The following is an account of a brief two day visit to Kailash Eco Village in Portland, in mid June, 2025. The Kailash website is kailashecovillage.org
If I were ranking real life examples of paradigm shift, Kailash Eco Village in Portland, Oregon would be at the top of my list. Paradigm shift being a condition of people moving towards living within the boundaries of the natural world and purposefully cooperating with each other for the common good.
If I were ranking real life examples of paradigm shift, Kailash Eco Village in Portland, Oregon would be at the top of my list. Paradigm shift being a condition of people moving towards living within the boundaries of the natural world and purposefully cooperating with each other for the common good.
The photo above shows Kailash after 16 years of transformation and Annapurna after 3 years transformation and the surrounding neighborhood in SE Portland, Oregon. The photo identifies several locations at Annapurna and multiple features at Kailash that are mentioned in this account of the visit. Photo captions will be in italics.
Pre eco village photos are startling compared to what the site has become. I can relate to it because I see the same jolt of a difference between the mainstream before and the remarkable paradigm shift difference after on my own property. The Difference with Kailash is the scale - both in size but also in social/economic complexity.
Pre eco village photos are startling compared to what the site has become. I can relate to it because I see the same jolt of a difference between the mainstream before and the remarkable paradigm shift difference after on my own property. The Difference with Kailash is the scale - both in size but also in social/economic complexity.
The top photo above shows Kailash before it became an eco village, about 2005. The bottom photo shows Kailash about 2022. Imagine this level of transformation applied to entire neighborhoods, towns and cities!
Kailash is 2 acres - eight times larger - and with 50 + people - twelve times + as many residents - than my own place. Kailash is a big step up. And then add Annapurna, now in its third year of transformation and slightly larger than Kailash.
One might contemplate after seeing Kailash or my place [and other locations] what might our entire neighborhoods our entire cities and towns look like if they received the same vision, love and care that Kailash, my place and similar pioneer locations receive. We would be a far far healthier society.
There are near infinite places for paradigm shift to happen. My own particular interest is urban and suburban residential transformation. For example, twenty five years ago I bought a modest quarter acre suburban home and property here in Eugene with the intention from the start to make big changes on both the house and property. The goals, to produce more basic needs on site and to reduce my own eco footprint.
I took the train from Eugene, along with my # 2 bike, for the 3 hour ride from south to north the length of Oregon’s Willamette Valley to Portland and then pedaled from the downtown train station to Kailash in a heavy drizzle.
Kailash is 2 acres - eight times larger - and with 50 + people - twelve times + as many residents - than my own place. Kailash is a big step up. And then add Annapurna, now in its third year of transformation and slightly larger than Kailash.
One might contemplate after seeing Kailash or my place [and other locations] what might our entire neighborhoods our entire cities and towns look like if they received the same vision, love and care that Kailash, my place and similar pioneer locations receive. We would be a far far healthier society.
There are near infinite places for paradigm shift to happen. My own particular interest is urban and suburban residential transformation. For example, twenty five years ago I bought a modest quarter acre suburban home and property here in Eugene with the intention from the start to make big changes on both the house and property. The goals, to produce more basic needs on site and to reduce my own eco footprint.
I took the train from Eugene, along with my # 2 bike, for the 3 hour ride from south to north the length of Oregon’s Willamette Valley to Portland and then pedaled from the downtown train station to Kailash in a heavy drizzle.
Jan arrives to Kailash with bike, June, 2025.
I had visited Kailash twice before but only for a couple hours and that was pre covid. This time, I stayed two nights in their guest room with a well cared for patio that faces a beautiful mandala garden, looking very green in late spring. The veggie garden and its companion rain garden replaces a 12 car parking lot that was depraved over ten years ago.
The neighborhood surrounding Kailash and a cluster of other apartment complexes, is mostly cozy craftsman type homes from the 1940’s with front porches on small lots with large trees. Finding the street I was looking for, I turned left and in a half block, turned left again, a slight up slope onto Kailash property. There are a couple speed bumps, a 4 space electric car charge station on the left, the mandala garden on the right and the apartment building with its artful Kailash sign in full view.
I found a place to park my bike and began to search for Ole and Maitri’s apartment. Ole and Maitri are the owners of Kailash. The place is not co housing, residents pay rent.
Turns out, I had to walk through a breezeway in the middle of the building to find Ole and Maitri’s place. In the middle of the breezeway was a low table with a table cloth and several fresh and canned food items one would find in any kitchen. I later learned that this was the share table. People can put food items out for anyone to take.
As I approached the table, I also saw a cloth napkin covering what looked like a dinner plate with a slight bump to the middle of the napkin. Instinctively, I stopped to look under the napkin and was thrilled to see, just like on mom’s kitchen counter years ago, there was a generous mound of chocolate chip cookies, still slightly warm. I grabbed a couple and thought, welcome to Kailash.
I found Ole’s apartment on the second floor at the far east end of the building. From the vantage point on the second floor I saw a beautiful view of nearly the entire Kailash garden area. Scanning the expanse of green, I saw Ole pushing a wheel barrow along one of the many garden paths.
I had visited Kailash twice before but only for a couple hours and that was pre covid. This time, I stayed two nights in their guest room with a well cared for patio that faces a beautiful mandala garden, looking very green in late spring. The veggie garden and its companion rain garden replaces a 12 car parking lot that was depraved over ten years ago.
The neighborhood surrounding Kailash and a cluster of other apartment complexes, is mostly cozy craftsman type homes from the 1940’s with front porches on small lots with large trees. Finding the street I was looking for, I turned left and in a half block, turned left again, a slight up slope onto Kailash property. There are a couple speed bumps, a 4 space electric car charge station on the left, the mandala garden on the right and the apartment building with its artful Kailash sign in full view.
I found a place to park my bike and began to search for Ole and Maitri’s apartment. Ole and Maitri are the owners of Kailash. The place is not co housing, residents pay rent.
Turns out, I had to walk through a breezeway in the middle of the building to find Ole and Maitri’s place. In the middle of the breezeway was a low table with a table cloth and several fresh and canned food items one would find in any kitchen. I later learned that this was the share table. People can put food items out for anyone to take.
As I approached the table, I also saw a cloth napkin covering what looked like a dinner plate with a slight bump to the middle of the napkin. Instinctively, I stopped to look under the napkin and was thrilled to see, just like on mom’s kitchen counter years ago, there was a generous mound of chocolate chip cookies, still slightly warm. I grabbed a couple and thought, welcome to Kailash.
I found Ole’s apartment on the second floor at the far east end of the building. From the vantage point on the second floor I saw a beautiful view of nearly the entire Kailash garden area. Scanning the expanse of green, I saw Ole pushing a wheel barrow along one of the many garden paths.
View from the second floor at Kailash looking out to the gardens and treehouse. View is towards the northwest. The bamboo hedge in the distance is the property line.
I shouted down to Ole. He looked up, waved and motioned me down. Surrounded by lots of individual garden plots, a large fig tree, arrays of colorful flowers and longer rows of planted veggies, we exchanged greetings and a hug. Ole invited me to take over with the wheel barrow. Turns out, this load of humanure was pretty heavy and Ole had already been hard at work for hours. Ole and physical work, I found, were frequent companions.
