COMMUNITIES and CLIMATE CHANGE

80 Pages·2017·8.39 MB·English

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Life in Cooperative Culture
Spring 2017 • Issue #174
COMMUNITIES
and
CLIMATE CHANGE
Paying for Our Carbon Meal
Climate Crisis, Dystopia, and Community
Lessons from Dancing Rabbit, ZEGG,
Living Energy Farm, Heart-Culture,
Ridgewood Ranch, and more
Soil, Permaculture, Biochar,
and Energy Democracy
New Culture is Everywhere!
You’ve probably heard of Network For a New Culture’s (NFNC’s)
Summer Camps (www.nfnc.org/sc)... but we’re so much more!
Fall camps  Winter camp  Spring camp  Intentional Communities  Intentional Village
Upcoming Camps:
NCNW Cascadia: July 1-8, So. WA
CFNC East Coast: July 7-16, W. VA
NFNC West: July 28-Aug 13, So. OR
Allegheny Crest
Intentional Villag e Mount Storm
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Visit www.new-culture.org for a list of all NFNC related organizations and events.
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Spring 2017 Communities 1
Issue #174 • Spring 2017
s
12 16
e
i COMMUNITIES AND
t CLIMATE CHANGE
10
i The Question I Get Asked the Most
Bill McKibben
“What can I do?” It’s the right question—almost.
n
12
Living Energy Farm: An Answer for Climate Change
Alexis Zeigler
A fossil-fuel-free community empowers its members to dramatically reduce their
dependence on the corporate economy.
u 16
Limiting the Damage of Climate Change:
Lessons from Dancing Rabbit
Ma’ikwe Ludwig
Committed communitarians cut their carbon emissions to around 10 percent of
the American average.
m
22
Soil, Communities, and Climate Change:
An Interview with Nikki Silvestri
Chris Roth
As a climate solutions advocate explains, carbon is not a bad thing;
it’s just in the wrong places right now.
m 25 Addressing Climate Change:
Two Generations at Heart-Culture Farm Community
Kara Huntermoon
For the next generation, planting trees, growing food, and living in community
are only the start.
28
Permaculture, Community, and Climate Change
o
Tom Henfrey
Community-led action, with permaculture as a key tool, is the basis for many of
the most innovative and effective responses to climate change.
30
Ridgewood Ranch: A Mecca For Adaptive Community
Steve Hellman and Daniel Spiro
C
Numerous projects on a community’s 5,000 acres contribute to
climate-adaptive land stewardship.
34
Variations on a Theme: Low-Carbon Communities of All Sorts
Ma’ikwe Ludwig
Three innovative non-residential groups use community as a tool to
address climate change.
2 Communities Number 174
30 44 58
36
Hurricane Lunch:
Global Warming Affects Island Nations
Philip Mirkin 4 Letters
A community in Fiji responds to a category one hurricane—
a taste of events yet to come. 6 Publisher’s Note
No Hope?
38
Local Solutions to Global Warming: Sky Blue
Paying for Our Carbon Meal The situation may appear
Daniel Greenberg hopeless, but what we do
together can transform the world.
Compared to carbon offsetting, carbon onsetting may be a more effective strategy
to build sustainability. 8 Notes from the Editor
41 Climate Crisis, Dystopia,
Intentional Electricity:
and Community
The Challenges and Rewards of Community Power
Chris Roth
Woody Hastings
From the personal to the global,
In Community Choice Energy agencies, we are witnessing the emergence
with hard times undeniable,
of Energy Democracy.
community may be our life-support.
44 The Carrot in Front of Our Nose: Lessons from ZEGG 64 Reach
Tobias Bayr
76 Review
Life in an ecovillage demonstrates that less can be more.
Permaculture and Climate
46 Change Adaptation
Communities and Zero Population Growth
Amelia L. Williams
Arty Kopecky
A new book offers grassroots
Cooperative culture helps us evolve beyond the nuclear family toward
strategies for responding to
conscious kinship and reconnection with the land.
climate change.
48
Preparing for the Human Challenges of Climate Change
Sara Donna ON THE COVER
Deteriorating social and environmental conditions require both spiritual
preparation and practical steps.
