Habitat Re•Imagined

Sustainable Community

Holistic Aspects of a Healthy Home

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Like the consideration of mind, body, and spirit in holistic health, a healthy home must address the spiritual, environmental, social, and economic aspects of holistic sustainability. In our personal pursuit of health we often focus on our body and neglect to see how the state of our mind, emotions, and spirit affect the whole. It can be the same, even with green building, to focus on the environmental issues of our “second skin” and neglect to see how our homes affect our spiritual, social, and economic health. Here are my considerations for the holistic aspects of a healthy home.

Environmental Sustainability addresses the considerations of green building and how our homes affect our personal well being along with the health of the planet. The following areas are the primary three categories of green building:

  • Energy Efficiency involves consideration of conservation of fossil fuels through insulation and weatherization, as well providing alternative methods of power through renewable energy sources.
  • Resource Conservation involves consideration of the materials and methods we build with, the waste in the building process, the life cycle of our home, and how we design to encourage future reuse and recycling.
  • Air Quality involves consideration of the toxicity of the materials we build with, and the ability of our homes to exchange fresh air and deal with mold cultivating moisture.

Spiritual Sustainability addresses the considerations of how our home provides an atmosphere that cultivates peace and serenity, creative expression, and emotional security.

Social Sustainability addresses the consideration of how our home welcomes our family, neighbors, and friends, as well as how it provides optimum indoor and outdoor environments for healthy social engagement.

Economic Sustainability addresses the consideration of how our home will affect our finances now and in the future.

The Story of Stuff

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I have always been baffled by the encouragement in our culture to purchase stuff we don’t need in order to boost the economy and provide jobs. It doesn’t seem to take much more than common sense to realize that doesn’t make much sense – especially sustainable sense. Sure, spending money on its own merit might temporarily boost a sagging economy but, long term, it only seems to enslave the masses with debt and increase the size of our homes, storage sheds, and landfills.

If we are serious about sustainability, both economic and environmental, one of the most important issues we all need to consider is our addiction to comfort and convenience. Somehow we must back out of our consumer culture and help to create a new culture based on need and care. If you haven’t seen this already, check out the Story of Stuff for a great reality check.

Creating Community Anywhere

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When the subject of defining community comes up, there are usually as many images and definitions as people involved in the conversation. Community can and does simply mean a group of interacting people living in a common geographical location. On the other end of the spectrum, it has a variety of definitions related to the intentionality of living together based on shared values and purpose. But it also has meaning related simply to the relationships that build in our working environment, associations and clubs, churches and other spiritual communities, etc. – and today, it also can mean the relationships we build online through websites, blogs, forums, and social networking.

For practical purposes, related to all these possibilities, a good starting point for defining community comes from the book “Creating Community Anywhere” By Carolyn Shaffer and Kristin Anundsen:

Community is a dynamic whole that emerges when a group of people:

  • participate in common practices
  • depend upon one another
  • make decisions together
  • identify themselves as part of something larger than the sum of their individual relationships
  • commit themselves for the long term to their own, one another, and the groups well-being

Holistic Spirituality

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I like to think of spirituality as the life force that energizes and motivates everything else. Separating it from religious doctrine or practice, I try to keep it holistic yet simple and basic. Like stating that person “is very spirited” or “has a gentle spirit”, spirituality can be a very down to earth way of describing human energy and the source that powers it. In order to consider the health of our living and working environments, I think it is important to look at that energy in a holistic way.

The first aspect of spirituality I like to consider is “personal awareness”. Cultivated in the contemplative tradition of Christianity, the mindfulness tradition of Buddhism, and the meditative practices of other spiritual paths, this practice helps us live in a more fully conscious present moment. It moves us beyond our ego, and its subconscious motivations, to better relate to ourselves and our surrounding environment.

The second aspect I consider is what has been referred to as “creation spirituality”. Influenced by the biblical story of creation, we see God as the creative force speaking all things into creation, proclaiming that it is good, and then positioning human kind as caretakers and co-creators. Cultivating this aspect of our spirituality helps us connect with our own creativity as well as our connection, power, and responsibility with all of creation.

The third aspect of holistic spirituality is “conscious loving”. Rooted in personal awareness and our position in creation, this aspect of spirituality cultivates empathy and compassion. Realization of our connectedness deepens our motivation for caring for our neighbor, as well as collaboration and community life on every level.

The final aspect that is integral to my perspective of spirituality is social justice. Again rooted in our awareness,  our sense of connection and responsibility  as caretakers extends our compassion to all of our neighbors no matter where they live.  A growing awareness of our personal consumption, along with the great need on our planet, can help motivate a greater sense of mission as part of our holistic spirituality.

Transition Town

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There are a lot of issues to be considered around the subject of sustainability, and the need for transition to new models for caring for the earth and all its inhabitants. Whether you lean to the left or the right, most people recognize that there is much to be concerned about our environment, economics, and society in general. There seems to be growing consensus that we have reached, or are close to reaching, peak production of oil on the planet – if nothing else, our dependency on foreign sources for energy is a concern to all of us. We are also past peak water availability in many places, climate change is at least a serious consideration, and other environmental concerns are evident everywhere.

In addition the US economy has taken the biggest hit since the great depression and the world economy is struggling everywhere. If that is not enough, our culture has lost most sense of community and polarization of the population is fueled by the corporate owned media – the right against the left. Assumptions and accusations are thrown around like litter in the streets while people seem to grow farther and farther from their empathetic connection.

In the midst of this, one of the most hopeful grass roots developments is emerging. Transition Town is a movement to bring neighbors together to work hand in hand for change. This movement, regardless of politics or religion, is helping neighbors relocalize their economy, take control of their food sources, reduce dependencies on foreign oil and, best of all, build a sense of community and hope that needs revitalization.

Check out these links for more information and to find the Transition Town initiative in your area:

Transition Culture

Transition US

Transition in Action

Transition Asheville

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