Survival Communities, Models in Today's Society

SURVIVAL COMMUNITIES, MODELS IN TODAY'S SOCIETY

Intentional Communities

The Zetas have emphasized that survival after the pole shift is enhanced if one lives in a Service-to-Other community, where all share resources,
offer their skill sets for the general good,
care for and protect the sick and injured,
and defend one another.

ZetaTalk: How to Prepare, written July 15, 1995: Regarding how mankind can prepare themselves. Small cooperative groups, operating in Service-to- Others, where the concerns of all are the concerns of each, will have the best chances. Most important is a cooperative attitude among the group, with a willingness to undertake distasteful tasks, a desire to share among all what little there may be, and a positive attitude toward the future. Sunlight may be Scarce, so crops grown under artificial light will be most abundant. Rivers and seas may be poisoned, what with the volcanic dust falling everywhere, so fish tanks fed from algae grown in human sewage will likewise be most abundant. Certain crops fair better and go further than others. Good cooks, skilled at making the plain fare tasty, will be much appreciated. A natural way of life reminiscent of life during the last century. It is no small matter to have music, poetry, and art. This fills the heart of the musician, poet, or artist as much as the recipient. There will be much need for such distraction, as the days will be dim, and the nights dark and long.

Are such communities in existence today?
As evidence that the collective conscious is thinking along these lines, in the decades leading into the pole shift, are the many plans to form such communities.
Such communities are often called Intentional Communities, because they are formed with predetermined rules and structure in mind.

Self Sufficiency

Many of these intentional communities cite being self sufficient as a goal.
Where does this come from, in an era where electricity is relatively cheap and certainly available, and crops grown on commercial farms are in abundance in grocery stores?

ZetaTalk: Self Sufficient, written Apr 15, 1999.: The Year 2000 crisis is also a paper dragon, one of many being used by the establishment to distract the populace from the real danger. Many such distractions, such as the Presidential impeachment, are simply to draw people away from the real concerns. Some disasters during the Year 2000 crisis will prove to be almost entirely man-made and could have been prevented. They have been seeded. Not enough to cause terrible disasters, but enough to put some weight behind the message so that people will start to take these kind of warnings seriously. The message is to rely on the self. What if the grid were to be down? What if the stores were to be empty? Start to think. They are trying to get the populace used to these kind of thoughts. Some of the difficulty with eating beef, some of the scares like mad cow disease and e-coli, are designed to force people to turn away from a high meat diet and return to a vegetable based diet, which is of course more efficient. Why feed the cow when you can feed yourself. You really don't need the protein that you're stuffing into your mouths. Look at the Orient, where they make do with very little, a tad of fish in the rice.

The populace is being manipulated in many ways to become more self reliant. The faster they move in that direction, the more honest the government will be with them. Those of good heart in the government cannot tell the populace the bad news, as the arguments about what to do with panic are too shrill. But if the populace is preparing, if they are gardening and are prepared to take the bad news, those in the government who want to warn people will bravely step forth and begin to give these warnings to the populace. There are those in the government that agonize over the games that are being played, who cannot sleep at night and find it hard to live with themselves. But unless the populace is prepared to help itself, unless an alternative to panic exists, the games will go on. The basis for a lack of panic is the sense that there is an alternative, that the populace is preparing to be self sufficient.

There will be no security blanket that the populace can rely upon, so self reliance must be the rule. The panic that will settle into governments as the time approaches, when each individual will be dealing with their own personal panic and anxieties, is completely unpredictable. It may run in all manner of directions. The movies that have been put out of late, where asteroids are falling and a calm prevails, and the government is like a rock of logic and quietly empties towns or flies people up to blow up asteroids, is so far from the truth as to be ludicrous. You will have your military running down the halls and bumping into each other; leaving their posts, turning guns on themselves and others. It is totally unpredictable. What will a frightened animal do when cornered? Well, your entire government and bureaucracies will turn into that in the last few months. So the populace should not look to them, but rather look to themselves.

An English website devoted to supporting self sufficient efforts lists a number of contributions.

