Munkesøgård contribution to the LØS Essay Prize, spring 1998
1. Presentation
1.1 Munkesøgård, small is beautiful - heading for a sustainable way of living
1.2 Outline of the history
1.3 Status of Project
3. The culturel dimension
3.1 The visions
3.2 The idea
4. The social structure
4.1 Life in the community
4.2 The decision processes
4.3 Who decides?
5. The environmental dimension
5.1 The learning process - give and take
6. Environment and infrastructure
6.1 Environmental building materials
6.2 Energy savings and renewalable energy sources
6.3 Composting toilets
6.4 Consumption and cleaning of water
6.5 Garbages
6.6 Shared cars
6.7 Communicating with the world
In 1995 a few people started to form the ideas of an ecovillage which now have become the project of Munkesøgård. We have the dream of an alternative way of living: Creating a community based on environmentally sustainable solutions and occupied by people from different social backgrounds, education, economies and in all ages.
The effort to make our dreams come true has become a long process during the past years. Still not finished we will try to describe the project, the process until now and our ideas and visions of the life in our ecovillage.
1.1 Munkesøgård, small is beautiful - heading for a sustainable way of living
Close to the city of Roskilde, a mile away from Trekroner Station, on a hilltop and surrounded by fields, the old buildings of farmhouse of Munkesøgård is located. This is the placed where we are planning to build our community.
[Draft of society]
Our vision is to live in a community occupied by as well young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor, people that work with their hands and with their mind...
Each group of houses is placed around its own common house, and with an opening against the common centre with free areas and the farmhouse.
The village is divided into five groups each of 20 terrace houses or apartments, placed around the common farmhouse. The five groups are of different forms of ownership and occupants. One is owner occupied houses, one co-operatively owned. The last three groups are on rental basis; one group for young people under the age of 31, one group for seniors over the age of 50 and the last group on ordinary rental basis. All in all a village with app. 200 grown ups and 90 children of all ages.
Munkesøgård is our offer for the future - where we can take care of the people as well as the resources.
Our intention is to make Munkesøgård become a place with reduced environmental effects. And a place where the ecovillage-people can live in a community with possibility of meeting each other every day.
In March 1995 a few people gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the idea of creating an ecovillage. And a small association called ØKOBO was founded with the purpose of investigating the possibilities and eventually establish an ecovillage.
We are the people, who wants to make garbage useful and who do not want to waste water flushing the toilets - we want to save the environment. That is what we want to do with this housing project - leaving room to think about other things says Jesper Rasmussen
We selected to continue working with a placement at Trekroner Station at Roskilde - after making the ideas concrete and identifying a suitable lot
During the autumn 1996 we started a co-operation with the architects Thure Nielsen and Rubow and later on the engineering companies Cenergia and Wissenberg. At the start of 1997 this resulted in a draft project for the community.
The member of the community selected each their own home at the end of 1996. At the end of this process we had two groups - those who had got a house and those who were on waiting lists - the longest for rental housing, a shorter one for co-owned housing and a need for more people who wanted to own their own environmental house.
In the spring of 1997 ØKOBO was dissolved and a new society was created - Munkesøgård. This society was and is in charge of the overall project - co-ordination the activities of the different work groups and housing groups. The purpose of the society is to realise the purposed housing at the farm Munkesøgård.
In October 1997 we are close to having an agreement on buying the lot and the frame. The municipal bylaws for the areas are ready for approval and we are on the municipal housing budget for 1998. We have started co-operation with Roskilde Boligselskab - a local social housing society - who willing and interested in alternative rental housing.
[trappebillede]
The work done to create our dreams of an environmental community has been a process where many people has participated. Some from the start in 1995, some along the way and some who is still hanging on for the last part of the project.
There is still some hurtles and a lot of work to be done - financing, approvals from the authorities, contracts with the housing society, call of tenders for the building of the houses, and finally building the houses and moving in.
The group of owners are in the process of finding the last owners and put money into the next part of the project and the housing society has agreed to do the same.
