Building Communities: Essential Skills for Thriving in Eco Villages

In this episode of Age of Reinvention, host Emily Bron welcomes Nicole Reese, a pioneer in sustainable living, eco villages, and intentional communities. Join us as we dive into Nicole’s inspiring journey from founding Terenity to her role at Region Thrive. We’ll explore mindset shifts crucial for thriving in intentional communities, lessons from Nicole’s ecovillage adventures, and the challenge of eco gentrification. Whether you’re curious about sustainable living or considering moving to an ecovillage, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the future of intentional communities!

TIMESTAMPS:
01:30 Introduction to Age of Reinvention
03:45 Nicole Reese’s Journey into Sustainable Living
08:36 Challenges and Misconceptions in Ecovillages
11:45 Intergenerational and Intentional Communities
16:38 Building and Thriving in Intentional Communities
28:36 Navigating Cultural Differences in Communities

Click here to listen to Part II of the podcast episode

Click here to watch Part II of the interview

Emily Bron: Hello and welcome to another episode of Age of Reinvention. Eco living, free cities, and intentional communities, with your host Emily Bron. Today, a truly inspiring guest, Nicole Reese, a tribalizer in sustainable living, eco villages, and intentional communities, and she’s joining us again. Nicole has a rich tapestry of experiences from founding Terenity, an excellent educational resource about eco villages to her pivotal role as the Executive Director of Operations at Region Thrive.

In our conversation today, we will dive into, first, the essential mindset shift for thriving in intentional communities. Second, Lessons learned from Nicole Echo Village adventures, mistakes and all. And the last, the nuances of eco gentrification and how to foster inclusivity and affordability. And obviously we will be speaking about all around.

We will discuss Nicole Ree’s journey, her exciting projects she’s working on, and the future she envisions for intentional communities in North and Latin America. and maybe worldwide. Whether you are curious about sustainable living or considering moving to an ecovillage, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

Let’s get started. Hello, Nicole. I’m happy to have you in my studio again.

Nicole Reese: Emily, it’s such a pleasure and knowing that you share this passion for ecovillages and helping people find and transition to intentional communities based on their own journey is inspiring in and of itself.

Emily Bron: Thank you for coming today.

Nicole, your journey into sustainable living and ecovillages is truly inspiring. Can you share a bit about what initially sparked your interest in these areas?

Nicole Reese: Absolutely. It actually started in a meditation retreat when I was 19. I felt that I saw very clearly some of the issues that our world was facing and some of the things that I myself lacked, I was lonely and seeking community and seeking belonging, but also craving to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

And about 3 years later, I actually encountered the word ecovillage for the 1st time it was an ecovillage in Panama that was an alternative education center as well as a community of sustainably built houses and people growing their own food. And this was so interesting to me. I think my whole body just came alive, knowing that this was a possibility that there were people out there like me with the same kind of dreams of how we could live together.

And knowing that I just felt like a spark ignited me, but for a few years, Like many, I just, I didn’t have enough resources. I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t even know that there were more communities out there. I didn’t think, and this is something I meet a lot of people who say this.

I didn’t think that there was a community out there for me because it’s such a big transition. Really, I think why I feel that and why other people feel that is we’re not exposed enough to, there are 10, 000 plus documented ecovillages all over the world sustainable communities with coordinated efforts, and it’s becoming a more mainstream topic.

Really much more now than when I started out at 22, there’s a lot more options for sustainable living and intentional communities. I’m sure a lot of your viewers and listeners have that same doubt. That they can find a community where they feel at home and they resonate and they can find shared values living with others.

But I think my research begs to differ. 

Emily Bron: So you are originally from what American state or city? Are you like city lover? What are your actual roots? 

Nicole Reese: I was actually born abroad. My parents are American citizens, but I was born in Mexico. And I grew up in Utah and in America. And so that was like in an international city, but a very small town.

So very much more grew up in nature, I feel then big city, not until I was 18 that I moved to like the Los Angeles metropolis, and then had the disconnect of living in the city and feeling very disconnected. So I wouldn’t say I’m a city lover. I, there are very few big cities I like, but I appreciate urban culture very much.

Emily Bron: Yeah, and I don’t know how many years you spent in Mexico, but as far as I am familiar with Mexico, and you probably know that Mexico have a big part in my soul, in my interest, but it’s a very family oriented culture, let’s say. I don’t know in what exactly environment you were growing up, but you feel that you don’t belong like in Mexico, in a home, or I don’t know where you were making first steps. 

Nicole Reese: Yeah so I stayed in Mexico until I was about 3 years old, but I did actually move back to Mexico and visited Mexico several times and you’re completely right. And I think it’s interesting, because when you start looking for eco villages in Mexico, there are quite a few, but I would say that there’s not that many because they already have such strong family units.

That feeling of belonging is not is. is not taken away from them as much as I feel it is in very individualistic Western cultures. 

Emily Bron: Completely agree. And I’m, by the way, very curious. Now when I was participating in a conference online and I’m reading some other sources and I understand that many young and not-so-young Americans or Westerners are really looking for a community.

And I understand where it’s coming from. Like feeling loneliness, as you mentioned, especially during the COVID times people re-evaluated a lot of values. But I was thinking because I grew up in Soviet Union and we’ve had, at least from childhood, I was growing on different ideas of, community living. 