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/: Coriander - Featured Herb: The oldest coriander fruits were discovered in the Nahal Hemar cave in Israel. They are considered to be over 8,000 years old. Some Sanskrit texts talk of coriander's cultivation in ancient India nearly 7,000 years ago although there are but a few plant fossils to back up the literature. Organic Gardening on a Budget: Many people might be put off organic growing due to the cost. It need not be that expensive. Lets face it to be self sufficient or even self sufficient ish the whole point is that it saves you cash. Frugal Home Brew - Stronger Nettle Beer. Alternative to using mains water, something that every gardener should be thinking about during this hot spell. Use rainwater or reuse water, something called grey water. Soap Making. We try and cover every aspect of self sufficieny here at self sufficientish even some that we don't have the balls to try ourselves. I never made soap as I am not sure I would want to handle all that casustic soda.

And from Arizona, a testimonial:

http://www.solarhaven.org/AchievingSelfSufficiency.htm: In a nut shell, most people can not afford to build their own place and achieve energy independence unless they are willing to live a rather Spartan life for a time while they develop their land and energy systems and new home. Examples are a travel trailer or mobile home, an old out-building on their new property that they have "fixed up" a little, or even a Tipi or Yurt. If you a have nice big house to live in during this period, most likely you will have a nice big mortgage on it too which requires you to work full time to pay for it -- and you are right back where you started -- no time to make the Big Leap and develop a new life style and home. We bought a 21 year old single-wide mobile home in wonderful condition to live in for $10,000, and Mindy worked part time while Jim stayed home full time. There were much less expensive trailers available but they required too many repairs. Gone was the big mortgage we had to pay for in the big city.

Depending on how primitive you are willing to live, a very small "grub stake" can get you going -- perhaps as little as $5000. Rural land is often VERY INEXPENSIVE when it does not have any utilities. We paid $13,200 for four acres (about a 30 minute drive from Tucson). Land in the very same area with electricity, water, and phone costs $25,000 an acre! Land further from the city can be purchased for much less than we paid. If you are willing to live off the grid and perhaps even rely on rain catchment for your water as we do, having a big, beautiful chunk of mother earth under your feet which you can call your own becomes possible. You will have help. Though spread all over the world in out-of-the- way places, there are a surprisingly large number of folks in the natural building and alternative energy movement. They are a wonderful friendly bunch of people who stick together as a huge global community and help each other out in any way they can. This means answering countless questions on the dozens of discussion groups and newsgroups on the Internet, coming to help at wall raisings and other workshops, talking on the phone for hours, writing letters of support when needed, and donating materials and loaning tools and equipment if they live close by.

Amish

Let's not overlook the Amish, certainly am intentional community well know to have a philosophy that makes them essentially self-sufficient.

http://www.amish.net/lifestyle.asp: The Amish originated from the Anabaptist movement of the early 1500s in Switzerland. Jacob Amman, who believed in conserving traditions and separation from the world more than the other Anabaptist, led a split from the Swiss "Mennonite" Brethren in 1693. Since the early 1700s when they first arrived in Pennsylvania as part of William Penn's "Holy Experiment," the Amish have been living a simple lifestyle in accordance with their religious beliefs. There are approximately 150,000 Amish in North America. The Amish are primarily farmers. Some, however, are carpenters and cabinet makers, blacksmiths, buggy and harness makers, all geared toward supporting the Amish lifestyle. In reality, the Amish lifestyle is very much like that of the Englisher ancestors of a century or so ago. Their neat Amish farms, without electric and telephone lines, look very much like those of the Englishers around them. The houses are comfortable structures with numerous rooms to support typically large families.

Many of their conveniences were used in America's 19th Century or earlier houses. Wood or coal fueled stoves provide heat. Cooking stoves are powered by propane, kerosene or wood. Kerosene or clear gas lamps provide light. A distinctive feature of America's Amish country is the windmill, used to pump water for house or farm use. While some also use gasoline engines to operate pumps with pressure tanks to provide running water for bathrooms and kitchen sinks, the old fashioned hand pump is still used in many houses. Some use kerosene-fired water heaters. Others run a system of pipes through the kitchen stove (fired with wood, kerosene or propane) to obtain hot water for kitchen or bathroom use. Those lucky enough to have natural gas on their property will use it to heat their house, provide hot water, fuel their refrigerator and provide light at night.

The Amish, by rejecting electricity and the automobile, are ideally postured for life after the pole shift, when our high tech and highly mechanized life styles will fall apart.
How bad will it get, and is the model the Amish present truly what we are headed for?
For most survivors, yes!
This is due, per the Zetas, to the fact that the broken link rule will prevail after the shift.

