The term “eco-village” tends to elicit confused shrugs or conjure up images of communes, cults or strange communities of societal outcasts.

But these villages have a different explanation for what they do. As part of the intentional community movement, they express a commitment to organizing community life to make it more sustainable environmentally, socially and economically. In a time when we are faced with the depletion of natural resources and the repercussions of climate change, this seems a noble goal. But is it working?

I visited several ecovillages in the B.C. to find out. Were they, I wondered, ineffective social experiments or was there something to be learned from them?