10. Is the settlement that your group is planning going to be funded by an individual that will give the families a domain if they meet the criteria?

Answer: 

11. I was wondering about your founding Vision. I was wondering why you do not have Anastasia's dream in it? Actually you do have it in there just not her exact words: "To Recreate Paradise on Earth."

Answer:  Interesting question.  The only “why” I can think of is that I didn’t “think” my initial vision into being.   In other words I didn’t think about what it should include or how it should be worded.  I simply “saw” it as I drove down the mountains toward home after reading the series and spending several days alone in the mountains.  When I got home I wrote what I saw.  I didn’t see Anastasia’s words, I saw them being lived.  I did put my own words into the vision to describe “paradise on earth.”  I called it Heaven on Earth. Also, my vision naturally incorporated other related influences in my life, such as other books I had read and teachers I have learned from.  It also included elements of other groups that I felt were similar in their goals and approach.

12. Explain the unsustainable lifestyle that Americans are living out of?

Answer:

           First let me begin with a definition of Infinitely sustainable living.  We define that as living in such a manner that within the defined area, all resources are stewarded such that they are used at a slower rate than the rate at which they can be naturally replenished, the enclosed system can continue indefinitely growing its internal resource base while supporting the standard of living of people and the flora and fauna within the space.  The sustainable life-style is therefore independent of external non-sustainable ecosystems.

          As individuals are able to personally commit time and energy resources to creating and living an infinitely sustainable lifestyle, the consumer/depletion life-style will be replaced with a lifestyle that is sustainable into perpetuity.

          The current average American lifestyle is based on a consumer/depletion approach to living. This is evident in various aspects of life.  A major example is Food.

The majority of food is produced on agribusiness size farms. For this food to be produced, many depletion measures are routinely employed. To start with, the ecology that was present in the area prior to it becoming a field of the desired crop has been destroyed in order to create an open field. Some of the animal life was destroyed, some of it misplaced. Much of the fauna was destroyed including the critical microorganisms that create a balance for the soil to produce exactly what is appropriate to grow in that particular local ecology.

Creating a crop field requires machinery and fossil fuels, creates air pollution, soil compaction, and sound pollution. Once the field is cleared, soil amendments must be applied to counteract some of the destruction. Then the field is planted with machinery using fossil fuels and mined resources for the machinery. Complex irrigation systems are created in order to bring far more water to the field than is required for it’s natural habitat and balance. The new crops are tended, throughout their growing process, by multiple laborers who are generally employees.  They require insurance and the complement of employee care. The crops are harvested, either by multiple laborers or by machinery or both.  They are then shipped to a manufacturing or packaging site and prepped for sale by more labor or machines, then packaged, and shipped an average of 1500 miles (but often to the opposite side of the planet) from where the food was grown.  It is then housed in a grocery store to be picked up by a consumer who must use (deplete) a substantial amount of the same planetary resources to go purchase the food.  Most of this process applies to organic food as well as mainstream food.

    These systems require that we have roadways that are frequently repaired, that can handle high and heavy traffic. This system requires that we pave those roads and also the parking lots where the food is stored and sold (grocery stores, food manufacturing plants, restaurants). Roadways are required for this system to make it possible for consumers to travel, park and purchase their food. All of these requirements deplete several of our valuable natural resources of air, soil, water, wildlife and energy.

The personal energy that the consumer receives from food produced in this way is vastly less than the planetary and human energy used to produce it. As a result of this resource-depleting imbalance, human health is depleted as well, which is evident in America’s global leadership in disease and birth defects.

When an individual grows their own food on a small plot of land, the impact on air, soil, water, wildlife and energy is mitigated and the process can quickly restore land that has been previously depleted. For much of the year, food can be eaten fresh, the same day it is harvested, providing far superior energy and health benefits than the current conventional food system that delivers food that is already well into the deterioration process, which begins as soon as food is harvested.  The planetary and personal energy expended to produce this food is in balance with the energy provided from the food.

          The same imbalance can be demonstrated with many elements of our current lifestyle.  The amount of planetary energy and resources consumed to provide a small personal benefit is severely incongruent and is reflected in ecological footprint analyses that show Americans’ typical lifestyle can only be sustained into perpetuity by having access to the resources of five to nine or more planets equal to Earth (based on footprint analyses). 

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13. How can total “Green” living at a personal level change things around the world and in this Country?

Answer:

    We believe that sustainable living at a personal level is the only way meaningful change can happen in the country and around the world. In the same way that a picture consists of thousands or millions of tiny pixels, so is the picture of our American lifestyle created by millions of individual families’ lifestyles.

    As individuals and individual families become aware of the lifestyle changes that will truly move them closer to infinitely sustainable living, they will automatically involve themselves in a better and more harmonious relationship with the planet and themselves. 

           The results of significant numbers of individuals doing that will change our social interactions and decisions at every level.  This was demonstrated very clearly in the 80’s when New York discovered that by cleaning up graffiti, the crime rate dropped in the cleaned up areas.  That happened because people’s relationships with their environment changed.  Instead of relating to it as worth less (and relating to themselves in the same way, by default), they began relating to their environment and themselves as worth more.  As a result local individuals spontaneously began voluntarily cleaning up their private property a little more.  They spontaneously joined others and formed local groups that began reclaiming and cleaning up run down abandoned areas.  Local residents began uniting in power, again spontaneously, against gang activity rather than continuing to feel powerless in relationship to their environment and their experiences. The totally unexpected reduction in crime and the impact in the social interaction of the neighborhoods where graffiti was regularly removed was so significant that every major city in America now cleans up their graffiti regularly to create that same result.

