Our Values
Resilience
In this time of great transition, being able to withstand shocks and disturbances is essential for both ecosystems and our human systems to survive. Developing resilience in our physical infrastructure, in ourselves, and in our community is central to our mission.
Regeneration
The conventional message of "reduce your impact" is defeatist. Why should we aspire to "do less harm" when we could strive to have a positive impact on the planet? Sustainability is too little, too late. If we are going to leave a habitable planet for future generations then we need to become allies with nature so that our actions help speed up the natural processes of regeneration. By learning how to work with nature, it is possible to cultivate a lifestyle that benefits the natural world as we meet our needs.
Relocalization
Globalization introduced us to a global community, and all the imports and exports we could ever imagine. Unfortunately, membership in this club also included an unaffordable fossil fuel price tag and widespread degradation of our global ecological and human communities. The future will be much more local, and we believe that strengthening the web of local social, economic and environmental connections we are part of is key to this future.
Experimentation
As the economy and biosphere continue to unravel, creating systems and infrastructure that will provide for human needs without requiring fossil fuels and imported resources to function becomes an ever more important task. Growing food, catching and storing water, building structures to keep us warm and dry, harvesting locally available energy, and figuring out how to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels is at the heart of our physical work. With that, comes a lot of openness to making mistakes, trying new things, and asking for help!
