What would cause a successful international food service chain executive to leave the corporate world and the comforts of city life for a very different existence in the mountains of Tennessee? Grant Miller did just that, and is now happily involved in the development of a sustainable community called The Village on Sewanee Creek.

“I think most Americans recognize that local economies have been weakened by globalization,” says Grant. “We have outsourced most of our manufacturing capacity to the lowest-cost foreign producers. While it is true that we have enjoyed the benefits of low-cost consumer goods, there are also risks. Food and other necessities must be transported from long distances, subject to disruptions of all kinds. Many self-sufficiency skills that were common among our ancestors have been lost as we have become increasingly specialized in professions that don’t produce anything of tangible, life-sustaining value.”

Grant laments the increasingly fragile state of public services and local and national economies: “People long for a more stable time when we felt in control of our lives and local communities. Locally strong, independent, self-sustaining communities are the antidote to modern angst.”

Located on 750 acres of beautiful land in the mountains of Tennessee, The Village on Sewanee Creek is an experiment in living wisely. The members of the community have a vision of living simply, practically and within their means. They generate their own electricity, grow their own food, and maintain their own water supply. Through a combination of modern green building technologies and time-tested pioneering techniques they keep their homes comfortable and care for their families in an environment that is as independent as possible.

For more information on this topic we suggest the following articles:

Intentional Communities (The Daily Green)

Interview with Grant Miller (Business Pundit)

Sustainable Living Communities (Wise Living Journal)

Algae is the fastest growing plant life, and as an organism it converts sunlight into oil, scientists theorize that Algal biofuel can produce a whopping 30 times more energy per acre than any other biofuel option. The US Department of Energy has estimated that if Algal Biofuel replaced all conventional fuel in the country, it would require 15,000 square miles of land to harvest the algae… which is roughly one seventh of the area that is used to harvest corn in the US every year. And a diverse group of byproducts, such as neutraceuticals and feedstocks for producing plastics, can be created in algal biofuel operations, making the production more cost effective. But before we start celebrating the great biofuel solution we've been looking for, there are a few problems… the biomass for producing a significant amount of algal biofuel just doesn't exist yet. The algae has to be grown from scratch and harvesting it is very expensive at this point in time. The potential of Algal Biofuel is staggering… but …

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