Looking for a “low carbon footprint” kind of place to live? You've found it!

By Christine M (Mountain Meadows resident since 2005)

As usual, Mountain Meadows Community is ahead of the curve. At its inception, our community's planners made environmentally friendly choices. Since then, our residents have continued the tradition in many ways. And now, when an increasing number of people are looking for a “low carbon footprint” lifestyle, Mountain Meadows provides an ideal home for progress – both individually, and together as a community.

As an individual I've always been committed to environmental values. As a resident here and a member of this unusual community, I hope we will continue to gain new neighbors who share these values. So here are a few things to consider, if sustainability is important to you:
 
Our context: The City of Ashland and environs ...
Of course, Mountain Meadows didn't happen accidentally. Nor was it easy for founder Madeline Hill to get it underway. But perhaps it couldn't have come into existence at all, in many other communities. Ashland is a progressive community with a tradition of public green space within the city, protecting riparian areas, and initiating environmental projects. A good place for artists, intellectuals and environmentalists to live, the town of Ashland boasts several scientific institutions including the Klamath Bird Observatory, the Science Museum, and the world's only Wildlife Forensic Laboratory.

Oregon is a state well known for its “green” values, especially in urban centers such as Portland and Eugene. Ashland is a much smaller city than those (residents tend to think of this as a small town) – but did you know that Ashlanders use less energy per capita than any other city in the Northwest? (Ashland Tidings 6/22/09). And our town is currently working to do even better. The City Council, and Mayor John Strossberg, are making a push for sustainability. The city has a solar power project now, in which citizens invest; plans are under consideration to develop more renewable energy projects on city land; and we are ambitious enough to envision an energy-efficient rail system, to serve and connect the various neighborhoods of the city. In the City and in the County too, many sustainability initiatives are now underway.

Local businesses often take the lead as well. Just a few examples: restaurants power themselves with solar panels, recycle waste, and use “green” building materials; entrepreneurs make biofuels, design eco-friendly clothing, and build electric-powered vehicles. Ashland's forward-looking high-speed Internet and citywide wireless networks (broadband was developed as a public utility here, providing the highest level of connectivity at the most reasonable price for consumers) attract clean industry and empowers home businesses.

A local culture of environmental awareness has, over the years, created a context for Mountain Meadows in which locally and sustainably grown foods are on the shelves in local supermarkets, Growers Markets, and on the Mountain Meadows dining room menu. This is a place where you can easily find ethically produced meat products; organic cheeses; local fruits and wines in plenty. Community gardens, hiking and biking trails, parks, and other opportunities to get back in touch with nature are all around us here. Several local groups are currently pursuing sustainability-related grants and projects, on their own and in connection with City projects. These are just a few examples of what's going on locally. If you're committed to living in a low-carbon-footprint culture, Ashland is a great town to be part of and help make it happen.

Mountain Meadows: eco-friendly from the beginning...
Founder Madeline Hill's story has been told elsewhere so I won't repeat it all here, except to say that from the beginning, the idea of Mountain Meadows grew from a holistic vision. By providing a setting for people to “age in place,” Madeline didn't just improve the quality of life for over-55's, she also designed a functioning community that reduces government expenditure in unnecessary bureaucracy and housing, and places this population group actively within the larger community (the vibrant city of Ashland).

And when it came to building Mountain Meadows, as a development on open, hilly pastureland, the architect designed a project that works with the topology of the area. Rather than leveling the hills, they are used to advantage--both aesthetically (for design interest) and practically (providing multiple frontages for improved access). Every mature tree on the property was saved (this is why some of the roads are so curvy), and a wetland was even created (one ecologist commented that he'd never heard of a developer doing this voluntarily). These innovations were all highly unusual in the culture of developers, and reflect the uncompromising ethic of Mountain Meadows and its builder. Our many awards are well deserved! The Design for Aging Review, by the American Institute of Architects, featured Mountain Meadows architecture in its publication, and many of these challenges and solutions were noted as exceptional.
(See Design for Aging)

Intentional Community, Co-Housing, Co-Op, Condo? ...
There is a growing international movement toward co-housing and intentional communities, in which people can design their neighborhoods according to low-carbon principles such as smaller dwellings and shared resources, and use direct democracy to make neighborhood decisions. After a glut of McMansions, people are rightly fed up with big houses and neighbors who are strangers. Here, you can enjoy “downsizing” (although if you still want a big place, those are available too). For instance, I sold a three-story “retirement house” on a lake to move into one of the smallest condos here, and because it's so well designed, I don't feel at all deprived of space. I am very happy to be free of house maintenance – and stairs - yet as a co-owner of the community, I still have a beautiful landscape and all the other common elements (clubhouse, library, wireless, pool, etc.) to use and enjoy on equal footing with everyone else.

At 250 units, Mountain Meadows is too large to function as a co-housing community (the limit for direct democracy is around 75), so we elect boards to represent us, and we pay a management company to carry out our decisions and take care of daily business. Legally, we are a condominium development. However, in practice we do function in many ways like a co-housing community. This is because of the sense of working community at Mountain Meadows.

