The Household As Ecology Project

When you've been out and about town, what is it that you think upon turning the last corner and seeing your house (or place of residence) again? Perhaps, "home sweet home"... perhaps "home dreadful home"... perhaps "It's good to be back from work." My guess would be though, that there are not many people that, as their home slips back into view, thinks to themselves "there it is, our workshop, the space in which I (and others) undertake the most important project that I've ever participated in."

Enter the Household As Ecology.

It was just barely over a year ago that I joined this project, and I wouldn't say that at the time I initially moved in here that the last statement I made would have ever crossed my mind as I came walking down my street. No, there are new ways in which this (the most important project that I've ever participated in) is becoming clear to me.

So what is the project?
The Household As Ecology is an intentional household in Waterloo. Formulated by two individuals who had experienced something completely outside of their typical cultural experiences and who realized that there was a different way that they wanted to live, the Household was (and is) an initiative to attract and develop a Community of Practice around this different way of thinking and being.

Why a Household?
As we undertake this project, we are certainly aware and interested in, the many other projects in the world that reflect our efforts and provide encouragement that there are others out there who want to change the kind of impacts that we have on the world and on each other. There are physical communities (like Findhorn in Scotland), there are intellectual communities (like the Peer-To-Peer a.k.a. P2P Foundation), but there are unique features to sharing one physical shelter as your primary living space that differentiate this project from those ones. This project takes place during every moment of every day of every month of every year that you include yourself (and impacts are still had when you don't). In living together, the goal here is not to 'reduce and eliminate' the impacts that we have on the others, but to 'change' the impacts that we have on others, so that they reflect the kind of relationships that we want with those people. The household is a fundamental learning opportunity to develop these capacities because, in my understanding, almost every human has the desire to live with other people, and in our culture of  ~50% divorce rates, we are clearly lacking in the skills to. Part of living in this Household As Ecology as it currently exists, is to acknowledge what we are calling

100% conscious co-responsibility for the thinking and the impacts of the ecosystem and the individuals within it; as it has been, as it is now, and for the future.

If we undertake this learning in our households, if we can craft our thinking there so that it is swift and crisp and clear, we can develop capacities in ourselves for our participation in all of the other ecosystems that we partake in, whether it's University, a soccer team, our country, or the planet.


---this has been part 1 of a 2 part post that will continue on with a more subjective account of what living here  has been like, is like, and may be in the future. Most of this writing was inspired by a particularly potent conversation had at our dinner table last night; a once a week reflection circle where we can share our learning and explore on many levels of discussion.