Diana Leafe Christian
Encyclopedia
Diana Leafe Christian is an author, former editor of Communities magazine, and a national speaker and workshop presenter on starting new ecovillages and community
and sustainability
. She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains
of North Carolina
, USA.
, a quarterly publication of the nonprofit Fellowship for Intentional Community
(FIC), about intentional communities and organized neighborhoods in North America. Her first book on communities (see below) was published in 2003 and her second in 2007. In October 2007, she stepped down from her post at Communities Magazine to found the bimonthly Ecovillages newsletter, a project of Cooperative Resources & Services Project.
Previous writing experinece included writing articles for New Age magazine, Yoga Journal, and East West Journal. She has also hosted radio interview programs in Hawaii and in northern California in the 1970s and 80s.
At Earthaven Ecovillage, Christian works on the sustainable homesite she shares with her mother and other Earthaven residents. She participates in Earthaven's consensus governance process, and serves on its strategic planning and membership committees. Christian also gives day-long tours of Earthaven.
In Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, she covers researching, visiting, evaluating, and joining communities.
presentations on ecovillages in the United States and
Canada, including Ecovillage Training Center
at The Farm
in Tennessee, Los Angeles Eco-Village, Lost Valley
Educational Center in Oregon, O.U.R. Ecovillage
in British Columbia, and Easton Mountain Center in New York. She has led workshops at the North American Cohousing Conference, Twin Oaks
Communities Conference, and FIC's Art of Community gathering. Her articles on ecovillages and intentional communities have appeared in publications ranging from Mother Earth News to Canada's This Magazine. She has been quoted in The New York Times
, Harper's magazine, and AARP Magazine, and interviewed by Vision magazine, New Dimensions Radio, NPR, and the BBC.
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
and sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
. She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, USA.
Biography
In the early 1990s Christian published a newsletter, Growing Community, about starting new communities. In 1993 she became editor of Communities magazineCommunities magazine
Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture is a primary resource for information, issues, and ideas about intentional communities in North America - from urban co-ops to cohousing groups to ecovillages to rural communes.-History:...
, a quarterly publication of the nonprofit Fellowship for Intentional Community
Fellowship for Intentional Community
The Fellowship for Intentional Community nurtures connections and cooperation among communitarians and their friends. It provides publications, referrals, support services, and sharing opportunities for a wide range of intentional communities, cohousing groups, ecovillages, community networks,...
(FIC), about intentional communities and organized neighborhoods in North America. Her first book on communities (see below) was published in 2003 and her second in 2007. In October 2007, she stepped down from her post at Communities Magazine to found the bimonthly Ecovillages newsletter, a project of Cooperative Resources & Services Project.
Previous writing experinece included writing articles for New Age magazine, Yoga Journal, and East West Journal. She has also hosted radio interview programs in Hawaii and in northern California in the 1970s and 80s.
At Earthaven Ecovillage, Christian works on the sustainable homesite she shares with her mother and other Earthaven residents. She participates in Earthaven's consensus governance process, and serves on its strategic planning and membership committees. Christian also gives day-long tours of Earthaven.
Published works
Christian is the author of two books designed to help people who want to join or start their own ecovillages or intentional communities. In Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, she uses success stories, cautionary tales, and step-by-step advice to cover typical time-frames and costs; the role of founders; getting started as a group; vision documents; power, governance, and decision-making; legal structures; finding and financing land; zoning issues; sustainable site plans; selecting new members; and good process and communication skills for dealing well with conflict.In Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, she covers researching, visiting, evaluating, and joining communities.
Public speaking
Christian speaks, leads workshops, and shows slidepresentations on ecovillages in the United States and
Canada, including Ecovillage Training Center
Ecovillage Training Center
The Ecovillage Training Center is a "total immersion school" for sustainability. It is located at The Farm, an intentional community/ecovillage in Summertown, Tennessee, USA. The curricula of the center are "holistic and comprehensivist" and foster hands-on learning.Albert Bates, a long-time...
at The Farm
The Farm
The Farm may refer to:In places:* The Farm , a government residence in Canada and home to the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons* The Farm , a community center in California, U.S....
in Tennessee, Los Angeles Eco-Village, Lost Valley
Lost Valley
Lost Valley is a valley to the north of Gin Cove and west of Patalamon Mesa on James Ross Island. So named following British Antarctic Survey geological work, 1981–83, in association with Hidden Lake....
Educational Center in Oregon, O.U.R. Ecovillage
in British Columbia, and Easton Mountain Center in New York. She has led workshops at the North American Cohousing Conference, Twin Oaks
Twin Oaks
Twin Oaks Community is an ecovillage and intentional community of about one hundred people living on 450 acres in Louisa County, Virginia. It is a member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Founded in 1967, it is one of the longest-enduring and largest secular intentional communities...
Communities Conference, and FIC's Art of Community gathering. Her articles on ecovillages and intentional communities have appeared in publications ranging from Mother Earth News to Canada's This Magazine. She has been quoted in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Harper's magazine, and AARP Magazine, and interviewed by Vision magazine, New Dimensions Radio, NPR, and the BBC.
Books
- 2003, Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, New Society Publishers; New Ed edition , ISBN 0865714711
- 2006, Vivre autrement: écovillages, communautés et cohabitats, Les éditions Écosociété, ISBN 2-923165-24-1, Préface de Jacques Languirand
- 2007, Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community , New Society Publishers, ISBN 0865715785