Nicole, from your experience, what is one common misconception about ecovillages and startup societies that you frequently encounter and how do you address it through your newsletter that I’m reading?

Or day to day work, communicating with people? 

Nicole Reese: Ooh, that’s such a good question. And I think there are two. They represent opposite ends of the spectrum. So it’s either community I, that, what does that mean? Do I have privacy? I don’t want to share with other people like a misunderstanding of what all the flavors of what Community can be and the other side of the spectrum is like romanticizing community as though I’ll finally be happy.

I’ll finally feel accepted and love. I’ll finally never fight with anyone again. So people tend to fall sometimes on these extremes when it comes to at least misconceptions about how their life will be in community. So those are dangerous traps to fall into because on the one hand community, even for people, for example, like libertarians or people of a certain political rhetoric who are very individualistic can live in and.

Honestly, the whole point is to find out how to live harmoniously with others, even while living a very independent, free lifestyle there’s just no world where you wouldn’t have to make compromises with other people because you’d have to be the only person on earth, really. So learning those skills, as you said, like community is a skill and

learning those skills of community is essential. I think to a functioning society whether that’s at a really local scale or at a macro scale, and then, the opposite end of I’m going to, just live in this community. It’s going to be so wonderful. It’s I’m like, I’m just float on air.

That typically comes from people wanting community and other people to fill something emotional in them fill an emotional need. And we were chatting off camera about some of the people who are, 50 plus and typically, either they’ve lost their, their partner or 

Emily Bron: Empty nesters they want to really join maybe the community.

They’re looking for nature, living with nature even type of romanticism you mentioned, it’s different between different age groups. Yes, because young people are looking for one type of maybe more like hippie-style lifestyle, I think so. And mature people are looking for different type of harmony.

So I don’t know in your community building and communities that you were part of, is it usually like the younger generation? Yes, generation. Millenniums? What kind of people are looking for communities and you lived or communicated with? 

Nicole Reese: So actually the best communities are intergenerational, and I think this is healthy for everyone.

Like you want children, you want infants, you want elders, you want people in middle age or youth to, to be working on a common cause and living together. And I think that enriches everyone’s experience. I think. If you don’t have all ages, it’s a bit Narrow, like I do see a lot of people, for example but at the same time, I’ve also seen like senior co housing and there’s a lot of trends in the co living movement to bring people together of similar ages.

So it really just depends on what the individual is looking for. But I think if you’re building like a little microcosm society all ages, yeah. Is better. It’s healthier. It’s a more resilient community. You get more perspective, all of it. But at the same time, you’re fully free. You have permission to build a community of only certain ages.

If you so choose. That’s kind of part of the experience. Maybe that some people want. To have and can cultivate that by creating the intention of my community, which is why they call it intentional communities, is to share space with like other empty nesters, like other people who have had children that left home, that way we can support each other.

That can be one intention of an intentional community. 

Emily Bron: I spoke last week with my friend, an American from California, who has lived for some years already in Mexico in the Guadalajara area, and she launched several intentional communities for Americans at retirement age and kind of two different intentions.

We will say intentional communities, but as far as I understood, she was sure that she knew it’s people, the same cultures, and the same values in many cases. But I understood that one community, it was very successful. The second one is probably political ideas, and it’s people of the same age because they had the imagination of really this romantic living in a nice community.

So they couldn’t live with each other, so they, after a lot of effort she put into building a facility because it was home, I don’t know, hacienda, what kind of, so they couldn’t live with each other, so they separated I thought it’s an exciting example of people should be prepared. It’s easy to say than do, but they should understand what this particular community or other community is about and who I am and how this type of lifestyle and what is important for me and I think in this kind of referencing this issue, which is very important because people were disappointed.

They invested money and time on a personal level. But I believe this contract, and I’m speaking now, in terms of how Free City Foundation is speaking or probably each community has some founding document which should be clearly specifying what it is about, what kind of people would be flourishing or feeling good in such communities?

What are the requirements, at least basic requirements and human characteristics, this community is best to, or what kind of people will feel good in this community, maybe it’s not their particular problem, but people were just not ready. They just didn’t know how they might feel.

And I think, and probably it’s what you do in your communities as well. People should have the opportunity to live, a a couple of weeks, maybe months. Because again, even all is clearly specified, what kind of communities, what are the rules, what are the do’s and don’ts, it’s important. Even a person sometimes thinks that, okay, it’s exactly what I need, but people are different.

And after living for some time and communicating with some people, or I don’t know, some health issues which should be just taken account as well and some personal issues, people sometimes don’t know themselves. If they lived a particular lifestyle over the years and they didn’t test the character under different conditions it might be a challenge.

It’s not that they’re not good people; they just, maybe this community or this type or this lifestyle, and it’s not for them. What do you think? 

Nicole Reese: Yeah, certainly, you’re a proponent and a supporter of eco villages and free cities and intentional communities, but through your own curiosity, you want to know what most people want to know when they start.

Getting closer to communities and that it’s very easy to predict the things that go wrong because any venture requires detail and interpersonal skills. I would say there’s a lot of skills that go into community building that are actually. Currently, by many eco-villages for the past 30 years they’ve been refining them almost as what we call social technologies, meaning.

