Sustainability is a big deal, especially with resources diminishing at an astonishing rate. According to the Global Footprint Network, human consumption of resources is creating an ecological deficit causing an onset of an overshoot. Absent-mindedly running excess amounts of water, driving gas-fueled automobiles, not recycling that pizza box and purchasing new clothes all have a huge impact on our environment. We are pushing the boundaries of sustaining renewable resources just as we are slipping deeper and deeper into college debt with every loan we may take out.
Yet sustainability practices offer a way out. They secure resources for time to come as well as promote economic, environmental and social prosperity. As we work to stabilize the environment, we, as a community, take huge strides in creating a better world for our generation and generations to come.
Investing more in sustainable communities, communes or cohousing will help solve our sustainability malady. STAR, Sustainability Tools for Assessing and Rating Communities, describes a sustainable community as an “healthy environment” where citizens can live and prosper socially and economically, whilst maintaining environmental solidarity. A community where we all share environmental, cultural, economic and social responsibility can improve our lives drastically.
There are already sustainable communities in North Carolina, in the environmentally conscious communities of Carrboro and Ashville: the Earthaven EcoVillage and Pacifica Cohousing. Chapel Hill also has cohousing spaces, such as Arcadia and the Weaver Community Housing. There is also the Eno Commons in Durham and many more collective housing units within North Carolina.
In Raleigh, efforts to create a sustainable communal environment is underway, with Raleigh Cohousing developing move-in logistics for 2019 and cohousing for senior citizens. Other sustainable initiatives include Triangle Tiny House and NC State’s own SOUL Garden behind the Lake Raleigh Dam.
SOUL Garden is a student-run community organic garden solely run by NC State students; its mission is to raise awareness for the implementation of gardening and sustainable practices.
However, efforts to create communal living have been undermined by gentrification. Gentrification, the process in which old buildings and homes are removed in an attempt to revitalize the area, has made housing prices skyrocket in the city of Raleigh, thus driving out people from areas undergoing it. Such a process develops a situation where we are depleting our resources by destroying what’s present, rather than the more sustainable approach of working with what’s already present and bettering it. The process of gentrification has consequences for not only the sake of sustainability, however, but it also affects the social prospects and the life chances of people in that particular neighborhood, especially for minorities and the elderly, who can no longer afford to live there.
A differing approach to gentrification sees turning these communities into sustainable communities.
Building more places in Raleigh where communal living is possible can not only bring us together as a community, but also help us thrive for years and years to come. It can be the epoch of a peaceful, unified togetherness that we all viscerally strive for. All the while, we get to save the planet, our community and ourselves.
At the very least, taking up organic farming, being conscious of water consumption and recycling are just one of the many things you can do to help the environment and promote well-being for yourself and others. I am currently researching being a WWOOFER, which is volunteering on organic farms both locally and abroad, and being conscious of cutting lights and water off when I am not using them. Small actions taken to better the environment and save resources are steps that lead to bigger outcomes.
