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I sped through the video, looking for details on who does building maintenance and construction, who grows the food and does the actual labor. Not seeing any o

by JPKab 5y ago

I sped through the video, looking for details on who does building maintenance and construction, who grows the food and does the actual labor. Not seeing any of that gave me bad vibes. It makes me think that this is more of a stylish residence than an actual self-sustaining commune. My father is a radical boomer environmental activist, and the whole video made me think of when he'd invite like 30 PETA and EarthFirst activists to our land after we had finally built a house on it. They all had that same kind of regionless accent, with the slow intonations and the cult-y, faux profoundness. Based on my experience with these folks, they are basically evangelical fundamentalists wearing turquoise and Patagonia, and should be avoided at all costs. Somebody is fixing the buildings and growing the food, and I strongly suspect it's nobody living in these houses.

GrumpiNerd 5y ago
That type of people have been taking over Vermont. Walk into any food co-op in Vermont and at least half the people will look and act like the older lady in the video. They pretend to be all peaceful and kind, but if anyone disagrees with them they turn vicious. They think bigger government can solve everything, just gotta keep spending money. Most grew up very privileged and have no idea how to actually build or repair anything.
dkersten 5y ago
> self-sustaining commune They specifically said they are not trying to be an independent self-sustaining commune, but rather integrate into the wider community. The farms are rented out (at the price of the annual taxes, so very low rent) and the community can become part of a group or whatever (didn't go into details on how it worked) to be able to get food from the farms. The community center seemed to be volunteer based, but again, she didn't go into details, I'm sure their website would have more information. Overall, it seemed to be more about living closely with people in with co-op style ownership and governance, but you still work your normal job and live relatively independent lives, not a "commune" where everyone is working together as almost one household in a self-sustaining somewhat isolated manner. Their website is here, but I did not read through it: https://ecovillageithaca.org/ https://ecovillageithaca.org/

by JPKab 5y ago

GrumpiNerd 5y ago

That type of people have been taking over Vermont. Walk into any food co-op in Vermont and at least half the people will look and act like the older lady in the video. They pretend to be all peaceful and kind, but if anyone disagrees with them they turn vicious. They think bigger government can solve everything, just gotta keep spending money. Most grew up very privileged and have no idea how to actually build or repair anything.

dkersten 5y ago

> self-sustaining commune They specifically said they are not trying to be an independent self-sustaining commune, but rather integrate into the wider community. The farms are rented out (at the price of the annual taxes, so very low rent) and the community can become part of a group or whatever (didn't go into details on how it worked) to be able to get food from the farms. The community center seemed to be volunteer based, but again, she didn't go into details, I'm sure their website would have more information. Overall, it seemed to be more about living closely with people in with co-op style ownership and governance, but you still work your normal job and live relatively independent lives, not a "commune" where everyone is working together as almost one household in a self-sustaining somewhat isolated manner. Their website is here, but I did not read through it: https://ecovillageithaca.org/ https://ecovillageithaca.org/