Processes for communicating the vision of the community,  process for leaning into conflict rather than withdrawing from it processes for. Governing in a participatory way so that it’s. Everyone involved can make a decision. And so I know that libertarians are a big fan of democracy. And so people actually being able to participate directly without, without you get more votes because you’re so. So there are alternative governance systems as well that have been pioneered in different eco-villages. 

So all that to say, the vision is typically where it starts and like communicating the vision and creating that filter for what kind of person you want and what kind of person maybe does not fit the intentions or shares the same ideals and principles.

It’s a delicate balance between wanting diversity of perspective and also allowing for the container to support what you want the community to achieve because, typically these types of communities form for a purpose to uphold the values that they share and then reinforce behaviours that reflect those values.

And then the end product is that you live in a system that is actually designed in resonance rather than dissonance with your values, whatever those values might be, if they are freedom if they are ecological health if they are creative expression, these are vague as well. Even freedom could be unpacked in so many different ways.

So there is. A lot of deep work is needed when crafting the vision of whether it’s a free city or a startup city. There’s a lot of popularity around the network state movement as well in the crowds typically engaged in, like, how do we redesign society at a local scale? So, all of that to say, there are a lot of tools, and I’m certainly happy to share those with you too, so that you can point your audience to those tools about crafting your vision. My work with Regen tribe as well, we worked quite a bit to develop tools that empowered people to understand what their vision was so that they could accurately onboard the right people and accurately share their vision to allow the community vision to grow.

So I’m happy to pass those along, but the key insight here is that there are a lot of common potholes that people fall into and a lot of common mistakes. The scenario that you described is very common because people will tend in that situation. To be, to not treat community as though it were a business or not treat community as though you need to develop it.

The kind of relationships, the kind of trust, the kind of skills that a flourishing community needs to be developed. And so that’s one of the errors of rushing into the community without proper forethought and design.

Emily Bron: And people have false expectations again may be based on their needs, or lack of experience,  because I think it’s even important if person was working before and now I’m speaking about, pre-retirement or retirement-age people who are looking for communities. So if they were working part of the corporation and they absorbed this culture, it might be different from a person of the same culture, Americans, yes, who were self-employed and were working on absolutely different principles and ideas.

I even don’t want to touch on political point of view, which over the years became a hot topic of disagreement and the fact that like from my point of view as a person who was born in the former Soviet Union and was raised with communal values or Socialistic values, which I denounced later, and I fully understand that it’s, but there are good parts that I believe part of my upbringing as well.

You mentioned that intentional communities require high personal growth and commitment. Can you elaborate on what personal growth and mindset shifts are necessary for someone to thrive in such settings? 

Maybe your personal experience of what you observed over the years. 

Nicole Reese: So actually, the first thing that I think needs to be reprogrammed is even sometimes the idea of what community can be.

Because community can be as simple as, for example, several individual private houses, organized around a shared garden, you sometimes minimally see the people, but you share resources like the central garden and a recreational center. A lot of people already live in a community. They just don’t know it.

There’s not that intention to it. So I think 1st is to reprogram your mind into what community can be. I know for me personally living in a community has required me to grow exceptionally when it comes to, voicing my own needs, but also learning how to do that tactfully because you can’t necessarily take by force or simply withdraw and hope the person goes away.

It’s not like working with someone unpleasant. It’s building something together and sharing space with and even often intimate living space. Not necessarily living together, but running into them on, a daily basis. Communication skills are like the number one. And I think a lot of people, I reflect on this.

I think it’s actually quite easy to see why we have wars and conflict even though personally it like hurts my heart, it’s so easy to understand how people can just misunderstand each other and then be at war because they lack the interpersonal skills to actually mediate and find out the truth.

What do you need and can we meet that need meet both of our needs? And of course, some people, don’t want to compromise, but I think for me, like community is like a minor reflection of the whole and the way that we’re able to deal with conflict in the home amongst our peers and colleagues and community members reflects how society needs to deal with conflict at large.

And. At larger scale, of course, you throw in patriotism and weapons and, a hunger for resources and it does spell disaster, but I definitely believe that communities that I’ve seen are innovative spaces for learning how to lean into conflict in a much more mature way.

And it’s, it really starts with communication and those community skills.

Emily Bron: I would agree with you that community skills,  communication skills are very important. I completely Not agree that it’s a recipe for avoiding the wars because speaking about the war conflict and like historically, I follow news in Ukraine because I lived in Ukraine, I lived in Russia.

It’s more complicated. It’s much more complicated because and you are perfectly sure of the view of, like, young and middle-aged Americans or Westerners who don’t have actual experience, or maybe it’s part of education. With all due respect, it’s a different cultural understanding. There are so many more nuances in such a conflict.

It’s different speaking about Ukraine and Russia; it’s very close culture because,  it’s propaganda, it’s politics. Speaking about the Middle East, it’s politics. absolutely different roots of the problem. It’s historical,  religious. So it’s not simple, but I agree.

And by the way, this society is a more neat, more family oriented, more like there’s different dynamic working on in, in many conflicts and the Westerners very often think that by resolving this issue, yes, you get some skills, but it’s not enough to bring the peace in this or another conflict.