ZetaTalk: Machine Age, written Apr 15, 1999.: Consider what is necessary to run the average manufacturing plant, which runs heavy machinery. Gears, metal plates - it all looks quite solid. Lets say the building stands after the pole shift, having been retrofitted and braced, and the machinery itself is pretty durable. Some parts break, but one can replace them, so why would it not run? There are factors in this scenario that are not being considered. All the necessary small parts, the lubricants and additives, that will not be available. Most lubricants are necessary, to maintain a certain chemical balance, or there is corrosion. Without these lubricants, parts burn out, wear out, and you can't simply pour water or any chemical in, you need a particular chemical. The chemical industry will be very hard hit, as much of their stores are liquid and will burst, spray, disburse, and require specialized ingredients to create in the first place. So you back up, endlessly, and anytime there is a break in the link, the link is broken and affects everything downstream. So it all goes down the chain.

Even a tiny broken part can stop the process, as perhaps a particular metal or particular alloy is needed. Without this a particular function won't occur, an electrical impulse will not occur, or an etching will not occur. If that alloy is missing, all the rest of the machinery becomes idle, and simply is not effective. And if it's not effective, what is the point of maintaining it. What motive is there for staying and maintaining this factory? Who is going to feed the workers, or pay their salary? There is simply no flow of money. Bridges are down. The grid is down. The government is in chaos, and gone off to huddle and get drunk and discuss among themselves. Workers do not come out of loyalty, starving to death, to keep a corporate fat cat in business. They go off, attempting to find food for themselves. If the industry loses its skills, what occurs? Any industry that finds that its skilled workers are no longer available fails! This is a common fact, and one reason that bringing immigrants into the US, educated and with a skill set, is considered a necessity. 3rd World countries can't even get started unless they have this educated skill set. If it goes off, because its more important to feed the family than keep the boss in power, who's going to run the factory?

It's for these reasons that industry will not run, but will go idle. There are cities discovered in Central American and in China, found under the jungles or under the shifting sands, with no explanation for where the inhabitants went. These were great cities with grand steps. They had irrigation, water flowing through the city, so why did it collapse? Was it a great plague? Was it a terrible drought? Did someone come and slaughter them all? These are remnants of pole shifts, where great civilizations have fallen in the past. The survivors wander, in search of a better life. They are often confused, as they don't know what has hit them. They are sure this is a local event and they are off to find out where the sun is shining and the grain is growing. They all wander. So your industries will be idle, for these reasons.

Cooperation

One of the long time members on The Farm, a Summertown, TN community established in 1971, describes the early days.

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Bates.htm: The Farm, in Summertown Tennessee. The Farm began as a communal group of 320 "Hippies," followers of their prophet, Stephen Gaskin. They were fleeing the hard drugs and tourism of San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district in a fleet of converted school buses, finally settling in Tennessee in 1971. Having spent all their communal money on a downpayment for their new 1,750-acre home, they used the buses for shelter for years while they worked to build businesses and learned to, well, farm. In its twenty year history, The Farm has survived some wild swings of fortune, swelled and diminished in size - and even developed into an influential force in Tennessee state politics.

Is there a type of person who works out best in communities such as The Farm?

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Bates.htm: The most fundamental, essential element, without which any community would fail, boils down to interpersonal skills. The glue that holds any group together is the ability to put aside your own personal ego at times, and to recognize that you have to look out for other people. That may mean trying to help somebody who's not able to articulate feelings very well, or it might mean shifting work burdens of one kind or another. Basically, it's about being able to relate to one another in a close way, understand each other's aspirations, and assume each other's goodwill. You have to get beyond your petty little bickerings and find a sense of common purpose. Interpersonal communication skills are the very essence of community. Without them, any community will fail, and with them, you can do anything.

What is being described here, as the operant interpersonal mode at The Farm, is a Service-to-Other orientation.
The Zetas have often asked how one can determine the spiritual orientation of potential group mates.
Is there some kind of test that can be given?