The slight uphill towards our destination passed the kitchen compost area and the extensive bike zone, garden shed, more green, more 10 by 10 plots, beautiful micro green spaces in front of the apartments, the impressive huge tree house to the right, and finally, we passed through a chain link fence gate into a whole different world - an expansive parking lot a third filled with cars and a somewhat bleak apartment complex, sterile, forgettable, looking totally mainstream. Later, I learned what I saw was a big improvement over several years ago.
I shouted down to Ole. He looked up, waved and motioned me down. Surrounded by lots of individual garden plots, a large fig tree, arrays of colorful flowers and longer rows of planted veggies, we exchanged greetings and a hug. Ole invited me to take over with the wheel barrow. Turns out, this load of humanure was pretty heavy and Ole had already been hard at work for hours. Ole and physical work, I found, were frequent companions.
The slight uphill towards our destination passed the kitchen compost area and the extensive bike zone, garden shed, more green, more 10 by 10 plots, beautiful micro green spaces in front of the apartments, the impressive huge tree house to the right, and finally, we passed through a chain link fence gate into a whole different world - an expansive parking lot a third filled with cars and a somewhat bleak apartment complex, sterile, forgettable, looking totally mainstream. Later, I learned what I saw was a big improvement over several years ago.
Parking lot at Annapurna looking east. The cars on the left hide the work planting blueberry shrubs. Eventually, much of this parking area will be depaved and re purposed.
We were now on Annapurna property, another big reason I wanted to visit. As if one 35 unit apartment complex transformation was not enough, three years ago, this 50 unit complex, that actually shares a hundred feet of property line with Kailash, came up for sale. What do you do? You take the leap, mortgage what you love, buy the run down, outlaw complex next door and start the many years of hard work needed to create a second eco village.
While Kailash is one long two story structure, Annapurna is five separate two story buildings, four of them surround a defunct swimming pool while the fifth is to the upper right on the google map image. Like any apartment complex, parking areas occupy a tragically large amounts of space. Annapurna has green areas between the buildings and around the swimming pool with significant food producing and community building potential. Both Kailash and Annapurna are impressive examples of urban restoration. One of my most core ideals for paradigm shift is making positive use of what is already here. What could be better than turning a drug infested, car chopping apartment complex into an eco village?
Kailash has seen close to 20 years of transformation. I would not use the word restoration because Kailash is a “better” place than the original apartment complex even when it was new. Annapurna is only in its third year. It takes an entire apartment complex to raise an eco village. Kailash shows abundantly what a wreck can become. Annapurna is also starting from a rough beginning.
Both complexes had many apartments that were unusable. Kailash was known as the Meth Apartments with the occasional shoot outs in the parking lot over bad drug deals. I was told Annapurna’s parking area was host to a thriving industry of chopping stolen cars. There were ill managed dumpsters randomly scattered here and there around the property. There was litter and unkept open space, a feral swimming pool. Many of the residents were squatting.
Electric meters were stolen from the nearby neighborhood and plugged in at the squatted apartments for electricity while nearby neighbors came home from a hard day of work to find they had no electricity. Some residents could be described as criminals while many of the residents were non English speaking and simply trying to get by.
The wheel barrow load of humanure was, of course, part of the transformation. These loads headed for one building and its sizable parking lot. Each of the three entrances to the building had two curbed extensions shaped like the prongs of a fork lift that extended out into the parking lot, a car length, to keep people from parking cars in front of the entrances. The “prongs” had curbs, were about three feet wide and filled with hard packed lifeless dirt.
The task at hand was, using a small mechanical auger, to excavate three holes a foot and a half in diameter down nearly two feet in each prong. The hole was filled with the humanure and blueberry plants were assigned to each hole. Three sets of prongs. Eighteen blue berry plants all together. The advance guard of more changes to come.
We were now on Annapurna property, another big reason I wanted to visit. As if one 35 unit apartment complex transformation was not enough, three years ago, this 50 unit complex, that actually shares a hundred feet of property line with Kailash, came up for sale. What do you do? You take the leap, mortgage what you love, buy the run down, outlaw complex next door and start the many years of hard work needed to create a second eco village.
While Kailash is one long two story structure, Annapurna is five separate two story buildings, four of them surround a defunct swimming pool while the fifth is to the upper right on the google map image. Like any apartment complex, parking areas occupy a tragically large amounts of space. Annapurna has green areas between the buildings and around the swimming pool with significant food producing and community building potential. Both Kailash and Annapurna are impressive examples of urban restoration. One of my most core ideals for paradigm shift is making positive use of what is already here. What could be better than turning a drug infested, car chopping apartment complex into an eco village?
Kailash has seen close to 20 years of transformation. I would not use the word restoration because Kailash is a “better” place than the original apartment complex even when it was new. Annapurna is only in its third year. It takes an entire apartment complex to raise an eco village. Kailash shows abundantly what a wreck can become. Annapurna is also starting from a rough beginning.
Both complexes had many apartments that were unusable. Kailash was known as the Meth Apartments with the occasional shoot outs in the parking lot over bad drug deals. I was told Annapurna’s parking area was host to a thriving industry of chopping stolen cars. There were ill managed dumpsters randomly scattered here and there around the property. There was litter and unkept open space, a feral swimming pool. Many of the residents were squatting.
Electric meters were stolen from the nearby neighborhood and plugged in at the squatted apartments for electricity while nearby neighbors came home from a hard day of work to find they had no electricity. Some residents could be described as criminals while many of the residents were non English speaking and simply trying to get by.
The wheel barrow load of humanure was, of course, part of the transformation. These loads headed for one building and its sizable parking lot. Each of the three entrances to the building had two curbed extensions shaped like the prongs of a fork lift that extended out into the parking lot, a car length, to keep people from parking cars in front of the entrances. The “prongs” had curbs, were about three feet wide and filled with hard packed lifeless dirt.
The task at hand was, using a small mechanical auger, to excavate three holes a foot and a half in diameter down nearly two feet in each prong. The hole was filled with the humanure and blueberry plants were assigned to each hole. Three sets of prongs. Eighteen blue berry plants all together. The advance guard of more changes to come.
Ole, Maitri, Caleb and an Annapurna resident digging holes and planting blueberries.
Ole’s son in law, also the manager of Annapurna, was running the auger. One of the residents was also part of the work party. The effort required a fair number of wheel barrow loads of humanure. No wonder Ole asked for help. But I am glad to help because this is a right on project. I have had a high regard for Ole, Maitri and Kailash from the first visit pre covid. It was a privilege to be here.
Eco Culture Presents Itself
After dumping the load, Ole showed me the early work at Annapurna. First was a recycling center in a corner of the parking lot.The outdoor recycling point with dumpsters and various barrels, is a revealing example of the contrasting cultures at Annapurna. Many of the existing residents at the complex are from Latino countries with limited experience recycling. Here at the recycling center, all kinds of containers, packaging and various types of trash were arranged like a museum exhibit to help visually explain to the residents what materials went where. Compliments to the eco village folks for their outreach to educate about recycling and waste reduction. Creating an eco village, regardless of culture or language, is a time consuming process.