Going back to all community living and skills required for eco-living or for any other co-living, as you mentioned as well, like for seniors. Even in condos, people are leaving, and sometimes, they have issues connecting with each other. But in the case of communities, and I know you spent several years in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Latin America, you actually- not you specifically- are coming to a different culture.

Again, you need to adjust to other people’s personality types. And now you are on  a territory of a different country with specific cultural and historical customs. How can you remediate this one from your experience?

Nicole Reese: You’re so right. And I know it was quite a bold statement, but in the conversation of community skills necessary to thrive in a community, another one that is important is knowing how to thrive as an individual. In a collective and how to have the consciousness of the collective and being able to meet your needs while also serving the collective, different cultures have fallen on the spectrum of very individualistic to very collectivist and I don’t think I, I can’t argue which one is right.

Is better. I don’t think either one, I, you both have merit. But what I see is that when you can balance both, it’s a very important community skill. And I definitely believe that this can translate out larger at a larger scale to the world because living in the community that is Intentionally placemaking and making sense of where it is, where it’s located, what its story is, but also acknowledging its deep interconnectedness.

And this is just personally what I’ve seen in eco villages: there’s a lot of attention put towards how deeply we are connected. We are interdependent. We acknowledge that interdependence that we can and should rely on each other. I know this may violate some people’s maybe philosophical or political beliefs, but we can’t get away from the fact that we’re interdependent and each of our actions.

Impacts each other. And I think just on a micro scale, that’s. What community teaches you and being able to exist in that exist in interdependence, rather than run away from it or hide in it is really important on your own personal journey. But certainly, if you wish to thrive in harmony with others and in any sort of community, which we all are part of just to varying degrees of commitment and coherence. 

We’re all part of communities. We’re just talking about in this conversation, right? Places where people have chosen to live together, whether that’s on the land to live a more ecological lifestyle on an island to escape, absolutely unfavourable tax agreements that they don’t, that they don’t agree with, they don’t want to obey. 

Emily Bron: Or surveillance, just surveillance. 

Nicole Reese: Or surveillance, which is a huge topic that bothers me deeply. Privacy and surveillance are just the degradation of a lot of our normal government institutions.

There’s a huge desire to, basically, separate. It’s like almost like a separatist movement if we don’t like the way you’re doing government. We can go over here and make our own. And that, to me, is a glorious descent that allows us to reinvent how society is designed and built.

So that’s a huge cornerstone of what I do. And I think experimenting on at community scale is the only way we can actually affect and reinvent. And challenge existing systems that do not serve us. And we all know and feel that, or serve only a few. 

Emily Bron: I fully agree the current governments’ level of deconstruction and interference in our lifeiIt’s one of the sources of the multiple movements growing up like even free city and eco-living intentional communities. 

You name it, and you can name it differently, but they all might be different. It just respons to the government, current government, inability to perform to be short, but from the other side and again recently reviewing the website as I was preparing myself for the Liberty on Our Life conference, I was reviewing websites of some speakers, participants who were new for me,  learn a lot.

And I found on one website which did work speaking about ideas, where listed all kinds of groups or a community of like-minded people, as they name themselves, and divided in and again with all due respect, people have a right to be united against some certain ideas or principles.

And as you mentioned, for example, meditation and help,  healing or nature healing. Like, I really like this idea. I have been meditating for years and I hope that I will get to the stage when I  do it again. It’s really personal growth and understanding of your connection with Earth, with the universe, and with people.

It’s a spiritual awakening for me. But when I, I see on the list like five communities. Like this only for Christians, this for Catholics, this for, like Italians, from different countries. With all due respect, I understand that people are looking for communities, and probably even local churches which exists, did not satisfy their needs at the point, or they’re looking for, I don’t know, different types of Christianity.

But in several Arabic or Muslim and here it’s this, and here it’s for Russian speaking, and here it’s with, and I was looking at at the beginning okay. When I was looking at it, but it’s back to tribalism, actually, like it’s not with all respect to the individual desire to be part of the community of like-minded people, but people again dividing.

And I understand that they probably have different lifestyles, they live differently. So people should be clear about what this big why is, again, why you would like to live in a community. And I don’t know for how long these communities can survive because, again, you leave your part, and people are not satisfied with the current situation.

I understand it completely, but what is the response? What is athe nswer to this? Are we again dividing,  three people here, five people there, and we have our different circle?  We can have circles of interest as we have different churches, and different, religious denominations in one city, and it’s not new per se.

Yes, but when I understood like some of the projects of eco-living, for example, and they say, okay, we’ll take everyone, eco-anarchist, eco-socialist, anarcho-capitalist, anarcho- socialist. Still, it’s a different people, it’s different in regards to not only ideology, what they’re looking for so what we are creating.

Is it a dormitory? I always lived in multicultural society. It’s a different topic, but When you’re creating kind of new type of intentional community and maybe far away from the big city or some civilizational points such as plazas and parks and all this, and now you have people, a different groups witha  different ideology, for me, it’s not community. Even we, I don’t know. So people should be united, as far as I understand, against one common idea. And this idea should be big enough to, to overcome different opinions, which can take place, it’s okay. But I don’t know if you have experience with such, conversational ideas and actually how if you define what kind of people like coming to you. Probably there is a waiting list or somebody is calling how you define who would be a good match for your community.

