We are living in the most critical era in human history.

The world as we know it, and as humans have known it for the past 150 years, represents a radical departure in the 200,000 year history of homo sapiens. Never before have we as a species had the power to cause ourselves and the planet the intense suffering and destruction that we currently unleash every day.

One of the core principles underlying Common Fire’s work is that the overwhelming suffering and destruction in today’s world are not the result of isolated political or economic problems. They’re manifestations of the underlying culture from which they surge.

It does little good to struggle to create change in the world if in our own lives we are recreating the very norms that give rise to that violence and destruction. We must create within ourselves, our families and communities, and our organizations and broader movements, the cultural norms we wish to see in the world.

Common Fire helps to create communities that give as full an expression as possible to healthy, joyful living in solidarity with other people and the planet. Common Fire doesn’t pretend there’s one way to do this. Rather each Common Fire community offers a rich diversity of perspectives and strategies regarding what it means to lead such a “good life”.

The first Common Fire community opened in 2006. It’s a housing co-op located in the Village of Tivoli in New York’s Hudson Valley. It’s intended to allow people to develop strong relationships with others who share their passion for making a difference in the world. The resulting cross pollination creates more holistic responses to the challenges of our day. It also creates a collective of people who can support each other to bring greater integrity into their personal lives -- in terms of what they eat, what they do with their time, how they interact with other people, etc.

As just one manifestation of this commitment to integrity, the co-op is the highest scoring green building in the Eastern US and the third highest scoring nationwide, as documented by the US Green Building Council.

Click here to learn more about the Tivoli Housing Co-op.

Or click here to learn more about the green building.

Over the next five years Common Fire aims to establish several neighborhood/village-scale communities with affordable green housing, retreat centers, multi-use office spaces, gardens, and more. These communities will take the work of our housing co-op to another level, operating on a larger scale and allowing residents to meet far more of their needs on-site. And it will have an important focus on working with and training people from outside the communities.

Two such communities are currently in formation, one in New York’s Hudson Valley and one in California’s Bay Area.

Click here to learn more about the community in the Hudson Valley
and their Beacon CoHousing Collective.

While they each have their own unique culture and process, they are both committed to four essential characteristics that help to define Common Fire communities.

• Ongoing Personal Growth and Dialogue – Common Fire has partnered with Be Present to provide training in this critical area. “Be Present recognizes that the effectiveness of our collective movement is only as effective as the individuals themselves. For change to occur on a larger scale, each person must first uncover their true self by understanding their past experiences and personal barriers. From self-knowledge, people can make conscious choices, develop a practice of positive change, and work through historical barriers to build partnerships and healthier communities.”
• Engagement of a Diversity of People -- Diversity allows us to create visions of the world and strategies for change that better reflect the needs of all of us, and that better reflect our collective wisdom for how to address those needs. We are creating communities that are accessible and meaningful to a broad range of people.
• Aligning Our Lives with Our Beliefs -- Much of the violence and destruction in the world today arises not from malice, but from people being invested in the current systems and contributing to them in small ways that add up and give the systems power. We’re committed to helping people within these communities weave integrity into the many facets of everyday life – continuing our commitment to green building; eating local, fair trade, organic and cruelty-free foods; being in partnership with indigenous people; exploring alternative financial models; and more.
• Bridging Transformation in the Community to Transformation in the World – These communities will not be places where people retreat from the world, but ones that allow them to more powerfully step into the world. And in the traditions of the “tipping point”, the “butterfly effect”, “emergence”, and “field theory”, we never know at what point the number of people affected or the quality of deeply-rooted transformation will cause massive shifts on a larger scale.

We invite inquiries from people who wish to learn more or perhaps initiate a Common Fire community in their local area.