What also could take some time is reducing the number and use of cars. Ole charges rent for cars and has told residents the cost for parking will only increase. He also intends to depave a good bit of the parking areas at Annapurna as he did at Kailash.
Efforts were made from the start to keep everybody already living on site, rent paying or not, in their homes and to start paying rent. Ole told me people in only two apartments were a real problem and were paid to leave and that multi thousand dollar cost was well worth it.
The changes are all over Annapurna. A priority is to turn all the grassy areas with good sunlight into 10 by 10 foot garden spaces for each resident. A few new gardens are already planted and there are piles of dead sod with its dusty and rocky low quality soil scattered here and there. Also hard to miss are hundreds of feet of trenches, dug all over Annapurna. Water lines are being installed with a faucet for each garden.Yellow plastic tape to keep people away from the trenches stretch hundreds of feet along sidewalks, buildings and parking lots. Fortunately, Kailash and Annapurna have access to well water.
Kailash diverts almost all its rain water into rain gardens around the mandala garden. Asphalt shingles on the Kailash building have been replaced with standing seem metal that is not painted but its an industrial finish, a surface preferred over asphalt shingles for reusing rainfall. Water from the parking area also is channeled to the rain gardens. The rain water gardens recharge the aquifer underneath Kailash. The ground itself is a cistern and the well is about 100 feet deep. Similar water management plans are in store for Annapurna.
Annapurna also has a swimming pool with a couple feet of murky water fenced off in the middle of the complex. Ole told me his insurance agent advised him to fill in the pool because the cost of insuring the pool with all the kids living in Annapurna would be steep. What was agreed on instead was to use the pool as a 40,000 gallon cistern to help with rain water storage. A deck will be built over the pool to isolate it from people and the deck will be the base of an eventual community meeting place for casual gathering and events.
I know from my own 6500 gallon rain water storage system used for watering the garden, that any new comer will need to be educated on being careful with water use. A faucet left on by mistake can lead to thousands of gallons of water lost. Our lives of convenience and affluence disable healthy respect for what it takes to live so comfortbly.
Ole showed me a lush early summer garden on the edge of the Annapurna property. It was a space on the property’s periphery, distant from the buildings and sloping down from a parking lot to a chain link fence on the property line between the eco village and neighboring houses. I was told before the transformation, the small patch of ground was packed clay where weeds had a hard time growing. Now a beautiful garden this patch was part of a larger agricultural project organized by a Kailash resident. Paradigm shift is the product of many small thoughtful actions.
A Dissertation In Waiting
Bringing an American eco village counter culture and Hispanic immigrant culture to a greater mutual understanding is a long term effort. I was told the Hispanic residents have been invited to join eco village planning meetings and social occasions with translation but there has been limited participation. Virtually all the Hispanic residents came to the US for its mythical economic opportunity. And now they are drawn into the midst of an eco village project they never could have imagined, a project embraced by idealistic gringos and predicated on a vision and set of values based on downsizing lifestyles and building an uplifted civic culture that, to a significant degree, rejects much of the economic and material attractions in America the new immigrants risked their lives to be a part of.
A sociology grad student or phd candidate, would have a keen interest in this unlikely cultural arrangement. Kailash is a great story totally on its own. Then add Annapurna’s early eco village changes and then, if that wasn’t enough, add Annapurna’s Hispanic residents.
After a look around Annapurna, Ole and I returned to his apartment for a key to the guest room so I could settle in. The guest room is very nice with a patio out front with lots of container plants, a succulent garden and interesting rock collections. A spindly metal kinetic sculpture extends up towards rain water pipes coming off the roof, 25 feet above. I am told, when there is rain, the runoff rotates the metal sculpture producing a clanging sound and a small amount of electricity. There are lots and lots of flowers and tiny bridges over the rain gardens along the verdent pathway to the mandala garden. The black, white and plump resident cat often prowls the gardens. There’s another path from the patio up slope with green all around to the larger garden area. Recall the before photo above, who would have ever thought this beautiful landscape had been an expanse of grass and asphalt not so long ago.
Ole’s son in law, also the manager of Annapurna, was running the auger. One of the residents was also part of the work party. The effort required a fair number of wheel barrow loads of humanure. No wonder Ole asked for help. But I am glad to help because this is a right on project. I have had a high regard for Ole, Maitri and Kailash from the first visit pre covid. It was a privilege to be here.
Eco Culture Presents Itself
After dumping the load, Ole showed me the early work at Annapurna. First was a recycling center in a corner of the parking lot.The outdoor recycling point with dumpsters and various barrels, is a revealing example of the contrasting cultures at Annapurna. Many of the existing residents at the complex are from Latino countries with limited experience recycling. Here at the recycling center, all kinds of containers, packaging and various types of trash were arranged like a museum exhibit to help visually explain to the residents what materials went where. Compliments to the eco village folks for their outreach to educate about recycling and waste reduction. Creating an eco village, regardless of culture or language, is a time consuming process.
What also could take some time is reducing the number and use of cars. Ole charges rent for cars and has told residents the cost for parking will only increase. He also intends to depave a good bit of the parking areas at Annapurna as he did at Kailash.
Efforts were made from the start to keep everybody already living on site, rent paying or not, in their homes and to start paying rent. Ole told me people in only two apartments were a real problem and were paid to leave and that multi thousand dollar cost was well worth it.
The changes are all over Annapurna. A priority is to turn all the grassy areas with good sunlight into 10 by 10 foot garden spaces for each resident. A few new gardens are already planted and there are piles of dead sod with its dusty and rocky low quality soil scattered here and there. Also hard to miss are hundreds of feet of trenches, dug all over Annapurna. Water lines are being installed with a faucet for each garden.Yellow plastic tape to keep people away from the trenches stretch hundreds of feet along sidewalks, buildings and parking lots. Fortunately, Kailash and Annapurna have access to well water.
Kailash diverts almost all its rain water into rain gardens around the mandala garden. Asphalt shingles on the Kailash building have been replaced with standing seem metal that is not painted but its an industrial finish, a surface preferred over asphalt shingles for reusing rainfall. Water from the parking area also is channeled to the rain gardens. The rain water gardens recharge the aquifer underneath Kailash. The ground itself is a cistern and the well is about 100 feet deep. Similar water management plans are in store for Annapurna.
Annapurna also has a swimming pool with a couple feet of murky water fenced off in the middle of the complex. Ole told me his insurance agent advised him to fill in the pool because the cost of insuring the pool with all the kids living in Annapurna would be steep. What was agreed on instead was to use the pool as a 40,000 gallon cistern to help with rain water storage. A deck will be built over the pool to isolate it from people and the deck will be the base of an eventual community meeting place for casual gathering and events.
I know from my own 6500 gallon rain water storage system used for watering the garden, that any new comer will need to be educated on being careful with water use. A faucet left on by mistake can lead to thousands of gallons of water lost. Our lives of convenience and affluence disable healthy respect for what it takes to live so comfortbly.
