In 2013, Zizi Vlaun and her husband, Scott, started the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy in Norway, and in the years since, the impact of their efforts on the Oxford Hills area has come into focus.

On the website for CEBE, they write that the goal of their organization is “local community sustainability, health and resilience in response to climate instability and resource depletion.”

Getting to those goals has included starting a BikeShare program, installing solar power at the Alan Day Community Garden in Norway, holding two electric vehicle expos in South Paris, and installing an electric vehicle charging station in Norway. And more

They’re just getting started.

Name: Zizi Vlaun

Age: 48

Job: Communications director for Center for an Ecology-Based Economy (CEBE); graphic design

Hometown: Otisfield

Can you explain a little more what the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy does in the Oxford Hills region? At CEBE, we are interested in helping the community and the Western Foothills area to be more resilient in the face of climate change, resource depletion and financial instability. We have a wealth of resources in our area, and not just tangible ones, like trees, plants, wood, food and water. The experience and skill of the people is abundant and deep, from kids in high school to old-timers. Harnessing the resources we have is the best way that we can see to base our economy on our natural and local resources and begin to thrive.

In order to shift the social and political will of our society to act on climate change, it will take all of us. The idea is to move from an “extraction” economy to an economy based on our local resources, one that works with the ecology of the area and not against it, depleting it to where we have nothing to work with. 

Our hope for sustainable economic development in the area is about creating a local food system where 50 to 80 percent of our food is grown in the area by 2050. This would provide employment opportunities and healthy food for everyone. Every year, our goal as a community could be to commit to building a local food system and adding a percentage to that goal by attracting and supporting more farmers. We could build a grist mill, a cannery, teach people how to grow large amounts of food sustainably, develop regenerative farming practices that keep our soils healthy and sequester carbon, and ensure that everyone has access to healthy and affordable food.

What brought you and your family to Maine? Both Scott and I were working in New York City at the end of the 1990s and realized that we would be just as happy and spend less money by moving to Maine. Scott had bought a piece of land in the early 1980s when he was attending the Portland School of Art (now known as MECA). He had built a camp on the land with a high school friend from Groton, Connecticut, and we decided to live in it. I told Scott that all I needed was a phone line and internet access and I’d be set.

Since then, my needs have grown, but I still essentially need the same thing: good internet access, which the town of Otisfield and Community Concepts are working on. I’m happy to have landed in Maine, even though I had no intention of doing it when I was growing up. The community here is wonderful and deep. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to be in life with.

To date, what would you list as your greatest achievement? That’s a hard one. I think the design work that I did for Seeds of Change was top-notch and went out to millions of people nationwide, but I think that my work here with CEBE, Fare Share Co-op, the Western Foothills Land Trust, the Norway Farmers’ Market, Norway Downtown, the Norway Arts Festival, Healthy Oxford Hills, the Alan Day Community Garden, Community Concepts and the other organizations in Norway is deeper and has more longevity, (in terms of) making a difference. We have a lot of beautiful potential here in the area, and I am honored to be a part of growing it in a sustainable way.

When you’re not busy with the CEBE, what do you do for fun? I enjoy walking, reading, spending time with my husband and my son, Jasper, riding my electric-assist bike into town, spending time with friends at Cafe Nomad, hanging out at Norway Brewing Company, going to 76 Pleasant for a special evening out, volunteering at Fare Share Co-op, listening to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network on weekend afternoons while I clean the house and cook dinners out of the garden. I enjoy weekly brunch with our neighbors and their kids here in Otisfield, and I dabble a little in art.

The CEBE website states that you and your family still split your time between Taos, New Mexico, and Maine. What is it about Taos that pulls you back? We love Taos, and I actually thought that was where I would end up living. Instead, I fell in love with Scott, and things changed pretty quickly. My mom, my brother and his family, and my other siblings live in and have strong ties to Taos, so we like to go back to see our friends and ski at Taos Ski Valley.

Taos is a magical and breathtakingly beautiful place with wide open blues skies, and sunrises and sunsets that can blow your mind. It’s very different from Maine, and a very different way of being in the world with its expansive space. It’s good to get a hit of that annually and for an extended period of time, so that I don’t forget about that piece of myself.

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