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
Europe
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
ORIGIN Orchestration of Renewable Integrated Generation In Neighborhoods: Connecting Damanhur, Tamera and Findhorn
“ORIGIN is developing a sophisticated intelligent ICT (Information and Communication Technology) system for the management of energy in a community.” (www.origin-energy.eu). The name stands for Orchestration of Renewable Integrated Generation In Neighborhoods, a visionary project with the goal to achieve a more efficient use of the installed renewable energy generation and storage to reduce the amount of “imported energy”, from the public grid, often produced with non-sustainable means. Beatriz … Read more
Ecological Soil Reactivation Ecological Soil Reactivation and Forest Fire Protection: How to Produce your own Biochar for Terra Preta
In deforested regions with depleted soils farmers are particularly challenged to create and store enough humus to be able to start the reforestation process that will, eventually, protect the land from bush fires, droughts, and desertification. Achim Ecker, living in ZEGG, has experimented with creating Terra Preta for some years. Now he has found a brilliant method to produce biochar and Terra Preta to assist in the challenging South European climate. Almost 20 years ago I bought 7ha of land … Read more
Estonia GEN Estonia celebrates 7 years of eco-life
7 years ago, on the 8th of February in 2008, a group of sustainably minded people founded an organisation called the Network of Estonian Eco-communities, working towards creating a just and ecological Estonia. Today, our biggest achievement is a sustainable and vital ecovillage movement with yearly gatherings and regular communication activities, 2 strong eco-communities, and a Gaia Elementary School. Kadri Allikmäe from Network of Estonian Eco-communities reports. We first hesitated in … Read more
Slovenia Slovenia: The Time when Ecovillages were Places Faraway in the Woods is Over
The following article about ECOLISE and GEN, written by longterm ecovillage activist Nara Petrovič from Slovenia, was published in the Delo Newspaper, one of the biggest mainstream media of the country. It can be likened to GEN as it is today: a modern and open movement for global change. What connects us, brings us joy and is good for everyone: for ourselves, for our communities and for the Earth? Can civil society think and plan further into the future than that which currently directs … Read more
20 Years of GEN: ZEGG Says Thank You 20 Years of GEN: ZEGG Says Thank You!
The ZEGG community in Germany has been a genuine and integral part of the GEN network in Europe. Ina Meyer-Stoll was GEN Europe Executive Secretary from 2003-08, Achim Ecker was GEN Europe council member and president at the same period of time, and Thomas Heuser, the Managing Director of ZEGG is a current GEN-Europe council member. Artemis Zimt (member of Next GEN) interviews the three of them. Artemis: In 1996, two representatives from ZEGG, including Achim, went to Lebensgarten, … Read more
The Story of NextGEN The Story of NextGEN: Youth Perspectives Impacting the Ecovillage Movement
For the past several years, a group of empowered young people have been creating an inspiring movement within the existing ecovillage network. NextGEN is a youth-focused and youth-directed part of the Global Ecovillage Network. NextGEN is building youth-oriented projects in every region of GEN and its members represent a wide diversity of youth from around the world. This article by Ethan Hirsch-Tauber will share some of the different voices, in order to give a window into what NextGEN is, and … Read more
GEN and Gaia Education GEN and Gaia Education – a Story of Love and Collaboration
A crucial part of the GEN history was the wish to create a global education for resilience and sustainability based on the experience of ecovillage. Kosha Joubert, President of GEN International, shares the story of Gaia Education. What a joy it was for me to be invited to the 2nd founding meeting of Gaia Education, taking place in Findhorn in 2004! I was one of 24 ecovillage educators to integrate, synthesize and write the core curriculum of the EDE (Ecovillage Design Education). I even … Read more
GEN History The History of the Global Ecovillage Network: 1991-2015
Ross and Hildur Jackson from Denmark were the driving forces in creating the GEN network twenty years ago. For the first time they share the full story from their perspective. All there experience and information is a great gift especially to the young people who now take over the responsibility for the network. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) has now existed for 20 years and Gaia Education, which began as a GEN project, is celebrating its 10th year in teaching the principles of living … Read more