Ole showed me a lush early summer garden on the edge of the Annapurna property. It was a space on the property’s periphery, distant from the buildings and sloping down from a parking lot to a chain link fence on the property line between the eco village and neighboring houses. I was told before the transformation, the small patch of ground was packed clay where weeds had a hard time growing. Now a beautiful garden this patch was part of a larger agricultural project organized by a Kailash resident. Paradigm shift is the product of many small thoughtful actions.
A Dissertation In Waiting
Bringing an American eco village counter culture and Hispanic immigrant culture to a greater mutual understanding is a long term effort. I was told the Hispanic residents have been invited to join eco village planning meetings and social occasions with translation but there has been limited participation. Virtually all the Hispanic residents came to the US for its mythical economic opportunity. And now they are drawn into the midst of an eco village project they never could have imagined, a project embraced by idealistic gringos and predicated on a vision and set of values based on downsizing lifestyles and building an uplifted civic culture that, to a significant degree, rejects much of the economic and material attractions in America the new immigrants risked their lives to be a part of.
A sociology grad student or phd candidate, would have a keen interest in this unlikely cultural arrangement. Kailash is a great story totally on its own. Then add Annapurna’s early eco village changes and then, if that wasn’t enough, add Annapurna’s Hispanic residents.
After a look around Annapurna, Ole and I returned to his apartment for a key to the guest room so I could settle in. The guest room is very nice with a patio out front with lots of container plants, a succulent garden and interesting rock collections. A spindly metal kinetic sculpture extends up towards rain water pipes coming off the roof, 25 feet above. I am told, when there is rain, the runoff rotates the metal sculpture producing a clanging sound and a small amount of electricity. There are lots and lots of flowers and tiny bridges over the rain gardens along the verdent pathway to the mandala garden. The black, white and plump resident cat often prowls the gardens. There’s another path from the patio up slope with green all around to the larger garden area. Recall the before photo above, who would have ever thought this beautiful landscape had been an expanse of grass and asphalt not so long ago.
East facing side of the building at Kailash. The large Kailash welcome sign is above to the left. Beautiful patio. The door on the right with awning is to the guest room.
Much of my time at Kailash was simply exploring the eco village and having the chance to meet people out in the gardens. The intention was to write an account of my visit to include in my book, A Primer For Paradigm Shift. I love to hear stories about how people arrived to where they are in life.
After checking out my lodgings, I walked up the sloping parking area towards the former Kailash swimming pool. I had been here before. Along the way, I saw private cars while the community has two electric cars for shared use. A good number of people do not own cars including Ole and Maitri. From my observations, car ownership at Kailash is substantially less than the national average.
Also walking to the former swimming pool area, there has been depaving of more parking area in front of the sidewalk to peoples’ apartments that create a green landscape and water management opportunities. Both sides of the complex on the ground floor, people have adopted the space in front of their apartment to create their own landscape of plants and art. I saw some beautiful personal micro parkettes that anyone walking along either side of the building can enjoy. A place to live should be attractive and uplifting to the spirit, whether an apartment complex or private home.
At the up slope end to the parking lot, the southwest corner of the entire property, one would not know there had been a small swimming pool, which was filled in and replaced by gardens with paths, arbors, terracing and views of the next door apartment complex, looking pretty bleak and referred to as the barracks.
Hawaiian Glamor
Before Kailash, the apartment complex, dating from the 1950’s, had aspired to an upscale glamor with a Hawaiian theme. There was a long decline over the next 50 years or so that ended when Ole and Maitri bought the place in 2008.
The next place to check out on the north side of the building through the breezeway, was a tree house that was built about three years ago. Along the way to the tree house, I did pass through the breezeway again. But, alas, the chocolate chip cookies left out for the taking, were all gone.
During covid times, plans for a new housing development on a separate property along the north side of Kailash stalled and Ole was able to buy it. That added property is now most of the personal gardens and fruit trees and bamboo up to the property line on the north.
The upper left, or northwest corner of Kailash one will easily find the tree house which fits nicely into the corner of large bamboo, that flank the tree house on two sides. The tree house, about 30 feet in diameter and the floor 15 feet above the ground, supported by three sizable cherry trees, cut specifically for the tree house. There is a covered play area under the tree house and one can hear the gurgle of a small pump driven brook set even further back into the bamboo. With the bamboo spreading out above the water feature, ferns and dense foliage, one would almost feel like they were in Hawaii. Annapurna is just on the other side of the bamboo.
Much of my time at Kailash was simply exploring the eco village and having the chance to meet people out in the gardens. The intention was to write an account of my visit to include in my book, A Primer For Paradigm Shift. I love to hear stories about how people arrived to where they are in life.
After checking out my lodgings, I walked up the sloping parking area towards the former Kailash swimming pool. I had been here before. Along the way, I saw private cars while the community has two electric cars for shared use. A good number of people do not own cars including Ole and Maitri. From my observations, car ownership at Kailash is substantially less than the national average.
Also walking to the former swimming pool area, there has been depaving of more parking area in front of the sidewalk to peoples’ apartments that create a green landscape and water management opportunities. Both sides of the complex on the ground floor, people have adopted the space in front of their apartment to create their own landscape of plants and art. I saw some beautiful personal micro parkettes that anyone walking along either side of the building can enjoy. A place to live should be attractive and uplifting to the spirit, whether an apartment complex or private home.
At the up slope end to the parking lot, the southwest corner of the entire property, one would not know there had been a small swimming pool, which was filled in and replaced by gardens with paths, arbors, terracing and views of the next door apartment complex, looking pretty bleak and referred to as the barracks.
Hawaiian Glamor
Before Kailash, the apartment complex, dating from the 1950’s, had aspired to an upscale glamor with a Hawaiian theme. There was a long decline over the next 50 years or so that ended when Ole and Maitri bought the place in 2008.
The next place to check out on the north side of the building through the breezeway, was a tree house that was built about three years ago. Along the way to the tree house, I did pass through the breezeway again. But, alas, the chocolate chip cookies left out for the taking, were all gone.
During covid times, plans for a new housing development on a separate property along the north side of Kailash stalled and Ole was able to buy it. That added property is now most of the personal gardens and fruit trees and bamboo up to the property line on the north.
The upper left, or northwest corner of Kailash one will easily find the tree house which fits nicely into the corner of large bamboo, that flank the tree house on two sides. The tree house, about 30 feet in diameter and the floor 15 feet above the ground, supported by three sizable cherry trees, cut specifically for the tree house. There is a covered play area under the tree house and one can hear the gurgle of a small pump driven brook set even further back into the bamboo. With the bamboo spreading out above the water feature, ferns and dense foliage, one would almost feel like they were in Hawaii. Annapurna is just on the other side of the bamboo.
View from the treehouse looking east to the personal gardens. You can also see the bike and garden tool area and also the kitchen compost area. To the left of the telephone pole on the ground behind is the mandala garden.
