Berta Garriga Garriga is an herbalist, an environmental educator and a young mother focused on creating community around sustainability, not only in the rural area where she lives but also beyond. In this interview, Berta talks about environmental education through nature but also about its very important role in cities or more urban areas. She shares some of the learnings on a deep Degrowth experiment carried-out on a tipi with a group of volunteers and provides her own insights on … Read more
General
An interview with Taisa Mattos: How the Ecovillage Movement changed her path
Taisa Mattos is an Educator and Researcher of the Ecovillage Movement. She trains individuals and groups on sustainability, social innovation, and community life. My first contact with Taisa Mattos was online. As part of my ESC programme, I was starting my work with GEN International and I received an introduction to its Education area provided by her, who connected from Brazil. Research on ecovillage living seemed to be one of her biggest passions, something that caught my attention and … Read more
Rewilding and decolonising go together. A conversation with Pupak Hagighi.
Pupak Hagighi defines herself as an artist, activist, writer, and earth healer, among others. In this interview, Pupak talks about her personal journey and its connection with making soil, rewilding, decolonising and healing on different levels. I met Pupak on a Saturday morning. I had attended a Working Party which takes place the last weekend of every month at the edible woodland gardens, as part of the Hinterland Trust Conservation mission. It was the first time I went there since I … Read more
Inspiring Women Healing the Earth: Interview with Shilo Shiv Suleman
Shilo Suleman: “Reclaiming imagination as a prophecy of what we want” Shilo Shiv Suleman is an Indian visual artist & activist. Her work and practice encompasses art for social change, technology and magical realism through illustration and urban art. When I first knew I would have the chance to interview Shilo Suleman I was thrilled. The opportunity came through one of my flatmates, Ann-Chris, who tends to surprise me with her huge network of friends. When she knew I was dreaming … Read more
Ecovillages featured in IPCC report New report on mitigation emphasises the need for holistic, collaborative and networked responses
Earlier this month the International Panel for Climate Change, IPCC, published the final part of their Sixth Assessment Report, Mitigation of Climate change - featuring the Findhorn Ecovillage Community on the cover. The picture shows the East Whins cohousing cluster, part of the Findhorn ecovillage, with superinsulated adjoining homes built with ecological materials. The buildings face the equator for maximum solar gain. They are topped with solar PV and water heaters and have rain … Read more
GEN Elders & NextGEN Firechats
The spirit of our ecovillage network comes alive through collective learning and community building. In 2021, the members of NextGEN, the youth branch of the ecovillage network, set out to host virtual fireside chats together with the GEN Elders to celebrate this spirit. These calls were a space to nurture and expand our intergenerational connections at the heart of GEN (Global Ecovillage Network), and to bridge the past, present and future of the ecovillage network. The youth … 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
Auroville needs our help!
What’s going on in Auroville? Currently Auroville, an intentional township in South India, is facing an extremely difficult struggle within its community. Some of our forests, watersheds, and homes are subject to threat due to a contentious interpretation of the town's development plan. On December 4th, the Auroville Town Development Council started bulldozing trees, despite Auroville residents trying to protect the area (See the Timeline of the events). Since then, bulldozers have … Read more
GEN at COP26: the time for climate action is now! from GEN Education Director and Lead Link Anna Kovasana
I am writing this from within the COP26 Blue Zone, in the middle of a day full of meetings with Governments and partner organisations all interested in applying and scaling the ecovillage model in different ways. GEN is at COP26 to create visibility for the ecovillage approach to a sustainable present and future, to nurture existing and new relationships that enable GEN to scale and achieve our mission, to reaffirm and expand our agreements and commitments with Governments and partners in … Read more
GEN at COP26: Collective solution to the climate change emergency A youth perspective from GEN Volunteer Irene Canalís, with support from Lukas Goertz
My first impression of COP26 is that the energy here in Glasgow is very intense. I’ve bounced between feeling small and then, suddenly, very empowered, embracing my opportunities to be an individual who is part of the collective solution to the climate change emergency. My name is Irene, I’m now volunteering for GEN International's Communications Team from the Findhorn Ecovillage office in Scotland, the place I’ve been calling home for the last two months. I grew up in Mallorca and last year … Read more
