Our Mission: Community
The mission we have accepted here is to form community.
Not just in our little corner of Avra Valley, but the greater
Tucson region as well. We envision a historically viable system
of family, clan, guild, and tribe in community with self aware
others of like mind and heart.
For example; many of the tribes native to the Americas,
before the European immigrations, were entirely open to new
people without regard to ethnicity. They did require that
new people fit in or they were directed to another community!
However, they did not mandate where new people fit in so long
as they contributed to the general good.
Our community is about making connections to develop and
share information that will enable self reliant and resilient
lifestyle. Ultimately resiliency is about; knowing the truth
about the playing field, circumstances, what other agendas
are in play, being able to adapt, adopt and evolve. We believe
that understanding these aspects, no matter how outside the
bounds of ordinary reality, is critical to playing the Game
of life we are engaged in.
We envision our community as the people, the ecosystem,
plants, animals, spirits of the land, and the outside forces
stimulating evolution or devolution. Like the native tribes
of old we recognize that oneness of spirit and spirituality
will encourage diversity without adopting dogma.
Many years of research have gone into planning a community
that we believe will be here 10, 20, and maybe even 50 years
into the future, no matter other events. Be it a utopian future,
or one that has to pass through the worst TEOTWAWKI that is
survivable we plan and are planning to be here.
Much of our research can be found on our website TTEV.org.
Feel free to use anything you find there to help build your
own community. If you have insights to share with us we eagerly
await your input. Our mission is designed to evolve as circumstances
arise and thus become a quantum community. |
Community Principals
General Principles:
1. Everything that is done at our eco-village is in keeping
with Sustainability, Resiliance and Self Reliance. Rethinking
how to promote Harmony, Health, Peace and Conscious Evolution
is a core goal of our efforts. We are a “Desert People"
and need to keep that concept firmly in mind at this intentional
community. We are proud to be a working, living, evolving
incubator or this emerging concept and consciousness.
2. All designs for structures of any kind, and any alterations
to the land will be agreed upon by a majority of the community
members prior to execution. Plans may be approved, modified,
or rejected with suggestion of how to improve the design.
In fact you can pre-submit a plan for consideration before
you buy into the community. The “General Guidelines &
Owners Manual For Development” will be given to all potential
purchasers of lots. But the above statement is in keeping
with the spirit of what we are trying to achieve here in this
lush desert community.
3. Here are some guiding principles that are held as self
evident in this type of “Intentional Community.”
A. Everyone and everything is created and held as ‘equal’
in this community. Practical consideration included in the
concept of sustainability dictate that a measure of common
sense holds sway. That would mean that if a tree had to be
removed in order to develop a property, and there was compelling
reason why this was so, instead of prohibiting its removal,
it would be either be relocated or replaced two for one. We
would also attempt to relocate any plant communities under
this tree, for a tree is an island of life in this desert.
B. The principle of “Living in Harmony” within our ecosystem
dictates that not only do we try and get along with each other,
the land, and the creatures here, but also thinking carefully
about all changes we propose or do to this relatively fragile
environment. For instance, a tall TV antenna may get you better
reception, but it also impacts your neighbors ‘view-shed’.
Or having a dog-run, for your dog is all good and fine, but
if a neighbor is down-wind and can smell it, then it should
be kept clean and not easily visible unless pleasant in appearance.
Or, by not wanting to throw anything away, one keeps 4 non-running
cars on the property; and they are parked under tarps near
the garage. Besides the environmental concerns of leaking
gasoline and oil, this practice is unsightly, and impacts
the view-shed of all in our community, and so must be carefully
planned into the environment.
If you have a disabled vehicle or two, the vehicles should
be kept in a garage, which ideally would be made of sustainable
materials and designed appropriately. Rethink use and impact.
This is basically called “Permaculture,” and we are serious
about practicing it here. Junk just lying around will not
be condoned, though some allowances may be made of individual
situations or temporary situations.
C. The entire premise of “Beyond Sustainable” means we will
be looking at that concept as a general guideline for the
building of any structures or modification of the environment
within which we live. So adobe brick, cob, concrete, steel,
or straw-bale would be an example of what we could look for,
rather than wood frame stucco. There must be some esthetic
appeal to the structure as well in keeping with this entire
theme.
Permaculture techniques would also need to be explored and
planned in so that extra run-off water from the roof would
first be “harvested for reuse, and any extra would be redirected
into a basin where a garden might be cultivated, or harvested
from the roof and mixed with gray water from the house to
water a household or even community garden, and so on. Rain
harvesting will be a requirement, as it should everywhere
in this desert.
D. Planning for sustainability requires an adaptation from
normal societal dwellings and situations. For instance, what
would happen if all electricity was suddenly unavailable or
because of politics, global scenarios, or temporary instability
became too expensive? This must be planned into this entire
eco-village equation. Or what about a future social unrest
where we had to put up many more neighbors than our community
had planned for? Where would we get food and water, and how
would we dispose of the extra waste?
