EcoVillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture (Paperback)

by Liz Walker (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In a world filled with stories of environmental devastation and social dysfunction, EcoVillage at Ithaca is a refreshing and hopeful look at a modern-day village that is taking an integrated approach to addressing these problems.

This book tells the story of life at EcoVillage at Ithaca, an internationally recognized example of sustainable development. It transports the reader into the midst of a vibrant community that includes co-housing neighborhoods, small-scale organic farming, land preservation, green building, energy alternatives and hands-on education. By integrating proven social and environmental alternatives into a living model, EcoVillage at Ithaca provides a rare glimpse into one possible-and positive-future for the planet.

EcoVillage at Ithaca delves into the heart of the lived experience at this innovative community. It provides a warm, personal and reflective look at what it is like to create a sustainable culture. The book tells in-depth stories about an integrated way of life:

Running a family farm
Creating "invented celebrations"
The poignancy of a home birth, as well as a conscious death
Community work parties
Dramatic examples of personal transformation

At the same time, as one chapter states, "This is not Utopia," and the struggles and conflicts inherent in any community endeavor are not glossed over.

Human scale, accessible and inspiring, the example of EcoVillage at Ithaca will help readers imagine fresh alternatives to "life as usual." It will appeal to all who are hungry to learn about successful working models of a more sustainable approach to living with each other and the earth.

Liz Walker co-founded and has directed EcoVillage at Ithaca since its inception in 1991 and has lived there with her family since the first buildings were completed. She has worked on all aspects of the community's development and has written and lectured widely on the topic.

About the Author
Liz Walker co-founded and has directed EcoVillage at Ithaca since its inception in 1991, and has lived there with her family since the first buildings were completed. She has worked on all aspects of the community's development, and has written and lectured widely on the topic.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers; illustrated edition edition (May 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865715246
• ISBN-13: 978-0865715240
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #558,350 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent 1st hand personal account of an ecovillage, July 6, 2007

By	M. Swaim (NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an excellent first-hand personal account of the forming, and subsequent trials, tribulations and accomplishments of one of the most famous ecovillages in the US. Liz Walker does a good job describing how the ecovillage at Ithaca began as more of a movement than just a simple community. She details some of the initial aspects of getting the community going, and offers up some vignettes on life in the community as it formed and once it was formed and stable.

The reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is that while it's chocked full of anecdotes, it's short on actual advice for those wishing to form duplicate communities elsewhere. The group at Ithaca had some tremendous advantages early on, (such as being offered free land, and enjoying overwhelming support from the local community). Still, it's a good read for anybody interested in intentional communities or ecovillages.

One thing I took to heart from this is that the CSA farmer couple at Ithaca felt like they were getting something of a raw deal, and not enough support from the community. This is a recurring theme in other ICs that have a single person, couple or small group responsible for growing food for the community, with a community that's free to shop elsewhere if they desire. It's a valuable lesson.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Inspiring, June 27, 2007

By	Marcelo Michelsohn "Mits" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very truthful and inspiring story of the development of Ecovillage at Ithaca, with all its successes but also with the challenges and problems faced by the community. If you are thinking about joining or starting your own community I would highly recommend you this book and a visit to the Ecovillage which I did in May 2007. It really helped me to confirm my dream of building an ecovillage myself.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Self-aggrandizing, amateurish, not worth reading, December 24, 2007

By	Ragamufin44 "NeinIchMeinHaus" (NY) - See all my reviews

Liz Walker is a startlingly untalented amateur writer, and it really shows in this book. Far from a page turner, this book is a challenge to enjoy from start to finish. Not only that but, as mentioned in earlier reviews, it fails to focus on what is arguably most important to its readers, how to replicate the success of Ecovillage at Ithaca elsewhere.

This book is jam packed with trite anecdotes and rambling stories, accented by Walkers unusual personality, which hijacks the book for pages in order to laboriously drag the reader through the mud of her petty personal grudges. Of course, in the spirit of personal vendettas and cowardice, Walker takes the stage only to belittle the efforts of those families that have chosen to move on from Ecovillage. Walker's inability to coherently detail events without a deep, and probably misconstrued, sense of personal importance, will leave the sour taste of rampant bias in any readers mouth. The book reads like it should be titled "Why Ecovillage Would Never Have Survived Without Liz Walker." The scope of her persistent self-aggrandizement is rivaled only by her remarkable ability to gloss over many of the problems faced by Ecovillagers (and, consequently, their solutions).

I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone. It is nothing more than the angry, incoherent ramblings of a woman desperately trying to convince the world, and maybe herself, that she spent more time building communities, and less time provoking petty fights with the real pioneers of this brilliant sustainabe community.