There was pie last Saturday, May 10, at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center. At 2 p.m. the first gathering of the Ravenna-Roosevelt Ecovillage was getting started, and if you arrived early enough at the Planet, People, Pie & Possibilities event to get a slice of the strawberry-rhubarb pie, you'd agree it was delectable.Besides free pastries and coffee, there were about 12 tables set up by "citizens" of the new eco-village promoting solutions for everything from dealing with global warming and reducing our dependency on foreign oil to saving trees, making cheese and fixing your car.An eco-village isn't an actual village that can be located. It's basically a group of neighbors getting together to share information and to solve problems. The emphasis is on community and thinking about simple, local solutions to everyday needs such as food, transportation and conservation, as well as indirectly dealing with big issues like global warming and America's dependency on foreign oil.Some villagers contribute by offering workshops; others make individual efforts by car-pooling, using solar power or taking on political causes. LEARNING AS A COMMUNITYOne of the first eco-villages in Seattle was Sustainable Ballard, founded in 2003. Now, there are more than 50 of these groups in or around Seattle.Colleen Whitten Sax organized the event on Saturday because she said it's imperative that neighbors communicate with each other.Apparently, enough of her neighbors agree with her - or at least wanted free pie -because the room at the community center, at 6535 Ravenna Ave. N.E., was packed.Sitting at one of the tables was Jessica Dally, who started the Seattle Free School earlier this year. She offers free workshops on topics such as cheese making, raising chickens in the city and getting your Irish citizenship."It's a skills exchange," she said. "Anybody can teach, and we don't take donations. It's all about community. It's completely volunteer."Another eco-villager present on Saturday was Leo Brodie. Brodie could accurately be described as an urban survivalist. But rather than hiding in a mountain shack with a stockpile of guns, Brodie said that the best chance for surviving future disasters, such as an earthquake or another Great Depression, is a strong community.Brodie was promoting a concept he called "re-skilling." According to his handout, people must learn the skills their grandparents and great-grandparents needed but which future generations were never taught, such as sock darning. He said that 150 years ago people grew their own food, and according to Brodie, we can and should be doing that today."We can't rely on cheap energy anymore," Brodie said.HOT TOPICSEnergy, more precisely oil, is a hot topic among eco-villagers. According to the group's website, Sustainable Ballard was started as a "positive and active response" to the war in Iraq. People are now starting to understand what the war is all about, said Vicky Opperman, one of the founders of Sustainable Ballard."The pocketbook is really getting people motivated," said the 50-year-old longtime activist and interior designer.To tap into this newfound motivation, Sustainable Communities ALL Over Puget Sound (SCALLOPS) was formed last year. The organization works with communities that would like to build an eco-village.Opperman said that in her role with SCALLOPS she meets with groups around the region and, using her laptop, shows them what other communities are doing to solve problems together.Some groups are focused on technological solutions such as solar energy. Other groups start out as book clubs. Some, like a group in Shoreline, are concerned with planning issues such as land-use codes.Each eco-village is different. What SCALLOPS provides, Opperman said, are models and ideas of how to solve problems. The individual groups then come up with their solutions.Diane Grace was checking out the new Ravenna-Roosevelt Ecovillage and enjoying some pie. "I like it," she said between bites. "People with different passions sharing with one another." Regardless of what challenges these groups look to solve or how they seek to solve them, the one common thread is an emphasis on acting locally. It's a 21st-century manifestation of the old mantra: "Think globally, act locally.""We're really interested in fostering community, fostering positive change," Whitten Sax said.The community safety net that once existed in America, she said, is not there anymore, so it's important that neighbors come together to rebuild it."If we can make time for community," she said, "we can get more done."[[In-content Ad]]
