The Global Ecovillage Network embraces a holistic approach to sustainability encompassing the Social, Cultural, Ecological and Economic dimensions of human existence. Ecovillages are communities in which people feel supported by and responsible to those around them. They provide a deep sense of belonging to a group. They are small enough that everyone feels safe, empowered, seen and heard. People are then able to participate in making decisions that effect their own lives and that of the … Read more
Twinning Regenerative Educators: Gaia School (Estonia) & Cloughjordan Ecovillage (Ireland)
School meets Ecovillage This article presents the Twinship between Gaia School in Estonia and Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Ireland as part of the “Twinning Regenerative Educators” project. One of the main learnings of this Twinship is how easy it is to use technology to deepen and enhance a meaningful learning experience for students. The project enabled children and youth to learn from and about ecovillages and to foster curiosity for more sustainable lifestyles and regenerative … Read more
CoFSA Presents a Collection of Conscious Case Studies
The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) is a movement of food, agriculture, and consciousness practitioners, convened by UNDP, and united around a common goal: to support people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration. CoFSA has created a collection of case studies showcasing the application of consciousness practices and approaches that have the potential to unlock food systems’ transformation. Giving fuel … Read more
I don’t have a PDC want to learn more about Permaculture & Ecovillages
Permaculture teaches through its ethics, a set of 12 principles and a way of designing that accounts for all GEN’s 4 Areas of Regeneration (Social, Cultural, Ecological, and Economic) and the central path of integral design, providing a roadmap of crucial areas of attention when implementing ecovillage lifestyles for positive transformation. Permaculture is yet another tool for applying the 32 ecovillage principles into daily life and is thus an integral part of ecovillage … Read more
Project Tracker
This online project navigation tool was created to enhance collaboration between community-led initiatives and local authorities to scale sustainable development. It provides local initiatives and authorities with an innovative framework and collaborative methodology for tracking the implementation of multi-stakeholder projects in ways that build inner and outer resilience, and matter to local communities. The form of the tracker is an online survey that project teams progressively fill in … Read more
Ecovillage Transition in Action An EU funded collaboration to scale up ecovillage solutions
Project Summary Addressing systemic crises will not derive only from international organisations, governments and politicians, they require a greater collective response. Communities, citizens, NGOs and other forms of civil society hold many of the solutions. In a fragmented world, successful cross-sectoral collaboration is key, particularly partnerships that blur the lines between top-down and bottom-up, i.e. partnerships between municipalities and community-led initiatives (CLIs). … Read more
Ecovillage Transition in Action
Project Summary Now is the time for action. Climate change is a reality and young people tell us of the climate emergency with despair. Fires across the globe are causing a loss of biodiversity, with animals and plants disappearing each day. Systemic change is required to address the environmental problems and ensure that all people, including the most vulnerable, are supported to live fulfilling lives. The answers will not derive only from international organisations, governments and … Read more
Harvesting experiences and insights from GEN’s first Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
Celebrating with you GEN’s first Permaculture Design LIVE Online Course – facilitated by Andre Soares and co-facilitator Lucy Legan, co-founders of the Ecocentro IPEC in Brazil and Global Ecoversity – which turned out to be a great success. The next offering will start on the 7th of May 2022. Lead facilitator Andre Soares has been teaching permaculture education for 24 years all over the world - ranging from Australia, USA, Portugal, Spain, Haiti, Argentina to … Read more
GEN at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland
As global temperature rise above 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels, and previous climate commitments fell far short of what is needed to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, leaving the world on track for a global temperature rise of at least 2.7°C this century, 25,000 delegates from 200 countries nations gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, for the UN Climate Change Conference COP26. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) joined efforts with civil society at COP26 as a part of its ongoing work to … Read more
Sustainable Development the Ecovillage Way
Attempting to map and measure Ecovillage impact in terms of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, if became clear that the level, scale, and format of the SDGs do not fit or easily capture what we see happening in communities and bioregions everywhere - people taking the future into their own hands, cocreating the kinder, safer, richer, more diverse and ecologically sound world they want to live in. That's why we decided to cocreate the Regenerative Development Aims. The RDAs … Read more