EcoVillages

Contents

  1. 1 Sustainable EcoVillages
  2. 2 Stop! Rodando el Cambio - subtitle in english 
    1. 2.1 Two EcoVillages in Brazil
    2. 2.2 GEN - Global EcoVillage Network
    3. 2.3 The EcoVillage Challenge
    4. 2.4 Adding More Experiences

direct mini-link >> http://bit.ly/EcoVillages


'EcoVillages' are one type of Intentional Community proposed 
as an alternative to living in cities.
There are thousands of experimental ecovillages in the west (most of which fail)
and in this chapter we introduce some of the most successful.

However, we consider important that we reclaim this term 'eco-village' 
by acknowledging that, as sustainability designers, what we have the most to learn 
from are the 'Sustainable EcoVillages', i.e. the oldest surviving human settlements
(= of proven sustainability), that exist to this day, and which our ancestors continually perfected through countless experiments from 2 million years ago to this day.






Sustainable EcoVillages

The most expert 'ecovillage designers' are those we often call 'primitive people' (when in fact they are contemporary humans), or 'tribal people'.

Vídeo de YouTube


and in many ways could be considered to have a much higher standard of living than civilized humans 

 that we have the most to learn from.  
People, like most other mammals, have lived in small sustainable communities since the dawn of time, 




Stop! Rodando el Cambio - subtitle in english 

See in YouTube - click white rectangle bottom right for subtitles
 
Stop! Filming the Change is a documentary filmed by a team of women & collectively financed.  During one month we journey through different alternatives between Spain & France searching out ways of life which are more respectful of the environment & the people who live there.
The theory of de-growth in which we base ourselves warns us of the impossibility of keeping on producing as we have in a planet of finite resources.   These levels of consumption have led to the disappearance of forests, to contaminated rivers & seas, & toxic food systems ... all of which are fed by the financial speculative markets & a political class that doesn't care about the social or environmental dimensions.
How much longer can we wait in order to have a world-wide planetary change?  Is it possible to live happily whilst reducing drastically our needs?



Two EcoVillages in Brazil

Ecovillages and Permaculture: a reference 
model for sustainable consumption?


This is a documentary about ecovillages and permaculture seen from a sustainable consumption perspective. The intention is to show an example of lifestyles that take sustainability to the extreme, living and consuming in a way that causes minimum impact on the planet.



GEN - Global EcoVillage Network

There is a great resource of articles on EcoVillages on the GEN site, which you can download in pdf format:



The EcoVillage Challenge

LINK to article here

The challenge of developing a community living in balanced harmony - with itself as well as nature - is tough, but attainable, byRobert Gilman







Adding More Experiences


Here are other links to significant community-building projects, more like the Marinaleda example:

Stateless Democracy: The Kurdish Women Movement


The BAUEN Cooperative

and we hope you will help us add to this list in this FB thread:


There's a dialogue related to this page in the Integral Permaculture FB group (click icon to go there)

There's a dialogue in our FB group about this (click icon to go there)