earthships are really awesome

there's things like reed bed sewage treatment systems where sewage is filtered through reed beds and cleaned by the micro-organisms living in the reed beds, and probably other similar methods using plants and the organisms living in symbiosis with them. Nature has developed ways to deal with our waste in the past millions of years, I suggest we make use of it...

I think the cheapest way to build houses and other buildings is using sandbags.
Look at this:

It's really steady, solid, isolates well, is fire-proof and can be made with no more than sand/dirt, sandbags,
barbwire & plaster.
This site is all about earthbag building: http://calearth.org/buil.../what-is-superadobe.html


A group of such houses, with each their individual vegetable/animal farms, would form a lovely community.
A street on the North-side of a row of such houses, their food gardens facing South to receive maximal sunlight.

Q: have members of this forum ever engaged in any organised face-to-face meetups (of more than 2 or 3 members)?

I should think at least a semi-regular schedule of such meetups would be a logical first step to transitioning a community from online to meatspace. Keyboard chatter is cheap, after all. Nothing will matter until faceless internet names actually converge and cohere as people.

There was a small (unofficial) meet and greet at Burning Man but aside from that, I don't believe so.

I agree that there should be regular meetups but logistics pose a problem since the core group will consist of members from several countries. An alternative would be video conferencing until we can all get together on the same soil somewhere.

A few of us europeans met at a conference earlier this year, and there was another one last year, but the reason for meeting and the focus were of course not the same as what we are discussing here.

I think it's needless to say that not everyone on here will be friends with everyone else, which is why I've been saying the ones interested should get together and discuss things further after knowing if the personalities at least work together. I'm for it, but how to organize it?

Very interesting concept. I hope it gets off the ground.



Yes, I have traveled fairly extensively in the Amazon and other jungles. I have even been to Iquitos and spent time in the surrounding region, where it seems the land in question is located. People do manage to live in these places and can be very happy there... but I must say that anyone used to western lifestyles will find the tropical rainforest to be a challenge.

Like I said in the post MC linked to... insects. Man oh man. You have never seen such a variety of creeping, crawling, and flying things that are intent on consuming your blood. The concerns on this thread about violent neighbors and corruption are not completely unfounded, but the actual jungle itself will be the thing that sends most people packing. Personally, I am not a big fan of sweating and itching all the time. Getting malaria, giardia, hepatitis, cholera, amoebas or much worse things are also not uncommon in the region.

Water filtration and mosquito nets will be your best friends there. Sleeping in hammocks is also a big help. You don't want to crawl into bed to find a snake warming himself in there. The anacondas in the area stay close to water, but there are poisonous snakes there that can kill a grown man in 4 minutes flat.

On the plus side, though, a lot of the hard work, back breaking labor, blood sweat & tears envisioned will be easy enough to avoid there. You can hire laborers for so cheap that it wouldn't be worth your time to try and do the majority of construction and whatnot yourself.

Wherever you decide to make the community, it would be good for the core group to take a tour of functioning ecovillages and communes to see how people are already doing things. I have been to dozens of well run communities that are self-sustaining and off the grid. Even more that are partially self sufficient. Most of your planning and realizing will actually be quite simple. Just copy the best bits of what people have already proven to work.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

I've even been to Terrence McKenna's entheogenic paradise on the Big Island of Hawaii. I was there back before he died, and one of my close friends was a gardener there. Being able to grow your own medicine and surround yourself with power plants is AMAZING. I really hope you guys hang in there and get this going. I will surely come around to visit.

The hardest part in any such endeavor is maintaining the right interpersonal balance and not driving each other crazy. Group dynamics can be trying at the best of times. Headstrong people who enjoy a good argument CAN make for good compatriots, if they work to keep the respect high and the attempts to control each other negligible. Politics should not be allowed to create factions. Everyone needs to be clear what the vision of the place is. I have seen amazing artists colonies try to transition into kid-friendly family zones and fail miserably. Yoga retreats that attempted to shift into bio-dynamic permaculture farms with moderate success. Hawaiian huis turn into druggie havens... you name it.

People change. Babies get born. Shit happens. Nothing lasts forever...

Anyway, you guys rock.

Bless you all.


[BTW the jungle accounts for only a small portion of Peru's landmass. Most of the country is Andean Highlands, and there's a lot of coastal lowlands on the Pacific side as well.]

Haven't checked this topic in a while. I like the progression.
I totally agree that we need meetings/confernces with some regulairity to lay the foundations of a community.

What about a Skype video-conference once or twice each month?
Then we can decide on things like location, ideals and specifics.

I think this is a great idea! I believe coming up with thousands of dollars should not be an issue at all if we are serious. The property purchase may be the least of financial issues, we have to install plumbing, electricity if we choose, etc. Although, the only thing is, would this be a confidential hideaway or would we establish it as a sort of community for housing and accommodations?

