10-week online Sociocracy Webinar, Mondays, Feb 8 – Apr 12, 2021, with short watch-ahead videos & handouts, live sessions for practice. Register here. My mission is to help intentional communities get started successfully, function effectively, and achieve their goals.
I have learned what works well from founders and long-time members of more than 170 communities worldwide — ecovillages, cohousing neighborhoods, housing co-ops, shared group households, income-sharing communes, and more.
Here are two videos I’d love you to see. First, an 11-minute presentation, Three Aspects of a Healthy, Thrivng Community. Second, a 45-minute slide show (with slides embedded in the video) How Ecovillages Benefit the Wider Culture. My books are Creating a Life Together, (2003), (now translated into six languages) and Finding Community (2007) Here’s a 1-minute video from Bay Area Permaculture trainer Kevin Bayuk recommending my work.
I teach workshops, offer consultations, and present keynote addresses and breakout workshops for conferences internationally. In 2017 I received the Fellowship for Intentional Community’s Kozeny Communitarian Award, a lifetime achievement award for contributions to the US communities movement.
My workshops and webinars include Starting a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community, Helping Your Community Thrive, and Sociocracy for Intentional Communities. I’m an Associate Member of The Sociocracy Consulting Group (TSCG). I also teach the N St. Consensus Method for groups who like to use consensus.
I’m working on my third and forth books now: one on how groups can use Sociocracy for better meetings, get more done, be better organized, and feel more connected; the other on helping your community become more healthy and thrivng.
I’m a certified as a trainer for Gaia Education’s Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) course, a Board Member of GEN-US (Global Ecovillage Network-US) and formerly a board member of GENNA (GEN-North America). I contributed chapters to the Gaia Education/EDE books Beyond You and Me and Gaian Economics, and the GEN book Ecovillage: 1001 Ways to Heal the Planet. I’ve written articles for Communities magazine, GEN Newsletter, the Communities Directory, GEN Newsletter, Permaculture Activist, Permculture Design, and Permaculture magazines. I was editor of Communities magazine (1994-2007) and publisher of Ecovillages newsletter (2010-2012). I live at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.
“Your workshop was fantastic! You truly are a master at taking complex material and making it simple — at putting together workshops, teaching, and facilitating. The way you engage participants is brilliant.” —Gaya Erlandson, co-founder, Lotus Lodge Community, North Carolina
“Your presentation at the Permaculture Voices conference was one of the best I’ve seen. . . . down-to-earth, humble, extremely knowledgeable, realistic, practical, insightful, inspiring (and funny). I learned so much!” —Laura Allen, Los Angeles Eco-Village; author, The Water-Wise Home
“You are a sparkling trainer and a joy to work with. L.A. Eco-Village was energized for a year following your workshop.” —Lois Arkin, co-founder, Los Angeles Eco-Village
“I love the way you teach — supporting the questioner and question, being totally honest, and keeping a smile and positive, hopeful attitude about everything!” —Dave Henson, co-founder, OAEC Community, Sonoma County, California
“I was riveted — your conference keynote was an awesome presentation. You hit the fundamental, untold truths about cohousing and decision-making. I 100% recommend time with you as obligatory for any forming cohousing community.” —Mark Westcombe, Chairperson, UK Cohousing Network, and co-founder, Forge Bank Cohousing, Lancaster, England