Nicole Reese: So I love that you touched on the topic of tribalism because I think It’s such a fine line when the Region Tribe. It’s something else. It’s just because it is. There is this trend. And I love that. You’ve been able to pick up on that. We are almost re-tribalizing in some ways, and our identity as humans is evolving.

We no longer find it, I guess enough. To simply be I’m Hispanic, I’m going to spend time with other Hispanic people. Ethnicity is probably not as powerful. And religion can be powerful, but all in all, I think we’re just organizing ourselves more around people with shared values and shared lifestyle, which sometimes goes, is reinforced by ethnicity is reinforced by religion.

But I find it because more and more we’re global citizens. So there are like people of all ages that are travelling more and moving more and intercontinental. And I find that what we use to identify ourselves is changing. And what we want to organize ourselves physically. We’re building physical spaces where we can have those shared values.

The danger is, of cours,e I think what you picked up on is that it’s just an echo chamber of just a community of just Christians. And then we just have little pockets of, okay, here’s where the Muslims are, and here’s the Christian lives in. And this can be quite diverse and lacking in exchange and culture.

Emily Bron: And I would say agnostics will not feel good as well, even just humanitarian or you say global citizens with different outlook.

 I can’t spend one conversation or other to go to listen, to speak, but to have community, you need to have, celebrations together. You need to have fun. Events, some, I don’t know, community events together.

Even sharing the food is a different food requirement. It’s a kind of detail, but it’s very important. First of all, you need to satisfy various requirements. 

Nicole Reese: Some people do organize whole communities around diets, like just to make their lifestyle easier. This is what I’m saying.

Like either values or lifestyle is a good way to organize for a community. It’s easier. 

Emily Bron: Lifestyle, yes, but ideas, cultural, it’s more complicated, it’s more complicated. Even meditation and all this holistic practice united people from different walks of life and religious affiliations.

I just read in your articles and that resonated with me is the topic of eco-gentrification.

And probably some people would need clarification of what it is about because I remember when they were five, six years ago, was the first time I heard about gentrification. I didn’t understand what it was about. But later, in a practical sense, the new development, yes, in this case, it might be eco-development or, some construction coming to already established, I would say, society.

It’s what I’ve seen in Mexico, yes, in Riviera Maya, this area. No, what I’m speaking about is Tulum with local people, Playa del Carmen, which I’m very familiar with and visiting, and like all buildings are demolished. 

And new, nice, eco-living hotels, from luxury to the shacks, from meditation retreats to some wild type of communities taking place, and local people do not feel good sometimes for a reason.

So, how do you define this echo gentrification? And what is the implication for existing communities? You observed when foreign newcomers coming to build eco villages and intentional communities in Mexico and other countries of Latin America. 

Nicole Reese: Yeah, as you’ve, as you mentioned,  I’ve written about eco gentrification in my publication, Terenity, and specifically in the context of people from wealthier or more resourcefull and advantaged places on earth moving to countries where land is cheap and they can buy land, build a community and then typically fill the community with

expatriates, people from other countries that can afford their jacked up prices. It’s so crazy that some people buy the land cheap and then flip it and just add an enormous amount of margin to it because this is a pattern that I’ve seen. And it’s disheartening because there’s just like a lack of context, and it typically

results and prices being driven up for locals and locals being priced out of housing options and so on. Then, all the common hallmarks of gentrification happen. So, I’m not going to talk about those because they are commonplace. What I do want to talk about is – this trend happening in a world that is more toxic, more polluted, and more developed is and pristine nature areas are becoming a bit like a suburbans to wealthier people who can afford to live remotely who don’t work or work online.

And enjoy like the low cost of living in other countries while earning money equivalent to the earning power of their home country. And this is just a trend that I think we’ll continue to see because it’s been shown that nature regulates your nervous system, having clean air to breathe, just having a beautiful view is something that will only continue to rise in value if we don’t like tone back the rapid pace of deforestation and development and just building senselessly.

So that’s what’s more troublesome to me is that kind of treating nature. I was like, oh, I’m running away to proceed nature because it’s nature out here. But then you tear down trees to build your community. And then someone buys the lot next to you and tears down trees to build their nature community.

And before you know it, you have all of these. And this is something I’ve personally seen, like, all of these communities in an area that claims to be sustainable or regenerative. But they’re essentially human settlements in what was once perceived as nature. So, to their credit, they often introduce more biodiversity.

They’re planting trees in the wake. They’re putting down regenerative food systems and using permaculture, but I just want people to be wary of that trend. And I’m not saying I fall in a very morally ambiguous part of the spectrum because, on the one hand, I think we’re global citizens and I think we should borders are arbitrary, and we should be free to roam and free to call any place on earth, our home.

But being mindful of and making amendments to the privileges that we bring and the effects that we have just our presence in certain areas of having whiter skin and healthier wallets is that living or moving to like Latin American countries, for example, as it is gentrification. And I call it eco gentrification because it is essentially gentrifying nature spaces and introducing all kinds of issues of privilege and what price we’re willing to put on nature.

So I would recommend to people, for example, following you that it’s not wrong to move to another country, but you want to really research the project or the community that you want to move to and really do your best to include locals, whether that’s. 