          Years of governmental initiatives and policing activity failed to accomplish what a few individuals accomplished within months as a result of experiencing a better relationship with their environment and themselves.  In those severely run down New York ghettos a few of the human “pixels” subtly changed their relationships with the local environment and significant areas of the picture of American life changed as a result.  The data was published and shared in reports and conferences.  As they learned about the results, other major cities quickly began following the model.  In a very short time the overall “picture” of American life as it relates to crime rates, neighborhood social structure, and ghetto area conditions and economics changed significantly.

          We are applying the same principal with our plan.  The viral potential of individuals changing their relationship with their environment and themselves is huge. This kind of change is faster and more effective that legislation or attempts to control large scale social behavior.  The viral change that is individually propelled is what is needed worldwide in the effort to create a large scale change to sustainable living.  It is what we believe we are creating by involving people in the actual demonstrations of various versions of sustainable lifestyles.

14. Why should I learn more about this project?

Answer: 

          Much has been done to demonstrate people’s willingness to engage in this movement.  The global Transition Towns movement (began in Ireland in 2005) has rapidly expanded to over 110 towns worldwide that are currently participating.  These Transition Towns are committed to beginning the transition to sustainable lifestyles. 

           They are focusing on reducing dependence on fossil fuels by doing things like encouraging food production locally.  They are aware that their ability to make city-wide changes rapidly is limited and so they are focusing on encouraging Transition lifestyles.  Locally, Boulder, Colorado is one of the Transition Towns (the first in the U.S.).

          Globally, people are engaged in a search that guides their decision making. We are easily able to gauge what they are searching for by monitoring consumer trends and purchasing behaviors. Trends in America show that there is an increased interest in healthy and sustainable living.  This is demonstrated with the increased consumer activity and successful businesses developed around “Green” and “Sustainable” projects. The sale of seeds has increased substantially. Community Supported Agriculture ventures (cooperatives that provide locally, organically grown seasonal produce) have more membership applications for participation than they have room for members. Large scale purchasing decisions indicate that people are searching for healthier food, healthier shelter designs, healthier and cleaner energy sources.

          Our project goes above and beyond what is currently available to the consumer. We offer a life-style demonstration that includes healthy living shelters, clean energy, healthy food, healthy economics, and healthy social and family relationships. For the consumer engaged in a search of a healthy sustainable life-style, Colorado Kin Domain’s offers the ultimate opportunity to fully embrace that life-style taking it all the way to infinitely sustainable. 

          In addition to the movements mentioned above, the current state of the economy has stimulated a widespread awareness of the insecurities inherent in our current lifestyle.  The Global Transition movement has defined an imminent triple crisis of climate change, energy depletion, and the global economy.  Our modern lifestyle is bringing each of those to a rapid crisis point that will require major adjustment on the part of every individual.  The production and delivery system for our food is completely entangled with every one of those crisis points.

          The current average American lifestyle affords people little opportunity to create solutions for these problems until they are so pressing that they demand attention.  Even though many people are becoming aware of the need to make lifestyle changes in order to provide our descendents with a healthy planet, few people have the time or energy to figure out how that can happen.  They are especially challenged to find how they personally can make a change that will help anything.  We fill that need by providing demonstrations of solutions that can be embraced fully in one of our settlements or can be incorporated partially and gradually wherever one lives, as the individual adjusts to the overall changing picture of the lifestyle of America. 

          Many people who have embraced the mission of the Transition Towns will be ready to move directly to the end goal rather than a transition goal.  Many who are already aware that they must expend tremendous amounts of energy to secure a naturally healthy lifestyle, will find our demonstration settlements and our public outreach goals very attractive.  Many who would like to live fully sustainably but are currently prevented in doing so by enforced local restrictions and grid requirements will find our settlements and our goals very inviting.  Many whose lives feel isolated and disconnected from others will sense the potential for connection to nature, neighbors, family and self that our model will foster.  Many who struggle financially will be very attracted to a simple and yet beautiful lifestyle that can replace the rat race lifestyle of working for too little income to provide too little benefit. 

          CSA’s alone are very profitable.  According to Joe Kovach, head of Ohio State University’s IPM program, a carefully designed polyculture ( a system in which a combination of multiple plants share space), grown on small farms or even in suburban yards, could self-limit pest problems and gross up to $90,000 per acre.  These kinds of models will be very attractive to many in today’s economic climate.

          The economy has driven many to the extent of having to find or train in new career fields.  Our plan provides tremendous opportunity and motivation for those individuals allowing them to become part of an industry that MUST be the industry of the future as we restore our lifestyles to one-planet sustainability.

          Settlement members will still live individually in our settlements and city domains in that they will be the sole owner and caretaker of a 2.5acre plot of land (or less in some city demonstrations) and their dwelling. They have dominion of and privacy within their space. Members are invited to participate in the organically formed “community” as much as they are interested in doing so (just as is the case where most people already live).

          Many people would prefer choosing to participate in a neighborly community than feel an enforced isolation, which is a common experience in modern lifestyles.  People often (perhaps typically) feel separate and isolated by the pressures and structures of our modern lifestyle. We don’t generally know our neighbors well beyond one or two.  We ride buses to work with strangers or drive to work alone or with a co-worker.  We shop amongst strangers.  Our children’s friends at school and their families are often strangers to us.  Strangers generally provide our services.  We interact with strangers and equipment (computers and telephones) more than we interact with friends and family.  This creates stress levels that impact health and enjoyment of life. 

          We address this with one aspect of our research that will be conducted and published about our members’ health.  Several physical elements will be tested at the time of entering the settlement and periodically throughout the phases of the project (blood test, blood pressure, heart strength, cholesterol, vision acuity, reflex response, strength, flexibility, endurance, etc). Changes (we expect them to be positive) will be publicly posted on our website and through articles, presentations and publicity releases.  Additionally, the public will be invited to work, and learn with us through internships, work exchange and how-to workshops that we offer. 