[Cut-out from local newspaper]
We expect the detail planning to start in November 1997, with a call for tender during spring 1998. And then building the houses for finishing during 1999 - just in time for Year 2000.
We can see the lights ahead ...
| One Thursday in September Year 2001 in the community Munkesøgård.
The sun high on the clear blue sky. Groups of people from the community on their way to work - by foot, bikes, buses, trains or loaded electrical cars. In the café on Munkesøgård the grocer are chatting with a lady from the senior group, who will take care of his shop while he is out delivering goods. More passes by the café - that is connected with the shop. Some on the way to the common laundry, others heading for the repair shops. Some are at home during the day time due to shift work, part-time work, sabbatical and early retirement. More telecommute some days each week. On the farm there is always activities in the common office room - where there is computers and copy machines for shared use. Several seniors, that need home care beyond the support that they receive from co-habitants has made agreements with a young man from the young housing group about help supported by the municipality. A group of the children from the children house is in the fields with the farmer to harvest onions. Later the children are preparing the harvest feast in the old barn which is now a common hall. A couple of the seniors and some parents on sabbatical are together with the children in the harvest feast group. The farmer is on a course, so a student and early retiree is looking after his animals. The children are passing by often to talk to the animals. The school children comes home in the late afternoon. This afternoon it is one of mothers living in the co-owned housing who takes care of the children, providing some food and drinks in one of the common houses for the 8 to 10 youngest children, whose parents has not arrived at home yet. A group of adults are picking the first apples from the apple trees in the shared garden. Later in the afternoon, the kitchen groups start preparing the food for dinner this evening, while others arrive just before dinner. A few families takes the food home, to eat together with the family, while most people eat in the common houses together with other families - sharing the day's experiences and making arrangements. In the evening a group of people is gathering to do gymnastic together in one of the common houses. In another place some are playing chess and a group of children and adults are play ball games. Today there are no meetings, but in the newspaper corner there are always somebody ready of a discussion about politics. Many use the evening for private visits and shared duties, while others prefer some privacy. One have put up a sign asking not to be disturbed. Several single parents that has some errant in town gets their children watched after by their neighbours. And a couple with three small children gets an evening out on their own, as the children wish to stay over at the neighbours for the night. |
When we have to put words to it, there are two things comes from the heart as the most important: For us it is about community and environment. These are the two thing the we have gathered in the concept: Environment co-operative living - this is where we place our visions and dreams of a better world.
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The spirit of the project Visions of an environmental co-operative living People of all ages and from all social classes Midsummer feast Harvest feast Great flushing day Common workshops |
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The social structure Decision processes for 200 people To take care of each others and oneself Ecological shopping Shared cars Dinning together Children's house in the community Life during daytime Work groups |
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Infrastructure Renewable energy: passive solar heating, saving electricity, bio fuels, sun and wind Water: Composting toilets gathering rainwater and local water treatment Electric cars and placement close to public transportation: buses and trains Shared telephone and Internet solutions |
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The environment idea Environmental building material:wood, paper, clay stones Garbage reduction, composting and sorting Ecological grocer Gardening for food Learning from others |
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We have worked with real world issues - technical solutions, contacts with authorities , housing societies, legalities - to establish this environmental co-operative community. We have not earlier considered the social and cultural aspects, that has been designed into the project. We have take this opportunity to formulate these things now.
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I have an old dream about moving into a co-operative community and the idea about building a composting toilet, but it was the technical solutions that was pushing the most in the start of the project. We are future community neighbours, and we are working on realising a whole community and therefor had to figure out which was the most environmental optimal and reach agreement says Inger Foldager |
In the last couple of years the development has created a number of basic social and environmental problems, which an environment co-operative community can help solve.
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We are living in at society where life have been divided. Our cities are divided into functional subdivision: some for people, some for industry, some for shopping etc. which in turn require an enormous transportation network. The rich in one place and the poor in another place. Our institutions are divided by age, old people in their own places and children in other places - subdivided never meeting. The children are in institutions as much time as their parents are at their important and challenging work. |
Our society is increasingly marked by social isolation, both for many elderly people, but also for younger people with single lifestyle. Still more and more people are living along, and generations has only cursory contract with each others as they living far apart, physically as well as mental. Many people either has the contact to the local community in which they live.
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If you want to remove this social chasm (and we want to!) it is necessary to think untraditionally: How do we create proper living situations for all groups, and how do we make it attractive for both rich and poor? |
Project Økobo is trying to create a living space which is attractive for all. The first step is to create wide range of accommodations so that everybody has the possibility to participate. We are removing some of the barriers that are stagnating our society by mixing the different forms of housing. People, whom only socialise with other people in similar economical situation becomes narrow minded and loss sight of the other peoples needs. This is the challenge to the community of the future: It has to cross economical chasms ...
Steen Solvang Jensen: I believe that many of people, who will be living in Munkesøgård, will appraise the broad frames for the room for the individual while providing a greater community with other people, because we need each other.
We will in our community try to integrate different functions and different age groups to achieve a more unified whole, and interesting frames for the individual and the community to function within.
A strong social network rooted in a inspiring local community is a solid foundation for meeting the challenges, that meets us with the internationalisation and globalisation of our communities.
The Munkesøgård project, as it is now, is a result of our dreams and wishes to create alternatives to the way we structure our society. We are therefor work for and dreaming about...
...to build an environmental community that crosses social, age, political and other barriers
...to try to create diversity in the compositor of the people living the community
...to build a place, where the possibilities of a holistic co-existence between people and nature, and where the people living in the community can live a good life in respect of the world as a whole
...to create a larger community that is based on a environment solid management of our shared resources.
...to solutions can b an inspiration for others with the same dreams and ideas.
The project environmental community has two faces: community and caring for the environment
Community and the social dimension is about diversity. We want to live in a broadly based local community, with young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor, craftsmen and engineers. The community is therefor composed of both rental, co-owned and fully owned houses, house for young people and old people, people with children.
[On an excursion to Roskilde fjord]
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Økobo is not just about been responsible by not using to much energy, but also about neighbour ship, been able to talk together. Two meter high fences is not part of our concept, says Lars Levin-Jensen, treasure and member of the board in Økobo. |
The community is planned into to the structure of the buildings and the surrounding, to facilitate sharing and co-operation. Each have their own house with a kitchen, bath, and toilet and beyond this there are common houses, common laundry workshops gardens etc. in common.
Beyond the duties to participate in the necessary work for the community, participation in other activities are voluntary, as we believe that the people who chose to live here will be interested in the co-operative sprite. We wish to create a community where we will use the functions that are on the shared farm and in the common areas, there by providing people with at interest in and responsibility for the community.
The environmental dimension is about creating reasonable energy and resource flows and healthy surroundings for people and nature. This promoted by designing the building, technical installations and outdoor areas with a consideration for both environmental and social considerations. Also activities such as dinning together, shared shopping and shared cars are designed to promote these consideration.
We are working on establishing jobs within the community, these jobs would though only be created based on the interest of the individuals, and these jobs/companies would independent of the community. Currently these are plans of farming, eco-grocer, offices, day-care and alternative body care.
[Ann Rohde and Ole Winther are looking forward to moving in and start living at Munkesøgård, which can be seen in the background.]
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It is our intention, that there shall be different types of workplaces here. It is important, so that it does not become dead during daytime where people only eat and sleep. The intention is that there is also happening something during the day, says Ole Winther, who has plans about starting as eco-grocer. |
Local workplaces are important as they ensure that there is also something happening here during the and e.g. farmers and vegetable gardens can ensure local self-reliance on vegetable and enable re-circulation of organic garbage locally. In this way the environmental and social goal supplement each others and create a common value set for the community.
The community will be based on self organisation and self management: We will take responsibility of the tasks that belongs to the community and local society.
