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The Ecolibrium commune settles in Imperial Beach
Arol Wulf and Wulf Zendik: "We're not so negative"
Imperial Beach has been a long-time media favorite for contaminated water coverage, but now, ironically, the city has become headquarters for an environmentalist commune that calls itself Ecolibrium. Twenty-five of the group’s forty members (two other communal centers are maintained outside San Diego, one in the Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles, and the other in Palm Springs) share a small three-bedroom, one-bath house on Daisy Avenue, off Fourth Street, a few blocks from the beach.
In the early morning the house fairly hums with activity as Ecolibrium members rouse themselves from their sleeping places in the bedrooms and back yard, and begin their various assigned tasks of cleaning up and preparing food for the day ahead. Amid the activity, forty-six-year-old Arol Wulf (nee Carol Weinberg), sits in the small living room while various icons of Sixties-style communal living – dogs, naked children, and long-haired young men – mill about her. She surveys the passing scene with pride. “Between 1969 and 1976,” she says, “when the group was trying to establish itself in Idyllwild, we disbanded completely four or five times. We said, ‘Who needs the hassle?’ But it’s 1985, and we’re going stronger than ever. The thing that makes it work is the morality behind what we’re doing. Other Sixties communal experiments didn’t have a guiding purpose, but we do. That’s why we’re still around.”
The Ecolibrium philosophy centers around four key points, identified by the commune’s philosopher, cofounder, and Arol Wulf’s husband of twenty-three years, Wulf Zendik. The key points are: cosmic responsibility – each individual must do what he or she can to promote a “sane and ecological culture”; the eternal pursuit of truth; the belief that humans are a benevolent species; and most importantly, communalism. Ecolibrium members strongly believe that humans are intrinsically geared to live together in groups, and that the only way the world as a whole can save itself is through the creation of communities like Ecolibrium.
In accordance with these principles, Ecolibrium members engage in a wide range of activities. Part of their communal life is to recycle clothing for themselves. Their clothing is patched and repaired until it can be repaired no more. Certain group members are skilled leather workers who repair and make shoes and boots for the group. Trash is divided into stuffs used for compost or items to be recycled for other purposes. String and paper are also saved and reused. While roughly eighty percent of their food is purchased from San Diego health food stores, the rest is gathered from select locations throughout Southern California. Farmers and other property owners who have particular crops that are not economically feasible to harvest donate these to Ecolibrium.
Since Ecolibrium relocated to Imperial Beach four months ago (after having once maintained a farm outside of Bonsall in 1978) and established the site as the main base for its activities, four San Diegans have joined its ranks. They too, have busied themselves with the endeavors that form the core of the commune’s group life. Ecolibrium produces a monthly show of guerilla theater at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center and produces a quarterly newspaper, entitled the Zendika Warrior, which is hawked in front of such locations as People’s Food in Ocean Beach and Jimbo’s food store in North Park. Chen Zendik (ne Brian Atkins), the Warrior’s editor, says that the group prints roughly 12,000 copies of the paper every three months. He says that the commune exists primarily on donations received for the publication, which amount to roughly $1.25 per copy.
According to Wulf it costs about $3000 per month to house, clothe, and feed the twenty-five commune members. The group’s diet consists mainly of tofu, vegetables, and fruit routinely bought from organic farmers in North County. And although Ecolibrium consider respect for all living things as being of paramount importance, eating fish and poultry is permitted. While Ecolibrium’s dietary laws remain casual, other forms of activity follow rather stringent guidelines. Romantic liaisons, a potential source of conflict in any group-living situation, are conducted with as little secrecy as possible, so that every group member knows who is sleeping with whom. If a young man, for example, would like to sleep with a young woman, the proposition must be delivered by a third party. This is done for two reasons, Wulf says. First, a third part is used to deflect the potential embarrassment of any rejection and, second, this procedure allows other group members to keep tabs on each other’s activities. “It’s important that we have no secrets,” Wulf explains. “If a couple wants to remain monogamous, that’s fine. They’ll have group support. You’ll never find anything like wife beating going on here, because everyone is in on everyone else’s problems. You couldn’t get away with something like that. It’s important that no one here feels isolated in his or her problems.”
There are five children born at the commune who are currently being raised there. They are not sent to public school, but are taught by commune members with state-approved educational materials. Arol Wulf and Wulf Zendik have one child, Faun, who is nine years old. “It will be interesting,” Arol Wulf says, “to see how these children turn out, having been brought up in Ecolibrium.” Although Wulf Zendik was unavailable for comment (he has been on retreat in Julian), Arol Wulf says the commune is entering a new stage of its philosophy. “We’re not so negative. We used to be so down on mankind, always focusing on man as being a destroyer. But now Wulf Zendik is saying we should focus on human beings as being potentially good, that we can have some beneficent effect on our environment. We’re not evil. We are essentially all right.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
The Ecolibrium commune settles in Imperial Beach
Arol Wulf and Wulf Zendik: "We're not so negative"
The Ecolibrium commune settles in Imperial Beach
Arol Wulf and Wulf Zendik: "We're not so negative"
Imperial Beach has been a long-time media favorite for contaminated water coverage, but now, ironically, the city has become headquarters for an environmentalist commune that calls itself Ecolibrium. Twenty-five of the group’s forty members (two other communal centers are maintained outside San Diego, one in the Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles, and the other in Palm Springs) share a small three-bedroom, one-bath house on Daisy Avenue, off Fourth Street, a few blocks from the beach.
