Liz Walker

 

Liz Walker is very fortunate to have the family and childhood she had. She grew up as a member of a family of seven in Vermont on the outskirts of a very small town of about 1000 people. Her mom grew all organic vegetables for her family and made all he bread they ate. She believes her lifestyle as a child influenced the way she is today, since it has been a part of her blood from a very young age. Liz was raised as a Quaker which is a Christian religion and that means that there is a strong belief on social justice and peace. This is also considered social activism. Her parents made decisions for the family of seven through consensus. This involved family meetings with five kids to take votes for the major choices for their family. Most children do not have the opportunity to have a say in parent’s judgments but Liz and her siblings did. When she was only 10 years old there was family consensus to go to Peru to help out the indigenous people who are living in poverty. Her parents went there with a Quaker organization called American Friends’ Service Committee on a Quaker mission. Her childhood consisted of being exposed to a 3rd world country when she was still a child, which strongly influenced her. When she saw people that had nothing in their lives it was very eye opening. It was very dramatic for her to witness the poverty and her parents were working with people spoke different languages. They were also building houses for the people who were less fortunate then them. The environment was extremely poor and she believes all Americans should go overseas to see how privileged they are. Those experiences gave her the desire to work for a better world.

Today, Liz has two sons Daniel and Jason that she is very proud of. She enjoys hearing from them and always offers them the option to live in the Ecovillage if they please. They are both involved with the same path of career choices as their mother and she thanks them in her book, EcoVillage at Ithaca, for inspiring her to work for a better world. Liz's partner, Jared Jones, grew up in Ithaca and then moved to California. In 1995, while he was organizing a co-housing community in the Santa Cruz area, he me Liz and ended up moving back to Ithaca to be with Liz and to work together to create an ecovillage. They are now engaged and are both active members of the community. They enjoy going on bike rides together and other activities and also focus on having weekly date nights. They plan to get married in August, 2010 at Ecovillage.