From countercultural ecovillages to mainstream green neighbourhoods

The world is facing an acute climate and biodiversity crisis that requires not just a change in energy supply and infrastructure, but also widespread behavioural change. Different studies have shown that members of ecovillages have a lower than average carbon footprint. Vita et al. show, for example, that members of green grassroots initiatives in Italy, Germany, Romania, and Spain have a carbon footprint 16% lower than the average carbon footprint in the same geographical regions. A survey comparing 1018 representative Danes with 255 members of 16 green communities in Denmark shows that the carbon footprint of members of green communities is 28% below the national average per capita. Split into sub-categories, the carbon footprint of members of green communities is 38% below the national average for energy, 27% for transport, 44% for food, and 14% for miscellaneous consumption. Another study shows that the carbon footprint in a Danish ecovillage is 60% below the national average.

A review of 16 different studies comparing the carbon footprint of intentional communities worldwide with national averages provides strong support for claims of greater environmental sustainability within these communities. Similar studies have been conducted in different contexts, and they all find that ecovillagers live more sustainably and/or have a lower carbon footprint than average. Thus, collective action in green communities has the real potential to promote environmental behaviour.

Several reasons explain this lower carbon footprint. First, ecovillages are characterised by a strong collective identity and a strong focus on sustainability. Members inspire one another to change their lifestyles and support each other along the green transition path. Second, ecovillagers possess specialised knowledge built on practical experience, and there is a high level of knowledge exchange when neighbours meet informally in a courtyard or during communal meals. Third, ecovillages build physical infrastructures that reduce consumption or make them more sustainable and develop social infrastructures to manage the physical infrastructure and organise collective activities.

Fourth, the heavy workload required of ecovillage life means that ecovillagers often have part-time salaried jobs. They earn less and buy less than average citizens but make it up by producing their own food and housing and by sharing more. Debt-free living, wherever it is practised, also reduces the need to work full-time to repay mortgages. All these aspects of ecovillage life explain why acting collectively instead of individually can account for the significantly lower carbon footprints of ecovillagers as compared to average citizens.

Read the rest at NPJ Climate Action