On Thursday we headed off to our final stop: the Cobb Hill Co-Housing Community and the Sustainability Institute.

Cobb Hill Co-Housing Community:
Contrary to what some neighbors think, the Cobb Hill Co-Housing Community is not a cult and is not a commune. It is, as their website describes, “an intentional community of people who want to explore the challenge of living in ways that are materially sufficient, socially and ecologically responsible, and satisfying to the soul”. In action, this vision takes place on 260 beautiful acres in Hartland, Vermont where twenty-two families live.

We began our time at the community with a brief tour of their barn in which we saw chickens, chicks, dairy cows, a calf and draft horses. These animals all help the farm in their own way- the dairy cows provide milk for the cheese business and the draft horses help with cultivation on the three acres of vegetables.

The farm at the co-housing community, while on the land, is not directly affiliated with the community. The farm has a CSA, but they have shares outside the community, and members of the community are not required to help in the farm- although some choose to. Having a farm, however, was always a goal of the community as it helps enact the sustainable life style that the community members wish to achieve.

Upon reflection, I think a co-housing community is an excellent way to center a group of people with a cause. The work and thought that I saw go into this community was very impressive and I left wanting to share this life style with others. Steven, one of the farmers at the community, did not share the optimism of co-housing spreading. To him, living in a co-housing community requires a mind that thinks differently than the general public and also requires a person who is willing to sacrifice individuality for the good of the community- to live in the co-housing community you must be willing to help cut and stack wood for the communities wood stove, attend meetings and use a composting toilet.

Sustainability Institute:
After our time on the land, we settled down in the shade to listen to Phil Rice talk about his work at the closely affiliated Sustainability Institute [SI]. The goal of SI is to spread sustainable methods around the world. Those who work for SI believe that the current problems with today’s world are a result of a bad system; they work on correcting these flaws by examining the system and working together to create resources for those who are interested in change.

The sustainability institute works both locally and globally. On a local level, SI works to educate about global warming in a manner that is accessible to everyone by cutting out scientific language. SI also works to make system dynamics models to access the benefits and flaws of a system and has a number of fellowships.

Globally, SI works with its “Global Food Lab”, and while this name implies something chemistry based, in a lab, those who work for the global food lab work outside, in the field. The Food Lab works on what it calls the “U” process. The “U” process has three steps, the first is co-sense where individuals collect information what is present, the second step is reflection, where individuals reflect on the information, the third step is where individuals take their information, their reflection and bring it into a new context to answer the question: Where can we take this?

Those involved in the Global Food Lab went through the “U” Process to develop a focus for the lab and came up with six ways to tackle issues with today’s food system.

Commodities: The food lab is working with bankers and financers to come up with rules and encourage good behavior- behavior that encourages producers of food to diversify what they are growing and to grow sustainably.
Food Services: The Institute found that people eat out of their homes in increasing amounts. This section of the Food Lab looks at institutional food.
Latin America: This section connects Latin American farmers with markets.
Framing: This section focuses on how to talk to people about the food system in a way that keeps people interested.
Business Coalition: The food lab is working on how do businesses and farmers work together to create a market for sustainable foods.
Fish: The food lab recognized that overproduction of fish has not worked and has been working to farm fish sustainably.

I thought that the SI’s approach to looking at changing our food system was really unique and worthwhile. The SI brought together a diverse group of people, not only ethnically but also in viewpoint and in power. I think that in order for progress to be made people need to be working on all fronts- the Food Project does this with youth and the SI was doing it with business leaders.