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| <back | home Creating the Modern "EcoHood" by Susan DeFreitas EcoHood, n..: permaculture retrofit of a mid- to low-income neighborhood with a high potential for ecological sustainability. What’s wrong with the 1960s’ vision of getting sustainable, growing food, and raising kids with a few (or a few hundred) of your closest friends? Only one thing, says Andrew Millison. “The idea you have to leave society to do it.” With an undergraduate degree in Ecological Design and Sustainability and a Master’s in Horticultural Preservation, Millison has taught Permaculture at Prescott College for the Liberal Arts and the Environment since 2001. As a landscape contractor, homeowner and permaculture activist, Millison is helping to spearhead a community sustainability initiative in the Lincoln-Dameron district of Prescott, AZ (pop. 45,000), increasingly known as ‘the EcoHood’. Prescott’s EcoHood is a mid- to low-income neighborhood situated around the flood-plain of nearby Miller Creek encompassing roughly two blocks, two apartment buildings and 30 houses, most built in the 1930s. Fifty percent Hispanic/Native American, it’s also home to a significant number of retirees and college students, as well as six greywater systems, two rainwater cisterns, five organic gardens, 25 heirloom fruit trees, and (at last count) 57 chickens. An occasional resident, “I’d always thought of this area as a prime location for an eco-village,” says Millison, “but I still had this idea of a community out on the land somewhere.” Managing the organic farm at Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti Urban Laboratory for two years had shown him the challenges inherent in a traditional ‘back to the land’ scenario. But when Millison purchased a home 20 miles outside of Prescott the concept for the EcoHood began to emerge. “I was burning up to a half tank of gas every day, reading David Holmgren’s book about Peak Oil. That’s when it hit me the age of cheap oil was coming to a close.” Then three ecologically-minded friends moved to the Lincoln-Dameron district intending to get more community oriented and sustainable. “The vision I’d had was starting to manifest,” said Millison. “When there was an opportunity to move back to the neighborhood, I jumped at the chance.” The EcoHood now encompasses seven area households. While Millison has contributed key expertise, the process has unfolded organically, with neighbors swapping skills, information, tools, and, at times, even child-care, chickens, and compost. Response from neighbors not directly involved with the project has been, for the most part, either neutral or positive. Millison’s next door neighbor has commented on how friendly everyone is and how great it is that people in the area like to garden and “be outdoors.” On the other hand, an elderly woman, a 35-year resident, has called city officials regarding the legality of her neighbors’ roosters and unsightly piles of wood chips. Even without her support, Prescott’s EcoHood is gaining ground. Last year, the local ECOSA Institute (a training program for sustainable architecture and design) purchased a plot of land in the area to develop as green student housing. In the summer of 2006, ECOSA’s permaculture design certification course, taught by Millison and Brad Lancaster of Tucson, will center around designs for public space in the neighborhood as a whole. An EcoHood presentation last year at a Bioneers Conference satellite attracted the attention of Chris Carlile and Christian Nys, investors in a number of Phoenix-based permaculture developments. A permaculture apartment/condo complex centered around community gardens and supported by greywater, rainwater and solar energy systems is now planned. Millison maintains that, from an ecological point of view, Lincoln-Dameron, traditionally Prescott’s ‘barrio’, truly is the wealthiest neighborhood in town. “These ritzy new houses up on the hills,” says Millison, “are situated high off the water table on solid rock. They’re exposed to wind and wildfire, isolated from town, and they’re huge -- which means they’re costly to heat and cool.” The EcoHood, on the other hand, has water at 12 to 20 feet (with old wells situated throughout the neighborhood), sits on an average eight feet of topsoil and is sheltered from wind by the surrounding topography, as well as large, established cottonwoods. The more modest size of the older homes also makes them accessible to a green retrofit. Millison says, “In a lot of arid mountain towns like Prescott ... the area was settled around some type of fertile pocket. Which means that some of the oldest and most affordable neighborhoods also have the greatest potential for sustainability.” The biggest hurdle is pollution, Millison says. “We’re not out on pristine land. We’re downstream from the K-Mart parking lot and, wherever you dig around here, you find garbage. Bioremediation is a key challenge.” Still, the advantages of the EcoHood model of community sustainability are far-reaching and fundamental. “In a mid- to low-income neighborhood, you make it accessible. By working within the existing human footprint, you preserve wilderness, cut down on fuel consumption, and give yourself access to the waste stream of the city for recycled materials.” Additionally, the EcoHood model doesn’t require a large initial investment from its participants or a shift from mainstream models of family and homeownership. “Really,” says Millison, “the concept is about bringing traditionally rural values like self-reliance, respect for the land, and community into the city.” His advice for the would-be sustainable? “It’s time to start where we are.” More information on Prescott’s EcoHood, Andrew Millison, and other Arizona-based permaculture projects online at www.azpermaculture.org. Information on the ECOSA Institute’s summer Permaculture Certification Course: ‘Permaculture and Water for Drylands’ with guest John Todd is available at www.ecosainstitute.org. <back | top^ |