I talked with a fellow one evening and learned the tree house was not universally popular. The lament was the three large cherry trees were cut and killed for the tree house. Planning for the best use of urban space can be a conentious issue both in the mainstream world and the counter culture world.
Few decisions anywhere will be embraced by everyone.
The tree house, like an air traffic control tower has an expansive view overlooking the entire Kailash garden area. One evening I sat up in the tree house, thinking to myself, this is an open sided and elevated community living room. Very nice! I could imagine all kinds of happenings up there putting to use lots of chairs, wood floor, table, cushions, hammock. I later learned the place is host for weekly yoga and meditation sessions and residents can reserve it for community functions. I also did some repair on a hammock.
The roof is conical with a big circular sky light with south Asian touches. From the vantage point that evening, I could see people out taking care of their gardens, chatting with each other as light faded on a cool cloudy day, the gurgling brook provided a faint and agreeable background sound.
The garden was a great place to meet people. I spoke with Ole’s son in law as he was watering his plot and he told me how he came to be the property manager at Kailash. He had degrees in both environmental studies and business from the University of Oregon and his graduation timing was perfect for taking on the manager’s job, complementing both his business skills and his environmental interests. He loves being part of the eco villages.
Another fellow was tending his garden and picking ingredients for salad. He had lived at Kailash for nine years and was on the wood chip crew. There are wood chips in all the garden pathways and it takes a lot of wheelbarrow loads to keep the paths in good shape. He admitted he could be more involved in community life but he very much enjoyed the eco village.
On another encounter, I met N who was the organizer of the community garden spaces. In past years, he had squatted in London and New York City. An American woman was his magnate to the US. The magnetism was lost but moved west and now loves living at Kailash. Many community members participate in the community garden projects. Much of the production goes to farmers’ markets and those who helped, receive a modest payback from the profits.
My first morning I was making breakfast in the community room kitchen while several residents came in for a qigong session. We chatted briefly, everyone had upbeat comments about living at Kailash. I left for the patio to have breakfast.
Teams With Responsibilities
Kailash had many fixed opportunities for engaging with others. Along with ad hoc groups such as qigong, there are established teams. Over the years, the beautification team has built a mosaic mural in the central breezeway overlooking the cookie table, they designed and constructed another mural that is the large Kailsash welcome sign at the top of the east facing wall one sees first arriving at the property. The team worked with City Repair to paint a mural on the neighboring street to slow traffic and meet many neighbors.
Another team is communal cultivation as mentioned moments ago. Many residents participate in these larger garden projects.
The recycling team has done well to reduce waste. Thanks to the team, it's possible to recycle odd items thanks to the recycle team finding places to take odds and ends what other locations won't. The Kailash ideal is to reduce eco footprints and mitigate many of the external costs to people and planet that every product has. All Kailash residents must recycle and compost food waste although humanure is voluntary. There are detailed instructions at several recycling centers on the property.
Another shared amenity for reducing eco footprints at Kailash is the shared clothes washing and drying facility. Not only do people not have to own their own washer and dryer, they don’t have to devote space in their small apartments to a washer and dryer. There is clothes drying both outside and inside.
There is a bike team that looks after the needs of bike riders. There are over a hundred bike parking spaces and half of those under cover. Bike users have access to a shared trailers and bikes for different uses. Basic bike tools are available to all and there’s a bike stand for working on one’s own bike in a place one is likely to connect with other bike enthusiasts and the clothes line is nearby.
Another team takes care of the 50 plus fruit trees along with the tool shed and community tools. There is a Tech team that helps maintain dependable internet service and also helps residents with computer issues. There's an e mail list serve that connects people using the internet. Before my visit, I emailed Ole and asked him to put a note out to members that I was coming for a visit and would like to meet people. I had several responses that resulted in great conversations. Sunday community potlucks are popular. Many people meet spontaneously in the garden. Life at Kailash is intended to be social.
The Kailash website provides a great way to learn about life at the eco village, it's well documented with text and many photos - before, during and now.
So after breakfast, I walked over to Annapurna and found Ole and another resident filling in trenches for water lines. I helped out for several hours, a great opportunity for exercise, see a bit more of life at Annapurna such as a woman out walking her cat on a leash and simply to be a part of lending a hand to what I consider to be exciting and valuable work not only transforming an apartment complex but also boosting the far greater task of paradigm shift.
I talked with a fellow one evening and learned the tree house was not universally popular. The lament was the three large cherry trees were cut and killed for the tree house. Planning for the best use of urban space can be a conentious issue both in the mainstream world and the counter culture world.
Few decisions anywhere will be embraced by everyone.
The tree house, like an air traffic control tower has an expansive view overlooking the entire Kailash garden area. One evening I sat up in the tree house, thinking to myself, this is an open sided and elevated community living room. Very nice! I could imagine all kinds of happenings up there putting to use lots of chairs, wood floor, table, cushions, hammock. I later learned the place is host for weekly yoga and meditation sessions and residents can reserve it for community functions. I also did some repair on a hammock.
The roof is conical with a big circular sky light with south Asian touches. From the vantage point that evening, I could see people out taking care of their gardens, chatting with each other as light faded on a cool cloudy day, the gurgling brook provided a faint and agreeable background sound.
The garden was a great place to meet people. I spoke with Ole’s son in law as he was watering his plot and he told me how he came to be the property manager at Kailash. He had degrees in both environmental studies and business from the University of Oregon and his graduation timing was perfect for taking on the manager’s job, complementing both his business skills and his environmental interests. He loves being part of the eco villages.
Another fellow was tending his garden and picking ingredients for salad. He had lived at Kailash for nine years and was on the wood chip crew. There are wood chips in all the garden pathways and it takes a lot of wheelbarrow loads to keep the paths in good shape. He admitted he could be more involved in community life but he very much enjoyed the eco village.
On another encounter, I met N who was the organizer of the community garden spaces. In past years, he had squatted in London and New York City. An American woman was his magnate to the US. The magnetism was lost but moved west and now loves living at Kailash. Many community members participate in the community garden projects. Much of the production goes to farmers’ markets and those who helped, receive a modest payback from the profits.
My first morning I was making breakfast in the community room kitchen while several residents came in for a qigong session. We chatted briefly, everyone had upbeat comments about living at Kailash. I left for the patio to have breakfast.
Teams With Responsibilities
Kailash had many fixed opportunities for engaging with others. Along with ad hoc groups such as qigong, there are established teams. Over the years, the beautification team has built a mosaic mural in the central breezeway overlooking the cookie table, they designed and constructed another mural that is the large Kailsash welcome sign at the top of the east facing wall one sees first arriving at the property. The team worked with City Repair to paint a mural on the neighboring street to slow traffic and meet many neighbors.
Another team is communal cultivation as mentioned moments ago. Many residents participate in these larger garden projects.
The recycling team has done well to reduce waste. Thanks to the team, it's possible to recycle odd items thanks to the recycle team finding places to take odds and ends what other locations won't. The Kailash ideal is to reduce eco footprints and mitigate many of the external costs to people and planet that every product has. All Kailash residents must recycle and compost food waste although humanure is voluntary. There are detailed instructions at several recycling centers on the property.
