LA Ecovillage

In urban Los Angeles, about 3 miles west of downtown, 500 people live on 11 acres where priority is given to bicycles, fruit trees, greywater, veggie gardens, clotheslines, compost, shared spaces (tool shop, art space, bike shop), micro-businesses, on-site natural food coop and chickens.

The Los Angeles Ecovillage was launched over 2 decades ago when its founders looked to the neighborhood for inspiration. "The way in which we think about making an urban ecovillage, we have to ask ourselves the questions, 'what are the problems in your neighborhood with air, soil and water'", explains co-founder Lois Arkin. "And for us, in the beginning, it was discovering that the children in our neighborhood had 20% less lung capacity than children in other neighborhoods. So what could we do, we could stop driving."

Filmed by Johnny Sanphillippo

Visit the LA Ecovillage website

Go to the GEO front page