Like reducing the language barrier, learning the language yourself, involving people as much as possible by employing them, getting them in as owners, and getting them in as mixing in locals as much as possible versus just building these spaces that are only for expatriates.

Emily Bron: Yes. Actually, first of all, I don’t feel any guilt about the colour of my skin because I think the whole notion is racist by itself, but I am fully aware that as an immigrant, I was living, coming to different countries. Still, it’s important our intention,  because even if it’s a project and I know in Tulum, maybe you know better, they were trying not to keep trees. I don’t say that it’s all worked ideally, but to build inside existing nature.

And by the way, not only foreigners make money, locals, as well.  People coming because they understand that on level of economy. It’s good for the region. It’s good for the country to attract people with ideas, to attract money, investment. It’s a boost to the economy. And let’s be honest, what’s happening, at least from my perspective over the last few years, it’s a competition between countries to attract more young people from different countries from the West, but young people with ideas, with the desire to, even to build community with money, with investments. So I see a lot of positivity, but it’s me, and I understand that local people might have different opinions, because it’s disrupting their life.  But okay, it’s up to the local government probably to explain to them, and it’s up to us to be, better version of newcomers, I would say, and to show respect, at least respect and understanding when it’s reasonable, I would say this way.

 So what is your vision now for the future of sustainable or intentional communities in the U. S., you now join a community in U. S., in Mexico, which is in between, in Latin America? 

In your opinion, what is the eco-living villages landscape in Europe as a continent? I’m trying get your global vision for the different continents.

In regards to eco-village living and development. 

Nicole Reese: You’re asking about my vision for eco-village development. 

Emily Bron: Future. For the future. And I understand there is a difference between eco villages in the U. S. and say in Mexico. In Costa Rica, you spend time or it’s primarily countries where it’s taken place lately.

So do you see it will be new communities, like more development of such communities, even the slight difference? 

Nicole Reese: Absolutely. So, I don’t think the community building trend will stop. I think a lot of. Even real estate developers are turning their eyes instead of building just regular apartment buildings.

They’re building co-livings and skyrise co-livings. People who might normally build a housing development are now turning towards it. Community building and eco-village design principles and sustainable design. The trends of sustainability in general are the only thing that makes sense from both a planetary perspective, as well as the materials and cost perspective.

I think that in general, all real estate and land development will eventually be a trend in that direction, and so my vision is that I’ve been working for a few months as the marketing director of the global ecovillage network, which represents 30-plus years, as they were established in.

Emily Bron: That’s why I’m asking you;  you are a source of information and inspiration, and you have all the information. So what, tell us what we’ll expect for the next 30 years at least.

Nicole Reese: I just expect that more of these design principles, which, like members of the network, have been honing for many decades, is that these different design principles, these different frameworks, everything encompassed in eco-village design are now going to be implemented and refined. And I see that as the trend of like, okay, people will be building communities. People are already building communities. It’s quite impressive how much I turn around when someone wants to buy land, buy this house, or move into a community and find a community that suits their lifestyle.

Whether it’s something very small or something very ambitious. We want to build a city. We want to build a city that only takes crypto. We want to build a city that focuses on longevity and allows us to; these are all trends in the movement. You’re very aware. 

Emily Bron: I know, but speaking about eco-living, but I believe it’s not eco-living for me.

It’s what I say intentional communities may be in the cities. Or, it’s an, it’s, or it’s in eco living as well. Because, say, for some scientific research, like longevity or, Oh, it might be different how to survive in nature. It could be this research as well. But so is it part of eco-living, all these trends of Bitcoin?

Yes. But what would you do with Bitcoin in nature? I don’t know. 

Nicole Reese: So yes, people are somewhat disillusioned with the blue light and the concrete jungles that, like modern societ,y force us into. Many people are rediscovering what it means is to use technology, to leverage technology, but then to just go outside and see the sun and breathe.

Fresh air is like such a God-given. Right? I’m not religious, but it’s a human right to be able to enjoy nature and natural spaces. Having been severely diminished in some ways, we’re actually trending towards wanting to restore them and develop. I want to say develop.

I don’t necessarily mean putting buildings on them, although that is also the trend of wanting to build structures of the future. You asked me about my future-minded perspective, and absolutely,  people want to innovate and like architecture that mimics nature architecture. It ois smart. So empowered by technology.

So it’s self-heating and self-cooling. There are a lot of trends in the way we can use technology to live more ecologically. So I see all of that trending in that direction. My mission is just to support that by creating both educational and storytelling resources, gathering data on these types of trends, and then figuring out all of those common mistakes that people make to help them.

Avoid making them. So that is what I see as my life’s mission future-wise. I expect more trends in real estate wellness hospitality to trend towards building community and integrated types of living that support a lifestyle, whatever that is, but certainly more like people, are craving a holistic well-being living longer, enjoying life longer.

And that is something I see as a trend in this more international space of people wanting to build a variety of communities. 

Emily Bron: As an executive director of operations recently at RegenTribe. And now, in your new roles, what are some of the key initiatives you are currently working on to promote eco-living, and sustainable living?

Or community building. I don’t know now, like you are in all of these significant areas and they’re not inseparable. Yes, it all should have come together. What is your work now about? 

