By Tom & Carol Braford

Right now our government and others around the world, many nongovernmental organizations and many individuals are sending money, supplies and personnel to Haiti.  Inhabitants of some low lying island nations are making plans with neighboring countries to evacuate their populations as the oceans speed up their rise due to global warming. But the plight of Islanders can also serve the role of canaries in the coal mine for us all.

None of us could have prevented the earthquake in Haiti, although we could have and can still make a difference with the slow emergency of poverty and the resulting environmental and social degradation that has gripped that nation and parts of our own region for a century or more.

Perhaps if we all start to think of ourselves as Islanders, we will begin to act more responsibly, not only for the sake of the actual Islanders, many of whom are in peril because of our lifestyles, but also for our neighbors close at hand and ourselves.

We are now taking this approach at Culver Way Ecovillage and it is part of a larger plan to save St. Louis in the event of a Haiti style calamity, which according to a 2008 study is not out of the question if an earthquake or similar disaster hit our region.  Ultimately, our island strategy includes preservation of civilization and the planet as well.

That’s right, we and a network of other ecovillages planned for our region as part of the Green Lining & Green Edging program will all be earthquake hardened and off the grid!  But rather than hunker down in the country, we will be creating off the grid islands in the city, capable of taking in our neighbors in the event of a quick emergency and modeling a lifestyle that will let us all not just survive but actually thrive on the other side of the slow but speeding up long term emergencies like climate disruption and peek everything.

Interested in living in an island paradise with a bunch of urban pioneers who are out to save civilization and the planet starting right here in River City?  Then contact us or attend our next open house and tour on Saturday, March 20th at 11:00.

Contacts:

Culver Way Ecovillage:

Tom & Carol Braford,

www.CulverWayCohousing.com,

braford@sbcglobal.net,

314-534-4780.

Green Beings Urban farm:

Sabrina Hilton,

www.greenbeings-stl.com,

greenbeings@gmail.com.

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