We will, on our own, take care of the actual tasks. We will start with the near, and this is our way of helping the society and the global community solving the large issues that lay ahead of us.
The community has to contain possibilities to meet. "The meeting" is an important precondition for democracy, as it is here that the opportunities to exchange the delights and irritations with out having to wait for more formalised gatherings.
An important element will be to ensure that things are happening during the day. We want to go away from the development in the society, where we leave our homes and communities 8 o'clock in the morning, putting the children in day-care to return in the afternoon. Our idea about life in a community is about living together working, work free people, and people who are working local.
The housing groups
The housing groups are placed with the entrance toward the shared areas circling the common houses. Participation is voluntary and food and cleanup is taken care of in turns by the housing group inhabitants.
[We are eating together on our summer holidays]
The work groups
There will be the maintenance work there has to be done, and compost toilets that has to be emptied which is in care of the individual, but who are unable to perform it. We have an idea of the great emptying day, where we empty the toilets, followed by showers and saunas and finished of by a party.
The gathering place - the farm
On the farm Munkesøgård, which is situated in the centre of the community, is the natural gathering place for all the housing groups. For practical reasons there has been allocated space for the technical installation such as the heat and power plant, but beyond this there are room for activities that involve the whole community and create communication between people for the different groups.
A meeting and hall for parties is important, for us to have a place where we can arrange meetings and parties for the whole community. There will still be a need for meetings after we have moved in. And then there has to be room for parties: Summer solistic, Harvest feasts and our own birthday.
[The children are playing]
On the farm there is room for a local grocer and shopping cooper, which will also be open for people from the outside. In one of the farm buildings there are plans of placing a day care, which also will be open for children from the outside. We are working on making it a day care centre for children in all ages - from nursery age to school age.
There are many other plans for the common farm buildings, such as laundry, guestrooms, workshops for bikes, metalwork, woodwork, internet and music. We are hoping that there also will be room for exhibition rooms about environmental build and living for visitors.
The farm could become our door toward the outside society, as it provide the possibility for our neighbours to get close with needing to infringe on our privacy.
In the local community
We would like to have people around discovering, that the are other ways of organising that the one that is predominant today. At the same time it is important for us as a community not to isolate ourselves from the surrounding community - we wish to create a continuos exchange of ideas. We do not wish to become loner star on the environmental map of Roskilde - rather living and developing source of inspiration for the whole community.
Green economics
We are considering to create a local fund where people could borrow money from for environmental investments such low energy frights or buying shares in windmills. It should not be a burden to live according to ecological ideals. We would rather help and inspire each others to live environmental responsible.
Caring for each others
Caring for the "weak" groups is not something that is defined separately, but an organic part of regular community, which is at work around the common houses in the individual housing groups, with the dinning together as the key activity.
[Picking plums in the senior group]
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All forms of care start in the individual: Take care of yourself, and each other says Kaj Thingstrup from the senior group. |
We want to organise our own care for ourselves and each other. We can not accept that somebody from the outside, e.g. the municipal home care, is makes our decisions for us. And this is a attitude that we will support each other in.
Apart from the right to decide for ourselves, we wish to use our right to be active - all our live, We do not ask after needs but after interest and abilities, and we can not imaging that we will become so inapt that we can not bring something to the community, in the long term.
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A discussion in the senior group regarding the layout of the bath room became a discussion about care of handicapped: One of the seniors, who has a digressing chronically disease, described the possible digression of abilities, exemplified by the digression on the ability to walk, in 5 phases:
The discussion ended up in a number of requirements for the design of the homes such wheelchair access in the ground floor apartments, stairs to first floor with adequate height and width and with railings on both sides, not doorsteps, skid free floors in the bathrooms, levelled shower cabin floors, maybe with sliding doors. The toilet and bathroom designed for using together with walking aids in the first floor apartments and for wheelchairs in the ground floor apartments. Appropriate heights of the toilet seat as the toilets can not be raised afterwards. The senior group have had discussion about health and prevention. They have agreed on a smoking policy, and there have been discussions about quality and diversity in the meals prepared together. There are discussions about have chickens and grow own vegetables. And the is discussions about care after hospice model with no conclusions so far. The attitude is: Let's see what happens. |
Beyond this there is a great emphasis on the community. We do this out of two experiences from the group work:
With these preconditions contacts have been established to the municipal department of elder care, to develop a model for two way co-operation.