All compelling questions that we are trying to plan for in
the name of sustainability. Making common cause with like-
minded groups as well as a compelling educational component
must also be planned into this intentional community. There
are already ways to deal with this if planned into our community’s
infrastructure at the beginning, and as we evolve as a community
we would certain find even more ideas, solutions, and possibilities.
That is why we intend to be an incubator, a functional educational
experiment, and a testing ground for these types of ideas,
and will test them as to what is practical, feasible, and
doable.
Concepts we all abide by:
It is important to remember that as a desert people and
a new wave of sustainable civilization, as we know it, our
current society may not be as secure as others pretend it
is. Our ancestors had to live within their means and we are
here now because enough of them did so, got creative, and
were able to pass these genetic, practical, and spiritual
concepts on to us. We will start down that road and hope we
are never suddenly forced to do anything so extreme as having
to survive in a totally hostile world.
But it never hurts to look at this ‘Beyond Sustainable ideal
and concept and see what we can do about it right now in a
practical, working, and effective way. We are not alone in
this. There are many other people working on solutions to
our current and future problems and we intend to tap into
this wonderful source as well. From the University of Arizona
and the local college and school systems, to the innovative
scientists and pioneers of this fast learning experience that
our technology has made available to us we are taking heed.
All our ideas are not necessarily unique, but in many cases
we are the first or one of the first to try and make it happen
in a practical and affordable sustainability manner. As an
example, sustainable energy, water, and food sources and their
use, always dictated how many people could live, how and where
until very recently, and became the basis of life of our ancestors.
But now thanks to social conditions having to do with global
economics and technology we are living on the surpluses of
the past including fossil fuels, mono culture commercial food
systems, and energy generated out of our control and far away.
And it is time to look at this cause and effect cycle that
makes the average person feel helpless to make a difference.
But that will change here at Eco Village #1, and in other
pioneering communities across our great land and even on distant
shores. It is time we reformed intentional communities and
started living and acting as we really are…. A Desert People.
A community of desert peoples.
We will know we are desert people when….
When we hold everything as sacred and interact with it sustainably.
When we accept that water in the desert is very limited, very
responsive to energies, very necessary for life, is alive,
and thus must be treated with the highest respect for us to
have a future. When we develop the mechanisms and the systems
to not use more water than we have or produce. When water
from washes is caught and harvested and not just run off our
roofs, our properties, through the wash into the gutters of
uselessness. When we learn other ecological and alternative
ways of living within our budget of rain, and producing clean,
life-giving water in a renewable sustainable way.
When we start taking back control of our own health by eating
what is practical, healthy, sustaining, and good for us rather
than what is offered to us as ‘food,’ by interests that care
more for profits and control than what is going on inside
our sacred bodies. When food is once again lovingly cultivate
at a local level rather than imported through wasteful distribution
channels controlled by factors outside out input.
When our energy is part of a sustainable system that we can
have a major impact on by our choices and actions, rather
than at the whims and mercy of others far away.
And finally when we start taking responsibility for all our
actions, recognize that ultimately everything anyone does
affects all other beings and things around us. And when our
very thoughts, beliefs, and actions allow us to retake control
of those crucial factors above and do so in a peaceful and
harmonious way, knowing all our many neighbors may not be
as lucky or prepared as we in our intentional community at
Eco Village #1 and other Tucson Tortolita Eco Villages are.
Practicality often trumps beliefs, but beliefs drive practicality,
so just as becoming an intentional sustainable community may
be the key to our happiness and perhaps our children’s and
grandchildren’s survival… so too does the idea of practical
or beyond sustainable have its place in our belief systems.
Everyone can make a difference, and at this community everyone
will be strongly encouraged to making that difference. Becoming
the change we hope to see is the only practical way for this
change to evolve into in the fist place. That is what we plan
on building here.
Still other related principles:
When we utilize our resources in balance with nature, i.e.
grow a certain percentage of our food, energy, and harvest
much of our water and other resources that we use. When we
develop harmony and balance with our environment, interior
and exterior, in as many ways as is possible, and honor our
ancestor’s ability to do this in a practical way. When we
start with the children in the schools and educate locals
and people from elsewhere to live in balance in the desert.
When we are committed to dream and develop a vision for a
community of people and their descendants to be at one with
and supportive of the desert in a sacred exchange for loving
and harmonious living.
Specifics of Living At Eco Village #1:
Property ownership will be in individual lots zoned by the
county as RH, which means a lot of things, but specifically
that homes must be on at least 4.13 acres. With the above
principles and basic ideas in mind, if you intend to live
in our community, you are agreeing and acknowledging that
in order to protect all that we are about, you will find legally
binding conditions, covenants, and restrictions (CC&R’s)
that attach to your property. They were developed to ensure
protection and proper care for the land and all its inhabitants
from rocks to rock stars. It is about quality of life and
conscious choices for each and every one, all and everything.
When reselling or leasing your property it is your responsibility
to inform the new residents all that goes into being a resident
of this intentional community. As part of these CC&R’s,
present community residents will have the first option to
purchase or lease your property. Though you may price your
property at whatever you feel is necessary,.you are obligated
to obey any and all CC&R’s. Please be sure you understand
them and are willing to become part of our community before
signing any contract on any property, whether for lease or
sale. |