51
Twenty Principles of Ecoresilience:
Personal and Cultural Adaptation to a Changed Planet
Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist
How do we strengthen communities as climate change intensifies?
54
Affordable, Developer-Driven Ecovillages:
Meeting an Unmet Need
Mac Maguire
A replicable ecovillage model is our best hope for achieving essential,
global-scale changes. Students in the fall 2016 Holistic Sustainability
Semester at Lost Valley Education and Event
• Neighborly Questions and Critiques
Center (Dexter, Oregon) learn how to craft a
biochar stove—a practical, fuel-efficient, multi-
58
Wurruk’an: An Experimental Intentional Community purpose tool to combat climate change, capable
Bill Metcalf of cooking or heating water while producing
a carbon-sequestering soil amendment that
A book on “life beyond industrial civilisation” inspires the creation replenishes and retains soil nutrients and
of an ecovillage. enhances plant health. Photo by Jesse Hickman.
Spring 2017 Communities 3
C Letters
ommunities
Life in Cooperative Culture
EDITOR
Chris Roth (Lost Valley/Meadowsong)
ART DIRECTOR
Yulia Zarubina-Brill
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WEB SUPPORT
Pavan Rikhi (Acorn)
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EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD Dear Readers: We recently discovered to our distress that due to a website malfunction,
Marty Klaif (Shannon Farm) all messages sent through our “Contact Communities Magazine” online form had been
Parke Burgess entering a virtual black hole rather than reaching any of us, for a period of at least two
Valerie Renwick (Twin Oaks) years. (!) (Or perhaps %@#&*%! says it better.) We have attempted to contact all those who tried
to contact us. Among the messages we missed the first time around are the following two letters,
which we share with you now:
Communities (ISSN 0199-9346) is published quarterly
by the Fellowship for Intentional Community at 23 Danc-
ing Rabbit Ln. Rutledge MO 63563. Postmaster: Send Technology and Disability
address changes to Communities, 138 Twin Oak Rd, Louisa
VA 23093. Index in the Alternative Press Index. I really really enjoyed the Winter 2014 issue about technology in community [#165]. It came at
a time when I was going through a lot of upheaval in life, and reevaluating the level of simplicity
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25 US, $35 outside US for four issues and sanctuary that I have in my small city life, as well as the lives of those I am in community with.
via periodical/surface mail. Single copies are $7 US,
However, I didn’t notice anything in that issue at all about technology in regards to living with
$9 outside US. All payments in US dollars. Available
from Communities, 138 Twin Oaks Rd, Louisa VA 23093; disabilities. One of the biggest concerns I have heard about advocating for low-tech lifestyle choices
[email protected]; 800-462-8240; ic.org/subscribe. is that it really excludes people for whom their autonomy, happiness, and basic mobility and sur-
vival rely upon things like motorized chairs or medical speaking devices. This has been a huge
BACK ISSUES: 23 Dancing Rabbit Ln. Rutledge MO
complaint about phrases like, “The revolution will not be motorized!” After all, any revolution most
63563; [email protected]; 800-462-8240; ic.org/back-issues
of us want to be a part of must include people of varying ability levels, right? I have to admit, I’ve
EDITORIAL OFFICE: Chris Roth, Editor, Communities, been skeptical of this criticism, even though I want so bad for us humans to have room in our com-
81868 Lost Valley Ln, Dexter OR 97431; 541-937-5221; munities for people of all kinds, including those living with disabilities. I’m skeptical because I also
[email protected]. really want us humans to live in right relationship with the earth. I simply don’t believe that we have
to pick one, and I don’t believe we need to harm the earth in order to have inclusive communities.
© 2017 by Fellowship for Intentional Community. All
rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Opinions expressed How can we do both? There must be a way! Perhaps some folks are already learning this together.
by authors and correspondents are their own and do not Perhaps it’s time for a Communities magazine theme about community and ability variance. And
necessarily reflect those of the publisher. let us remember, as some folks at Free Cascadia Witch Camp say, “Able bodies and minds are often
temporary experiences.”