Nicole Reese: Yes, I agree with that statement. I would definitely say the focus of my work now is shifting the paradigm towards the adoption of these holistic frameworks and principles that I believe will allow us to move our society to live within planetary limits.

Since 3 years ago, I’ve been working on what is Terrenity and this year, at the beginning of the year, I launched a publication that focuses on some of the technical aspects of—building a startup city, designing and maintaining an intentional community, and diving into the resources to make it happen.

I’ve written about 40 articles in this 52-week-long year, and I’ve been very excited to just weekly share a very deep dive into my own personal journey, as well as an assessment of different tools available to people. Really, a lot of it is demystifying the community and connecting the dots.

There are a lot of dots out there that seem unrelated, but putting resources in one place, I think helps people. The publication itself has received a lot of praise, which I’m very humbled by. Thank you. I started out this year working as the marketing director for a more commercial eco-village called La Ecovia in Costa Rica.

Very ambitious projects of high integrity in the San Mateo region of Costa Rica. And I’m actually sorry. It’s technically in the region. But it’s in a town called San Mateo, and I actually left that job because I had my research for regenerative community sponsored by a group called the Blue Dot Project,  which is building a fund to invest in developing regenerative communities. They see it as an absolute trend in investment as well. So they were building a portfolio of projects to invest in that had regenerative business aims. And the first one of those was a group of indigenous peoples Rather, a nation of indigenous people that owned a very large territory in Colombia and was buying back parcels that had technically illegally been sold to other people in order to regenerate those parcels that had been degraded by the Agriculture that was very extractive and used a lot of toxic chemicals.

So they were shifting that back. And so I was working with them in Columbia. Then, I actually came to the US to join the community that I now live in. It’s on 4. 1 acres in Southern California. Where I’ve lived before, I’ve lived previously here, but I’m just very excited to be back in my natural environment because in the context of gentrification, I actually felt like I was just more at home, more culturally relevant, more able to just be here without necessarily representing any sort of like threat essentially to the well-being of the people that I was surrounded by.

 and currently, I’m the marketing director for the global ecovillage network, and we’re working on excellent, exciting projects such as universities are approaching us to Now design take the curriculum that we’ve already designed but to teach these eco village principles to masters in business and liberal arts, as well as previously, there’s been work done on the eco-village development program, which involved 22 countries in Africa that expressed interest.

Emily Bron: Okay, interesting. What is one key piece of advice you would give someone from our continent? We are still we are North America. Someone who’s starting their journey in building or joining the Ecovillage community. What are the first steps they need to do? 

Nicole Reese: I always recommend people travel to different communities to test them out and get a sense of what community can be because communities can vary widely between themselves.

And so it prepares you so that when you finally do pick a place, you’re aware of all the different ways it can be done and possibly even done better than that particular community that you’re choosing because it’s a good fit. This was just my personal experience. I travelled to different ecovillages and communities, looking for one that felt right.

And it wasn’t until I visited here, where I am today, back in May, that I felt like, oh, wow, I could live here, and I could enjoy it, and I really love the people here. So certainly getting out and trying different communities, I think, is important to actually making a good choice. Another one is to dive into the movement as much as possible.

Listen to podcasts like yours, and try to collect as much information as possible. Investigates. There are a lot of existing resources. There are so many existing resources that could help people connect with or build the community that they seek. So really just doing a lot of your research as much as possible, getting connected in the movement, I think will lead to some pretty surprising results because there are a lot of people out there that share that same vision that whether it’s your vision or my vision or someone else’s vision, there are like-minded people who can share that vision with you.

We’re rather lucky to live in a global world. And so, connecting with people online is another thing I typically recommend to people. You might really find that there are people locally that you can meet with in person, which I think is the priority when you’re looking for connections. Still, we’re so privileged to meet people with high levels of commonality and values that why not use that?

And then, like, yeah, read a lot, take courses, get community skills before you’re just thrown into a situation of sharing space. 

Emily Bron: And I know that RegenTribes provide consultations. or even courses, is it correct? The RegenTribes group that you were working with. 

Nicole Reese: The RegenTribes offers consultations and a training program called the Regen agent program.

Those are some offerings available through the RegenTribes. It also Jen offers consulting with some of the network’s most experienced veterans in the movement, people who have spent years refining this, living in a community with a wealth of research,  like,  many of these people have written entire books about ecovillages and community principles.

So there’s another wealth of resources, I think. The Global Ecovillage Network has amassed so many resources. They’re checking out, as well as IC.org. Those are intentional communities. And then, of course, Free Cities Fundation. There are just a lot of groups out there that are attuned to building these types of spaces.

So I can share my list with you, and maybe you can provide it in the show notes for your listeners. 

Emily Bron: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Looking ahead, it’s the last question, and I really appreciate your time. Um, looking ahead, what are the next big steps for your Terenity in newsletters that I saw, like expanding the reach and maybe its depths?

Impact as a specific region or demographics that you aim to target next. 

Nicole Reese: I don’t currently have any big plans for the publication, but through Terenity, I’m working on a smart village for longevity based in Sardinia. 

Nicole Reese: Oh it’s not an organization. I am, I’m working on a longevity village that will be empowered with technology in Sardinia. We’re building houses and apartments and certified lab to conduct longevity research in Sardinia.

Emily Bron: I’m very interested. We need to meet in some time because I was following this area.