15. Explain 10 ways we are stealing from our future for today’s needs?

Answer:

           To steal is to take something without the proper owners consent or knowledge. The future generation is the proper owner of the resources they will need to thrive and lead healthy, happy and productive lives. As we create deficits in these resources, we are taking what rightfully belongs to our children and all our future descendents. If we were able to have full consenting conversation with our children, where we explained the consequences to their future from our current life-styles, we are assuming that consent would not be granted. We are assuming that our children want the necessary resources to lead healthy, productive and happy lives.

1. We are stealing soil nutrients from ours and our children's future.

          Our current farming practices within the United States require more nitrogen from the land than can be replenished before the field is planted and farmed once again. As a result, synthetic nitrogen has been produced and used to force continued production. (2008, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Associations). There are numerous other micronutrients that have already been completely depleted from much of the soil currently farmed, such as selenium, zinc and flourine.  The loss of the micronutrients and micro-organisms that produce many of those nutrients has resulted in what is called, “The Hidden Hunger,” referring to physical deficiencies of nutrients, as food grown without these elements fail to provide our bodies with their optimal needs for health and well-being.  This situation is the result of our chemically based and commercial farming methods worldwide that are operating against or in conflict with nature. 

          In addition to micro nutrients, our food has dropped drastically in other nutritional values.  In a review of 1963 and 1975 versions of the food tables it was clear that the nutrient value of many foods had dropped, some drastically.  The vitamin C in sweet peppers has plummeted from 128 mg to 89 mg.  Vitamin A in apples has dropped from 90mg to 53mg.  According to nutritionist Alex Jack, writing for Life Extension Magazine, the National Academy of Sciences has issued an alert that it takes twice as many vegetables to get the daily requirement of vitamin A as previously thought.  Nearly half the calcium and vitamin A in broccoli has disappeared.  The vitamin A content of collard greens has dropped from 6500IU to 3800IU.  Their potassium has dropped from 400mg to 179 mg.  Magnesium had fallen sharply from 57mg to 9mg.  Cauliflower has lost almost half its vitamin C, along with its thiamin and riboflavin.  The calcium in raw pineapple has dropped from 17mg to 7mg.  The list goes on and on.

          According to Michael Karr, Ph.D., ARCPACS Certified Professional Soil Scientist, throughout the U.S. human accelerated depletion is caused by the production of high yield crops and concentrated livestock grazing.  Those activities cause nutrients to be removed and organic matter to be depleted from the soil’s natural cycling system.  Moreover, when commercial growers attempt to replenish the soils of only some mineral nutrients by fertilization they may exacerbate mineral nutrient imbalances.  While methods exist to replenish the soil of its mineral nutrients there is a relative lack of knowledge on how to identify all deficiencies and to fully correct them and how to correct them in the proper natural balance.  In addition, the lack of an economic incentive to implement long term, soil building solutions perpetuates the relative fragility and inconsistency of US soils’ nutrient supplying power.

2.   We are stealing our own and our children’s ability to have a healthy large scale eco-system. Our wholesale destruction of forests and natural habitat in exchange for farmland and development, without attention given to developing and farming within the function of the eco-system, has stolen this precious resource.  Our plan is to provide a model that demonstrates a lifestyle, which functions within the existing ecosystem and supports nature in re-creating the lost resources of forest and habitat.  It is our intention to provide models that will allow individual families (pixels of the American lifestyle picture) to easily incorporate this change to the degree that their readiness allows and to speed up their readiness process through education and exposure.

          If we continue to make demands of the soil without meeting the soil’s needs for a natural process of replenishment, we will have to create more and more farm lands to fill the nutritional needs of our world population, thereby destroying ever more ecosystems. The amount of land available is finite. As more land is converted from it’s natural state to agribusiness food production (as it must do within our modern lifestyles), we change the natural habitat of the area. Disruption of wildlife depletes a necessary component of a healthy balanced eco-system necessary to sustain microorganisms and therefore human life.

3. We are stealing the oil and its planetary benefits from our future.  In doing so we are teaching our children they are wise to live on a daily basis of consumption without thought to long-term consequences.  We are demonstrating to them that today’s money is a higher priority than quality living for our future.  We are demonstrating that exploitation of resources is justified simply because we want it rather than exploring the long-term effects on the planet and therefore the future residents. 

          In south central Arizona the land subsidence (dropping of land level) was first noticed in 1940.  Since then, that land has been measured as dropping 12.5 feet as a result of removing the ground water.  Although there is little information about the results of removing massive amounts of oil from the earth, creating similar huge underground cavities by removing oil would likely create similar results.  In Florida and Louisiana they have experienced a different result.  There, the consequences of removing excessive ground water has resulted in salt water entering the aquifers according to the United States Geological services.  Again, the removal of massive quantities of oil MUST have similar consequences.  The recent entry of sea water into aquifers will likely have other consequences to the land and residents (desertification?) that we have not yet experienced far enough into the cycle to understand.

          There is controversy as to whether or not we have passed the point of “Peak Oil”. Assuming that from this point forward, the supply of oil is less available than it has ever been, it would make sense to change our life-styles to reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed on a daily basis. However, as the population grows our life-style continues to consume ever greater amounts of fossil fuels than 10 years ago, potentially stealing even more of the quality of life from our descendents and the rest of nature’s inhabitants.