FELLOWSHIP FOR INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY: 23
I also want to say that my favorite article was “Back to Life” by Ethan Hughes. It felt so good
Dancing Rabbit Ln. Rutledge MO 63563; [email protected];
800-462-8240; ic.org. to read that. Like someone spoke my heart to me. The part that felt most difficult to read was the
challenge to do any change-making work in the world without relying on technology that carries
REPRINT PERMISSION: Community groups may destructive effects to the earth. It left me thinking, is that even possible for certain things? How can
reprint with permission. Please contact Communities,
I visit prisoners without cars when prisons are often in the middle of nowhere on roads unsafe for
81868 Lost Valley Ln, Dexter OR 97431; 541-937-5221;
[email protected]. bikes? And if a prison is closer to a city, is it safe for a small woman like me to be alone on a bike
in a place like Attica, where I know (and it brings sadness to my heart) what the guards there are
ADVERTISING: Christopher Kindig, Communiities capable of? Must we make compromises? Must we choose between compassion for fellow humans,
Advertising Manager, Baltimore MD;
and compassion for the earth? Again, I don’t believe we have to choose. But until I figure out how to
443-422-3741; [email protected].
do both at the same time, I’ll be trying my very best to be true to myself in every moment, listening
WEBSITE: ic.org/communities-magazine. to my heart and accepting my imperfection.
Yours with wonder,
This magazine printed by Johnson Press of America, Mars Goetia
Pontiac, Illinois, USA.
Santa Cruz, California
4 Communities Number 174
Is “community” a movement or an organizing
Wholeo Dome
principle? Friday, my wife and I attended a high
My name is Laura, I live on The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee—which since 2004 has been school choral concert in a poor, small Connecti-
home to the Wholeo Dome. The Wholeo Dome is an incredible work of stained glass art; a dome cut town (our nephew’s girlfriend was in it).
that is 7 feet tall and 14 feet across, and holds over 120 stained glass panels all created by an amazing The concert was an expression of the town and
woman named Caroling Geary. an experience of shared community with those
So I was shocked to see a photo of the Wholeo Dome in the latest issue of your magazine [#168]. in the audience. Saturday night, we drove into
It’s on the very last page heading an article called “Establishing a Community: Perspectives from the Manhattan for the annual Paul Winter Solstice
FEC.” It was at first a pleasant shock...and then a disappointed one. There is absolutely no informa- Concert at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
tion about the photo whatsoever...nothing referring to the artist, or even to the person who took The thousand or so folks may have shared the
the photograph. event their $50 or $100 tickets bought them,
You see, the Wholeo Dome has recently had to be taken apart due to damage and need for relo- but aside from whatever friend and family con-
cation on The Farm...we have a committee of passionate members who have been working VERY nections, we were not a community.
hard to promote this magnificent piece of artwork so that we may put it back together and con- What would Communities be like, and
tinue to share it with the world. [Supporters have created a Facebook page for this effort at www. could it be more sustainable, if it explored
facebook.com/save.the.wholeo.] It is something that should definitely be shared and displayed in and dramatized what the experience of com-
magazines and publications like yours, but with no credit to Caroling and her hard work, it is a bit munity has to offer the US and global society?
disheartening. What are the core principles which collec-
The Wholeo Dome is very near and dear to my heart—it is the entire reason I am living on The tively make up what distinguishes that experi-
Farm, and in an intentional community at all. I just had to write and stand up for it! Thank you ence? Without losing the potent example of
for hearing me. intentional communities as perhaps the most
complete expression of community, is there a
Laura Look
bridge to other movements/events which are
Summertown, Tennessee
mutually intriguing and challenging?
A few days ago, my wife received a note from
Editor’s Note: We apologize for omitting that information. We received the photo as an illustration for
Senator Chris Murphy, accounting for the re-
the article without any accompanying description, and so printed it that way. Thank you for letting us
cent passage of a landmark mental health bill.
know more about it; we’re happy to pass this information along to our readers.
