Articles by Chris Roth
Together—but only together—we can afford to keep publishing Communities.
Endings and beginnings grow from one another and make personal and group renewal possible.
Endings and Beginnings (Issue # 157)
Within Reach
After 6,500 miles of pedaling and 100 community visits, a couple documents the promise of intentional community and cooperative living.
For the health of our species and the planet, we need ecovillages.
Group Works (Issue # 156)
A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings
A Communitarian Appreciates Wanderlust
This Hollywood movie offers both surprising insight and fond parody while taking viewers far from the beaten path, into the world of intentional community.
A journey through various flavors of spiritually eclectic community brings
us face to face with cursed seeds, the White Brotherhood Team, mystery,
and stardust.
The Economics of Happiness (Issue # 154)
The editor provides a refresher on our theme and suggests some new Zone Zero guidelines to help keep permaculturalists in the game for the long haul.
The Growing Edge, Additional Permaculture Resources, and Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth (Issue # 153)
Finding meaningful, socially and ecologically responsible work cannot be done in a vacuum. Right livelihood depends on networks of relationship.
Intimacy: Past , Present, Future (Issue # 151)
The power of intimacy extends beyond human relationships. The editor almost drowns in a chorus of birdsong, a flood of memories, and an ocean of possibilities.
On the Road with Communities (Issue # 151)
Crazy About Community (Issue # 150)
If the editor is off his rocker, can community furnish the solution?
A New We
Ten European ecovillages show the way to a brighter future.
Community can be balm for the discomforts of aging, just as elders’ wisdom and caring can soothe the growing pains of youth.
Thoughts on Power (Issue # 148)
The editor reflects on thunderstorms, empowerment, and magazine submissions.
Some saw this radical environmental education program as a “cult,” others as an intensely focused experience of challenge and growth. Had participants lost their individuality, or gained a new sense of self?
Family (Issue # 146)
What do Hopi Indians, John Keats, lost loves, intentional community, and family have in common? For better or worse, they’ve combined to befuddle, enlighten, dismay, and inspire our author.
Reviews of two great books on community living, one on life in a convent with surprising insights even for the most secular, and one on the history of utopian experiments in Oregon.
Noise and quiet can both affect well-being profoundly. Gordon Hempton’s One Square Inch of Silence offers ear-opening stories and perspectives, practical suggestions, and simple, radical wisdom.
Community in Hard Times (Issue # 144)
Ecology and Community (Issue # 143)
The author recounts some of the off-beat marching orders he received from an eco-oriented “different drummer”—and how, instead of becoming a hermit, he became a communitarian.
Festivals and Gatherings (Issue # 142)
The Butterfly Effect and the Art (Direction) of Circumstance (Issue # 140)
A Politics in Community Survey
An informal survey raises several compelling questions: Can communitarians
learn to focus on larger-scale politics as much as on internal politics? Should they? What’s proper political etiquette in community? And have you ever met a communitarian who is not left of center?