4. We are stealing the forest from our children.

          The primary material used in housing construction is wood. There are businesses that use “sustainable” practices of wood harvesting. However, a tree must typically grow for about 20 years before it is the necessary size to yield the desired quality and strength of wood for timber harvesting process. We currently use more wood products in our daily lives than can be replenished in twenty years. The U.S. reportedly only retains 4% of its old growth forest. Most of this forest is designated as National Forest, which is open to commercial logging (Sierra Club).

          95% of Southern Australia’s natural woodlands have been cleared for wheat farming according to a book called, Sustaining Life, How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity.

          The amount of natural forests that have been removed across the U.S. and the world to support our modern lifestyle is devastating.  But even worse is the number of trees and forests that are being destroyed by invasive insects and diseases.  According to The Nature Conservancy these invaders are removing entire species of trees from our forests and neighborhoods.  For example, the emerald ash borer has laid bare huge sections of suburban streets in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, now moving into Illinois and Wisconsin.  Sudden Oak Death has killed over one million trees in California.  In Colorado one can drive for miles and miles in many areas throughout the state and see only hundreds of acres of dead pine trees as far as the eye can see, the result of the pine beetle.

          Our modern lifestyle has so severely disturbed the ecological balance that, just like our food produce has lost significant amounts of nutrients, our trees that are grown from the same depleted soils, water and air, are also not living their optimal health.  As a result they are very susceptible to pathogens and insects whose natural role is to break down weak and unhealthy trees and tissues in the environment so they can be returned to the carbon cycle.  The process allows the strongest trees to survive and procreate, ensuring the best continuation of the species.  In our forests we have harvested the strongest trees for our lifestyle products, leaving forests full of weaker susceptible trees.  In our yards we have planted our trees in depleted soil, surrounding them with polluted air and feeding them with treated water and man-made chemicals.  They are weak and susceptible as a result.

          We have stolen a huge resource of strong forests and city trees from our future that are a critically important element to the processes of cleaning our air, filtering our water, and restoring our soil.  

5. We are stealing clean land from our children.

          Our current level of waste production produces huge toxic areas that will take many generations to be restored to healthy land.  As we produce more waste than these sites and the ocean can accommodate, more sites must be designated.  A quick review of states’ reports on available capacity in their existing landfills reads as follows: one state reports 0-5 years of capacity, nine report 6-10 years capacity, seven report 11-15 years capacity, two report 16-20 years, five report 20+ years, four report 30+ years, two report 40+ years, three report 50+ years, and one reports 500+ years.  As might be expected, the most densely populated areas of the eastern United States have the least remaining capacity and, in fact, some of those states are currently shipping their waste out to nearby states with more capacity (which will cause theirs to fill faster).  These landfills can be reclaimed to some degree but use is very limited as they contain huge amounts of toxic elements.  The toxic elements are being contained but the containment mechanisms (1/10 of an inch of plastic) may reasonably be expected to eventually fail, at least in some of the thousands of landfills if not most.  Our future descendents will have to deal with this massive toxic legacy that we are leaving them and will not have safe and life-supporting access to these lands.

          The desertification of large areas of land along with the simultaneous draining of huge aquifers contributes substantially to the stealing of land from our future generations.

6. We are stealing family connections and stability from our children.

          There are many single parent families as well as its close cousin, families where both parents work. As a result children’s education, and social experiences are in the care of other adults who are inherently less invested in the child’s best interest than a parent. Children become less connected and committed to their families and more mobile, changing where they live according to where they can find work. According to attachment studies by Bowlby and Ainsworth, children who are raised with absent parents allow their peers and the media to organize their thoughts and habits.  Children with a secure attachment to their caregiver are able to have self confidence and approach crisis situations effectively with the ability to seek cooperation in doing so. 

          Longitudinal studies were conducted in order to determine that as adults, the children with a secure attachment are observed to be able to form trusting relationships, have a positive self concept, to be comfortable sharing feelings with friends and partners and were able to work cooperatively with others.  Children and adults who had multiple caregivers in childhood and lacked a secure attachment, are more likely to be withdrawn, depressed in adulthood, use attack in response to a crisis, and have difficulty maintaining positive relationships.  This situation is a direct result of our modern unsustainable lifestyle. The negative effects of this are demonstrated in schools and families throughout our society. 

7. We are stealing water from our children.

          Many rivers that used to flow all the way to the ocean now peter out in route. Some areas of the country are so over populated that water is channeled from thousands of miles away to supply the life-style of the population. In these same areas, water conservation is lacking. Golf courses, high water flush toilets, swimming pools, high maintenance landscaping and agricultural field flooding are commonplace. There is a finite amount of water, which is being contaminated and managed in ways that make it unavailable and unhealthy for use.

          Most adults can remember safely being able to drink from streams, rivers and lakes.  Now we are warned that most water contains toxins from herbicide and pesticide farm and city runoff, jet fuel additives, and other chemicals from household cleaning items.  Many people now warn their children to only drink filtered water.

          The EPA lists the current known and measured contaminants in drinking water.  Naturally occurring microorganisms in the water are known to cause diarrhea, vomiting and cramps in some people.  The chemicals added to water in order to make it “safe for drinking” are known to cause cancer, nervous system defects, and kidney and liver problems in some people.

          Various regions of the United States have experienced severe drops in their available water table over the last 70 years.  In Louisiana, the amount of groundwater being pumped has increased tenfold since 1930.  Ground water levels have dropped over 200 feet.  As a result, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico has seeped into several aquifers.  (USGS Fact Sheet from 11/2003)

          Ground water in the Tampa, Florida area has been depleted to the point that saltwater has intruded on fresh water sources. Land subsidence (from a lowered water table) has resulted in sinkholes leaving aquifers vulnerable to street water runoff. Tampa now uses a desalination process to treat seawater and salty aquifer water for its city water supply.