ZetaTalk: Orientation Test, written Dec 7, 2002: Nancy and ourselves are often asked how one can determine if a stranger, or even a familiar friend, is Service-to-Other or Service-to-Self. Those who are mature entities can sense this in the other's spirit, the soul, instantly. Nancy is often criticized for being abrupt with a questioner, but she knows the reason for the questions, the approach, the offer, etc. It is not the actions of the other, nor the words, that give this clue. How does she know? She reaches out and senses the intent of the soul, and was wise in this judgment prior to this incarnation, one of the reasons she was allowed to proceed on this Communications role she has assumed, with all our support. Immature entities, those young, who are always in an undecided position, not fully Service-to-Other in their orientation, are confused. They are confused because they have not yet sorted out their own motivations, goals, and agendas. They themselves are presenting a persona that is often false, to the world, and reassuring themselves that they have better motives than is true. They themselves have hidden agendas, will fail to deliver on promises, and are looking for others to support them when times get tight, though posturing otherwise. They do not know themselves, are not being honest with themselves as this is discomfiting, so are hardly known to others by the face they present.

If anyone questions this analysis, thinking themselves more mature, then the proof is simple. Go into a messy human situation, into poverty, disease, helping the lowest of mankind as Mother Theresa did in India, living among them. One does not have far to go for this, as misery is everywhere. If one balks, makes excuses, cannot stay for more than a moment, then you have your answer! Thus, for those who want a criteria to determine Service-to-Other or Service-to-Self, we say that first you must know yourself, as otherwise you simply cannot determine.

Size and Structure

The Farm gained some insights into community size, the ideal size for cooperative living.

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Bates.htm: Once you get to small town or city size, you lose intimacy, and you gain bureaucracy. One hundred is a good size for a group to become self-sufficient. That size offers a wide diversity of possible vocations and the ability to switch between jobs as the inclination moves you. When the average Hutterite community gets much bigger than 150 or so, for example, they split off into two smaller groups and grow up to 100 again. One hundred also seemed to work pretty well with the satellite farms we had. But I'm not so sure 100 is optimal for The Farm. We're finding here that our current size - about 300 - is actually too small. We might add 50 or 100 people and be more comfortable, because we need to balance the size of the child population: how many are in school, what ages, and so on. We need to be large enough to support the school, a clinic, and other material needs.

This conclusion on community size, that it be small, is something the Zetas have likewise recommended, but for different reasons.
There is safety in small numbers, close knit groups who know each other well, and they are maneuverable in the times following the pole shift when relocation might be a necessity.

ZetaTalk: Small Groups, written Nov 30, 2002: We have recommended from the start that survivor groups start with one's friends and family, known entities. Even should you not particularly like your relatives, and they despise your friends, at least you have known entities about you. We have advised against meeting on the internet, answering adds, posting one's qualification in a database, or similar trust-all schemes. Those with skills are unlikely to need to post them and seek entry into another group, as almost everyone who knows them will be uttering invitations! Thus, those who advertise are likely the type of person to need support, in massive doses, both physical and emotional. We have also advised, as has Nancy within Troubled Times, to keep a low profile, not advertise your site or your presence. After the shift, those who have not lined up a relatively safe location, stocked away a few weeks food supply or a tent or cot, will adapt. Even those who have prepared must find themselves at that level, as the unprepared, soon enough. One cannot live as an island, well prepared and ignoring the neighbors, as the presence of a well stocked and electrified group soon becomes known. Would you turn your guns on your neighbors starving children?

Without Money

At another community, in Germany, the ability to get along with others by caring for the common good is emphasized.
The community is described as an Experiment In Tolerance.

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Kennedy.htm: Leadership is almost a dirty word. That may be putting it too strongly, but people within the community don't want anybody "leading." At first we just wanted to make decisions together, and then we decided that what we really wanted was consensus. We began to move more toward a model of trust rather than leadership. You trust somebody in a particular area to do the right thing, and you might even delegate them to do it. We also used the "focalizer" idea from Findhorn [an alternative spiritual community in Scotland], but instead of having one person designated to "focalize" the work, we used a little group of three. They definitely had a leadership role for a particular task - say, renovating the kitchen - and they would get ideas from other people and then make the final decision, since they were the people actually organizing the work. we have a Permaculture Institute and some permaculture gardens. Some people were scared of permaculture - they thought it was too much for them, or that it was "eco-fascism." But people are concerned with taking care of nature - that is very much within all of us here. We have four row houses, very tightly joined together, with very small organic gardens.

This sounds remarkably like the interaction described by the Zetas in describing how they operate without money.
The group meets, and problems are addressed and the solution agreed upon by consensus.

