#033 Life By Design: Community, Permaculture, and Redesigning Our World with Stephen Brooks

When you hear the word “DESIGN”, what comes to your mind? Is it architecture? Clothing? Home interior design? It’s an interesting point to ponder, as our next guest inspires us to think outside of the box and start thinking about creating a life by design.

Today we’re connecting with Stephen Brooks, a visionary and community builder, who spreads love and shares knowledge all over the world; teaching thousands of people how to design the life and community of their dreams and helping them create it. Stephen is one of those people that everyone knows because of his kind heart, charismatic personality, and ability to execute on his vision. His name seems to pop up everywhere I go. He is the founder of Punta Mona, an off-grid permaculture farm and educational retreat center in Costa Rica, the co-founder of Envision Festival, a place [that we all know] I love, and the founder of two eco villages, La Ecovila and Alegria Village; and these are all among many other projects he’s played a role in around the world.

In this episode, we’ll hear about Stephen’s upbringing, where he discovered community, and how he went from the suburbs of Florida to living off-the-grid in the jungles of Costa Rica.

This is the video Rob Greenfield created about Stephen.

Show Notes:

(3:15) We open with Stephen sharing what has been coming up for him during these times of COVID-19. He explains how he has enjoyed the downtime at his eco community La Ecovilla (with 45 families from 22 countries)
(5:05) Stephen shares his view on the regenerative communities and intentional communities, and how he believes La Ecovilla is more of an “Eco-neighborhood”, where a intentional community is brought together by a group of people that decide the values together
(5:55) Stephen explains how he designs the life he wants with specifics, such as the desire and to grow his own food, find a way to use recycled plastics to pave the road, and the freedom to swim naked in a private river, just minutes from the house
(8:00) Taco Tal is a community that Stephen started with friends that he would more-so consider an intentional community
(10:00) Garrett brings up transitional ethics which he learned from Rob Greenfield, a good friend of Stephen’s (learn more about Rob Greenfield in episode #030)
(11:00) Stephen brings up his childhood, growing up in the suburbs of Miami, and how his upbringing still included a lot of nature, animals, and travel
(11:50) Stephen shares the experience of his first Grateful Dead concert and explains how good that community felt
(13:20) Stephen shares how his best friend’s death from a car accident completely shifted and changed his life
(14:10) Stephen recalls studying abroad in Spain, its community and the ways it was designed. He loved that everything he ever needed was either in his building or on his block, and this convenience and ability got him thinking more intricately about intentional design
(15:30) Stephen made his first trip to Costa Rica and had his life rocked when he saw a group of indigenous children get crop dusted with pesticides from a Chiquita Banana airplane
(18:00) After seeing this, Stephen decided to start an educational travel company to bring high school and college kids from the states to Costa Rica. He wanted to show them many things- the beauty, the culture, the reality of the rainforest destruction, but also show that there were actionable solutions
(21:30) Stephen says that if he was going to take any title, it would be an Ethnobotanist, which is “the study of the relationship between humans and plants”
(23:00) Garrett talks about his experience at Stephen’s educational center Punta Mona, and how this/Stephen taught him to have more gratitude for the process of how his food is produced and served
(24:30) Stephen shares the story of how he found Punta Mona while fishing with his father off the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica
(26:40) Stephen talks about meeting his friend and neighbor Patty, and their first discussion about having kids camp on his land
(28:35) Stephen recalls an impactful moment, the day Patty gave him a matchbox with a note in it (the note containing his neighbors’ name & number that would give him access to initiate the property purchase)
(31:15) Stephen shares some of the highlights when the business began to prosper—he would be running around paying people with wads of cash and finding clever ways to support the local community
(34:30) “We’re all seeing different parts of the same movie”
(36:30) Stephen talks about a TV show that he hosted called “Edible Adventures”
(38:45) Stephen talks about buying 170 acres 2 years ago to start Alegria Village, which has plans to have more families and an elder village
(40:45) Garrett shares the condensed version of his story from episode #010 and how he synchronistically met Stephen at Oregon Eclipse
(43:00) “There is a fine line between a visionary and a liar” - Stephen Brooks
(43:30) Stephen shares his idea to change the world 1001 hectors at a time, by design.
(46:00) He wants to make this community affordable for everyone
(47:25) Stephen’s 3 truths:
- 1) Be conscious and careful of who you partner with (marriage, business, land)
- 2) Find the balance of doing and being
- 3) Increase the percentage of first and last names you know of the people producing your food
(48:45) IGs: @stephenbrooks @alegriavillage @puntamona

Connect with Stephen: