It's suburban Portland. A lot of people talk like stoners there.
That said, I don't think the guy actually sounds like a stoner.
He sounds like he's from Portland. There is some overlap there, but not as much as some people think.
I don't think it's productive to get too negative about what they're doing over there. They took a gravel parking lot, and planted stuff on it, and they appear to be happy and cheerful about it. Anything that makes people happy and doesn't involve crime, I like.
A lot of people do alternative things in Portland. It's very popular and it's very widespread. It is, in fact, fairly normal. Or even, just plain old, normal. This kind of thing is not exactly unusual there, or in other areas of the US. It just involves people basically pooling their land for group use. It doesn't even sound like they have communal ownership, they just informally pooled their resources.
Most of these things, by their very nature, don't last forever. But some last a long time. They serve a need while they exist, and people get an awful lot of enjoyment out of doing things like this. I don't really care if it's 'efficient' or a 'nationwide answer' or even if they last forever. It's a good experience, and I think it has a lasting effect on some people. They learn to cooperate toward a goal. They learn by doing, which is a nice practical way to learn.
I don't think it's so impossible, mainly because people do it all the time - a lot of people, and some have for a very long time. I don't really think it's impossible for other people, to take parts of that and make it useful. People do that all the time, too. Communal gardens exist all across the US. Foodsharing arrangements are common. Farmers often swap produce or let someone run their chickens in their woods.
My sister was involved in something like that 35 years ago. People do this kind of thing, enjoy it. They could be doing a lot worse things. If nothing else, that open area used to be a gravel parking lot. I like it better with plants.