ZetaTalk: Without Money, written Jul 15, 1995.: Money is nonexistent in 4th Density Service-to-Others. Let us explain why this would be so. What is money? A medium of exchange. Something of consistent value, or at least stable value, which allows the barter system to take place in a more abstract manner. If one grows and markets apples, for instance, they do not have to haul around a bag of apples in order to purchase milk or pay the rent, although this option is still open to the apple grower. Without money, the apple grower must haul apples about, and this is tiresome and such matters as spoilage must be dealt with. However, the existence of money, which has been called the root of all evil, supports activities that give no value in and of themselves.

What benefit, truly, are the virtual gambling casinos that go by names such as Stock Exchange, Commodity Market, or Bond Market? This benefits those who can manipulate faster, or with a more clever sleight of hand, but benefit the overall not one wit. These activities are in fact parasitic on the overall, as the operators must be fed and housed, yet contribute nothing. Often, in fact, they benefit at the expense of the very people who should benefit - those who produce.
The principal beneficiaries of money gambling arenas are those already wealthy, who hire clever gamblers who in the main stop at nothing to succeed. The laws governing this activity do not stop lies, theft, or evasion of regulation. This is due to the pressure and inducements that the wealthy place on legislators. The little guy loses, again.

So, how do 4th Density societies function without money, a medium of exchange? Money is used to indicate to others what the individual has earned or has a right to spend. However money is presented, whether cash, a line of credit, a credit card with a balance under the credit limit, antiques or jewelry with an appraised value, real estate with an appraised value - all indicate that the holder can spend or exchange goods to this amount. What this also means is that without such proof of worth, the individual cannot spend, and is on charity. At this point the individual gets free food and lodging from either the government or charitable organizations, or goes out on the street as so many do. For simplicity's sake, you can consider the Service-to-Others to operate as though everyone were a charity case. We will be explicit.

The apple grower, when in need of some item other than the apples he grows, simply goes and takes them. Likewise, others simply come and take apples, as needed. If there are too few apples, then there is distress communicated telepathically and a meeting of the group is called, or perhaps the issue has come up during the regular meetings. As there is distress, others in the group weigh their current activities in light of the new need, and discuss alternatives. Essentially, someone who may be on sabbatical in order to devote to learning may cut this short to assist, or someone who has taken responsibility for doing laundry may find they have extra time on their hands, and volunteer. Or, it may be that in weighing the activities of all, the conclusion of the group is that apples are of less importance, and an agreement is reached to parse the existing supply out more carefully. In this way, money is replaced by communication and cooperation, and this works just fine.

Sound impossible?
This is exactly how the Yamagishi-kai group, based in Japan operates.
And this is no small group, nor is it restricted to Japan.

Yamagishism Life Jikkenchi has been built, with the hope that all people will be able to live happily and peacefully, and all healthy both materially and mentally. We believe that creating such a happy society is not beyond imagination, but that it is quite possible with certain concrete ideas, methods, and practices. In this village, no one is struggling over his rights or duties. Clothing, food, and housing are all free. No chief, no managers--no orders, no controls. It's a village worth living a true life in. We villagers learn the real essense of nature and human beings by growing vegetables or taking care of animals and noticing the true way of living. And through this village life, we develop our sociality to live as a one-body society, and now we are enjoying the benefits of living together in plenitude. In this village, everyone can live a true and healthy life based on the most ordinary and the most prosperous life of human beings. One-body management with one wallet. There are 30 Yamagishi villages in Japan and one in each of the following countries: Brazil, Thailand, Switzerland, Germany, and Korea. Together we have 3,000 people.

How do these communities sort out those who are appropriate to stay, and work, and cooperate with others, and those who are just trying to take advantage?
Perhaps they put everyone to work, as a test, to test their willingness to do distasteful tasks when necessary.
As the Zetas say, actions speak louder than words!

ZetaTalk: Actions, written Dec 7, 2002: Service-to-Other or Service-to-Self orientation cannot be determined strickly by action, by a rule of thumb, as it depends. As we have explained, a gruff person can be self centered, or just angry because they see that harm will come to others unaware. A demanding person might be demanding for the self, although presenting the demands as for others, and this cannot be determined unless one looks to the result of the demand. Someone barking orders can be simply trying to be in control, or trying to organize the confused and disoriented. There is simply no way to describe every situation, as they all vary. Service-to-Other or Service-to-Self motives are best determined by the result of the action, as a test of motive, and what the individual is willing to do.

