Over the past few years, ecovillagers everywhere have had to learn how to translate the vision of our communities into pragmatic everyday language that people from all walks of life can understand and accept. Here are quotes from some of those who have been the most helpful in teaching us how to talk "easy" about our visions. We hope they are as helpful to you as they have been to us.

DEBBIE FRYMAN AND LINDA HICKS ASHMAN describe a sustainable community as one that offers healthy living conditions to everyone. Each person has access to nutritious food and adequate shelter and outlets for spiritual, cultural and creative expression. There are many community-based businesses, and equal opportunities for fulfilling livelihood. Residents work, play and learn in a safe and clean environment. Neighbors know each other and work together to identify and resolve community issues. Everyone feels a part of the decision-making process, and decisions are made based on the long-term well-being of the community. Residents understand how seemingly separate issues are connected, and that individual actions can affect the health and environment of people in other areas. And while residents identify with their own neighborhood, which in many ways is self-reliant, they feel a kinship to communities across the region and across the globe.

PAUL HAWKEN describes sustainability simply as a "golden rule: leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do." (The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, 1993)

ELIZABETH KLEIN in her study Defining a Sustainable Community (Center for Environmental Management, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, 617/627-3486, $15) identifies four characteristics which groups can use as they move toward sustainable communities. Klein's four characteristics include:

Economic Security. A more sustainable community includes a variety of businesses, industries, and institutions which are environmentally sound (in all aspects); financially viable; provide training, education, and other forms of assistance to adjust to future needs; provide jobs and spend money within a community; and enable employees to have a voice in decisions which affect them. A more sustainable community also is one in which residents' money remains in the community.

Ecological Integrity. A more sustainable community is in harmony with natural systems by reducing and converting waste into non-harmful and beneficial products and by utilizing the natural ability of environmental resources for human needs without undermining their ability to function over time.

Quality of Life. A more sustainable community recognizes and supports people's evolving sense of well-being, which includes a sense of belonging, a sense of place, a sense of self-worth, a sense of safety, and a sense of connection with nature, and provides goods and services which meet peoples' needs both as they define them and as can be accommodated within the ecological integrity of natural systems.

Empowerment and Responsibility. A more sustainable community enables people to feel empowered and take responsibility based on a shared vision, equal opportunity, ability to access expertise and knowledge for their own needs, and a capacity to affect the outcome of decisions which affect them.

BILL LELAND of the Global Action and Information Network (GAIN) says that definitions of sustainability must take into account environmental, economic and social factors. For example, sustainable agriculture must include stewardship of the land (environmental), equitable means of distribution (economics), and non-exploitative work relations (social factors). This approach is complex but affords some promise of success. Bill also reminds us that technology will contribute to sustainability only if it is the servant of clear social vision.

DONELLA MEADOWS, DENNIS MEADOWS AND JORGEN RANDERS in their book "Beyond the Limits" say that "A sustainable society is one that can persist over generations, one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough, and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support."

DAVID ORR (Professor of Environmental Sciences at Oberlin College) cautions us to distinguish between "technological sustainability" (the concept that humankind is dominant over nature and will find a "techno-fix" for every problem) and "ecological sustainability" which recognizes humankind as part of nature, that there are limits to growth and carrying capacity and that nature should be regarded as a model for the design of housing, cities, neighborhoods, technologies and regional economies. According to Orr, sustainability depends upon replicating the structure and function of natural ecosystems. (Ecological Literacy, David Orr, 1992)

SIM VAN DER RYN in his new book with Stuart Cowan, Ecological Design, states that sustainability equals conservation plus regeneration plus stewardship. In Van Der Ryn's words, conservation is frugality, regeneration is healing, and stewardship is responsibility. They identify five steps to sustainability:

1. Solutions grow out of knowing where you are. Look to local resources, skills, and knowledge for design solutions. Let the place and its inhabitants determine the whole context for design.

2. Trace the footprint. Trace the ecological impacts of your actions.

3. Design with nature. Look to the living world for design strategies. Actively incorporate living systems in designs.

4. Participatory Design. Listen to every voice in the design process. As we engage the living world in community with others, we are rewoven in life's web.

5. Make flows visible. Live with your design, find out how it works, and learn from it. The challenge is to make long-hidden natural processes both visible and viable.

By the year 2025, 80% of the world's population will be living in cities (check this fact). Many of these cities are currently unable to provide adequate access to drinking water and other essential services. For the poor and disadvantaged, cities can be hell. Yet the potential to re-design our built environment for the benefit of every neighbor has never been greater. Reasearch into greenbuilding techniques, improved options of public transit, and the growing awareness of citizens that the environment needs protection, all indicate that the time is ripe to re-invent how we live together in cities.

The Urban Ecovillage Network will begin to connect common projects throughout the world tackling the challenge of builiding sustainable neighborhoods. UEN will act as a clearinghouse for information, a think-tank for ecovillage ideas, and an advocate for policy changes that can facilitate urban ecovillage growth. In addition to this website and the Urban All discussion list, which hopefully will facilitate direct contact and cross-fertilization of ideas between urban ecovillages and their allies, we are: 1. developing a directory of member resources 2. helping to promote "ecotourism" 3. publishing articles to describe the urban ecovillage option 4. collecting information about the challenges (including zoning laws, building codes, community organizing, and political lobbying) facing urban ecovillage creation, and the specific solutions various efforts have used so that new efforts need no reinvent the wheel. Going forward we hope that the active participation of the members of our growing network will shape our priorities, and expand our focus. Currently some people are talking about ways to facilitate trade between ecovillages, urban and rural. Others are looking into setting up Local Exchange Trading systems, credit unions, and small business incubators to facilitate the growth of green businesses. Much can be done together.