Ecovillages are fascinating experiments, Iris Kunze first came across them in 1996. Ever since then, she has been keeping in touch with the ecovillage movement motivated by researching and teaching on sustainable ways of living, at university. Prompted by GEN's 20th anniversary, she and her colleague concluded a research study on 20 networks as initiatives for social innovation with the EU-Project TRANSIT (TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory). Here she summarizes their preliminary findings … Read more
General
California California: Celebrating and Honouring Water
A pilgrimage in California called Walking Water will spotlight humanity’s relationship to water and invite people to co-create solutions that are pivotal to the wellbeing of all life on Earth. GEN is a cooperation partner of the pilgrimage. Geoff Dalglish from Findhorn reports. Walking Water is an invitation, an action, an educational journey, and a prayer intended to foster a healing relationship between people and water, while celebrating the beauty and power of water. The pilgrimage takes … Read more
Sociocracy in GENNA Sociocracy in North American Ecovillages and Intentional Communities
Sociocracy — which means “governance by peers or colleagues” (sometimes called “Dynamic Governance”) in the US — is an increasingly popular governance and decision-making method based on the principles of transparency, equivalency, and effectiveness. In Diana Leafe Christian´s experience, when an ecovillage or another kind of intentional community uses Sociocracy, their governance process tends to become far more effective and enjoyable than it was when they used consensus as their … Read more
Argentina Argentina: 13-day Wavespells at VelaTropa
In front of the largest football stadium in Argentina lies an intentionally sustainable community. This is the ecovillage VelaTropa, located in the city of Buenos Aires, on the other side of the River Plate football club’s home. Along with Boca Juniors, River Plate is considered to be the best Argentinian club and, due to their rivalry, they create a classic, world famous game. Reported by Henny Freitas, EarthCode Project. Referred to as the Paris of South America, Buenos Aires hides an … Read more
9th Call of the Mountain Latin America: The 9th Call of the Mountain - Setting a Pace for our Social Movement
In January, at the South of Colombia, at the very heart of the country’s conflict zone, ecovillagers, indigenous, afrodescendants, peasants and citizens were all together dancing, communicating, sharing and envisioning under the fiery sun crowning the mountains of Guambia, territory of the Misak indigenous people. They were there to celebrate the ninth gathering of the Call of the Mountain - Llamado de la Montaña 2015 - the most relevant annual gathering of CASA Colombia. Jennifer Trujillo … Read more
India Siddarth Ecovillage, India: Young Tribal Girls Become Barefoot Organic Agricultural Scientists
Jyotshna, Gurbari and Meena, three Munda tribal girls never thought that in their adolescence they would be appreciated in their own village for bringing transformation into conventional agricultural patterns, and become young agricultural scientists. Thread reports. While girls of their age were busy with playing, studying and engaging in household work, the three of them assisted farmers of their village to promote organic farming. They demonstrated how, by minimizing the input cost, … Read more
Japan Japan: New collaborations Have Emerged
Spring has come. Under the soft and warm sunlight, Mom’s Lunch-Box Shop, of As-One Community, becomes very busy with orders for local people’s spring events in Suzuka city, Japan. But there is also another reason to be busy this year. Hiroko Katayama / As-One Community Suzuka, representative of GEN-Japan, reports. The members of the As-One-Community are getting busy being guides for the participants of a study-trip. There is a new stream in Japan of people that are facing the real conditions … Read more
Bangladesh Andharmanic Ecovillage, Bangladesh: A Model for Sustainability in Climate Sensitive Regions
Andharmanic village is situated in Khulna district of Bangaldesh, near the Bay of Bengal and beside the biggest mangrove forest ‘Sundorbon’. This village community experienced the very powerful cyclones ‘Sidr’ in 2007, and ‘Aila’ in 2009, which affected the community tremendously. Houses fell down, big trees uprooted, crops were destroyed, domestic animals died, soil and water were polluted by saline water, and many villagers were injured. Today, having incorporated a variety ecovillage … Read more
Gambia Sandele Eco-Retreat / The Gambia - Responsible Tourism
Sandele Eco-Retreat in Kartong is an example of responsible tourism. The lodges are built with compressed, stabilized earth blocks which use a minimum of cement and are frequently stabilized with lime. Electricity, hot water and water pumping are provided using solar and wind power. The Lodges and the Guest Rooms have compost toilets and a constructed wetlands system that minimizes the use of, and purifies, the water flowing from the toilets, showers, hand basins and rainwater. Every step that … Read more
Cameroon Cameroon: Bafut Ecovillage Sparks Entrepreneurship Revolution
About 20 km north of Bemenda, Cameroon, is the village of Bafut, where the traditional "fondom" (kingdom) community living structure remains intact. The goals for the future are ambitious, and inspiring. With the help of matching Permaculture principles with volunteer placements, Better World Cameroon (BWC) http://www.betterworld-cameroon.com is building an African green revolution based on youth, agriculture and environmental conservation. In just two years of linking up with the Global … Read more