          In Texas, increased population and water demands have resulted in declines in the water level of over 400 feet. Land subsidence (land level dropping) of up to 10 feet has been measured, increasing the risk of flash flooding to those areas.

          South Central Arizona has seen land subsidence of 12.5 feet and ground water level declines of 300-500 feet. Streamside plant and animal life has been lost as a result of reduced water levels.

          The infinitely sustainable life-style is one that replenishes and recharges natural resources such as water through harvesting of precipitation, water re-use systems, constructed wet-lands, restoring indigenous forestation, and planting plants acclimated to naturally occurring local water supply.

8.  We are stealing animal diversity and populations form our children.

          Humans have increased the rate of extinction to plants and animals at a rate 10,000 times greater than pre-human levels (Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity).  According to the New Scientist (May 2006), there are 16,119 animal and plant species that are currently in danger of extinction. It is estimated that 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 8 birds and 1 in 3 amphibian species are at risk (similar to human cancer rates). 784 known species have been declared extinct since records have begun tracking the process. While species have a background extinction rate due to evolution and change, the current rate of extinction far exceeds this background rate. Industrial agriculture, deforestation, water pollution, urban sprawl, and climate change all are credited with much of the changes in animal habitat that have led to the reduction in number of species and in the populations of species.

          Like ripples in water, our human actions have far reaching effects that we are just now becoming aware of.  As one species is threatened or goes extinct, it affects the balance and health of another species that depends on that first species for its existence.

9. We are stealing health, life and happiness from our children.

          In the early 1900’s, before chlorine, pesticides, herbicides and the tens of thousands of other chemicals that we are exposed to, the average person had a 1 in 50 chance of getting cancer.  Today, 1 in 3 can expect to get cancer in their lifetime and one out of every 2 men. (From HealthyNewAge.com)  Add to that the dramatic increases in heart disease, diabetes, auto-immune disorders and one sees a clear image of a legacy of ill health and diminished opportunity to live, that surely cannot make anyone happy – neither the givers of the legacy, nor the receivers.  Examples of diminished health, life and happiness are everywhere.  Health in America falls far below the averages in many countries in spite of our medical advances, and arguably because of our modern lifestyle (refer to other answers throughout this document).  As a result of our modern lifestyle, overweight and obesity in Americans and their children are epidemic.  The reduced health and shortened life span associated with that is well known. 

          To become aware of the general unhappiness that our modern lifestyle is providing for our children and grandchildren, one only needs to look at the divorce rate statistics, or the substance abuse statistics, or the childhood suicide statistics (the U.S. has the highest rate of homicide and suicide in children of any industrialized country [per US Gov. Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, 2/7/97]), or the welfare/poverty statistics, or the high school violence statistics, and on and on. 

          How could it be otherwise when families typically feel obligated to have both parents working in order to support the “minimally acceptable life?”  Very few American children have access to anything that could be called the “good life” if that is defined as: having at least one parent home to guide and care for the children, having sufficient family income, feeling safe in neighborhoods and schools, being adequately prepared for a responsible happy adulthood, and expecting to inherit a reasonably healthy planet with its full complement of life sustaining resources to be available to them and their children and grandchildren.

10. We are stealing our ocean quality from our children.

          Sixty percent of the world’s population lives on or near the coast with most people living within 200 miles of the ocean. The ocean is a source of food, transportation, and entertainment. More importantly, it covers 72% of the earth’s surface and strongly effects air and water quality throughout the land as well as the climate we experience. (Environmental Health Perspective, 2004).

          The quality and health of the ocean is being depleted by our current lifestyle. Contamination of any planetary water reservoir will end up being contamination of all water to some degree through run-off water and sink holes where surface water interfaces with ocean water (refer to USGS water quality information above.) The ocean’s health and well-being is negatively effected by off shore drilling, oil spills, commercial shrimp farms, industrial fishing and cruise ship pollution (According to oceana.org). Plant and animal life of the oceans are threatened and going extinct as a result of human activity and it’s effect on ocean health (Sustaining Life: How Human health Depends on Biodiversity).

          According to a Canadian publication, Times Colonist, April 2009 reports that oxygen deprivation of the oceans are of great concern. As algae are receiving overloads of chemical fertilizers from run-off sources, the algae “blooms”, or grows prolifically at an astounding rate. As the algae spreads, it blocks light from plants that are deeper in the ocean. These plants are unable to produce oxygen due to the lack of photosynthesis. The lack of oxygen then deprives oxygen dependent marine life of the necessary components of life. We end up with massive deaths of entire schools of fish as a result.

          In addition to the above 10 ways we are stealing from our future, there are the concerns of carbon emissions collecting in our atmosphere, filtering some of the historic range of sun rays as well as destroying ozone filters in other areas allowing an increased range of sun rays to enter the earth’s surface. 

16. How can you reuse your recycling in your Domain?

 Answer:

         One of the primary goals in our settlement is to reduce waste to zero. We are approaching this from two directions. 

1)    With the goal of primarily bringing things to the land, which can be reabsorbed by the land in a beneficial and timely manner and,

2)    Putting our efforts and mind power toward creating ways to creatively, beautifully and beneficially recycle the no-longer serviceable products.

     We have a commitment to recycle everything.  Our short term goal is that no waste will be taken to landfills, only recycling centers.  In serving these goals at Ark Conservation Ranch we will use adobe, cob, rammed earth, and clay for construction materials. We will use a straw/clay mixture for insulation as well as other natural locally grown plant products. We will use terra cotta for our roofs. Porcelain, ceramic, and wood will help create our belongings. Any new clothing will be made of natural fibers. We will make more and more of our own products from resources on the land thereby reducing the production of waste inside and outside our settlements that would require special handling to return beneficially to the earth.  The products that we sell will be packaged in earth friendly packaging.

