reproduction happens, caregiving and of course who does it? How is it valued? Thoughts?
I recently came across your blog through listening to your episodes with Joey Ayoub on The Fire These Times. I just wanted to say that I really enjoy reading your stuff and I'm learning a lot. It has been a source of hope and inspiration for me in this depressing world. I'm glad I found your blog. Thanks!
Have you read Cory Doctorow’s walkaway? I was just listening to your ep with Margaret Killjoy on LLTWID and the talk about the internet made me think of the walkaway web.
Hi Hydro! I enjoyed the article (as I always enjoy your articles) and see a lot of the same patterns of thinking that I see in the general space of peoples who subscribe to a Solarpunk(?) mentality. I think one of the biggest issues with the developing ontology here, however, is that it isn't taking into account the strategic realities of such a movement.
Historically, there have been other eco-villages (Aurora, Ithica, New Hope) that check every box on the above list, but they haven't resulted in a significant confluence of convergence or collective action. I would argue that the reason for this is that they are simply too small. Humans need a critical mass before they are able to achieve the internal networking cooperation that we see in cities - the heart of human creation. In the ancient era, this was usually around 45,000 - 100,000 people. That amount was enough to constitute a small civilization. Pops of around 2-10 million would be seen historically as a very powerful regional civilization.
Why do I call this strategic consideration? Because villages of 100 people or less are destined to go extinct. There isn't enough people to maintain a population of like-minded folk both in the short and long term. You need the collective power of many thousands of people collaborating together and participating in that community. Which means selecting an area of the world to dedicate to, to act as a center of connection and concentration. Which again means taking into account the strategic variable of "how do we protect ourselves".
No attempt at such collective organization has gone unnoticed and unassailed - Rojava, Zapista, others. Any who reach a critical mass is seen as a threat to the ontological integrity of the reigning economic paradigm and is attacked. A federation of micro villages isn't resilient enough to withstand that - they are too disparate, too small, too vulnerable. Depending on where you are in the world, you could be isolated from any potential assistance, or in the heart of imperial territory. The selection of a space to concentrate folks is so critically important for this reason.
There also has to be clear consideration for scalability of local resources and how you'll navigate long-term in a post environmental collapse environment. If, say, it is someplace in SEA or SA, how will people endure the 50+ C wet bulbs that will be perpetual? If its in the Global North, how will it survive attacks by capital? Because capital -will- attack it. They do not tolerate competition, especially ontological. Doubly so when they're in their end game state.
I'm pointing these things out because I see a lot of people taking individual action. They buy property, become land stewards, form local coops which are all good things in isolation. But the snowball effect of what they want to build from that will take decades of time that just isn't there anymore. These questions, these decisions need to be made by the community of people who aspire to follow this ontological perspective and that is why I point them out.
I want to stress: *I 100% support all the things you wrote about*. But I believe there are critical gaps that need filling.
Great read, and glad to hear you are taking the steps in your life. My wife and I have been learning and seeing how such places work in East Asia for the past decade. For sure, all the really good points you make, about communal support for building homes and procuring basic needs, are completely valid and can and do happen. This dance between reasonable capitalism and federated communal democracies is where many of us are, and it can work to bring us to some place better.
These sorts of communities are happening all over Japan, mainly because, for multiple reasons buildings there tend to lose value over time, not gain in value. When old homes "in need of love" are basically free, suddenly it opens up a wealth of possibility for a new way of living. Waiting for that "housing price ethic" to reach other places...
My wife and I are in Korea and slowly but surely looking for the place where we can become stewards of land, and build some semblance of a reasonable future with others.
At any rate, keep at it. Definitely on board to build the new federation ;-)
By the way, have you read "News from Nowhere" by William Morris? The book is 130 years old, and yet I am reminded of it when I read your newsletters. A lot of anarchist solar punk ethics happening in that book.
Don’t give up. If I can support you in any way, hit me up.
Yes! Let's build it! 🙌💚
Super enjoyed this! But as a socialist feminist am always looking for futures that address things like what does a family look like in these scenarios and how social reproduction happens, caregiving and of course who does it? How is it valued? Thoughts?
Hi Andre,
I recently came across your blog through listening to your episodes with Joey Ayoub on The Fire These Times. I just wanted to say that I really enjoy reading your stuff and I'm learning a lot. It has been a source of hope and inspiration for me in this depressing world. I'm glad I found your blog. Thanks!
Have you read Cory Doctorow’s walkaway? I was just listening to your ep with Margaret Killjoy on LLTWID and the talk about the internet made me think of the walkaway web.
Hi Hydro! I enjoyed the article (as I always enjoy your articles) and see a lot of the same patterns of thinking that I see in the general space of peoples who subscribe to a Solarpunk(?) mentality. I think one of the biggest issues with the developing ontology here, however, is that it isn't taking into account the strategic realities of such a movement.
Historically, there have been other eco-villages (Aurora, Ithica, New Hope) that check every box on the above list, but they haven't resulted in a significant confluence of convergence or collective action. I would argue that the reason for this is that they are simply too small. Humans need a critical mass before they are able to achieve the internal networking cooperation that we see in cities - the heart of human creation. In the ancient era, this was usually around 45,000 - 100,000 people. That amount was enough to constitute a small civilization. Pops of around 2-10 million would be seen historically as a very powerful regional civilization.
Why do I call this strategic consideration? Because villages of 100 people or less are destined to go extinct. There isn't enough people to maintain a population of like-minded folk both in the short and long term. You need the collective power of many thousands of people collaborating together and participating in that community. Which means selecting an area of the world to dedicate to, to act as a center of connection and concentration. Which again means taking into account the strategic variable of "how do we protect ourselves".
No attempt at such collective organization has gone unnoticed and unassailed - Rojava, Zapista, others. Any who reach a critical mass is seen as a threat to the ontological integrity of the reigning economic paradigm and is attacked. A federation of micro villages isn't resilient enough to withstand that - they are too disparate, too small, too vulnerable. Depending on where you are in the world, you could be isolated from any potential assistance, or in the heart of imperial territory. The selection of a space to concentrate folks is so critically important for this reason.
There also has to be clear consideration for scalability of local resources and how you'll navigate long-term in a post environmental collapse environment. If, say, it is someplace in SEA or SA, how will people endure the 50+ C wet bulbs that will be perpetual? If its in the Global North, how will it survive attacks by capital? Because capital -will- attack it. They do not tolerate competition, especially ontological. Doubly so when they're in their end game state.
I'm pointing these things out because I see a lot of people taking individual action. They buy property, become land stewards, form local coops which are all good things in isolation. But the snowball effect of what they want to build from that will take decades of time that just isn't there anymore. These questions, these decisions need to be made by the community of people who aspire to follow this ontological perspective and that is why I point them out.
I want to stress: *I 100% support all the things you wrote about*. But I believe there are critical gaps that need filling.