Can you picture the future in a world without fossil fuels? Perhaps you think that living an "alternative" lifestyle has to mean painful and radical changes to the way you live now. This album looks at various small scale initiatives which show that living sustainably may not be as unpalatable as you might imagine. Bedzed, Findhorn, Hockerton, Samsoe Island; these are all decentralised communities at the forefront of a major social and technological experiment. In our world of finite resources and massive over-consumption, “breathing” walls, earth-shelters, composting toilets, "living machines" to deal with wastewater – are just some of the technologies which we may all have to get used to. These eco-communities are all breaking new ground by demonstrating how implementation of innovative solutions can create changes in social behaviour, so that people live in harmony with the Earth’s living systems, rather than against them. You might also wish to explore the other T307 albums "Energy and Sustainability" and "Design and Sustainability". This material forms part of The Open University Course T307 Innovation: designing for a sustainable future.