Another shared amenity for reducing eco footprints at Kailash is the shared clothes washing and drying facility. Not only do people not have to own their own washer and dryer, they don’t have to devote space in their small apartments to a washer and dryer. There is clothes drying both outside and inside.
There is a bike team that looks after the needs of bike riders. There are over a hundred bike parking spaces and half of those under cover. Bike users have access to a shared trailers and bikes for different uses. Basic bike tools are available to all and there’s a bike stand for working on one’s own bike in a place one is likely to connect with other bike enthusiasts and the clothes line is nearby.
Another team takes care of the 50 plus fruit trees along with the tool shed and community tools. There is a Tech team that helps maintain dependable internet service and also helps residents with computer issues. There's an e mail list serve that connects people using the internet. Before my visit, I emailed Ole and asked him to put a note out to members that I was coming for a visit and would like to meet people. I had several responses that resulted in great conversations. Sunday community potlucks are popular. Many people meet spontaneously in the garden. Life at Kailash is intended to be social.
The Kailash website provides a great way to learn about life at the eco village, it's well documented with text and many photos - before, during and now.
So after breakfast, I walked over to Annapurna and found Ole and another resident filling in trenches for water lines. I helped out for several hours, a great opportunity for exercise, see a bit more of life at Annapurna such as a woman out walking her cat on a leash and simply to be a part of lending a hand to what I consider to be exciting and valuable work not only transforming an apartment complex but also boosting the far greater task of paradigm shift.
Annapurna. Trenches or the water line are being filled in. This area will become a garden area. A few plants already out to be planted. The swimming pool is just off the photo to the right. It will become a cistern for holding rain water. A deck a community building will be constructed over the pool. Ole in the photo.
After a few hours and a couple hundred feet of trench filling, I connected with a woman who had responded to my e mail request to meet people who lived at Kailash. We talked for a couple hours while enjoying the view in the tree house. C was from Alaska and came to Portland to be closer to her kids. She found out about Kailash and is very happy to be a resident now for three years. An enthusiastic Buddhist, we shared stories about our lives, what we thought about the state of the world and why Kailash is such an important place.
Shortly after our chat, I met one of the people she suggested I connect with, Mr. “Bike.” I saw him working on his heavy lift electric cargo bike. I asked if it was true he had not even been inside a car for over five years. True enough and he had not been on a plane for longer than that. Mr. B was anti car for many reasons and I could totally agree. He is a photographer and manages his business using an electric bike.
By that time, it was late in the day but I had energy for physical work. Again, I walked over to Annapurna and again, I found Ole hard at work boxing up odd chunks of wood from removing unwanted shrubbery and small trees. I helped out and after we finished, we moved on to do more trench filling on the slope leading up to the swimming pool. We grabbed some tools and while walking to the trench site, an older woman came to me, very upset, and told me she needed help gaining access to her apartment. She had locked herself out.
I told her I was not the person with a key but could help. We talked with Ole. He did not have a key either but the solution was to bring a ladder to her balcony and a young neighbor climbed up to her apartment, entered through the unlocked sliding door and let her in the front door. Issue resolved.
Ole and I did another couple hours of work filling in trenches. It was very satisfying to see the mounds flatten out and the yellow tape taken away. And then, it was time for dinner. Ole and I drove one of the shared electric cars to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and had a great meal and touched on a lot of items. Ole and Maitri met in the Phillipines, Maitri’s home country. They discovered an interest in each other while exploring the Philippine rain forest. That was forty years ago.
I asked Ole if he often consciously thought about the awesome work he and Maitri were doing at Kailash. He said not so often. He told me it's simply the lifestyle of transformation. A retired general practitioner MD with a strong Eastern spiritual side, Ole chose the names Kailash and Annapurna because they refer to lofty mountain peaks in Nepal that have mystical connotations. He is greatly concerned with the environmental, social and public health damage caused by the consumer culture. Reducing eco footprints and facilitating community culture is a core ideal for the eco villages.
Returning to Kailash about sunset, Ole and I ascended the steep stairs to the cupola built on the top of Kailash, an architectural flourish, not yet complete. Still remaining are constructing several spires. Along with the cupolo, the goal is to make the outline of Kailash resemble the temple architecture of Nepal. From the cupolo’s lofty vantage point, Ole explained the 68 kilowatt array of photo voltaic panels covering the south facing roof. Kailash produces about 70% of the electricity it uses with the grid acting as a sort of battery.
He also described a grant to install triple pane windows for the entire eco village, a high level of energy conservation. In case of emergency, the eco village can use the batteries from the electric cars for domestic use and are planning to develop the capability to use their solar panels directly for Kailash use if the grid goes down. One Kailash member is a ham radio buff so that adds to the interest for emergency preparedness. I was told another eco village member is chair of the neighborhood’s community organization.
Kailash invites neighbors to take wood chips and there is a neighborhood bulletin board with snack garden out along the street. Kailash has a lot going both within the eco village and also with the surrounding community. I really enjoyed knowing more about this remarkable place.
After a few hours and a couple hundred feet of trench filling, I connected with a woman who had responded to my e mail request to meet people who lived at Kailash. We talked for a couple hours while enjoying the view in the tree house. C was from Alaska and came to Portland to be closer to her kids. She found out about Kailash and is very happy to be a resident now for three years. An enthusiastic Buddhist, we shared stories about our lives, what we thought about the state of the world and why Kailash is such an important place.
Shortly after our chat, I met one of the people she suggested I connect with, Mr. “Bike.” I saw him working on his heavy lift electric cargo bike. I asked if it was true he had not even been inside a car for over five years. True enough and he had not been on a plane for longer than that. Mr. B was anti car for many reasons and I could totally agree. He is a photographer and manages his business using an electric bike.
By that time, it was late in the day but I had energy for physical work. Again, I walked over to Annapurna and again, I found Ole hard at work boxing up odd chunks of wood from removing unwanted shrubbery and small trees. I helped out and after we finished, we moved on to do more trench filling on the slope leading up to the swimming pool. We grabbed some tools and while walking to the trench site, an older woman came to me, very upset, and told me she needed help gaining access to her apartment. She had locked herself out.
I told her I was not the person with a key but could help. We talked with Ole. He did not have a key either but the solution was to bring a ladder to her balcony and a young neighbor climbed up to her apartment, entered through the unlocked sliding door and let her in the front door. Issue resolved.
Ole and I did another couple hours of work filling in trenches. It was very satisfying to see the mounds flatten out and the yellow tape taken away. And then, it was time for dinner. Ole and I drove one of the shared electric cars to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and had a great meal and touched on a lot of items. Ole and Maitri met in the Phillipines, Maitri’s home country. They discovered an interest in each other while exploring the Philippine rain forest. That was forty years ago.
I asked Ole if he often consciously thought about the awesome work he and Maitri were doing at Kailash. He said not so often. He told me it's simply the lifestyle of transformation. A retired general practitioner MD with a strong Eastern spiritual side, Ole chose the names Kailash and Annapurna because they refer to lofty mountain peaks in Nepal that have mystical connotations. He is greatly concerned with the environmental, social and public health damage caused by the consumer culture. Reducing eco footprints and facilitating community culture is a core ideal for the eco villages.
Returning to Kailash about sunset, Ole and I ascended the steep stairs to the cupola built on the top of Kailash, an architectural flourish, not yet complete. Still remaining are constructing several spires. Along with the cupolo, the goal is to make the outline of Kailash resemble the temple architecture of Nepal. From the cupolo’s lofty vantage point, Ole explained the 68 kilowatt array of photo voltaic panels covering the south facing roof. Kailash produces about 70% of the electricity it uses with the grid acting as a sort of battery.
He also described a grant to install triple pane windows for the entire eco village, a high level of energy conservation. In case of emergency, the eco village can use the batteries from the electric cars for domestic use and are planning to develop the capability to use their solar panels directly for Kailash use if the grid goes down. One Kailash member is a ham radio buff so that adds to the interest for emergency preparedness. I was told another eco village member is chair of the neighborhood’s community organization.
Kailash invites neighbors to take wood chips and there is a neighborhood bulletin board with snack garden out along the street. Kailash has a lot going both within the eco village and also with the surrounding community. I really enjoyed knowing more about this remarkable place.
A view showing the walkway and parkettes immediately in front of apartments, also visible on the other side of the path [in the shade] are structures for the bike area - covered bike parking and repair.
Paradise or Paradigm Shift
Next morning, I had to leave for my train to Eugene. I did a quick recon to Annapurna and there were Ole and Caleb, as usual busy with projects, this moment they were trenching water lines on the south side of the largest parking area. We said our goodbyes and then I returned my room key, thanked Maitri, descended to the ground floor below and. There was a bug screen in a doorway and a person standing just inside as I walked by. Of course I stopped and we ended up talking for close to half an hour. She was a sociologist with a degree from the University of Oregon. We talked about Eugene and life at Kailash which she enjoyed a great deal. Her hope was to move to a flat with her own kitchen. At present, her kitchen is shared with another resident via a door from the other apartment, a design fluke from rebuilding Kailash, there's an apartment without its own kitchen. With all the interest in reducing eco footprints cooperation and building community, people still like to have their own space and stuff. I am sympathetic.
Finally, it was time to go. As I was saying goodbye to my new sociology friend, C from the day before was arriving to visit. We greeted, shared a hug and I was on my way. My bike was ready and so was I for a 5 mile bike ride from southeast Portland to northeast Portland guided by street signage on Portland’s celebrated neighborhood bike boulevards. I encountered minimal traffic even crossing an interstate highway on a bike and pedestrian bridge.
I greatly enjoyed the bike ride. I love urban bike riding and have explored Manhattan, Paris, Warsaw, Barcelona and many other locations by bike. The 1940’s vintage homes here in Portland were decidedly tidy, attractive, green, with lots of large trees. I saw several excellent front yard gardens and a number of intersection repair murals.
My destination was to Our 42nd Avenue, a non profit public interest agency dedicated to context sensitive local economic development over several blocks of 42nd street in the Cully Neighborhood. I had visited the place years before, was impressed with their work doing sensible and sensitive economic re development in that small area and I wanted to update. Alas, the office was closed.
I made my way downtown crossing over the Willamette River. At this point, it’s a much larger river than upstream in Eugene and who could imagine this entire downtown area had been periodically immersed under 300 or so feet of water. It was the Missoula Floods during the last ice age, a great story of world class geomorphology.
Paradise or Paradigm Shift
Next morning, I had to leave for my train to Eugene. I did a quick recon to Annapurna and there were Ole and Caleb, as usual busy with projects, this moment they were trenching water lines on the south side of the largest parking area. We said our goodbyes and then I returned my room key, thanked Maitri, descended to the ground floor below and. There was a bug screen in a doorway and a person standing just inside as I walked by. Of course I stopped and we ended up talking for close to half an hour. She was a sociologist with a degree from the University of Oregon. We talked about Eugene and life at Kailash which she enjoyed a great deal. Her hope was to move to a flat with her own kitchen. At present, her kitchen is shared with another resident via a door from the other apartment, a design fluke from rebuilding Kailash, there's an apartment without its own kitchen. With all the interest in reducing eco footprints cooperation and building community, people still like to have their own space and stuff. I am sympathetic.
Finally, it was time to go. As I was saying goodbye to my new sociology friend, C from the day before was arriving to visit. We greeted, shared a hug and I was on my way. My bike was ready and so was I for a 5 mile bike ride from southeast Portland to northeast Portland guided by street signage on Portland’s celebrated neighborhood bike boulevards. I encountered minimal traffic even crossing an interstate highway on a bike and pedestrian bridge.
I greatly enjoyed the bike ride. I love urban bike riding and have explored Manhattan, Paris, Warsaw, Barcelona and many other locations by bike. The 1940’s vintage homes here in Portland were decidedly tidy, attractive, green, with lots of large trees. I saw several excellent front yard gardens and a number of intersection repair murals.
My destination was to Our 42nd Avenue, a non profit public interest agency dedicated to context sensitive local economic development over several blocks of 42nd street in the Cully Neighborhood. I had visited the place years before, was impressed with their work doing sensible and sensitive economic re development in that small area and I wanted to update. Alas, the office was closed.
I made my way downtown crossing over the Willamette River. At this point, it’s a much larger river than upstream in Eugene and who could imagine this entire downtown area had been periodically immersed under 300 or so feet of water. It was the Missoula Floods during the last ice age, a great story of world class geomorphology.
Crossing the Willamette on the Broadway Bridge into the Pearl District. You can see some of the residential high rise buildings on the right.
I had some time to explore the Pearl District, only a few blocks north of downtown. Up until the 1980’s the area was industrial with warehouses, light industry and rail yards. It's now totally different with its trendy, upscale residential area, restaurants, galleries, boutiques, small parks and gleaming 15 to 20 story apartment buildings. I gazed up at the different styles of architecture, wondered about what happens inside the shiny facades, many had balconies and some looked to be penthouses with expansive wrap around terraces and two story high glass facades.
Still with some time, I biked a few blocks downtown to Pioneer Square, Portland’s signature center of town. An historical marker described the site having hosted a large fancy Victorian hotel up to the 1950's, then a two story parking garage and now a public open space surrounded by office buildings, franchise establishments and local food carts. Portland’s downtown tram line clatters by frequently on one side of the square.
Finally, time to head for the train station. I returned towards the area with all those gleaming apartment buildings taking a different route. I meandered through a grimy urban landscape. The buildings were old and did not gleam, there were few cars, no stores, no tram but there were dozens of down and out people both in clusters and alone scattered here and there, some with their meager possessions, often laying on the gritty sidewalks or leaning on dirty walls, some taking drugs as I biked past.
This was another side of Portland. I know most cities in the US have similar places. Eugene has a smaller area and also many homeless people. I came around a corner looking for the tower of the train station but saw the large colorful bus of a local public health non profit, parked along a vacant lot with a chain link fence around it. As I biked towards the bus, four workers looked my way, a couple stood up as I approached and appeared eager to welcome me, glad to finally assist someone in need.
Yes, I was in need. Of directions to the train station. I thanked them for being there for those many dozens I had just passed by and after a bit of conversation, we all lamented the condition of a society that allows anyone to be homeless, down and out. There is no shortage of money to fix so many of our problems.
On the 3 hour train ride home, aside from chats with the woman sitting next to me who worked as a docent for a science museum, I contemplated the visit to Portland, particularly a wide range of peoples’ living conditions. Of course, I loved the eco villages. These transformed places totally fit my ideal of a preferred society and economic system that would help make such places possible. Kailash is repairing the urban landscape, residents are learning social and lifestyle skills while reducing eco footprints and creating a real life example of what moving towards sustainability and social uplift can look like.
I have looked into the issue of eco footprints a good deal. One footprint calculator I am familiar with, from the Global Footprint Network would likely tell us the entire world could live sustainably, more or less, like residents of Kailash, especially those residents without a private car, don't fly and were vegetarian or even better, vegan.
Meanwhile, the green and tidy neighborhoods with modest but still probably million dollar homes I passed through on my bike ride looked beautiful, but still with eco footprints multiple times larger than the planet can sustain for everyone. The high rise upscale Pearl area is very modern, very walkable, even with a convenient tram for commuting to nearby downtown. One could easily live car free. Depending on the lifestyle particulars, some of the residents in the highrises could also have modest eco footprints by US standards.
And then, the smallest footprints, those people living on the streets. My guess, from what I saw, if they took the footprint survey, they would find their eco footprints very sustainable in terms of resources consumed. But living on the street like that is not the solution.
Catching the occasional waterfront view of the Willamette River on the train, south of Portland, I continued my contemplation, recalling an encounter only a couple hours earlier while sitting on a shady park bench in the Pearl area. There was a large splashy water feature a short distance away with someone using it to wash up. People passing by were paying no attention. A middle aged and comfortably dressed woman sitting near me asked if I had just saved a lady bug. She saw me walk to a shrub nearby and gently brush something off my arm onto a bush. Surprised and amused, I asked her, how did she know that was a lady bug?
We ended up talking for a while. I told her I was from Eugene and had visited an eco village in Portland. I was eager to describe some of my visit to Kailash but she quickly navigated the conversation in a different direction. She said there was an opportunity for life on earth to be a paradise, free of pain and suffering. No need for hip replacements, hearing aids or any medical and social interventions. She told me she was taking a break as one of the Jehovah's Witnesses I had seen earlier a couple blocks away, on the street with their display, reaching out to people passing by.
Personally, I would settle for a lot less than paradise. For me, paradigm shift would work, a condition where people simply behave in their own best interests which means living within the boundaries of the natural world and cooperating with each other for the common good. That would look a lot like Kailash Eco Village.
I had some time to explore the Pearl District, only a few blocks north of downtown. Up until the 1980’s the area was industrial with warehouses, light industry and rail yards. It's now totally different with its trendy, upscale residential area, restaurants, galleries, boutiques, small parks and gleaming 15 to 20 story apartment buildings. I gazed up at the different styles of architecture, wondered about what happens inside the shiny facades, many had balconies and some looked to be penthouses with expansive wrap around terraces and two story high glass facades.
Still with some time, I biked a few blocks downtown to Pioneer Square, Portland’s signature center of town. An historical marker described the site having hosted a large fancy Victorian hotel up to the 1950's, then a two story parking garage and now a public open space surrounded by office buildings, franchise establishments and local food carts. Portland’s downtown tram line clatters by frequently on one side of the square.
Finally, time to head for the train station. I returned towards the area with all those gleaming apartment buildings taking a different route. I meandered through a grimy urban landscape. The buildings were old and did not gleam, there were few cars, no stores, no tram but there were dozens of down and out people both in clusters and alone scattered here and there, some with their meager possessions, often laying on the gritty sidewalks or leaning on dirty walls, some taking drugs as I biked past.
This was another side of Portland. I know most cities in the US have similar places. Eugene has a smaller area and also many homeless people. I came around a corner looking for the tower of the train station but saw the large colorful bus of a local public health non profit, parked along a vacant lot with a chain link fence around it. As I biked towards the bus, four workers looked my way, a couple stood up as I approached and appeared eager to welcome me, glad to finally assist someone in need.
Yes, I was in need. Of directions to the train station. I thanked them for being there for those many dozens I had just passed by and after a bit of conversation, we all lamented the condition of a society that allows anyone to be homeless, down and out. There is no shortage of money to fix so many of our problems.
On the 3 hour train ride home, aside from chats with the woman sitting next to me who worked as a docent for a science museum, I contemplated the visit to Portland, particularly a wide range of peoples’ living conditions. Of course, I loved the eco villages. These transformed places totally fit my ideal of a preferred society and economic system that would help make such places possible. Kailash is repairing the urban landscape, residents are learning social and lifestyle skills while reducing eco footprints and creating a real life example of what moving towards sustainability and social uplift can look like.
I have looked into the issue of eco footprints a good deal. One footprint calculator I am familiar with, from the Global Footprint Network would likely tell us the entire world could live sustainably, more or less, like residents of Kailash, especially those residents without a private car, don't fly and were vegetarian or even better, vegan.
Meanwhile, the green and tidy neighborhoods with modest but still probably million dollar homes I passed through on my bike ride looked beautiful, but still with eco footprints multiple times larger than the planet can sustain for everyone. The high rise upscale Pearl area is very modern, very walkable, even with a convenient tram for commuting to nearby downtown. One could easily live car free. Depending on the lifestyle particulars, some of the residents in the highrises could also have modest eco footprints by US standards.
And then, the smallest footprints, those people living on the streets. My guess, from what I saw, if they took the footprint survey, they would find their eco footprints very sustainable in terms of resources consumed. But living on the street like that is not the solution.
Catching the occasional waterfront view of the Willamette River on the train, south of Portland, I continued my contemplation, recalling an encounter only a couple hours earlier while sitting on a shady park bench in the Pearl area. There was a large splashy water feature a short distance away with someone using it to wash up. People passing by were paying no attention. A middle aged and comfortably dressed woman sitting near me asked if I had just saved a lady bug. She saw me walk to a shrub nearby and gently brush something off my arm onto a bush. Surprised and amused, I asked her, how did she know that was a lady bug?
We ended up talking for a while. I told her I was from Eugene and had visited an eco village in Portland. I was eager to describe some of my visit to Kailash but she quickly navigated the conversation in a different direction. She said there was an opportunity for life on earth to be a paradise, free of pain and suffering. No need for hip replacements, hearing aids or any medical and social interventions. She told me she was taking a break as one of the Jehovah's Witnesses I had seen earlier a couple blocks away, on the street with their display, reaching out to people passing by.
Personally, I would settle for a lot less than paradise. For me, paradigm shift would work, a condition where people simply behave in their own best interests which means living within the boundaries of the natural world and cooperating with each other for the common good. That would look a lot like Kailash Eco Village.