Like I didn’t know about the project, but it’s one of the blue zones,  Sardinia, it’s one of the blue zones. 

Nicole Reese: Correct. And we’re actually looking for a CFO and project manager. I. My me and my business partner who owns a plant based longevity supplements company, we’re developing this place to have a research lab for longevity, a wellness hospitality center and as well as circular systems and self sufficient systems so that we’re sourcing our own energy.

That we’re sovereign in that way. And we’re also going to be looking at developing and asking essentially for that part of Sardinia, which has already been earmarked as a special economic zone for this particular area in Sardinia to be considered a micro. Because Sardinia, there’s already several regions that have been approved.

So there’s precedent for us to approve this region to be part of it as well. So we’re looking for people who longevity companies who want to partner to establish their as well as conduct their research and land development, we’ve done, 10 year projections. We already have the land. We’re looking to acquire it over 5 years.

Yeah very much inviting. And yeah. 

Emily Bron: I’ve been in Sardinia, I like it, but I’ve been in a, in a main city and I visited some village with amazing frescoes. It’s more like touristic place. I understand that this community will be far away, yes? 

Nicole Reese: It is isolated. I think it’s about an hour from Cagliari though.

So it’s not too far. Cagliari has an international airport so typically that’s for me, the max of like, how far you want to be from a main central hub. So that’s exciting to me. That’s what I’m working on. Those are some of my projects also working on an accelerator for regenerative village projects to be invested in and to work with specialists, to get their regenerative village started. And yeah, those are all things I’m very excited about. And I’m super happy to be able to share their story with you on your podcast. 

Emily Bron: Thank you very much. And for my community, which is 50-plus years old, it will be exciting.

And I will invite you some time when you have more information about practical steps. And by the way, one of the next guests I have is a longevity specialist, a scientist from the United States. So I’m into these topics as well.

Nicole Reese:  I love it. Please connect us. Yes thank you very much for, and I was really enjoying the conversation.

 Emily Bron: Today, I spoke with Nicole Reese.

Thank you. And that is a wrap for today’s episode with incredible Nicole Reese. Big thanks to Nicole for sharing her profound insights and inspiring us with her journey today. In sustainable living and intentional communities, as always. We hope you found this conversation enlightening and sparked more curiosity about sustainable living.

Remember to check out her blog if you are eager to learn more about Nicole’s work. Terrenity and RegenTribe for more resources and information. 

We’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. So don’t hesitate to contact us on our social media channels or message us. Remember, every little step we take towards sustainability counts, and it’s something we can all work on together.

Thanks for tuning in to the Age of Reinvention. Until next time, this is Emily Bron encouraging you to stay curious, stay informed and take those steps towards an eco-living life or any lifestyle you envision. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you never miss an episode. See you next time. 

Nicole Reese

Founder of Terrenity | Societal redesign with research and storytelling

Spearheading a quest called Terrenity, which creates educational resources for how to learn about, find, join, and build ecovillages.

Welcome to our latest blog post, where we delve into the fascinating world of intentional communities and sustainable living with Nicole Reese, a leading figure in eco villages and community building. Nicole’s journey is a tapestry of varied experiences, from founding educational resources to leading at operational levels in organizations dedicated to sustainability.

A Journey into Intentional Living

Nicole’s path to sustainable communities was ignited at a young age during a meditation retreat, where she recognized a desire for community and sustainability in her lifestyle. Her transformative encounter with an ecovillage in Panama set her on a course to explore and contribute to intentional living.

Misconceptions and Realities of Community Living

One prevalent misconception about ecovillages is the extreme view on community living. Either viewed as an invasion of privacy or romanticized as a utopian solution to personal issues, communities vary widely in how they operate. Nicole points out the need for skills in communication and compromise to thrive in such settings.

The Cultural Tapestry of Community Building

Nicole’s insights include the importance of creating intergenerational communities that embrace diversity yet thrive on shared values. Her experiences in Mexico and Costa Rica illustrate the challenge of balancing cultural nuances while fostering inclusive communities that respect both local traditions and new sustainable practices.

Addressing Eco Gentrification

Eco gentrification is a pressing issue as more wealthier individuals and expatriates settle in pristine nature areas driving up costs and changing local dynamics. Nicole emphasizes the need for integration and inclusivity, urging new communities to include locals in their planning processes and benefiting from their participation.

A Vision for the Future

Looking forward, Nicole envisions a growing trend in sustainable development across global landscapes. With increasing interest in building communities that uphold ecological and resilient design principles, she sees a promising future for diverse community models that can address various social and environmental challenges.

Practical Steps for Aspiring Community Members

For those interested in joining or starting an intentional community, Nicole recommends visiting various community models to understand the lifestyle intricacies. She stresses the importance of diving into available resources and engaging with existing networks to find like-minded individuals and support.

In closing, Nicole Reese’s work in sustainable and intentional living serves as a beacon for those interested in exploring new ways of living that are harmonious with both nature and community. Her insights offer valuable guidance for anyone considering a transition into this innovative lifestyle.

Join us next time as we continue to explore the principles of sustainable living and intentional community building. Until then, stay curious and keep taking steps towards an eco-friendly lifestyle. Remember, every small effort contributes to a larger impact!