          Most essential materials can be re-used and recycled.  For example, old clothing will become a quilt, other clothing, etc. Old sheets become garden row covers. Broken tiles can be pulverized and used for drainage areas, construction materials or landscaping amendments.

          Some materials such as un-galvanized steel and glass may continue to be part of our life-style initially. We plan to re-use these items.  Creating a system to reheat them to melt them and reform them into new uses may be possible. Some of these items may be returned to the earth.

          In the transition stages we will necessarily have interaction with products that will need commercially recycled such as paper, plastics, glass and aluminum.  Moving toward infinite sustainability, it is our intention, within five years of the initiation of the project, to have the demonstration settlements and demonstration city domain free of any items that cannot be re-used, recycled or safely returned to the earth on the private domains. 

17. When you say “Attractive settlements” what will make them attractive?

Answer:

          Each member agrees to beautify and care for the land using paths, plants, trees, flowers and ponds. Living fences will be planted to mark borders rather than metal or harvested wood fences.  Reforestation and a-forestation consistent with the area’s naturally occurring flora and fauna will be a part of each domain’s activity both in our settlement demonstrations and in our city domain demonstrations. Virtually all of nature is beautiful and these settlements will preserve that naturally occurring beauty in our choice of landscaping, construction styles and methods.  The settlement will be free of power lines.  All sources of energy will be visually and audibly contained within each family’s 2.5 acre Kin Domain.

          Structures will be made of materials that are congruent with the natural material of the area harvested in harmony with natural life cycles and eco-system health.  The structures will be designed for beauty, harmony and comfort. Public zones will be stewarded for health of local nature and beauty throughout every phase of the project.  Even during construction, the areas and materials will be carefully stored and organized.  The settlement will be largely free of collectively generated noise pollution, visual pollution, light pollution and air pollution. 

          It is our understanding of human nature that changing to a lifestyle that is perceived as “less than” will not be effective.  Our collective estimation of “less than” is closely related to what we perceive as attractive.  Our sustainable lifestyles demonstrations will attract people if they are attractive.  That has been and will continue to be one of our priorities as we construct these demonstrations.

18. How exactly is our current lifestyle destroying the quality of our lives?

 Answer:

          Our modern life-styles have made sense for the society into which we have been raised and the life-style options we have been aware of. At the same time, we have begun to question whether this is the life-style we want to perpetuate for our descendents and the future well-being of the planet’s other populations.

          We work over 40 hours of our week to earn money to support our living. Many spend up to an hour a day in commute to and from work (March 2005 Census Bureau Statistics).  If we are among the fortunate few, we enjoy how we spend our work day and feel we have a meaningful contribution to the world. The reality of the current lifestyle is that there are many more menial jobs that have to be filled in order to keep the cogs moving than there are deeply satisfying jobs. So, more than one half of our average waking day is spent working at something that may have little meaning to us in exchange for money.

          Because most people’s minds work in a continuous sort of manner, they are unable to immediately shut off the thoughts pertaining to work. As such, even as they are lying down to sleep at night, they are working at resolving issues that have come up at the work place.

On average, another three hours a day is spent on obtaining food, preparing food and cleaning up after eating. Most US citizens spend at least three hours a day watching TV or on the computer (keeping them indoors, inactive and further disengaged from real people and nature).  An hour or so is spent on preparation for work and organization preparing to leave the home for the majority of the day. All of this adds up to very little time, perhaps an hour if a person is fortunate, to spend time in true connection with their family, nature or themselves.

          Some of those jobs people devote their life to are toxic in nature. The people performing them are exposed to radiation, toxic chemicals, high intensity electro magnetic waves, exhaust fumes etc. If we work full-time, we have health care that helps mitigate the costs that are inherent in participating in jobs and stress that create illness in the body. Many of us pay up to 35% (December 2007, Bureau of Labor and Statistics) of those costs out of our wages. The quality of care that we get is limited to the number of patients that doctors are trying to serve while maintaining their income, standard of living and pay their mal-practice insurance.

          We may be renting or paying a mortgage for our living space. Up to one third, (and sometimes more for lower incomes and renters) of our income is spent paying for that living space. As the economy changes, companies down size or move out of the country, many jobs are lost. Then paying that monthly living space and lifestyle cost becomes very challenging, and for some, impossible without going further into debt. Currently many homeowners are having to Short-Sale, or go through foreclosure due to the current state of the economy.   A local realtor in Denver reports that 4 out of 5 homes he lists and sells currently are being sold as “short sales” in an effort to avoid foreclosure.

          In the meantime, if we have children, and are working full-time, we have our children in child-care or public schools. Child-care facilities are working toward providing the best care and most stimulating environment possible, yet can in no way compare the quality of care of an attentive parent (per Bowlby and Ainsworth research on Attachment). Schools are working to develop the best curriculum and ways to measure success in order to justify their continued funding (No Child Left Behind). Yet, the United States tests scores continue to pale in comparison to other countries such as Japan and Korea (Feburary 2005, Access My Library). An April 2001 study reported by the Journal of American Medical Association indicates that 30% of children are involved in school “violence” (bullying). A 2008 report with WellShpere indicates that “…160,000 children in the United States miss school each day as a result of being bullied.” The level of anxiety shown in children in public schools in comparison to before entering school is a significant health concern for our children. (August 2006, University of Michigan Health System).