We need professional services for the handicapped, but we also have resources for helping out as a kind of community services to the local society - e.g. shopping, cleaning of the home, removing snow etc. It could be organised on a voluntary basis by using our contacts in the community, and as paid services. This also open up possibilities for creating jobs locally in the community.
The more formal decision structures should be an extension of the social structures. We wish an active democracy. That the people living in the community has the ability to influence what is happening in the community if they are active.
It is important that the democracy is not only in the formal meets (the community meeting), which can be difficult for all to act in, in particular if the issues are person related. It is therefor important that there us informal forums, where people can meet to resolve things.
The vision is to create a framework where there is possibilities for influencing the decisions that is important for oneself. And the right to not care about every detail in the whole community.
There are two formal levels: the community and the housing groups
The different housing groups
In the housing groups all decisions regarding the house group are resolved. It can be the interior design of the common house, house rules for the housing group or resolution of conflicts within the group. It is important to create consensus. The individual housing groups has created organisations that handle legal matters for the individual housing groups, each with their own set of rules. In the youth group there is a rule that if it is not possible to reach agreement the question is delegated to a community, and can only been decided upon on the following meeting with 7/8 majority.
In the owner group there is veto for the individual in major economical questions, and the votes are caste after the size of the house owned in some situations. This has been considerate important, for people to commit this much money in the project.
The rental housing group has adopted the principle - one person one vote.
There will be frequent meetings in the housing groups, typical in connection with the dinner together. The idea is that the most issues are better handled while eating that calling for formal meetings. The atmosphere at the dinning table is more relaxed and friendly, which can motivate to solving the issues.
Room and time for kids
The principal about working for consensus should provide "weak" group some protection, but an active participation is required. Especially in relation to the children it is important that we watch out. There are two elements that has to be meet: The frame shall to be in place and there has to be an active responds on wishes and issues.
The frame is here playing facilities and that there are always adults present in the community. The responds is here about listening to the children but also more formal elements such as a fund that the children has the right to decide over and use if they get a good idea. Children common meets is a way of teaching the children active democracy. The children will also participate in the work groups and making the dinners to the extern they are able and interested.
In a project as this one it is important to refit the decision process structure as the project passes from phase to phase. Such project typical have three phases.
Idea development phase
In the idea development phase it has been the common co-ordination meeting that was the forum in which decisions was made. All where welcome, and all ideas was accepted. Many things where discussed and pursued.
Establishment of the houses
To ensure that the visions are realised we have in the current phase, where the practical negotiations and big economical decisions has to be made, selected another decisions form, The work with the actual negotiation and selection of technical architectural solutions are delegated to workgroups. The board is empowered to make decisions and co-ordinate the activities.
In reality it is realised in the way that e.g. a technical solution is investigated by a workgroup as through as possible. After the investigation the solutions are discussed , focusing on environment impact, economical feasibility, others experience with the solutions etc. The group then makes an recommendation which is reported back to the board whom then takes responsibility.
[A board meeting]
In the actual negotiations the board delegates the responsibility to a negotiation team, which reports back the results of the negotiation, which the board can confirm or reject. The last situation has so far never occurred.
When the community is a reality
The last phase is the living community. Now the common meetings becomes the decision forum for issues of width interest, while the housing group meetings are dealing with specific issues. To ensure that we do not kill ourselves with meetings in the common meeting forum, we have some ideas about creating workgroups that takes care of the practical issues. E.g. a common garden group will have the power to make decisions about the outdoor areas within a budget.