I've been thinking... Couldn't we use this site's chatroom as a monthly conference room of sorts? Perhaps a separate, smaller chatroom could be made, accesible only through a password that is PMed to all those who wish to be involved in this community. Or something along those lines. Whataya people say?

Soon I will post some sketches and explanatory cutaway drawings of architecture, electricity generation/distribution & plumage for optimal self-sustainability and efficiency.
If any of you have Ideas: Draw them & post them here. This will help explain the ideas much better than words.

I was searching the web for private islands for sale.
I found lots of relatively cheap islands, large enough for such a community.
1 island of about 81 acres in a Brazilian river, 7 kilometers from the sea, was for sale for 209 500,- USD.
20 people each contributing 10 475,- USD can buy that island.

There are many such islands, sometimes with more acres and for even less money, all around the world. Is that not ideal for the nexian community?
On an island to be relatively secluded and private, yet not too distant from a city or town with a hospital, supermarket, hardwarestore..etc

*Topic Revived*

According to the poll, 21 people are willing to contribute money. I'm one of them.
If each of us contribute 9976,- USD we can actually buy this Island.

I have no idea about construction costs, but if the sandbag building method is used
there won't be any need for tons of expensive concrete, bricks & cement. Much money
can be saved using the sandbag method without structural integrity suffering from
it.

We, these 21 people, should really get more organised. Found an official organisation of some kind.
With a well documented set of common goals & interrests; Sustainable Energy, Harmony with the Natural Enviroment,
(modernised)Agriculture, Keeping Small Livestock(Chicken, Goats, Sheep), Botany, Herbal Medicine and Arts & Crafts.

Then off course we would have "Not so well Documented" common interrests that involve some of the plants from our
botanical gardens and a hidden basement complex in which strange alchemical magic is performed. But then again
we won't document that and keep it to ourselves.

As long as we, the 21 people from the poll, agree on a clear set of common goals & interrests, we can
found an organisation and buy this island in it's name. As soon as each individual has saved up 9976 USD
we can totally buy that island. If each individual adds another 700 USD to that we can totally build
our houses on that island and start living there.

I really can't wait to get this thing going!

Keep it cheap. Keep it legal.

This sound super killer, but unfortunately with my money status i wont be able to join in.

but how cool it would be, to have a nexus base were everyone goes for cleansing.

Don't fear. My budget is pretty low too, but we have time to save up money and don't forget
we have strength in numbers. I assume you're the 22nd voter of the Poll voting "Yes and I can contribute money"

Well splitting $209 500,- amongst 22 people would mean if each person of these 22 were to contribute $9522,-
these 22 could then buy this Island. Even people with Low Budgets, like us, can get that money by saving
a couple of years. We just need more patience. And off course if we would have/find members with significantly
larger budgets they could contribute more and the plan is accelerated. Also we should be open to donations from
people who support this idea, but don't nececairily want to live there. For this to be possible we should first
found an organisation that respresents our common ideals. Anyone got any skill/experience with that?
I'll just go to different organisations that own a nice piece of land to ask them how it's done, bureaucratically.

Off course the Brazilian 81,5 acre island of $209500,- is only an example. There are many more lots of land for
sale that are smaller and cheaper. I recall someone asking "why so many acres" and here's why: Even if companies
start cutting the surrounding forrests on the riverbanks and build industrial complexes and suburbs there, we will
still allways be blessed by a natural enviroment and the calm & privacy that it provides. If we'd buy a nice lot
of land at the edge of the jungle somewhere in South America, I fear that after a number of years the forrests may
be mostly gone & replaced by "civilisaton". Imagine having our community boxed in by highways, suburbs
& poluting industries. The island would be unlikely to be boxed in like that. Also an 81,5 acre island has
plenty room for growth. We might want to grow when some more likeminded & handy people want to join our
community and/or when we decide to (for instance) build a small hotel as a humble source of income.

We'll probably continue to need money, in the initial phase for things like construction-materials,
installing sewer-systems, Cables, Pipes & (Household & Energy Generating)Machinery. And then in the
settled phase for things like Healthcare costs, Buying new parts & machinery.

But we would be reducing Living costs to the minimum since we'd provide our own food, electricity &
housing. Building with sandbags would drastically reduce construction costs.
If we could get/happen to have a couple of electrotechnically handymen on board then they
could help fix broken Generators, Ovens & Fridges, to prevent having to spend money to buy new ones.

Goods & Services could be exchanged in an old fashioned trading manner. For instance: The Mechanic
agrees to fix the Farmer's broken Fridge in return for 20 Chicken Eggs from the Farmer's Chickens.
General Tasks that just "need be done" and serve the community would be equally split amongst the
populace, in shifts documented on a timetable. These are tasks like tidying & cleaning public
spaces, tending to the food & medicinal plants in our gardens, Serving hotel guests, Cooking
for hotel guests etc...