          In order to provide our children with stimulating social skills outside of school, since much of social and play (natural learning) time has been curtailed in public schools, we support their involvement in sports and after school activities (January 2009, Reuters). The pressure to watch significant amounts of TV is huge for both parents and children.  This has negative health effects as well.  The amount of quality time we have to spend with our children and family members has been reduced to minutes per day and much of that is spent dealing with the problems and negative results created by the events of the rest of the day.

          The average level of stress that is experienced in the current modern life-style as a result of time and economic pressures is enormous for the majority of people. Not only do we spend worry on today’s routine, but we worry about having enough money for retirement, for our children’s continued education, and what we will be able to pass on to our children for the future.

          Much of the current life-style is based on a consumption/depletion system as indicated in the above answer about the 10 ways we are stealing from our future. In the end, it adds up to depletion in the quality of life for everyone with collective experiences like increased violence, crime, illness, need for “vegetating time,” and withdrawal from each other and natural relationships with nature and its cycles.

19. Is this going to be a religious group? Is this practice coming from any religious basis?

Answer:

           There is no religious basis or absence there of in the life-style that we are creating. While any particular way of believing can become a religion for a particular person, we encourage each individual to find the right relationships in their life for themselves through their own experience and experimentation. Our vision pertains to a practical approach to creating health for humans, society and nature.

20. You said each domain "Should duplicate itself financially and physically" please explain this process?

Answer:

          We are designing a method and guide for growing a fund that will be used to fund another settlement in their start-up.  We have budgeted for professional consultation on designing how that fund will be developed and sustained. In exchange for financial, procedural and physical assistance in starting up their settlement, each settlement will agree to accept responsibility to apply this method of growing a fund in their settlement.  By the time the fund is sufficient to start another settlement the funding group will have built their own settlement and will be responsible to provide training and labor assistance to the new group as well, substantially reducing the amount of money needed to start each new settlement. 

          We’ve already experienced the beginnings of part of this process.  We’ve spent seven months preparing our plan and reaching a level of readiness to immediately proceed to building the first settlement and implementing the plan.  During that process, we have produced the first draft of our guide for other groups to make the process easier and simpler for them.  That guide has been shared with the two groups that may be our test groups and they are following the guide.  In a single month the group that has applied that guide has accomplished more than we did in four months.  The guide has already saved them a significant amount of money, time and effort.  It has helped them organize and mobilize quickly and has brought the group members together as a highly productive team.  As each group refines this process, this intended result will grow. 

          The amount of labor and technical assistance we can offer to these first two groups is somewhat limited simply because of the stage we will be in at the time they will be ready for that.  However, by the time Ark Conservation Ranch and each of the test groups grows their regenerating funds they will each be ready to provide a substantial amount of volunteer physical and technical assistance to another group.

          The new groups will also be asked to agree to implement the funding model and the technical/physical assistance model.  It is our goal to refine this duplication process to the point that it is possible for each settlement group to duplicate itself (help another get started) every three to five years.  It is an optimistic goal but even at double that many years it would be a tremendously valuable process.  Some of the guides that will help make this possible are already in outline and draft form, and others will be completed as we implement our plan.  

21. How will this Domain living impact your children and the children of other people as well?

Answer: 

    Loving families and raising healthy children is one of the most beneficial outcomes of this life-style. In an infinitely sustainable settlement,

	Children will spend more of their time with their family and with nature.
	A child’s primary formative years are spent with the very adults that purposefully chose to create them.
	Children will learn relational skills through having a secure bond with their parents, and the safety of a stable neighborhood and learning environment.
	Children are an integral part of daily living, learning necessary skills to continue an infinitely sustainable life from having lived it.
	In addition to school activities, children will learn to read from watching their parents read with enjoyment and for pleasure, which will lead to a natural curiosity and desire to learn to read.
	In addition to school activities, they will learn to perform math calculations from being part of the process of food production, food preparation, sales (when age appropriate) and construction projects (when age appropriate).
	In addition to school activities, they will learn science from the best laboratory in the world, the natural world.
	The effects of this type of experience are magnificently detailed in the book, The Continuum Concept, an anthropological study of an indigenous tribe in Brazil.

    In addition to providing benefit to our own children, we are creating two educational curricula that will be available for children in the general public.  The first is a home school curriculum (K-12) for any parent in or out of our settlements that wish to teach and rear their children more connected to nature and family.  

    The second is a public school module to introduce the concept of infinitely sustainable lifestyles to public school children at all age levels.  This six week module can be included as part of several courses of study and will be designed to introduce the concepts of infinite sustainability to the students and reconnect the learner to nature by engaging them in studies of relationships with elements in nature as part of exploring infinitely sustainable lifestyles.  We may also be able to provide superior outdoor education modules for local fifth graders.

22. What will be their core education and do you plan to home school or do you plan to start a school or a new curriculum?

Answer:

          The settlement will develop a home school curriculum and infuse the curriculum into daily living such that learning is an integral part of settlement and domain life. They will have full-scale life opportunities to practice and experiment with what they are learning and to explore cultural expressions such as music, dance and theater. Children are understood to have much to teach adults as well. We aspire to be good students of our children as well as experienced guides of them.

          The founder of the settlement has home schooled four children and is trained as a certified public school teacher and a Montessori teacher. Other members are trained in child development and multiple fluent languages. We have international members who can be part of cultural awareness and provide living examples of global studies.  There are many quality options for educating our children until we have developed a quality home school, nature based curriculum for them.  Some parents may opt to send their children to a local public or private school.  Some will opt to home school.  Some are researching the possibility of starting an accredited school within the settlement and including the interested children in the design and decisions.  

Answer:  Because we do not understand your exact meaning that you refer to with the term “homestead,” we begin with the following definition.  

