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 EcoVillagesThe most expert 'ecovillage designers' are those we often call 'primitive people' (when in fact they are contemporary humans), or 'tribal people'. Vídeo de YouTubeand 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, 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 BrazilEcovillages and Permaculture: a reference GEN - Global EcoVillage NetworkThere is a great resource of articles on EcoVillages on the GEN site, which you can download in pdf format: The EcoVillage ChallengeThe challenge of developing a community living in balanced harmony - with itself as well as nature - is tough, but attainable, byRobert Gilman |