Can spirituality lead to eco-consciousness?

For the last Wednesday focused on collaboration – we’d like to write a little bit about community living and some of the environmental benefits that come with sharing space, land, harvest, energy, etc…

There are many movements across Canada and the U.S. that are poised in this direction – living with a communal mindset to offset our western lifestyles impacts on waste, pollution and emissions (please read Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver or check out littlecityfarm for inspiration).  However we thought we’d go to some of the experts who’ve lived out community and incorporated environmental best practices for centuries.
We came across this article about the Amish way of life – and it seemed to fit perfectly, although still includes an example of a disadvantage in their farming methods…  Here’s a small snippet:

The choices that the Amish community makes naturally lend themselves to simplicity and treading lightly on the land. The article quotes Wendell Berry saying, “The Amish are the truest geniuses of technology, for they understand the necessity of limiting it, and they know how to limit it.”

Not to say that any one group has sustainable living cased but we all have something to learn from each other.  Here’s a super short video on the Amish way of life – you can check out the full film at folkstreams.

Do you know of other examples of modern community living?  Please share!