If a Service-to-Other individual is barking orders, saying that all should move to higher ground, leaving the food stocks, but insists on remaining with the food stocks, then you have your answer. This individual intends to run off with them, most likely, else would suggest that all carry a portion to higher ground, the food stocks in many hands, not just in the hands of the individual barking orders. If a Service-to-Other individual is caring for the dying, binding wounds and comforting the frightened, endlessly for hours, and there is scaresly any benefit to the individual, then they are displaying true Service-to-Other behavior. If they are insisting on being in a control room sitting on the medical supplies, and parsing out based on intellectual decisions as to need, then this is suspect. Thus, one should look to the actions, the willingness of the individual to get down and dirty, to share decisions, to dispurse goods into many hands, to trust others, etc. This is not an easy answer for those who are not mature souls, who can recognize instantly the orientation of another.

Gardening

A famous Scottish community, the Findhorn gardens, had as its basis gardening, a common them among intentional communities.

http://www.findhorn.org/about_us/display_new.php: The Findhorn Community was begun in 1962 by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Maclean in the seaside village of Findhorn. From the barren sandy soil of the Findhorn Bay Caravan Park grew huge plants, herbs and flowers of dozens of kinds, most famously the now-legendary 40-pound cabbages. Word spread, horticultural experts came and were stunned, and the garden at Findhorn became famous. Other people came to join the Caddys and Dorothy in their work and soon the original group of six grew into a small community, committed to God's will and to expanding the garden in harmony with nature. A slim volume of Eileen's guidance entitled God Spoke To Me was published in 1967 by the community's newly formed Findhorn Press and word of this strange but wonderful community spread yet further. New community members lived in caravans beside Peter and Eileen's and in specially built cedarwood bungalows which still house guests and workshop participants today. In 1972 the community was formally registered as a Scottish Charity under the name The Findhorn Foundation and in the 1970s and 80s grew to approximately 300 members.

At the end of the 1980s, the Ecovillage Project was begun with an energy producing wind generator and the first of our new eco-friendly community buildings. An ecovillage is defined as being sustainable ecologically, economically, culturally and spiritually, and for us this is a logical continuation of our work with nature. Our original caravans are being gradually phased out as new cutting-edge eco-houses are built to the highest standards in many practical and beautiful designs. There are now 40 ecological buildings, and in the mid 1990s our biological sewage treatment plant, The Living Machine, was opened. We are part of the rapidly growing Ecovillage Network which links ecovillage projects worldwide. In 1997 the Foundation was recognised as an official United Nations Non-Governmental Organisation and has since participated in UN events such as Earth Summit and Habitat 2.

The Findhorn community was based on horticulture, and having the right spiritual attitude toward gardening, living harmoniously with the Earth.
This emphasis on gardening, at the core of the community, was echo'd at The Farm, too:

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Bates.htm: When we first got here in 1971, the idea was to become farmers. We started with a pair of Belgian mares and a plow, growing sorghum and making molasses. We sold it under the brand name, "Old Beatnik Pure Lewis County Sorghum." Today we have about 30 businesses. The major ones include a printing and publishing company, a small electronics firm, a woodworking shop, and lots of vegetarian food products.

Lest on think that massive acreage is required for a gardening community, Imago, in urban Cincinnati, is based on organic gardening and communal meals.

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC29/Cluster.htm#Imago: IMAGO. Population: 10 households. Founded: 1979. In Cincinnati, Ohio. IMAGO is an urban-based grassroots effort in a neighborhood in a medium-sized mid-Western city (Cincinnati, Ohio). It has developed two communities: a demonstration neighborhood and a membership community of 500. Each has the focus of imaging sustainability. The Latin word imago implies that to act, one has to have an image. Central to IMAGO is the demonstration neighborhood, 90 households (10 of which are owned by IMAGO members) on a long narrow street about seven minutes from downtown Cincinnati. The topography of the street is a ridge surrounded by over 100 acres of wooded hillsides. Houses are built close to the street on narrow lots and have extensive backyards. There is space for gardens, beekeeping, chickens - and reconnecting to the web of life. IMAGO is a task-directed group, and so far we've established:
* a natural food co-op
* street-wide recycling
* shared meals
* organic gardens
* a process of conflict resolution through mediation

And another such community, this one out in Montana.
Note the emphasis on gardening, and saving seed, as a core goal.

