What do you get when you pair a bunch of aging hippies with young city slickers grown tired of capitalist dogma? 17 Days in Community: A Manifestation of Love.
The Creston Valley Public Library is presenting this acclaimed documentary that visits OUR (One United Resource) Ecovillage on Vancouver Island, where enduring back-to-the-landers who went rural back in the 1970s have been joined by a younger generation, many of whom have abandoned the cities in the past few years as economic conditions have worsened. They used the downturn to re-appraise their values — they’re sick of traffic, pollution and a consumer-driven society; they've lost all trust in bankers and politics. They’re looking for a better way.
Located on an extraordinary 25 acres near Shawnigan Lake, B.C., OUR Ecovillage is an intentional, permaculture based, sustainable community that began operations in 1999 with a vision to create a model demonstration sustainable village community rooted in social, ecological, and economic wellbeing. Their activities focus on providing educational opportunities for natural architecture, sustainable food production and leadership.
17 Days in Community follows Ecovillage members as they lead a group of 17 people in a four-month program where they build a 550-square-foot sustainable house from the ground up. This is a group of people who want to learn to build their own home, some to become natural builders as a profession, and some to become teachers to teach others how to run workshops.
See 17 Days in Community at the Creston Valley Public Library at 2 p.m. Nov. 8. Admission is free. Running time is 60 minutes. An opportunity for discussion will follow the film.
—CRESTON VALLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY