Liz Walker

 

GLOBAL WALK

Where did the inspiration to start such a project come from? Liz along with Joan Bokaer saw their vision for the Ecovillage while participating in the “ The Global Walk for a Livable World.” They were part of a large group of people walking across the country to raise awareness of the environment. On this walk is where Joan and Liz found the inspiration to create a co-housing community with benefits of the future. Joan originally had the idea in her mind that she wanted to create an Ecovillage. After the walk Liz returned home to San Francisco and, Joan to Ithaca, New York. Joan started to express her vision to the community and was pleased with the interest from a large group. From there they formed a retreat to try out this Ecovillage vision. It was after this that Joan reached out to Liz to make the move to New York to assist her on this large undertaking. Liz knew her answer was yes, but wanted to sure of her decision. After the 5-day retreat she committed herself to Joan and the Ecovillage. She packed up her life and kids from their home in San Francisco and headed to Ithaca to start a new life, not only for themselves but also a whole community.

THE LAND

The decision had now been set in stone that development of the Ithaca Ecovillage was to take place. However, in order to get underway with the plan, a location would have to been found and purchased. Picking the right location came with a couple requirements. It needed to be located close enough to the Ithaca so the commute would not be such a large hassle. The land had to also be suitable for building an environmentally conscious site. After some consensus decision making the group decided on a semi-rural site located on West Hill.

Purchasing the land was a bit of an obstacle due to not only the fundraising involved but also the in experience the group had with real estate. They jumped on a buying price that seemed reasonable at the time but they would later find out its real worth. After finding the land and putting money towards salaries, the group still had huge task of fundraising to accomplish. Liz had already taken on the challenge of raising a family on a small salary, so welcomed the challenge with open arms. Joan and Liz and Joan started making calls to the appropriate contributors and began the fundraising process. This was a challenge due to selling such a unique project to the community. When making calls and looking for gifts towards the project, they had to convince others of their vision. Though not everyone caught on, those that did made generous donations to assist the Ecovillage in such a large undertaking. Raising and handling the money was a long process but had to be done in order to start their dream.

 

Liz was up to her waist in mortgage issues and also a toxic contamination scare that altered their plans. However, during this time she would receive a call from an important individual who would change her life. Jared, looking to develop a co-housing community, became interested in Liz’s project. After meeting and developing a strong relationship, Jared would become Liz’s long time partner even to this day. After exactly one year after the retreat in the summer of 1992, the West Hill property finally belonged to the Ecovillage. They worked vigorously to plan and develop their new community.