Ziology

My wife's birthday was yesterday, and today marks 6 years since the night we fell in love and starting dating. So, to celebrate, we decided to take a little mini-vacation. She and Jaren have had some health concerns this past week, so we didn't want to overdo it. Shauni found a great deal on a creek-side cabin, complete with hot-tub and personal balcony, in a little town outside of Prescott, called Mayer, about an hour away. We were looking on a map of Arizona for other things we could go do or see in the area, and Shauni noticed something on the map, and asked me, " Have you ever heard of Arcosanti?" All of a sudden, I remembered that a few months ago, when I first got interested in Utopias, I was doing a search on google for some contemporary Utopian experiments, and I remembered coming across one here in the Arizona desert called Arcosanti. I remember being impressed that there was one still in operation, here in Arizona of all places, and I remembered that instead of being a religious organization, this was more of an experiment in "green" living, and architecture. I never thought I would get to see it, though. That is, until Shauni showed me on the map that it was only a few miles from where we were staying!
It was established by an Italian-born architect named Paolo Soleri, back in the 1970's, as an "urban laboratory," to test his ideas and his theory of "Arcology," a blend of architecture and ecology. Soleri had grand ambitions with his theory, and his plans for the site would house 5,000 people, and provide working and recreation space for them as well. The mega-structure would rely on solar heating in the winter, and giant quarter-spherical domes for shade in the summer, and would be a totally self-sufficient community and structure. Actually, the current site is quite small, run-down, uses the city's electrical grid, and only houses about 70 permanent residents. But, I was still impressed with the potential I saw in the application of his ideas.

One of the most interesting points of his, was that the American way of life, on a global scale, is totally unsustainable. The earth, and all its resources, could only support about 300 million people living in such a way, indefinitely, and there are already that many people living in America. To raise the standard of living for all of earth's inhabitants to that of the average American would require 20 earths! So, obviously, if we want to continue living the way we do, and we want to raise the standard of living for all people, which we do, we need to find a better way to use energy, and waste less. I couldn't agree more. In fact, if I wasn't tied down with a job and school, I would like to try it out!

We had a great time on our vacation, and touring Arcosanti has given me some great ideas for the practical application of the principles of Zion. I have no doubt that in Zion, people will once again be a boon to nature, and not a burden. We will learn to live in a more stable, harmonious, and sustainable way with the elements, and with each other. That was one of the only things we didn't like about Arcosanti and Arcology: the life-style of its inhabitants wasn't very conducive to the nuclear family that we cherish so much in America, and in the Church. Living in such close quarters with other people would certainly infringe on one's sense of privacy, independence, and individualism. In a lot of ways, that might not be so bad, but as for raising a family in a successful, monogamous marriage, that might not be so easy.

I think it would be interesting to learn the history of our current "suburban sprawl" culture, and see why we live this way, and what effect it has on our society and culture, and how we could change that culture in a way that preserves the nuclear family, but makes better use of real estate and energy. I think I would call such a study "Ziology." All jokes aside, I really do think it would be interesting to see more urban experiments like this one.