Daniel Greenberg: nomadic community builder

Daniel Greenberg is a 62-year-old community builder, serial social entrepreneur, and long-time nomad who has spent more than half his life in intentional communities and lives on less than $24,000 a year. (daniel@ic.org)

Daniel traces his unconventional path from graduate research on children growing up in communes to traveling around the country in a Westphalia camper van, living in communities around the world, and starting organizations that introduce people to alternative ways of living. He explains why most people don’t even think to put “community” on their list of things they want from life, the differences between communes, co-housing, and ecovillages, and why he sees these communities as laboratories for figuring out how humans can live well and lightly together.

Today, Daniel bounces between communities in Massachusetts, Scotland, India, and Brazil, carrying almost everything he owns in a backpack and carry-on. He has about $8,000 in the bank, owns a house that doesn’t generate income for him, and somehow manages to put a daughter through college. Daniel describes why planning too far ahead can actually make his life worse, how he thinks about his extraordinary network of friends as a form of wealth, and the messy realities of living alongside other people, from incompatible kitchen standards to the challenge of “cohesion without coercion.”

Finally, Daniel reflects on why he’s never been particularly interested in maximizing his salary and why his guiding question isn’t “Where should I go next?” but “Where do I need to be, who do I need to be with, and where can I contribute?”

Full transcript: dirtbagrich.com/daniel