In the early morning the house fairly hums with activity as Ecolibrium members rouse themselves from their sleeping places in the bedrooms and back yard, and begin their various assigned tasks of cleaning up and preparing food for the day ahead. Amid the activity, forty-six-year-old Arol Wulf (nee Carol Weinberg), sits in the small living room while various icons of Sixties-style communal living – dogs, naked children, and long-haired young men – mill about her. She surveys the passing scene with pride. “Between 1969 and 1976,” she says, “when the group was trying to establish itself in Idyllwild, we disbanded completely four or five times. We said, ‘Who needs the hassle?’ But it’s 1985, and we’re going stronger than ever. The thing that makes it work is the morality behind what we’re doing. Other Sixties communal experiments didn’t have a guiding purpose, but we do. That’s why we’re still around.”
The Ecolibrium philosophy centers around four key points, identified by the commune’s philosopher, cofounder, and Arol Wulf’s husband of twenty-three years, Wulf Zendik. The key points are: cosmic responsibility – each individual must do what he or she can to promote a “sane and ecological culture”; the eternal pursuit of truth; the belief that humans are a benevolent species; and most importantly, communalism. Ecolibrium members strongly believe that humans are intrinsically geared to live together in groups, and that the only way the world as a whole can save itself is through the creation of communities like Ecolibrium.
In accordance with these principles, Ecolibrium members engage in a wide range of activities. Part of their communal life is to recycle clothing for themselves. Their clothing is patched and repaired until it can be repaired no more. Certain group members are skilled leather workers who repair and make shoes and boots for the group. Trash is divided into stuffs used for compost or items to be recycled for other purposes. String and paper are also saved and reused. While roughly eighty percent of their food is purchased from San Diego health food stores, the rest is gathered from select locations throughout Southern California. Farmers and other property owners who have particular crops that are not economically feasible to harvest donate these to Ecolibrium.
Since Ecolibrium relocated to Imperial Beach four months ago (after having once maintained a farm outside of Bonsall in 1978) and established the site as the main base for its activities, four San Diegans have joined its ranks. They too, have busied themselves with the endeavors that form the core of the commune’s group life. Ecolibrium produces a monthly show of guerilla theater at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center and produces a quarterly newspaper, entitled the Zendika Warrior, which is hawked in front of such locations as People’s Food in Ocean Beach and Jimbo’s food store in North Park. Chen Zendik (ne Brian Atkins), the Warrior’s editor, says that the group prints roughly 12,000 copies of the paper every three months. He says that the commune exists primarily on donations received for the publication, which amount to roughly $1.25 per copy.
According to Wulf it costs about $3000 per month to house, clothe, and feed the twenty-five commune members. The group’s diet consists mainly of tofu, vegetables, and fruit routinely bought from organic farmers in North County. And although Ecolibrium consider respect for all living things as being of paramount importance, eating fish and poultry is permitted. While Ecolibrium’s dietary laws remain casual, other forms of activity follow rather stringent guidelines. Romantic liaisons, a potential source of conflict in any group-living situation, are conducted with as little secrecy as possible, so that every group member knows who is sleeping with whom. If a young man, for example, would like to sleep with a young woman, the proposition must be delivered by a third party. This is done for two reasons, Wulf says. First, a third part is used to deflect the potential embarrassment of any rejection and, second, this procedure allows other group members to keep tabs on each other’s activities. “It’s important that we have no secrets,” Wulf explains. “If a couple wants to remain monogamous, that’s fine. They’ll have group support. You’ll never find anything like wife beating going on here, because everyone is in on everyone else’s problems. You couldn’t get away with something like that. It’s important that no one here feels isolated in his or her problems.”
There are five children born at the commune who are currently being raised there. They are not sent to public school, but are taught by commune members with state-approved educational materials. Arol Wulf and Wulf Zendik have one child, Faun, who is nine years old. “It will be interesting,” Arol Wulf says, “to see how these children turn out, having been brought up in Ecolibrium.” Although Wulf Zendik was unavailable for comment (he has been on retreat in Julian), Arol Wulf says the commune is entering a new stage of its philosophy. “We’re not so negative. We used to be so down on mankind, always focusing on man as being a destroyer. But now Wulf Zendik is saying we should focus on human beings as being potentially good, that we can have some beneficent effect on our environment. We’re not evil. We are essentially all right.”
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