Sustainable Living Systems, Corvallis, Montana
The Problem: The earth can no longer bear the true cost of our agriculture, shelter systems, and land use ethics.
The Solution is to create human living systems that are ecologically sound and economically viable, based upon whole systems thinking, and integrating care of the earth, care of people and care of the community.
Our Mission is to:
(1) promote and facilitate access to environmentally responsible, off-the-grid, affordable housing,
(2) preserve and refine traditional methods of food and seed production and conservation,
(3) demonstrate and teach sustainable living based upon permaculture principles and Native American cultural heritage, including collective living arrangements such as ecovillages; and
(4) contribute toward building a localized economy starting with building a local food system.

To accomplish this mission, we have developed five Program Areas:
WESTERN CULTURAL HERITAGE INSTITUTE - an educational permaculture community demonstrating an environmentally responsible approach to shelter, energy, food production and collective living. The Institute has established a wildlife friendly, bio-intensive, organic gardening system to provide a sustainable food base for residents, interns, and staff, and eco-design off-the-grid shelters.

EDUCATION: We offer both on-site workshops with hands-on training and seminars in the valley addressing principles of sustainable living. Additionally, we host interns for various periods of time.

SEEDS - breeding, sharing and maintaining a seed bank of native food and medicinal plants, and working to protect the right of access and free use by indigenous people of native crop seeds. Also, we have the largest private collection of northern acclimated, open-pollinated vegetable and grain seed in Montana.

SHELTER- to have the lowest ecological footprint on the earth as possible, our facilities demonstrate new frontiers in the design of "earthships" (rammed earth in tires for thermal mass), straw bale, cordwood, papercrete, and adobe construction methods, with energy systems (solar and other) that are simplified and off the grid, and innovations in no-discharge sanitation systems and water recycling.

LOCAL ECONOMY ENHANCEMENT - towards sustainable forms of prosperity for all, we are focused on and encourage decentralized, local, land-based economies. To this end, we are networking with local and regional organizations to help develop a local food system, independent home industries, affordable medical care, and collective living arrangements such as ecovillages that weigh less heavily on the planet and on people.

Food is central to live, to sustenance, so this focus, especially in communities intent on becoming self sustaining, is natural.
Per the Zetas, in addition to being eco-conscious, Earth friendly, a willingness to be flexible will be necessary.

ZetaTalk: Crop Adjustments, written prior to July 15, 1995: To a very great extent, adjusting to crop failure depends on the personality of the individual forced to make an adjustment. We will get specific. Take, for example, a farm in the Midwest. Prosperous. Several farm hands. Occasional crop failures but in the main they can smooth their profits to cover these. Now come the crop failures. First year, the usual fallbacks are relied upon, although with the talk in the news about weather problems all over, they will be nervous. Second year, everyone gets brittle. Tempers flare. Long-time farm hands are laid off, with much guilt and regret. Plans are changed, and arguments ensue. However, there are still savings, and perhaps bank credit, and the expectation is that the next year will bring sky-high prices, even if the crop is only fair-to-middling. Third year. Shock. Depression, and we're not just talking financial. Personal gardens are producing enough to feed the family, but the bank would foreclose if they could find a buyer. Everyone thinks of the dust bowl, the depression, and goes to the movies a lot! Now, need this be the scenario? Are there no alternatives?

Let us say there is a prosperous Midwest farmer who listens to the news, eyeballs the Internet, and isn't a stick-in-the-mud. He hears, perhaps rarely but nevertheless on occasion, about pole shift predictions, and notices that some of these predictions are connecting with his reality. He decides to prepare for all contingencies. Since the drought is increasing, he stores and recycles water. Since cattle are dying, he moves to indoor fish tanks to fill his empty barn and prevent evaporation of the water. Lo and behold, there is a market for the fish! He makes money. He already has a Windmill, and with the winds increasing, takes more and more advantage of this. Now he has the electricity to irrigate hydroponics, as this guy is no dummy and he isn't pouring precious water into the ground. After the cataclysms livestock will die for lack of feed or be eaten. Seeds sown will fail to thrive after germination from lack of sunlight and the excessive drenching rains. What will the survivors eat?

Those who have prepared by establishing intensive indoor gardening such as Hydroponics and the most protein efficient animal husbandry, Fish tanks and ponds, will find themselves not only subsisting but subsisting well. Such arrangements require indoor lighting. Hydroponics can be grown around the clock and fish eat either this produce or water plants that feed off the community's Sewage Effluent, but the base of this food chain is the hydroponic vegetation. For plants, light is life, for without it plants die. Such indoor farming, in place prior to the cataclysms, should not rely on lighting from either the Sun or the utility companies. Both will in essence go out during the decades immediately following the cataclysms. Power for indoor lighting should rely on harnessing wind, or water flows, or other such mechanical generation that can be counted upon to be present after the cataclysms.

