Why Aren't There More Regenerative Villages?

Back when I was doing ecovillage matchmaking in the early days of Terrenity, a common question I got that broke my little heart was

Is there an ecovillage out there for me?

This makes me think many things:

• There aren’t enough actual villages

• The villages out there are not publicizing themselves

• This person is a village builder at heart and needs to create one

Let’s run through each potential scenario and some countersuggestions for village seekers and builders.

Community in nature feels amazing. So why aren’t there more ecovillages?

But First, Constraints of the Domain

There are constraints that create the early stage conditions of the village building scene:

Financial and Resource Coordination Failure - It’s not that there are not literal billions waiting to be invested in regenerative community development.

I know this for a fact.

It’s that mobilizing and managing resources and having a level of professionalism to attract funds are skillsets that are only recently migrating into the regenerative community building movement.

Coupled with the high initial costs of creating truly regenerative spaces, this is causing a delay for us to see them develop at the speed that the planet would like.

Suggestions:

• Learn to speak investor-ese to hijack traditional avenues via projects like New Earth Development

• Support organizations like Blue Dot in their research to build the investment stack and risk mitigation assessment to fund regenerative community development

• Study and advocate for systemic investment frameworks

Adoption / Skepticism / Lack of Awareness - The mainstream narrative is still trying for solutions that are palatable to the existing systems.

Many are skeptical of intentional communities in general.

Others secretly want them, but don’t even know that they are an option.

One time when I was living in an ecovillage in Mexico, I shot a candid video of a mother serenely paddling through the lagoon with her toddler son in tow. I included a long caption that challenged ideas about why we work.

Someone reached out to me in shock because she didn’t even know people could live like that, and yet she knew this is what she wanted for her and her child.

Question: how are we advocating for and “marketing” regenerative communities?

Suggestions:

• Subscribe to regenerative media and storytelling: Terrenity IG, The Weave Magazine, Regen Impact Media, Re:Storied, and Regenerative Media Alliance

• Make it cool: If you live in community, why not be a regenerative lifestyle “influencer”? We need more poster children.

• Create media and art that debunks myths about community/regeneration and explains these complex topics in a simple way

Complexity and Integration - Regenerative villages involve the holistic integration of various systems — energy, water, waste management, and food production — along with various layers of social technologies.

We have frameworks to build these systems, but they are relatively new to us, even if they are based in ancient futurism.

There’s also what I call “Number of Attempts to Success Probability”. While it’s generally agreed that most projects fail, we don’t know how many projects have actually started.

It’s obvious that coordinating these frameworks and ensuring their seamless integration can be complex and challenging.

Suggestions:

• Lead with questions, not solutions, as Victor Vorski advocates.

• Build frameworks. Real frameworks. Don’t just use the word framework to refer to any process. Create flexible blueprints for how to design, build, and operate regenerative communities long-term, like we are doing for the Village Mastermind.

• Share what you know and have open source or at least creative commons. We need to distribute knowledge openly if we want to coordinate at scale.

Envision regenerative communities, and then build them (The Ark, Costa Rica)

So now let’s examine the potential scenarios.

1. There aren’t enough actual villages

I think we forget that as village builders, we are still ahead of our time.

Yes, the concept of community is more ancient to us than being human, but we are reinventing what it means to live collectively in a modern context.

I have researched as many regenerative villages as I can. Being personally obsessed with them, I can definitively say that no, there are not enough.

• Enough to make a difference in our resource consumption.

• Enough to make a difference with how we relate to each other

• Enough to change the paradigm

• Enough to meet our creature needs and our existential needs

• Enough for me to live in one I like no matter which continent I am on.

This is especially felt when you read My Top 10 Favorite Modern Regenerative Villages and realize that first two on the list don’t even exist yet.

Yeah, I want more.

Suggestions:

• Travel, visit, study, and become ready to move to a community when one does come emerge by studying community skills

• Financially support village builders, even if you just hold a single token, or pitch a small investment.

• Build one (see #3)

Some people are already living in holistic eco-communities all over the world (La Ecovilla, Costa Rica)

2. The villages out there are not publicizing themselves

It’s true, there are a lot of communities that have little to no online presence and don’t keep their information updated.

This happens for a number of reasons, including the desire for privacy, a lack of tech skills, and rejection of technology as the antithesis to nature,

This will change as modern villages challenge the nature of tech.

And of course, everyone I talk to wants to build “the network of networks” to empower regenerative values, so tools are certainly emerging that will bring more visibility to innovative communities who want more of it.

Suggestions:

• If you know of a community, take the time to onboard them to online directories, like Tribes, GEN, IC, or Agartha.

3. This person is a village builder at heart and needs to create one

If this is you, chances are you already know this but have certain blocks around building the future habitat you seek.

Whatever your personal circumstances are, if you want to build a bioharmonic haven, it’s important you don’t do it alone.

It’s a proven part of my own creative process that whenever I feel stuck, it’s because I either need to let the project rest in short repose, or I need to source the perspectives and energies of others.

I am curious to know where you are personally blocked in village creation. The comments are open for your words.

Suggestions:

• Create a profile on Tribes

• Take the Village Mastermind questionnaire to understand what your biggest needs are

• Join Cynthia Tina’s Founders Circle

• Join the re:build Whatsapp group

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We need to spread the word! If you know someone in the field of regeneration that would find regenerative villages fascinating, take some time to recommend this publication, and if you have a Substack profile, recommend Terrenity.

One of my affiliated partners, Community Finders, run by Cynthia Tina, offers services for people seeking ecovillages or building ecovillages. I highly recommend you join one of her courses to uplevel your ecovillage journey.

Use the code TERRENITY for $100 off your ecovillage tour.