The Villaging Project

I’ve been finishing Naomi Klein’s book This Changes Everything.  I was reminded that I hadn’t finished the book when I heard the name several times on television referring to any number of popular causes, events, or facts.  Even a car ad used the phrase.  It seems that Klein hit on a title that everyone feels entitled to use in regard their own pet thing.  Anyway I am finishing it.  Reading books like hers awakens my mind to new thoughts.  Sometimes not even related to what I am reading. In this case I began thinking about what it means to grow … Continue reading →

By Terry Sterrrenberg I saw the movie “Fed Up” a few nights ago and came home  rejuvenated about the Villaging project and our Villaging America movie.  There is of course a tremendous amount of information about how the food industry has contributed to the problem of obesity in the USA.  The main point of the movie is that sugar is the culprit that is the prime contributer to our weight problem as a nation.  There are several tragic examples of obese childen who get caught up in the food castrophe of this country.  The movie describes how when in the … Continue reading →

Not long ago we  traveled to the southeast  where we filmed at a small worker owned collective called Opportunity Threads in Morganton, NC.  The collective has six worker owners with 21 additional sewers and workers who are in the process of becoming worker owners.  After working for a number of months and having many peer evalutions which include not only their productivity but also their ability to get along with their other team members, they are given the opportunity to buy into the collective. In this way new owners get “vetted” by the other owners. All workers including Ms. Hemstreet who initiated … Continue reading →

That’s ‘villaging‘,  not ‘pillaging’- in contrast to what my spell check keeps trying to tell me!  I think that’s because villaging is a word we made up.  We are using the word villaging to distinguish what many people have been doing for a long time, i.e. living a conscious life that includes taking care of each other and also the planet.  Through our research we have identified six elements that make a Village.  We consider that moving forward in any of them as villaging.  Some people are villaging more than others.  These six elements are not random; they each perform … Continue reading →

There is an extensive history of groups of people who have set themselves apart from the rest of the culture to try to become independent and develop sustainable communities .  Many groups have tried to go “off the grid”.  This has been happening for decades.  So when Laurie and I decided to put forth a project called “The Villaging Project’, part of me questioned if it had any value.   Making a movie about intentional communities seemed a bit mundane and archaic. We decided very quickly that the project was not just about intentional communities and eco-villages.  Villaging is not … Continue reading →

It was a breakthrough when we discovered that when something is possible all we need to do is do it (no comparison to Nike intended).   For us “doing it” meant taking away the barriers to moving forward, i.e. our stuff in life. When we reduced “the stuff” Life began showing up differently. We began perceiving life differently particularly in the areas of common good and in the arena of jobs and  wealth. Not long ago I realized why I get so upset when I hear Obama and others say that ” if we work hard we should be able … Continue reading →

By Terry Sterrenberg I want to share with you how we got to the point of doing “The Villaging Project.” It started in 2007 when we sold our condo. We left our life behind and set out to create something profound. Part of me thought this was a bit crazy and irresponsible; part of me celebrated getting out of a treadmill existence. I remember being at work in my counseling office and saying to myself “Terry what are you doing here.” Same old same old, every day and not really making any more money than in the past and expenses … Continue reading →

[by Terry Sterrenberg] Educational Videos Plus is starting on a new project and as part of that project I will be writing a blog.  I will be writing about our discoveries along the way as we do research for our new movie and my hope is to create a dialogue about the creation of “Villaging” in America. When we interviewed Dr. Paul Hochfeld for The Healthcare Movie, he said that healthcare was just a poster-child for all that was wrong in the United States.  We weren’t quite sure what he meant at the time, but his statement rang a bell which led … Continue reading →