Food stuffs that can be grown without artificial light and will do quite nicely on the gloomy light supplied by the Sun are mushrooms, earthworms, and various insects that feed on dead tissue. After the cataclysms bugs will be in abundance, as dead tissue from both plants and animals is everywhere. This trend can be taken advantage of, as distasteful as that concept might be to humans who have never eaten a bug. Larva, grown in humus, can be turned into pureed and creamed soups, puddings, or omelets by skilled cooks. Those eating the fare would never guess that the base was not cream, milk, and eggs.

Ecology

Many communities espouse ecology, preserving the Earth, nature, being eco-conscious, in short, being an eco-community.
As with the emphasis on self-sufficiency, this seems to go hand in hand with these Service-to-Other oriented intentional communities.
Per the Zetas, not an accident, as such focus can be a result of a desire to be Service-to-Earth, in essence, to save the Earth from destruction.

ZetaTalk: Green Movement, written Sep 15, 1996.: One of the trends that will become increasingly evident as the Transformation proceeds is what is termed the Green Movement, ecology minded groups or individuals that espouse and take action to increase and preserve the Earth's forests and wetlands. Our concern for the environment has been steadfast during the entire history of our visitation. Those humans who love the environment and see it as a treasure to be passed forward, have given The Call to those of like mind like ourselves, and we indeed visit and plot a course as to how that individual human can make a difference. Man is rapacious. Were the Transformation not around the corner so this would run its course, you would find a terribly decimated and devastated world. It would not be completely unable to sustain life, but you would live with much grief over what you had destroyed and destroyed permanently. Raping the Earth is not occurring because multinational corporate leaders are aware of the coming cataclysms and are trying to get what they can while they have time. Primarily this activity is progressing because of a press of population, not because of a knowledge that a pole shift is around the corner.

If one looks back in human history, there was such rape of land occurring at other times. Why is the Yellow River in China so clogged with silt? Where did those trees go? Where did the vegetation go? There was poor treatment of the environment in the past, also. Preserves are not only important for the world today, they are vital for the Earth of the future. Without a strong stock of fauna and flora, in a lattice of preserves that allow seeds and creatures to flow from one preserve to another, many species will become extinct before their name can ever be uttered in a courtroom. It is not enough to have a single preserve, as disease or inbreeding can destroy a species therein. A connecting network of preserves is required, in close enough proximity that seeds blowing in the wind or transported by carrier creatures can reach another preserve, and close enough that creatures can move across land or along waterways to reach another preserve.

An example of a community that has preserving nature as one of its goals is the Heuhuecoyotl community in Mexico.

http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=1932: Huehuecoyotl is an ecovillage in the mountains of Tepoztlan, Mexico, founded by a group of adults and their children - artists, ecologists, artisans, and educators from seven different nationalities. The community was established at the present site in 1982. Over the years it has developed into an extended family; an experimental center; a model of rural, simple community living; and an important site where different traditions, cultures, and visions blend harmoniously with each other. There are low-cost guest facilities and extensive gardening as well as the use of renewable materials and sustainable designs for construction and water management. Ideal communities exist only in the imagination of visionaries, but real communities are a long daily process of understanding, hard work, patience, and love. Our village reflects both the frustrations of not being able to materialize our ideals and also achievements that are beyond description in terms of solidarity, cooperation, harmony in diversity, and an example of libertarian, ecotopian visions functioning since the early 1970s.

We are now facing a new cycle of our growth, which implies moving into a more balanced relationship with our environment and with our collective cultural center, which is rapidly becoming an alternative educational center for new communities, the arts, networking, and information. We try to bring together the best of all worlds, and we live a fairly happy life. Our members live in a combination of private and common property ownership. We each have our personal economy resolved individually and contribute to the upkeep, maintenance and improvement of the community through dues and income generated by our services to guests and groups. We offer traning in Leadership development, sustainable practices, health and healing, shamanism and community design. All our members speak Spanish and English and some speak at least five additional languages. Many have dual residencies in Europe, the US and Mexico. We are also stewards of the Chichinautzin natural preserve, a protected forest that stretches for approximately 30 miles east and west of Huehuecoyotl.