The old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times” is upon us. For the cohousing movement it is as Charlie Dickens would have said the “best and the worst of times.” The housing market is at its worst and the economy is not doing well. It is a hard time to think about housing as a solution to life’s challenges let alone a way to “save the world one neighborhood at a time.” It is times like this that small splinter movements like cohousing can get lost and buried.

But it is the best of times for cohousing in that our awareness of the need to sustain our culture and our planet are at a high point. The economic downturn is forcing a break with the American addiction to materialism and a rethinking of values. Global warming and high gas prices are having significant impacts on our society, although it still isn’t a fast enough impact for some of us.