03.02.11 Team Building

I was lucky enough this morning to share a conversation over breakfast with Richard, a resident of over 30 years. He opened up the possibility to me of how perhaps the communities and the individual resident's aims and requirements may change over the years as the generations of the community age, the older residence perhaps requiring more stability than in their youth. Does the older residence hold more power within the community – apparently not. The younger residents create more initiatives whereas the older tend to have already worked on their own in their youth. Standards have improved here from the early days of the community, much like the rest of the world. Would it perhaps be more difficult today to make such a large lifestyle change and commit to the establishment of an eco-community especially with the today's materialistic standard of living?

The part of the course I think I have been dreading the most finally arrived – team building through dance. In the end the first team building exercise beforehand opened the group up more, mainly through the playfulness, laughter and throwing off of any hang ups. By the time the dancing actually came round we were all laughtered out, and it turned into a slightly more somber affair, even if we were out of breath. It was interesting to see how this community and others like it still use dance as a way of community bonding, much the same way as a traditional ceilidh still does in many parts of Scotland, a reminder than you must bring the community together and create an enjoyable place to live in rather than just building green buildings – this is the real glue.

I'm still slightly confused about the ownership of the Foundation and the Community – although this confusion seems to be accepted as something that is ever changing and developing. Tight environmental building regulations are enforced by the Findhorn council – even more stringent than building control. Might be interesting to actually read these and compare. There is an application process for joining the community or purchasing a property which allows a kind of self-filtering, with some prospective residences put off by the demands of the community – although they have never turned anyone away. I wonder if this is the same model that is used for business practices within the community. The rules on immigration within the UK are tightening, and a number of residents here are from other countries, some outside of Europe – how will this affect the community? There is also another impact on the horizon – the neighboring Kinloss airbase is to close, a huge provider of employment to the local area. Is the working community forming some kind of economic plan to be able to welcome larger numbers or help to ensure that the local economy stays strong throughout this time? It also raises another question that was brought up at the slide show today – the density of the eco-village is quite low, although not low for the local surroundings – how could this model of housing be brought into a site or location where a higher density is required?