Nancy Couts

Sustainable community:  Starting from the ground up, we build and maintain our homes with ecologically friendly materials and designed with passive solar and water efficient systems.  We create community systems to efficiently grow our food, compost and recycle as much as possible.  We promote zero waste living and reusing what we can.  Transportation needs are met using efficient personal or community vehicles.  Community members use what they need and share the rest.  

To achieve this vision would require infrastructure changes, eg, creating more community composting facilities, making renewable products more available, building more reliable public transit systems... Individuals’ values need to change to appreciate that less can be more, that meeting individual needs can be compatible with community needs, that we all need to consider the impact of our choices on the health and future of 
the community and the entire earth.

Personal relationships and community will always be more important that material things.

I have never heard of silvopasture before, but it makes so much sense!  The reduction of released methane would have a huge impact on global warming. There seem to be many advantages to the farmers as well so I hope the practice continues to expand.

Black carbon & other emissions contribute to global warming and the particulate matter causes significant human health risks- both respiratory and circulatory (increased stroke risks). Those most exposed to these pollutants are often the poorest which raises serious social justice concerns.