Conflicts
During the process so far there has been a number of conflicts, and we can expect more conflicts ahead. Some have been solved by using a third party as mediator. At other times the conflicts have been more deeply rooted, where we had to chose between different paths. We have lost some good people in the process, because we had to make choices.
We wish that future conflicts in between us to a higher degree can be solved. Shared evaluations and working with giving and receiving personal critic and flatter, maybe with outside help of advisors or internal mediator - a challenge that many of us are interested in taking up.
5. The environmental dimension
The social idea about locality is also present in the environmental part of our universe. We wish to create an alternative to the modern mans separation from water, air, energy and earth.
We wish to...
... use sustainable solution with respect to energy, water, materials, food, garbage and other resources necessary for modern living.
...create a larger community which is based on an environmental responsible management of resources.
...use as a basis of our lives the concept of applied environmentalism that ensures reasonable energy and resources flow.
We will create a understandable and closeness, so that it is easier to live environmental correct. We will emphasis the concept of circularity in the systems that we create and use renewable resources.
5.1 The learning process - give and take
During the process with shaping our environmental community it have been a great source of inspiration to hear how others have create corresponding communities and how it is to build with environmental viable materials and technical solutions.
We have heard about others problems with the authorises, we have seen interesting buildings, and we have share others experiences with establishing communities.
[On a trip to the environmental community in Torup]
We may not have reached agreement faster this way or have had the same views on the things but we have created a share frame of reference, on which we have been able to base our discussions.
6. Environment and infrastructure
The environmental concept is an integral part of the community, as well as in the selection building materials and energy, water and garbage solution. The goal is to establish a local energy and resource flow, which minimise the load on the environment, and at the same time is easy to manage for the people living in the community.
6.1 Environmental building material
In, the selection of building materials there has been a focus on: minimising the energy consumption, ensure a healthy interior living environment, furthermore ensure a good working during the building process and production of the materials.
Houses of wood
The frame will be constructed of wood and the facade will be panelled with wood. The wood will be Danish or Scandinavian wood, to minimised the amount of energy used for transportation.
[We are looking at wood houses in Hjortshøj]
Thuja and beach are types of tree that is self preserving and therefor excellent for exterior use.
Paper insolation
Insulation materials will be an industrial produced paper insulation product, which does not have major work environment problems during the building process. The energy consumption for producing paper insulation is furthermore minimal compared to insulation materials traditionally used in Denmark.
Clay stones
All the walls between the individual apartments/houses will be constructed in clay stones. Clay stones are bricks, which has been produced out of soil from the building lot, compressed using machinery on location, but they have not been fired. The energy consumption is minimal compared to traditional fired stone bricks - which has been fired on consumption of much energy.
6.2 Energy savings and renewable energy sources
Our goal for the energy system is to minimise the need for heat and electricity, and then to cover the remaining energy needs with renewable energy.
Construction of the houses and passive solar heating
The houses are build as two floor row houses to minimise the heat loss, and are furthermore insulated with 30 cm insulation in the outer walls
Heavy construction materials, such as clay stones, that has the ability to store solar energy to be dispersed afterwards to the interior room. This principle for solar heating is optimised by using the houses solar direction, energy glass in the windows and glass enclosures. The purpose is to get the light and heat into the houses and to keep it there for as long as possible by the use of clay stones and energy glass.
Saving electricity
A number of initiatives with respect to electricity savings has been used. In the individual home the most energy efficient solutions will be selected for household appliances (stoves, frights etc). There are considerations about establishing shared freezers in the common houses. Shared laundry makes it possible to use hot water in the laundry machines instead of using electricity heat the water. Cloth drying will be done with minimal use of drying machines which consumer much energy, and rather be based on air drying. For the ventilation in the home we are looking self ventilating systems, instead of using electrical ventilation systems.
