Seeking members
From EcoReality
The information on this page is interpreted from EcoReality's official rules, as filed with our incorporation as a British Columbia Cooperative Association, or from agreements we have formally made by consensus among ourselves, as recorded in meeting minutes.
In case of a conflict, the official rules and/or meeting minutes take precedence.
Authors who provide interpretive works should include {{disclaimer}} at the top, and strive to include links to the appropriate rule or meeting minutes.(Also see our membership FAQ for answers to frequently asked questions about becoming a member.)
We're still working on this page! But for now, please check out our publicity links page to see what we've been putting out in the media and Internet regarding our plans.
Then you can begin looking at our "entry point" links on the left, which are good starting points. In particular, you should look at our values, which govern all our agreements.
If you have questions, you can use our contact page to send them to us. If they're general enough, they may end up on this page.
You can also sign up to be on our e-mailing list, or if you want more involvement, join (for free) our advisory council.
We'll try to have more information here soon!
Contents |
How much does it cost?
This is one of our most frequent questions. As in any complex situation, the answer is, "it depends."
Due to constraints from BC Securities and uncertainty about our eventual maximum habitation, we are primarily seeking members who have six figures to fund their future with us. People of exceptional skill who lack such financial resources are also welcome to begin investigating becoming members.
We hope to have more specifics here once we have begun a re-zoning process.
(See our land purchase fund information for more details.)
How long does it take?
This is not like buying a new car. You don't plunk down your money and move in. We expect an extended period of contact with most new members, during which we share meals, swap stories, learn about each other's accomplishments and challenges, perhaps even cry together. People with previous intentional community experience might move through this "trust building" process faster. If you are new to intentional community and radical sustainability, it may take a while. We highly recommend Finding Community, by our friend and Advisory Council member, Diana Leafe Christian, as a guide for joining an intentional community, including much information about how long it can take.
Where would I live?
As of December 2008, we have four rooms of house-sharing available, with priority to members who are fully vested, meaning they have funded enough (via Class A Investment Shares) to cover both their share of the land, and their share in the dwelling. (4 June 2008)
Long-term, we will be building clustered, shared-facility dwellings for members to live in, using local materials and natural building techniques.
Medium-term, a number of living space options may be available while the process of building your home takes place:
- Anything on wheels, like a travel trailer, is acceptable to the local authorities,
- Anything with a footprint of 10 square metres (107.6 square feet) or less,
- It can have cantilevered "bump-outs" above the footprint, and can have a limited-height attic and/or basement,
- Did we mention house-sharing? It isn't for everyone, but it may be the quickest, cheapest way from where we are now and where we want to be.
Cool! What happens next?
We want to get to know you, and strongly suspect you want to know us better, as well. So we have a multi-step process of progressive commitment. Some of these steps can go quickly or even concurrently, others may take time.
- Join our email list.
- This is a low-volume list, generally no more than a few postings a month.
- One of them will be our newsletter, which has articles written by different members and advisors each month.
- Join our Advisory Council, a group of potential members, advisors and supporters, and the merely interested.
- This will also put you on our email list (above).
- You will have edit/add access to our website, using the same software used by WikiPedia, the finest example of functional anarchy on the planet.
- During this time, we hope you'll get familiar with our website, and take part in its evolution. By exploring the site, you'll learn about our guidance documents, governance, agreement making, finance, and other essential organizational superstructure stuff. But we also have more concrete things, such as projects we are doing, meeting minutes, and events that we plan and host.
- Come for one or more visits!
- We have weekly site tours, potlucks and movies or presentations, every Saturday. See our meetings page for details.
- Come to our "members' weekend," typically the last weekend of the month. We have meetings, share meals, sometimes have seminars or workshops, and have fun together.
- Stay on-site as a guest or work-exchanger. (We appreciate a voluntary financial contribution if you aren't planning to work.)
- Longer stays on an internship or renter basis are possible.
- Declare your intention to pursue membership (in writing or via email), and become a prospective member. This includes:
- Selecting an EcoReality member to be your member guide through the application process -- and beyond.
- Sketching out a timeline, for completing your application and for paying for shares.
- Participation in member email discussions and teleconferences.
- We welcome your responsible participation in agreement making, but only members can block consensus agreements.
My question isn't on this list!
Thank you for the gift of sending us your questions. We won't promise your question will appear on this list, but someone will get back to you! (And if you join our Advisory Council, you can add your question here yourself!)
