If you’re thinking about starting an Eco-Village, you wanna know, essentially you want to know what are the issues with soil, with air, with water, in your bio-region, in the ecological region that you live in; what are the relationships that you have with your elected officials that have the power over the area where you want to make this happen; who are your neighbors, and what kind of relationships you have with those neighbors whether they’re rural, farm neighbors, or whether they’re urban neighbors on your block. - Lois Arkin

Lois Arkin shares her personal journey, from growing up in a close-knit, nature-filled neighborhood as a child, to moving to California with her husband, studying anthropology, and eventually finding her calling in the cooperative and intentional community movements. This led her to found the Cooperative Resources and Services Project (CRSP) in 1980, which laid the groundwork for the Eco Village LA concept.

She explains how she came to the idea of creating an "eco village" - a cooperative, environmentally-focused community - after hosting public forums on different types of cooperatives. She describes the process of acquiring the first Eco Village LA building in the 1980s, and how the community has grown to encompass three buildings and a land trust over the decades.

As she outlines, the key criteria that define an eco village, as outlined by early eco village pioneer Robert Gilman - includes being human-scaled, full-featured, closing the waste loop, supporting healthy human development, and being sustainable long-term. She explains how Eco Village LA aims to embody these principles, while also maintaining a diverse community in terms of income, ethnicity, gender, age, and household composition.

Lois candidly shares the conflicts and challenges the community has faced over the years, including periods of intense interpersonal tensions. She describes how they eventually implemented a formal conflict resolution process, requiring members to first try to resolve issues one-on-one, and then seek mediation through a community conflict resolution committee if needed.

Looking ahead, Lois talks about Eco Village LA's upcoming plans, including creating a pedestrian plaza on their main street, developing an urban farm, and continuing efforts to remove more housing in the surrounding neighborhood from the speculative real estate market. She emphasizes the broader goal of transforming the real estate industry's mindset from "maximum return on investment" to a "fair return on investment" to improve housing affordability and quality of life.

Other resources mentioned:

Foundation for Intentional Communities

The Cohousing Association of the United States

“And what we did was, ‘let’s combine the performance of heat pump, off the shelf heat pump, heat pump water heater, with thermal storage with really really smart controls, and you can reap the benefit of that heat pump by shifting the load to the middle of the day and giving you a heat and hot water whenever you need it.” - Jane Melia

Jane Melia, Co-founder and CEO of Harvest, the smart thermal battery system explains the genesis of Harvest. She discusses the limitations of traditional heat pump systems and how Harvest combines a heat pump with thermal storage and smart controls to decouple the time when heat is generated from when it is used, allowing the system to take advantage of cheaper, cleaner electricity.

Jane provides a detailed overview of how the Harvest system works. It uses a heat pump water heater, a thermal battery (hot water tank), and smart controls to optimize when the heat pump runs to take advantage of renewable energy and off-peak electricity rates, while still providing heating and hot water on demand.

Jane discusses the cost of the Harvest system, noting that it is comparable to a median heat pump system but with higher performance. She explains the various incentives and tax credits available, including the 30% federal tax credit, that can make the system cost-competitive with traditional gas heating and water heating. She also discusses Harvest's efforts to work with contractors and property owners to drive broader adoption.

Jane and Izumi discuss the future of home heating and cooling, with Jane envisioning a future where thermal storage becomes a standard feature of heat pump systems to better leverage renewable energy and support grid decarbonization. They also discuss the policy changes, such as bans on new gas furnaces, that are helping drive the transition to clean heating solutions.

harvest.green

“During Covid I started to think more about the products I was using and plastics. I’d always used refilled bottles for water and I’d reuse plastic bags at the grocery store. Then I heard the statistics that 2.5 billion tons of trash are in the landfill just from hand and body lotion alone and hand and body wash… “ - Libby Bourne

Libby Bourne is the store manager for a sustainable store Sun Moon Rain in Santa Monica, offering refillable cleaning and personal care products. The store aims to eliminate single-use plastic and toxins through education.

Libby outlined the store's most popular items like refillable dish soap and laundry detergent, appealing for their effectiveness and concentrates reducing plastic use. Customers favor natural deodorants and handwashes for their safe, non-toxic formulas. Libby ensures products meet the store's high standards by checking Environmental Working Group ratings and trusting suppliers with aligned values. This gives customers confidence that items support wellness without compromising the planet.

She explains how the store attracts families seeking non-toxic products plus students and health practitioners concerned with sustainability. Santa Monica schools influence interest, and youth outreach grows demand while older customers remain open to change. While progress encourages Libby, a perfect solution remains distant. Continued education and small individual changes can chip away at plastic pollution if companies also curb production. Collaboration across generations offers hope for positive change.