The story of building a passionate consensus,
in my mind at least, rose to the level of com-
munion. It coalesced a part of the population
Thanks to Communities’ Indexer
that included the President, Senators and Rep-
I would like to call attention to the work of Lyman Tower Sargent for indexing all of the articles resentatives across party lines, healthcare leaders
of Communities magazine and one of its predecessor journals. This is a great service for activists, like my wife, and above all, tens of thousands
academicians, students, and reporters researching community. Go here: www.ic.org/communities- of parents and children who share a common
index. While Sargent has only one article in the index, his many other writings on utopianism are bond of distress.
here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyman_Tower_Sargent. Chris’ essay, as well as the occasion of a small
There are about 3,150 article titles in the index, listed by author. Currently a user has to copy- town chorale are the kind of pieces that I think
and-paste the 200+ page index into a document then search key words or topics. Hopefully it will we need if the communities movement is to of-
be continually updated, made easier to download, and someday be searchable by subject! fer an alternative to the divisiveness the next few
By facilitating the analyses of the communities movement the Communities index enhances our years are likely to present.
voices on any aspect of intentional community over time, making more evident the joy, love, and Cheers,
wisdom of those who participate in the art of cultural self-determination.
Paul Freundlich
Allen Butcher Higganum, Connecticut
Denver, Colorado
Editor’s Note: “Community Where You Are”
The Mission of Communities
(meaning not necessarily in intentional communi-
I appreciate your work as Editor, and the call for support. You’ve got me thinking about the mis- ty) has been part of the magazine’s explicit focus for
sion. Forty years ago, when I became a part of the Communities publishing collective, as an editor, more than a decade, but it’s true that the amount
we moved the magazine from an almost exclusive focus on land-based intentional communities as a of that to be found in our pages varies from issue to
movement, to a wider perspective about a movement towards community, cooperation, and social issue. We welcome more of this broader meaning of
justice. The return to the niche of intentional, land-based communities over the past few decades has community in the magazine, and thank Paul for
produced some excellent insights, but maybe tends to limit identification, participation, and sales. drawing attention to this.
We welcome reader feedback on the articles in each issue,
as well as letters of more general interest.
Please send your comments to [email protected] or Communities, 81868 Lost Valley Ln, Dexter OR 97431.
Your letters may be edited or shortened. Thank you!
Spring 2017 Communities 5
Publisher’s Note by sky blue
Communities Editorial Policy
Communities is a forum for exploring intentional
communities, cooperative living, and ways our readers No HOPE?
can bring a sense of community into their daily lives.
Contributors include people who live or have lived
in community, and anyone with insights relevant to
cooperative living or shared projects.
Through fact, fiction, and opinion, we offer fresh ideas
about how to live and work cooperatively, how to solve
problems peacefully, and how individual lives can be
enhanced by living purposefully with others. We seek con-
tributions that profile community living and why people
choose it, descriptions of what’s difficult and what works
well, news about existing and forming communities, or
articles that illuminate community experiences—past and
present—offering insights into mainstream cultural issues.
We also seek articles about cooperative ventures of all
sorts—in workplaces, in neighborhoods, among people
sharing common interests—and about “creating commu-
nity where you are.”
We do not intend to promote one kind of group over
another, and take no official position on a community’s
economic structure, political agenda, spiritual beliefs,
environmental issues, or decision-making style. As long
as submitted articles are related thematically to com-
munity living and/or cooperation, we will consider them
for publication. However, we do not publish articles that
1) advocate violent practices, or 2) advocate that a com-
munity interfere with its members’ right to leave.
Our aim is to be as balanced in our reporting as
Intentional communities have no hope of meaningfully addressing climate change. Yeah, you
possible, and whenever we print an article critical of a
particular community, we invite that community to heard me right. Why would I say that? Am I just trying to be provocative? Maybe. But as much
respond with its own perspective. as I’m an idealist, I’m a pragmatist, and when it comes to the future of the world and humanity,
I’m not willing to leave it to hope.
Submissions Policy
Intentional communities are clearly more ecologically friendly than most other social arrange-
To submit an article, please first request Writers’ Guide-
lines: Communities, 23 Dancing Rabbit Ln, Rutledge MO ments. Even the communities out there doing very limited resource-sharing are still consuming and
63563-9720; 800-462-8240; [email protected]. To obtain wasting less than the American average (though, admittedly, that might not be saying much). As a
Photo Guidelines, email: [email protected]. Both are also
model, intentional communities could, in theory, meaningfully address climate change.
available online at ic.org/communities-magazine.
True, they currently represent a very small percentage of the population. In the US, from what
Advertising Policy I know, I estimate that there are approximately 100,000 people living in some form of intentional
We accept paid advertising in Communities because community, which represents about 0.03 percent of the population. However, the number of in-
our mission is to provide our readers with helpful
tentional communities and the people living in them could dramatically increase, and the lessons
and inspiring information—and because advertising
revenues help pay the bills. they’re learning could be systematically applied to the broader society. Can this happen?