Electricity and heat from bio mass
There will be established a central furnace, which uses tree waste, for providing room heating and hot water to the whole community. The heat is distributed through a pipeline that connects to the floor heating systems in the houses. The furnace is also connect a Stirling engine developed by Denmark's Technical University and the company Vølund.
[Per Vølund on DTU looking at a Stirling engine]
Both the furnace and the Stirling engine is fuelled by bio fuel (waste wood) hereby using the energy resources better: The advantage of combining the furnace with the Stirling engine is that we are able to produce both electricity and heat on the basis of waste wood - thus increasing the efficiency.
Solar heating and Wind energy
There will established a shared solar heating systems, which can cover our heating needs during the summer. The furnace can then be shutdown for the summer for maintenance - where the solar heating system provide the most heat.
On longer term there are plans of putting up a windmill, as a separate project, maybe in co-operation with neighbours. When there are both Stirling engine and windmill the electricity production will exceed the community's consumption.
In all the homes and in the common houses there will be established composting toilets with urine separation in the toilet bowel.
The traditional toilets water cleaning problem is turned into an asset, as the compost and the urine can be lead back to the farms as a fertiliser instead of having to pump it to water treatment plant mixed with industrial waste water.
[Kredsløb ved Flemming Abrahamsen]
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In Denmark there are many nice small rooms, where we flush out hugh amought of drinking water, to carry our waste to treatment and cleaning, letting the remainder out into the sea. It is about time that we considere this system and look at the possibilities for turning our waste into gold. With the traditional solution, which is based on water closets, in conjunction with waste water cleaning, are created a number of difficulties:
Composting toilets is a technical solution, that allow the people to become a part of the circulation, and a solution which has the hallmark of:
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The toilet looks like a normal toilet, but is equipt with a small bowl to collect urine, which is then let to shared tank. Faeces falls through a pipe down into a container in the cellar under the house, where it starts to compost. The part that is composted is removed with a sovel and bucket after half to a whole a year depending on the size of te household.
Composting toilet with urine separation.
The amount of waster is reduced significantly as a concequense of the composting and the composted material is like forest soil in smell and texture. The composted material has to compost for yet another year in contact with earth to inhibite any gems, and it can after this be used a fertiliser and soil inprovment in the fields not used for growing produce for consumption.
[Komposttoilet med urinseparation]
To prevent any smells there is established vetilation through the toilet down into the composting contain. This can be done with a windpipe, maybe supplemented with a electric fan.
6.4 Consumption and cleaning of water
We would like to protect our water resources, both under and above ground, by minimising the consumption. Furthermore we would like to aviod heavy duty waste water, and cleanup the waste water that we do produce.
Rain water will be gathered from the roofs and used in the shared laundry. Hereby is saved pure drink quality water, and as the water has a very low contents of clack we are able to save on the amount of detretent used. We have chosen to use detertent with no phosphate in our laundry.
By using water saving devices on the taps and using composting toilet we are able to save water, so our needs for pure water will be les that half of that of a Danish standard household.
The low polluted waste water will be processed locally. This will happen in a system composed of separation tanks and biological sandfilters followed by leakage field toward the local stream. This will place high demands on the individual with respect to what is dumped into the drain, things like organical solvents will destroy the biological cleaning system.
The first step toward minimising the amount of waste, is to minimise the amount of superficial material that entres the household. We have started to look at where the garbages comes from: the community eco-grocer can act pro-active toward packing - and the ways of returning or reusing the packing. By been aware when we shop we are able to avoid some of the waste
The organic garbage can be composted and then recycled in the garden.
From the remaining fraction is extracted all that can be reused, with the rule that we have to have someone whom is interested in recycling the fraction extracted.
An important garbage is the one that contains highly pollutant garbage. It is very important the highly pollutant materials that must not end up in the environment of ordinare waste processing is spearated out. We will activly work at reducing the amount of highly pollutant materials by finding polluting substitutes.
As we have selected the placement of the community at Munkesøgård we focused on the close proximity to trainstation and busses to enable us to live and work without having a car. As we are that many people who wants to work together toward a better environment the idea of shared cars has risen.
