Hi everyone,

I'm Richard, one of the facilitators, and I'm living in Austria.

Creating off-grid self-sustained living is a challenge here because of many strict regulations. However, I did manage to visit a group who is going through all the legal process of acquiring land etc in order to build something.

The interesting thing about them is that they're called DODO (Dorf im Dorf) so it's going to be a small village within a larger village. I find the idea very interesting - they're essentially creating an alternative way of living right within the system. (The irony of calling it Dodo is not lost!)

I'm considering joining this community, maybe not to live there but at least to take part. But I have many concerns. One of which is that they seem to want to show the people around them that this alternative way of living is possible. It's a noble intention, but I'm concerned it will simply create more polarity, especially if they try to convince others.

What are your thoughts? Can a conscious a fairly self-sustaining community function and integrate into a fairly conservative system? Or does a community which is more out of the system and not so close to a big settlement have more chance of succeeding?

Rich