Throughout Mountain Meadows, interest groups, neighborhood boards, and resident committees co-create our unique culture. We use shared spaces, such as the Clubhouse facilities, rather than the “each one own one” model of the Wasteful Old Days. And our nonprofit, owner-equity status sets us hugely apart from almost all other “retirement” places. Thus we have a low carbon footprint as an organization, because we are not part of any big corporation.

What residents are doing ...
Kitchen Creek Community Garden: Our Community Garden is a good example of a community ethic more typical of a co-housing development than of a condo. About 75 Mountain Meadows residents participate in the community garden, with its raised boxes, composting, vegetable and flower beds, and most recently, fruit trees. Well water (not city water) is used for irrigation. As a co-op, the garden functions by consensus. The National Wildlife Federation has recognized our garden as a Certified Wildlife Habitat, for our environmentally friendly gardening practices, the nesting sites we provide for migratory birds, and the flowers and shrubs we grow that support butterfly populations.

Transportation: Public funding for transportation is an ongoing problem in our County, as it is in so many places, but residents are actively seeking alternatives to dependence on individual cars. Some are working (together with students from the University, who have similar transportation concerns) with the City to improve public transportation to under-served neighborhoods, while others are sharing cars and organizing ride-sharing – both through our management company, and through online social networking.

Low Carbon Diet Program: This new program, designed to reduce use of carbon fuels, facilitates changes in individual households within small neighborhood groups, which in turn are part of larger groups. Residents at Mountain Meadows have begun to participate, organizing themselves into neighborhood groups within our community to reduce their carbon footprint. (For more information, see http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/lcd/index.html )

Recycling: Every residence has access to recycling. Two very dedicated residents have completed certification as Master Recyclers and work to help residents recycle everything possible and coordinate our efforts with those of the City.

Our Dining Room: Thanks to resident initiatives, our dining service buys locally grown foods (thus cutting down on carbon-wasting food transport from other areas) and organic foods (all our salad greens are local organics) whenever possible. And our chef, who is also committed to conservation, composts all the kitchen waste through a City of Ashland program.

Landscaping: Currently our landscaping is fairly water-wise, a combination of xeriscapic plantings with some grassy areas. Drought-tolerant, aromatic herbs sweeten the air as you go about the neighborhood. Many residents are working to reduce water use, both in shared landscaping and (in the case of houses) private yards. As shared areas are improved, we are moving in the direction of more sustainable choices in plant materials (such as native trees and shrubs). The Parkside landscape task force (a resident initiative) is renovating the Parkside neighborhood landscape in accordance with water-wise principles, and this will probably be the trend wherever new landscaping is installed (or old landscaping replaced) because it reflects the values of the majority of residents here.

Energy Use: An energy audit has found our buildings exceptionally free of energy-wasting “leaks.” Many of our buildings have skylights, and we use compact fluorescents throughout the public areas (and make that choice available to residents for their homes whenever lights are changed). Some time ago, residents investigated the feasibility of adding solar panels to our roofs, but at that time, could not see a way to make the idea work for us financially. However, many residents are still committed to renewable energy, and one possibility available to us now, as a community, is to buy shares in the City's solar power project. Residents interested in ideas like these will find kindred spirits here, and support from the community, as we go into the future.

State of the Art Connectivity: As I mentioned earlier, Ashland offers all residents first-rate broadband service. All Mountain Meadows residences are wired for high-speed Internet connection. Thus residents can continue working at home (we're not all retired!), another way to cut down on transportation fuel. In addition, any resident can bring a laptop or netbook to the Clubhouse and use the wireless connection there. Computer users at Mountain Meadows can envision a time in the near future – once local hospitals and medical facilities have the new telemedicine programs up and running – when residents at Mountain Meadows can connect with their doctors online directly from home or the clubhouse (again, saving on transportation costs). Moving to Mountain Meadows doesn't mean “dropping out” of the world – it means living in the world as it changes.

Some residents are computer-savvy, while others are venturing for the first time online. Through our computer users group, we're offering computer coaching workshops and presenting programs on the latest technical innovations, and residents are doing everything from Tweeting with their grandkids to running their own businesses online. We now have a social networking site by-and-for residents (on Ning.com, currently in Beta phase) and some of us are already using this “online clubhouse” for ride-sharing, further education, and other community activities. All these uses of the Internet can reduce a carbon footprint. Bring on the future - we're ready!

If you're thinking of moving to Mountain Meadows, be assured that we're not an “old folks home,” we're an active community. Yes, Mountain Meadows is designed to accommodate the changing life circumstances of those over 55 – and be honest: if you're smart, you realized as you approached 50 that changes were coming for you sooner or later, no matter how fast you ran from them! Now, in Mountain Meadows, there's a place made for you. Fellow Boomers, we might be in denial about aging, but we're dealing with it too! I moved here when I was 58, and felt very lucky to be “old enough” to live in this great place in this wonderful town. 

But whichever generation you belong to, if you “think green” enough to be concerned about a low carbon footprint, be assured that you will have plenty of company here, and that's what community is all about. Together, we can create the changes we envision for the future, just as Madeline created this wonderful place for us to do it in. And by our example, we can show other communities how to do it. I hope to welcome you as a new neighbor soon.