Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities with Diana Leafe Christian

With lively exercises, humorous musical skits, slide show presentations, and vivid anecdotes about real problems and their successful solutions, ecovillage author Diana Leafe Christian describes what works well, pitfalls to avoid, and how not to reinvent the wheel in creating new ecovillages. Course includes: antidotes for common kinds of “structural conflict” and interpersonal conflict, and a “Board Game” to demonstrate the relationship between mission, membership process, and decision-making method. Methods for building trust and connection, increasing social capital, and dealing with the challenging group member. “Politically incorrect” methods for making needed changes in the group. Case histories demonstrating how real ecovillages purchased, financed, and developed their properties. Community economics: internal community finances, creating a village-scale economy.  

About the instructor:

Diana Leafe Christian is author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community. Former editor of Communities magazine for 14 years, she now publishes “Ecovillages,” a free online publication http://www.EcovillageNews.org. Diana leads workshops, offers consultations on process and communication issues, and speaks at conferences internationally. Her articles have appeared in Mother Earth News, Cohousing magazine, Permaculture Activist, and the Encyclopedia of Community. She has been interviewed by Time Magazine, the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, AARP magazine, New Dimensions Radio, Peak Moment TV, NPR, and the BBC. She lives in an off-grid homesite at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. http://www.DianaLeafeChristian.org 

Commuter Course or Overnight Stays

For those of you in the local Eugene area who wish to take this course you can choose the 'commuter' option, for those a little further away we can provide room and board.

Suggested Reading

We recommend that you read Diana Leafe Christian's book "Creating A Life Together" before this course. The book can be purchased from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Life-Together-Ecovillages-Intentional/dp/0865714711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268949433&sr=8-1

Directions to Lost Valley can be found here.

Tuition

non-refundable Registration fee: $50

Commuter Option: 3 day course (includes lunch): $125 ($175 total)

Overnight Option: 3 day course with Room & Board $175 ($225 total)

(1st day Lunch, Dinner, 2nd day Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, 3rd day Breakfast & Lunch)