We handpick our advertisers, selecting only those A favorite quote amongst social activists comes from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small
whose products and services we believe will be help- group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever
ful to our readers. That said, we are not in a position to
has.” But here’s the rub: a small group of citizens doesn’t change the world. Lots of small groups of
verify the accuracy or fairness of statements made in
advertisements—unless they are FIC ads—nor in REACH citizens change the world. Sure, maybe it starts with one group, but it doesn’t end there.
listings, and publication of ads should not be consid- Major change in the modern world is brought about by social movements, and while we like to
ered an FIC endorsement. talk about the “communities movement,” this movement doesn’t currently have widespread recog-
If you experience a problem with an advertisement or
nition as such, even by those within it. I would guess that relatively few people in intentional com-
listing, we invite you to call this to our attention and we’ll
look into it. Our first priority in such instances is to make a munities right now think of themselves as being part of a movement or feel a sense of day-to-day
good-faith attempt to resolve any differences by working connection between the communities in which they live and the rest of the communities, not only
directly with the advertiser/lister and complainant. If, as around the country, but around the world.
someone raising a concern, you are not willing to attempt
While many communities are actively engaged in outreach and education, putting themselves
this, we cannot promise that any action will be taken.
Please check ic.org/communities-magazine or out to the public in hopes of reaching significant numbers of people, for many others that is a low
email [email protected] for advertising information. priority, and even those groups which are doing this work often feel less than fully successful at it.
The organizations that are working to expand this movement (including the FIC, publisher of this
What is an “Intentional Community”?
An “intentional community” is a group of people who magazine) are small and underfunded. A movement implies direction, not exactly focus, but for-
have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a com- ward motion towards something that large numbers of people identify with, are inspired by, and feel
mon ideal or vision. Most, though not all, share land or a drive to perpetuate and expand. This is not entirely absent right now, but it’s not pervasive either.
housing. Intentional communities come in all shapes
It is a movement in the sense that there is this decentralized network of individuals, communities,
and sizes, and display amazing diversity in their com-
mon values, which may be social, economic, spiritual, and organizations all working to develop projects and models that are linked together by relation-
political, and/or ecolog ical. Some are rural; some urban. ships and definitions. Certain definable characteristics, aspirations, and values are shared; inherent
Some live all in a s ingle residence; some in separate to the work being done is a desire to change society. I think the communities movement is one of
households. Some raise children; some don’t. Some
the most important out there. I wouldn’t be working for the FIC otherwise.
are secular, some are spiritually based; others are both.
For all their variety, though, the communities featured I want the communities movement to transform the world, and I think it can. But I don’t think
in our magazine hold a common commitment to l iving transformation is possible unless you’re honest and accepting of what is. If it’s not clear that our
cooperatively, to solving problems nonv iolently, and to trajectory is towards success, it’s not realistic to sit back and hope that what we’re doing now will
sharing their experiences with others.
get us where we want to go. Dynamics and patterns have a tendency to persist and self-perpetuate.
If we don’t continually assess and re-evaluate our efforts, look for unrecognized motivations and
6 Communities Number 174
influences, acknowledge the impacts of our ac-
tions, and seek to understand what’s missing
Cohousing California
and what’s in the way of creating what we want,
we’ll just keep recreating more of the same. We
honors the work of
have to keep trying new things, experimenting,
analyzing, critiquing, starting over, retooling, Communities
both within ourselves, and in the work we do
in the world. and the
Climate change is terrifying. Seriously. If
Fellowship for
you don’t occasionally stop short in terror at
Support
the kind of world we may be creating, one that Intentional Community
many of us alive today will have to live through,
you’re not paying attention. The factors at play in growing a sustainable,
the FIC
are so monumental, the problems so complex,
peaceful, and
and the power to effect change on those levels
so beyond the reach of any one of us, that to try
democratic world.
to face it is overwhelming. And part of what’s Become a member today!
so terrifying is that there’s no escape. If your
house is on fire, you can run outside. Outside When you join the Fellowship for Happy 30th
of planet earth isn’t an option. Given what we’re Intentional Community, your
faced with, I don’t have much hope. But does contribution supports projects like Anniversary, FIC!
the Communities Directory,
that mean I’m giving up? Of course not.