If we can make money with the hotel/restaurant, even if only a little, we could save it in the
community chest to spend on things like greenhouses & automated climate control systems. This
would mean that machines take over most agricultural work. We'd just need some electro technical
people to check & maintain the system once in a while.

Well enough things to worry about for now. Let's focus on the current phase:
Saving the money, unifying the people & founding the organisation.

I found the following and thought maybe it could help:

http://www.ted.com/talks/marcin_jakubowski.html

http://opensourceecology.org/

I think the goal is outstanding.. but i do feel the important need is the interaction with locals.. to help as you can to share knowlage.. to make them your friends..its not that hard..the other point is this.. you will need to recruite what i call country boy smart people.. hard working technicians..the kind of people you can give a 1/2 jug of fuel a 3 ft piece of rope a spark plug and they can crank a tree stump.. because of the work i do.. thats the kind of people i search for in my field..because we end up in the remote places..as far as getting along with each other.. to me you give your word and keep it or move on..its simple.. but it has to be a true team effort.. i can build ,bring power,and repair, i pay no one to fix anything. but share everything i know.. this is something you must have people who catch on quick to get something like this up and running.. will keep watching to see how this goes... but i think my vote would be yes

The original property you were looking at for 15k is more realistic. With a group of twenty people that's under a thousand a person for the purchase of the land. The question is, is that ad legit? 87 acres is a lot of land for 15 k even if it is in Peru.

If you go asking a group of 20 people to save up ten grand each just for the land and then you are going to need more for additional materials like tools and solar panels it makes it less likely to materialize past the dreaming stage.

Keep it cheap.

I very much understand your worries majesticnature. I'm not sure any property sale is garuanteed to be legit.
Who knows they might be selling land of which 2/3ds is swamp, on which it is hard to build solid buildings.
Perhaps the soil is badly poluted by industries that owned that property before. You never know.
Like any commercial product, land/properties too are probably presented to appear alot better than they really are.

As far as I´m concerned I don´t mind if the community ends up in Brazil, Portugal, Peru or elsewhere.
The only nececities are (sub)Tropical climate, Relatively free & stable in terms of civil liberty & Natural enviroment.
Be it a Brazilian island in a river, a patch of land on the shores of a Portugese mountain lake or a Peruvian
Fish Farm, these 3 needs I mentioned are most important. If I understood correctly Peru, Brazil & Portugal
are the only 3 countries who veered away from the destructive course of the War on Drugs and set sail into
a more liberated, more civilised direction. So the political climate of these countries are most favourable
for a community like ours.

Hawaii indeed is a beautyfull enviroment for this too, but it, being a state of the US, doesn't have the
ideal socio-political climate for our ideals to thrive in. Entheogenic communities in US territory seem
likely to become victims of DEA raids, lawsuits and a quick end to our community lives. I also heard that
living off-grid, self-sustainably is being treated more and more like a serious crime, complete with
SWAT-team raids, Lawsuits and Evictions. Doesn't seem too friendly a nation for our kind of community
so I personally would advise against Hawaii, despite it's beautyfull natural enviroments.

20 ppl each saving 10 grand might indeed still be too arduous a task. But the island I mentioned is 81.5 acres.
Such an island could easily house 30 to 40 people and there would still be plenty of nature around our settlement.
I just calculated it and the islands price, $209500,- split equally amongst 30 ppl would require each of these 30 ppl
to individually contribute only $7000,- .
If 40 ppl were to split costs and join the community it would only require each individual to make a contribution of $5237,-

Then we would need additional money for the construction of our houses.
This could be properly done REALLY cheap, by building with sandbags and sand.
Check this out: http://calearth.org/shop...led-Superadobe-bag-rolls
The maximum size sandbag-roll is 1750 yards & costs $1365,-. I don't know if you could build a
2 to 4 person-residence with shorter, cheaper rolls so I'm just going to assume the maximum size & price.
Going on this assumption, the material needed to build each individual's house would require all 30
ppl to contribute another $1365,-. That would total roughly $8365,- per person.
In the 40 ppl scenario that would total $6605,- per person.
I have a quite low income but I can easily, with a little patience & discipline, save that kind of money in not all too
long a timespan.

There will be more costs for things like watertight coatings for our houses, sanitation, electric generators, cables..etc
but we can save up the money for that over time, while working on the first stages of building. We would continue to live
where we live & keep saving as much money from our incomes as possible while in shifts we visit our property to build buildings and
install equipment(generators, Waterpumps & filtration/cleaning systems, airconditioning/heating, lighting, sockets) and underground
cable-(electricity) & pipe-networks(tapwater & sewage) untill basic nececities are all installed and it's possible to actually
migrate and start living permanently in the community.

I think you could do a lot with the people, without even worrying about electricity or sand-bag housing.

I bet you could construct temporary housing out of much less while working using materials on the site, I've been to some places where the community members built many a bad-ass cave house out of adobe and branches/reeds. And I wouldn't feel the need to worry about electricity for a while, it could come later... you just need a good water source.