Baja Ecovillage is a place for folks who seek a simpler lifestyle — where we can live affordably in our own earth-friendly homes, in a community of likeminded neighbors. And it’s a place where people can visit, to learn how to build their own green homes, or to plant trees and build trails in a new forest, or to just get away for a few days to a place that’s low on impact and rich in natural beauty.
Baja Ecovillage founder Mark Lurie shares his vision in this YouTube clip:
About the founder
In 1999 Mark Lurie, a Santa Barbara, Calif. designer-builder, upped stakes and moved to Baja California. He chose a favorite place he had visited as a child: Punta Banda, the picturesque peninsula at the southern end of Ensenada’s bay. The Punta Banda region’s great natural beauty, fishing villages, farmland, and friendly locals make it a popular vacation destination. Many Americans own or rent houses in the area, and some decide to stay. Mark stayed.
Immersing himself in Punta Banda’s community and natural beauty, Mark formed the plan that would become Baja Ecovillage. In 2003 he began purchasing land from the town of Cantú, which is nestled between the estuary, beach, and the base of the peninsula. Then he started planting trees, building homes in harmony with their environment, and engaging a community in the work of making something that matters.
In other words, he kept doing what he’s always done. Just bigger, and with more spice.
Prior to moving to Baja, Mark had spent 25 years designing, building and restoring houses and other structures in Santa Barbara. He constructed big custom homes and tiny cottages, restored old commercial buildings and Victorian-era “painted lady” homes, and restored the 14 historical structures at Lotusland originated by Madame Walska.
Mark has spent most of his life figuring out how to get communities working and building together. He lived on a community farm in Ojai, Calif., and on an Israeli kibbutz. As a Santa Barbara contractor, he worked with local agencies and businesses to build Transition House, a 70-bed homeless shelter, and co-founded Homes for People, a sweat-equity affordable housing group that built 115 housing units.
Mark has held a lifelong fascination for the art of building, and how this art is expressed in other parts of the world. He’s worked on hand-built construction projects in Great Britain, helped restore a 800-year-old building in Italy, learned wood-carving in Indonesia, and has studied in Argentina, Spain, and Nepal. Mark expresses his artistic spirit in smaller forms too: He’s an accomplished sculptor and jewelry designer, and a master stonemason and tilemason.
In addition to his many passions, Mark has one big obsession: planting forests. While still in his 20s, he purchased logged-over land in Humboldt County, and in late 80s and early 90s planted 46,000 trees. Santa Barbara County — 2000 trees. Ventura County mountains — 2000 trees. And now he’s planting a forest in Baja Ecovillage’s protected forest park. Since 1989, Mark has planted over 55,000 trees, most of them purchased from his own pocket. Mark recently visited his first planting area and climbed a 60-foot-tall, two-foot diameter tree he had planted as a seedling. The tallest new tree in Baja Ecovillage planted from a sapling is now 30 feet tall.