Homestead - 
1) A house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land. 
2) To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act 
(American Heritage dictionary of the English language, 1969)

          Homestead has come to mean different things in different situations. Our project has similarities to a homestead by the first definition but it also has significant differences.  In that definition the homestead experience is about farming a family owned piece of land.  In our settlement we aren’t farming so much as gardening and even that is quite different from most gardening done in modern lifestyles.  Our only activity that could be related to “farming” would be community fields, greenhouses, and hydroponics units grown for the purpose of demonstrating growing methods that result in produce for humans and animals that is superior in both quality and quantity.  Selling that produce is the best way to get this awareness to the public.  It will also provide income for the residents who choose to engage in that particular income generating activity. 

          Many will not choose that activity but will grow their own food on their own domain and will generate income in other ways, demonstrating other versions of infinitely sustainable lifestyles.  We are not creating a “back to the land” movement.  It is our desire and intention to create and demonstrate a variety of important new lifestyles that we believe will be significantly valuable in helping North Americans see and transition to a way of living that will allow us as a society to more easily and quickly move into a level of sustainability that will allow us and our future generations to live high quality lives into perpetuity. 

          Regarding the second definition:  There are some important differences and similarities between our plan and the Homesteading that took place in response to the Homestead Act of 1862. This act was part of Manifest Destiny with the goal of spreading the white population throughout the entire nation in order to establish possession of the land through having a physical presence on the land. As such, immigrants were offered “free land” in exchange for “settling” the land for a period of 5 years after which time they would become the “owner” and the land could not be sold from under them for any purpose. The settler’s progress was overseen by government representatives.

          We are similar in that we wish to expand Americans’ experience into new territory.  We are doing so in a way that we believe will make it easier and more enjoyable for people to expand their awareness and understanding of how to make this critically important transition.  The primary difference in what we are doing and in that second definition of homesteading is the paradigm or vision from which it is derived. Our founding concept is that humans can live in a harmonious relationship with nature and as a result nature will serve us in a better way. The way we approach creating this lifestyle will look quite different than homesteading. Instead of our focus being to make large fields of one crop, we will create individual gardens with a multitude of plants. Instead of clearing land to be replanted with a desired crop, we will be working with the plant life already present and enhancing it’s health with our presence rather than diminishing it’s life. Rather than reducing tree population, we will be adding trees.   We will collect important data that will help existing homeowners make choices that will benefit their families and their communities far beyond a single lifetime’s experience.

          Creating these settlements and the city domains is more about gardening (rejoice and delight in; greek).  Homesteading was historically more about farming (to hold firm, fixed payment; latin).

24. You mentioned "attractive settlements." Attractive for some people means looking the same, uniform style and/or color. Will sameness be part of the definition of beauty? 

Sameness and a kin's domain version of "covenant controls" is not part of our vision.  We do intend to provide a variety of sustainable house designs to choose from for those who do not feel comfortable designing their own sustainable home, or for those who want to adapt the designs available.  However, designing and getting county approval for your own design is always an option as well.  We expect and encourage creative new ideas to fill our settlement.  Any home design must meet the sustainability goals of the settlement and be able to removed fairly easily by future generations if they should want to do so.

I would like to share the following note sent to us by a prospective resident.  "My experience is that people perceive beauty differently.  I had a neighbor who had an angel with a missing wing in his yard.  Some people looked at it and saw the missing wing which looked like junk to them, others saw the angel and celebrated it as art.  Also, "weeds" to some people are seen as an expression of natural beauty or even a source of nutritional food (like dandelions or flowering thistles), while to others it represents chaos."

Our policy is that on your domain you are king and queen.  You and you alone are responsible to your self and your future kin and will receive the fruits of your choices.  We believe that the very substantial responsibility to organize and beautify our domains for the health and joy of our children and grandchildren (and perhaps even ourselves reborn) will be the only "covenant controls" needed or effective.

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25. Will the village wastes need to periodically be trucked to a sewage treatment plant outside the village? Are these hauling costs included in the budget?  

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26. Will the village wastes be somehow recycled or made into some productive use?  

Absolutely.  We request that our residents do not bring in anything they are not willing to take full responsibility for.  Whatever a resident brings in, they must consider their willingness to have it become a part of their domain permanently or create a solution for it that does not include taking it to a landfill but contributes to the beauty and well-being of their domain and settlement.  That includes plastics, steel, concrete, etc.  Would you want ALL of those things currently in your possession, to become part of the earth that nurtures and heals you?  For most people that answer would be no.  One of our tasks will be to quickly come up with solutions for those things that do not serve our individual and collective health and well-being.

27. Will people have to submit their domain designs to a CKD board for approval? To local zoning board etc?  

Not to CKD but to their settlement committee or planning group - in our case that would be Ark Conservation Ranch.  Each settlement will be different but will have specific requirements.  For example, houses must be built sustainably as defined and agreed by each settlement in their funding agreement (with granting foundations).  Also, in Colorado, depending on where the land is located we may be required to build only fireproof homes in order to get a variance from the standard requirement to tear out up to 9/10 of the pre-existing forest and brush on the land (fire fuel source mitigation).  For those kinds of approvals you would need to submit your plans to the settlement for approval.  And yes, your plans will also have to be submitted to and approved by local zoning boards according to the county or township codes and regulations.

As to what preparatory measures will be taken with the settlers, we will 

	host gatherings,
	provide some instruction,
	provide a selection of home building plans to choose from for those who do not want to design their own,
	group and mentor assistance in the designing process and building permit process and in the building process.

Most residents will not be building only their own home.  We will help each other get all the homes built.  Again, this is a self-selection process.  No assignments will be made to anyone.  Each family will be responsible to create the relationships that will support their settling process.

A more detailed intake process will be published on this site as soon as it is ready.  It is currently in progress.