In Search of Sustainable Community: It’s Within Reach

You hear so much about people striving to live a greener, more sustainable life. You may at times wonder, who else is doing it, and is all that happy talk translating into real world results?

Three friends decided to find out. As they put it,

Mandy, Ryan and Brady are ‘bikepacking’ 12,000 miles to the East Coast and back to California, using solar-powered electronics and leg-powered bicycles.  The result is a feature-length documentary film that will present a realistic experience of seeking out and living in sustainable community.

Started October 2008 and 3800 miles into it as of this writing (with 209 PB&J’s consumed if you must know) they have been filming and Twittering their way across to country, giving a peek into what it looks, feels, and works like to live in sustainable, intentional community, the end result being a film called Within Reach.

It’s clear that these people are 21st century environmentalists – they don’t shun businesses supporting their venture, and in fact proudly list their sponsors on the front page, all of which bear relevance with what they’re doing. This project is Creative Commons licensed, and they are a non profit, allowing for people to support their journey and the making of it into a film afterwords.

So what have they found?

Some communities, like Hummingbird Ranch in Cleveland, New Mexico  are a lot like you might expect: spirituality and wellness focused, with the sustainable aspects being solar power, low impact yurts, permaculture gardening and the like. It’s run as a retreat center. Lovely as it is, it’s remote, and as they put it on the site,

They have to get creative with their finances, and currently this is a setback for many people involved and especially for bringing in new and young members who don’t have a nest egg to draw on. The ability to hold a job in a nearby town is just not possible. The commute would be too difficult.

But then again, with the climate changing and society being shaken by big changes, remoteness from work may not matter, in time.

In a seeming answer to this, their resources page is full of immediate steps for you to take right in your immediate community, my favorite being #8: Get on your bike as much as possible and take notice of how much easier it is to say hello to people. For those looking to explore more broadly, they’ve got both domestic and global resources to learn about and connect with sustainable communities. Other links cover Food, Travel, Sharing Things, For Fellow Documentarians, recommended reading, videos, bike based tours.

One paragraph in their About page brings it home why and how this will matter, beyond the green choir:

Our hope is that this information will not only re-inspire the inspired, but to spark inspiration in those who are new to this material. We do this by putting the information in a format that inspires EVERYONE to start implementing these ideas right where they are at.

Apparently it’s working, as they say,

EVERYONE we meet is greatly interested in the information we are providing. People stop us on the road daily, interested in hearing about these communities stories, as well as wanting to tell us their own story of every day efforts they are making towards these goals.

Readers: Are you finding success in creating sustainable, vital community where you live? Have you moved to a community in progress? Tell us your story, below.