I was looking over a trend briefing this afternoon at work, and it was entirely focused upon the strong surge in ecological consciousness amongst consumers and the companies who want to sell things to them.

In the briefing, there was an article put out by a group known as WorldWatch, self described as “an independent research organization that works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, in which the needs of all people are met without threatening the health of the natural environment or the well-being of future generations.”

But the article, at least in the first couple of paragraphs, sounds a lot like the kind of thing some of us here at CR are all excited about:

Worldwatch Institute – August 8, 2007 – 5:00am

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Municipal leaders from San Francisco to Melbourne are engaging in sustainability actions from banning plastic bags and water bottles to making commitments to address climate change. But within and beyond cities, growing numbers of local communities are also going green, according to a new Vital Signs Update from the Worldwatch Institute. Worldwide, the 379 “ecovillages” currently registered with the Global Ecovillage Network are sharing innovative solutions that connect residents socially while collectively lowering their ecological footprints— including local food co-ops, community-supported agriculture programs, and carpooling.

“Planned communities tend to evoke over-developed suburban neighborhoods and mini-malls,” says Erik Assadourian, Worldwatch Research Associate and author of the Update. “But increasingly, planned communities will come to mean neighbors living with a purpose beyond consumerism, embracing a sustainable lifestyle and forging meaningful connections with their neighbors.”

These “planned communities” used to be called “towns” or “villages” and found a purpose “beyond consumerism” in their parish church. It’s both odd and interesting that the current socio-economic environment requires that such communities be planned, rather than naturally occuring.

I’m not so sure that I’m up for “shared dining halls” and “other spaces” as part of a move toward self-sustainability, and I’m less interested in this sort of thing for the sake of reducing my “eco-footprint” than I am for quality of life and a more adequate filter on cultural influences, but I’m ok with a neighborhood barbecue with all my fellow Catholic homesteaders and seeing these same friends at Mass every day.

The ends, and even some of the means, differ – but the essential concepts are strikingly similar. In the war against rampant consumerism (a war I frequently fall victim to due to my admittedly cosmopolitan tastes) it seems that many in the environmental movement are our unwitting allies.

After years of making fun of them, it’s sort of a strange feeling.

I’ll still make fun of them though.