One way to think of applying for a position at Windward is that it's sort of like trying out for a place on the popular "reality" show Survivor--the key difference being that the goal here is to vote people on to the island, not off.
The creation of an eco-village involves the long term investment of a huge amount of labor and capital. It has taken us years to acquire and--most importantly--pay for Windward's land and life support systems. Moreover we've worked carefully for years with state and federal authorities to secure legal permission to do what we do, and over that time we've evolved a set of consensus-based by-laws that have allowed us to maintain organizational continuity as people come and go.
We're now to the point in our organizational life that in order to engage the next level of sustainability we need to find and prepare a team to take over and carry this work forward. If Windward proves unable to hand off the baton, then we'll have failed a key sustainability test. We're not content for Windward to become a retirement community--the task of creating a working model of the sustainable, post-industrial village is too important to allow that to happen.
From our standpoint, a key purpose of the three month program is to enable young people who are inspired by the challenge of creating sustainability to have a chance to get a taste of what that lifestyle could be like, and to help move our program a bit closer towards that goal. If someone is just looking for a laid-back, no-cost vacation--this isn't the place for them, but if they really are determined to embrace the sustainable lifestyle--not someday down the road, but here and now--then they're the sort of person we're looking for.
And if you're that sort of person, then this opportunity is a way to "proceed directly to go" and get on with the challenge of building a sustainable home that suits you, and a right livelihood that empowers you--not someday down the road--but starting right now...as in tomorrow morning.
There are huge dues that have to be paid in order for an organization to create a critical mass of sustainability--and we've already paid most of them. If you're the sort of person who can build on that foundation, who wants to see a sustainable post-industrial village so much that you're willing to invest heart, mind and body into the fulfillment of that dream, then we want to get to know you.
Maybe this is the place for you, maybe not, but this opportunity is a chance for you to experience our vision of how to create sustainability at the small community level, and for us to get to know you as a person, as a key player in that process. What happens after that will be interesting, to say the least.