Years ago, I watched a video of a moderated Communities magazine, —Raines Cohen & Betsy Morris
and the Intentional Communities
conversation between author and activist Alice
Website (www.ic.org)
Walker, and Buddhist nun Pema Chodron. Al-
ice talked about the hope of activism, and Pema Join online at
responded with the classic Buddhist perspective www.ic.org/Membership
on hope, which is that it’s just another form
of attachment. But without hope, Alice asked,
how can you work for change? You don’t do
what you do because you hope it will change
things, responded Pema, you do it because you
Become an
believe that’s the right thing to do.
Doing the right thing isn’t easy. Denial won’t sky Geds Ecological
help. Blind hope won’t help. We have to face
Gaia Education
the reality. But falling into despair won’t help. Design
for Sustainability Designer
Martyring ourselves won’t help. Programme E-Learning
I’d like to rephrase the statement I started this
essay with: supporting thriving
Intentional communities, acting alone, have
no hope of meaningfully addressing climate community life
change. And even when we act together, the
word “hope” may not accurately reflect what
we find. But we do find something—some-
thing that we lack when we think of ourselves 8 Weeks Online Course
as alone—when we explore what it means to Programme Starting
be a movement, and act to nurture that move-
2 January 2017!
ment. We may be able to leverage our impact
in a way that transforms a “hopeless” situation
into something better. I have faith that what we Our online course covering carbon
can do together can transform the world, and
neutral energy systems, agro-ecology,
I’m committed to putting effort towards that.
Acceptance will help. Love and compassion water technology & green building
will help. Solidarity will help. Caring for our- will empower you with the skills
selves and others will help. Faith that all people
to create self-regenerating
can be healthy and happy, and that all life on
sustainable settlements.
the planet can be protected and nurtured, and
effort to make that faith a reality, will help. n
Learn more:
www.gaiaeducation.org gaiaeducation.org/ecological
Sky Blue ([email protected]) is Executive Director of
the Fellowship for Intentional Community.
Spring 2017 Communities 7
Notes from the Editor by chris roth
Climate Crisis, Dystopia,
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Katie McCamant
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C
First, we want to thank all those who responded to our appeals for support for the magazine
around the turn of the year. By December 2016, FIC’s discouraging financial picture and
the magazine’s own negative balance sheet had led to Board discussions about emergency
measures, including suspending or ceasing magazine publication. Following our emailed call to
readers and contributors, the FIC’s online store experienced its highest-ever single-month revenue
(much of it consisting of magazine subscriptions, back issue orders, and donations, supplemented
by FIC memberships and other orders). The magazine pushed from the red into the black for
the year, as did FIC, and we won a reprieve for the print journal. We have also taken cost-cutting
measures, including trimming wholesale accounts (while we like making the magazine available on
newsstands, this venue has sometimes been a large financial drain) and a switch of printers (again),
and are exploring possible organizational collaborations that could aid the magazine’s resilience. We
appreciate all those Communities readers who rose to the occasion, and who continue to do so,
in order to assure the continued existence of this venerable journal of the communities movement.
• • •
Saving a magazine is one thing—saving a livable planet is another. In this issue, we explore how
people, banding together, may be able to prevent or counteract those elements and effects of
climate change that we have some influence over, as well as to respond to those that we don’t. If
crisis brings people together, if adversity builds community, then we as a species have been given
an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate the power of community to help make daunting
circumstances “better” than they would have been otherwise.
How much better can we make them? This is up for debate. On a smaller scale, as many of these
stories illustrate, the opportunity to take positive action and make a difference is substantial. Added
together, and replicated more widely, efforts like those described in these pages could measurably
mitigate climate change and its destructive impacts around the world, while creating the opportu-
nity for a regenerative future for humanity on the planet. Will that happen? We don’t know, but the
first step is envisioning a world in which it might—where we do indeed meet the challenges of what
has clearly become a global crisis, and survive to tell the tale.
To be honest, it is not at all clear to me that we will do the latter. What is clear to me is that the
8 Communities Number 174