Ecovillage - 1001 Ways to Heal the Planet, Global Ecovillage Network

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Global Ecovillage Network GEN

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1001 ways to heal the planet

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Edited by Kosha Joubert and Leila Dregge

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Contents Preface Did you know...? Ecovillages and the Beautiful World We Could Live In The Power of Community The Five Dimensions of Sustainability

EUROPE The Stillness at the Centre Findhorn / Scotland A Community of Foster Families Kitezh / Russia

Balancing Individuality and Community Damanhur / Italy

Reclaiming Freedom, Empowerment and Sustainability Lakabe / Spain

BuildingBridges Between Cities and Villages

Giineskoy / Turkey

Building a Healing Biotope Tamera / Portugal

Alternative in the Mainstream Ecovillage Sieben Linden / Germany

AFRICA The Miracle in the Desert Sekem / Egypt African Intellectuals Back to their Roots Natmin / Togo

Genius in the Townships OTEPIC / Kenya

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Uhnntu IAm Because You Are Greening Schools / Zimbabwe,Malawi, Zambia

Responsible Tourism Sandele Eco-Retreat / The Gambia

Where Top-Down and Bottom-Up Strategies Meet

Mbackombel, Guede Chantier, Senegal

LATIN AMERICA

A Dream of Peace, Self-sufficiency and Samba Sao Paulo's ‘Favela da Paz' / Brazil The Cultivation of Culture Tenonde Pora / Brazil

The Decision for Life Peace Community San Jose de Apartado / Colombia

Building Community and Resisting Globalisation Comuna Tola Chica / Ecuador 163 Years after Slavery: Recognising Afro-

Colombian Communities* Rights Islas del Rosario / Colombia

NORTH AMERICA Balance Between Old and Young Sirius Community / Massachusetts, USA

The Edge Effect Ecovillage Ithaca / USA Four Decades Qn The Farm / Tennessee, USA

Getting to the Source The Source / Jamaica

Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things Earthaven Ecovillage / Southern Appalachians, USA

ASIA Ecovillages.-- In Our DMA LadaKh / India

Ecovillage andDecolonisation Wongsanit Ashram / Bangkok, Thailand A Gardener in South India Auroville / India

The Secret of Community Narara Ecovillage / Australia

Solutions for a Vulnerable Climate Zone Bangladesh Creative Judaism and Ecological Consciousness Kibbutz Lotan / Israel

Overcoming Occupation Hakoritna Farm / Palestine

THE HISTORY OF GEN Global Ecovillage Network: 1991-2015

Appendix

GEN and Gaia Education Literature List

About the authors

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Appreciation This book was born from a rich mix of minds and places. Our first priority is to thank our storytellers who have so generously contributed to life in the ecovillages and to this book in particular, We give thanks to all the elders of the ecovillage networks who had the wisdom to plant seeds and watch them grow, and especially to Hildur and Ross Jackson and the Gaia Trust, We give thanks to the vibrant young people, who have the vision and enthusiasm to bring the movement into the next level of aliveness and readiness. We give thanks to all those who are doing the actual work on the ground right now. After reading this book we all know intimately just how much continuous courage, perseverance and caring it takes! Special thanks goto our voluntary translators, photographers, editors and researchers amongst them Jenefer Marquis, Angelika Gander, Pavitra Mueller and Ethan Hirsch-Tauber. Clio Pauly from Namibia was our star and a never-ending source of clarity and commitment to seeing details through to the end. Huge thanks to the great publishing team at Triarchy Press for your encouragement and support! We warmly appreciate our family and friends, and our communities at Findhorn and

Tamera for holding and inspiring us,„ And lastly, a heartfelt thank you goes out to you, the reader, for going on this adventurous journey with us! We

look forward to our paths crossing in the future,

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w ECOVILLAGES are intentionalor traditionalcommunities that

aim to regenerate socialandnaturalenvironments. The social, ecological, economic andculturaldimensions of sustainability are integratedinto aholistic sustainable development model thatis adapted to localcontexts.

Ecovillages are consciously designed through locally owned participatory processes: In thisbook we also includenetworks ofecovillages andNGOs that support communities to design their ownpath way into

thefuture and to transition to beingecovillages.

Preface All over the planet, and often in unseen, remote places, one of the most crucial explorations of humankind is in full swing. Scientists and technicians, inventors and farmers, women and men with huge hearts and youth with fresh eyes, activists and those most affected by the global crises are building a network of integrity together: in villages, cities and slums, they are finding answers to the questions of our times, stepping into response-ability and initiating ways of living that sustain life and regenerate our social and natural systems. No one planned this community-led movement of meaningful response; instead, it emerged from the hearts, minds and hands of courageous people who decided to choose the road less travelled, 'Tworoads divergedin ayellow wood, ,,Itook the one less travelled by, A ndthathasmadeallthe difference,1 RobertFrost

While in so many places 'business as usual' continues as if we were blissfully unaware of the consequences, ecovillages work to implement solutions on the ground mostly with simple means, but sometimes with spectacular results. They have become regional and

national beacons of inspiration for the social, cultural, ecological and economic revival of rural andurban areas. They are part of a worldwide movement for social and environmental justice, When the concept of ecovillages first arose in the late 1980s, it related to intentional communities, born from the dedication to create high quality, low impact lifestyles that offer an alternative to a culture of consumerism and exploitation. Today, and especially in the Global South, the ecovillage networks include thousands of traditional villages and initiatives in slums where people have decided to take their future into their own hands. Growing from a shared set of values, the flow of communication between ecovillages from all continents facilitates NorthSouth reconciliation, East-West dialogues and, in effect, an evolving global consciousness, In this book you will be introduced to a selection of ecovillage projects from all over the world. We have aimed to give at least a taste of their richness and diversity. Most texts are based on interviews with founders or long¬ standing members of communities; some texts are about regional or national networks of ecovillage transition. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Global Ecovillage Network in 2015, we want to honour successes, but also learn from difficulties and failure. Consequently, this book, while outlining one of the greatest adventures of our time, our quest for lifestyles of sustainability, does so

from a very personal point of view, At the end of each article, you will find a few keywords for solutions. Every ecovillage is developing local solutions to global challenges. You are invited to find out more about some of these solutions in the Solution Library (solution,eco village:org) where they are made accessible to all. You might even feel inspired to integrate some of them in your own community or back garden, This book is simultaneously being published in German by the publishing house 'Neue Erde’, in a version that is more focused on examples from the German¬ speaking world, May the stories and tales come as a source of inspiration to all of us. May they strengthen our belief in our capacity to realise our dreams and become true care¬ takers of our beautiful planet and each other. We are all needed in this quest — every single one of us is called to take a next step on our own version of the road less travelled by.Maybe, one day, these roads will merge into a new, life-sustaining culture,

Enjoy! Kosha Joubert Leila Dregger Please note: Unless otherwise shown, allphotographs come from the ecovillagefeatured,

spotlights within a global movement

Did you know...?

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.. „/that for 13 years in Latin America, the travelling community of La Caravana taught thouands of villagers,

farmers, youth and children sustainable techniques?

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