We want to have some electrical cars and investigating the posibility of getting hybrid cars and cars that are fueled by bio-fuel.
The system has not yet been planed in details but our idea is the arrangement will contain a number of cars of varied sizes and one minibus. The people that is part of the arrangement then pays a entrance fee at the start of the project, yearly subscribtion and an amount based on the number of hours and kilometers used
With this arrangement we get the possiblity have less cars to the same number of people, as well as been able to cater for different needs: Shopping, a trip to the beach kids or holidays with the family.
6.7 Communicating with the world
Computer and telephone systems are somethings that are under development all time, which is why we have not final plan in this area yet. We do plan to establish a shared telephone system which makes it free phone within th community.
We assume that we will continue to be a part of the environmental network through our homepages on the Internet, and we are considering how we can estabilish a shared computer network.
To make surfing on the net, computer games and other computer activies something that we are sharing, we have plans of a shared computer room on the farm, in this way we enable other than owners of computers to gain access to computers, printers and the Internet.
Jette Hagensen concludes after nearly two years of work with negotiations with the municipality, working in the technic group and in the board for Økobo and Munkesøgård.
It has been an interesting but also trying process to participate in. I - and I think, most of the others - have at times had doubles about the results and schedules. It is hard to be ready to move for several year.
When extrenal events such as public build moratoriums postpone our building start I become irratated at 'the system' and try to think up any political shortcuts. It is harder when the blockage is internal. E.g. when some are hesitant to pay for the costs that is attached to the project. Or when technical concepts are opened up for discussion again and again - such the composting toilets, which I have used much time getting approved. Then I consider whether it would not be easier just to move out into the countryside in a small commune - and build my own toilet. But I would rather this somewhat larger community.
[Vi holder ferie en uge sammen på Roskilde Lille Skole og sidder ude i solen og snakker]
The art of being together with our never creasing ability to question the things that seem ovious to some - is a challage that I try to make a developmental process, evven though I once in awhile become tired.
The kids grow
Another part of this process are the children. It is nice to talk about interior design and the possibilities for having a horse etc. for the children. But it is difficult to discuss timeframes with teenagers, that migth have moved away from home by the time we move in. And it is unsaticifing to postpone the plans for what to do when we move in - again and again.
Negotiating
The cooperation with the advisions and authorites has for me been very educational. Even though there have been some tough negotiations during the process, I have seen, how much it means whether you are able to swing together. Remote negotiations with eg. ministeries are harder than local negotiations, where you meet face to face. And the direct contact to the architect, that isdoing the drawings is worth a lot for all involved. Openness and trust can create a fruitfull process. As an example we have discussed our technical solutions with city and county officials and gotten new ideas to bring home. One thing to keep in mind is at which side of the table the cooperating partner is sitting.
Conflict and doubt
We also learn to care about each other. If there is a dispute, we don't always express what it is all about in that situation. In that case it is important to catch up on it later, so nobody feels injured. It is my conviction, that the greatest risk for the project to fail, is that we have an internal dispute, and thereafter split up.
And we get tired by turns. In some periods some don't any more meetings, discussions, papers and discussions. In that case it is important that others take over with renewed energy. This stresses the importance of having several people on the different assignments.
We often consider if the ecological solutions are good enough. Have we found the best solutions within the economic bounds we have chosen to lay upon ourselves? Could we have constructed the houses so that we could reduce or avoid the heating supply from a wood chip burner? Should all the houses have been oriented towards the south to get more sunlight in stead of the more social orientation around the central yards? What material for the roof or insulation do we end up with? What about the discussion for and agains the vapour stop in the walls? Will there be enough money for tiles in the bathroom and massive wood in the kitchen?
We have made some choices - and we will make many still. A combination of technical and intuitive arguments and some parts of coincidence decides these choices. I only hope they will turn out to be good houses - and that we through the process builds some relations, that will be carried on, so that it will be a nice place to live.