May 2019 Global Ecovillage Network monthly webinar was hosted by NextGEN. Privilege and Inequality in Ecovillages: A Global Perspective Towards a New Story Ecovillages are integral to creating the beautiful world we know is possible. However, some of the same social patterns of inequality also appear within ecovillages. A global array of speakers will share how the inequality has impacted their communities, and we also invite you, the participants, to share your experience and insight. … Read more
indigenous peoples
Impressions from COP24 European Voluntary Service (EVS) member from GEN delegation shares her experience of climate change conference
On the last day of a two-week long summit characterised by many encounters and an awareness that pressure to move towards a 1.5 degree planet must increase, I was overcome by an uncertainty about what COP24 had really achieved. Tired faces and hurried bodies, as well as extended negotiations, would suggest not much. Indeed, the changes so desperately needed were not clearly agreed upon and so it seems the regenerative world we have the potential to create remains a distant utopia. I left with a … Read more
Ghana Permaculture Institute integrates Ecovillage models GPI explores dimensions of sustainability in its carbon footprint and sustainable development
Short introduction of GPI Ghana Permaculture Institute (GPI) is an institute that considers the future feedback of human interaction with the earth or the environment. GPI uses the permaculture principles and ethics of earth care, people care and fair share integrated in its activities. GPI, through its exemplary model of seeing solutions beyond problems, has identified poverty as the core challenge which commits people to initiate certain actions that negatively affect the … Read more
Reflections on COP23 GENOA
What was the most inspiring aspect of COP23 for you this year? To see GEN's growing presence and the increase of interest of governments and NGOs to support and collaborate. What contribution do you feel ecovillages can bring to Climate Action in your region? In GENOA where many of the world's climate vulnerable nations belong, Ecovillages bring hope in a radically changing climate. The region is at the crossroads with many nations experiencing a rise in economic growth at the same … Read more
Sacred Activism Newsletter Editorial
Dear friends, All around the world ecovillages and communities are standing up, as part of a global movement to protect what is sacred to them: family, friends and community, the biodiversity and beauty of nature, the future of generations to come. They stand for social justice, human rights and earth rights. When the Indigenous resistance against the Dakota Access pipeline was ended, one of the activists, White Eagle said: "Just because we’re being removed from that area doesn’t mean it’s … Read more
Memory, Fire and Hope Five Lessons from Standing Rock
The North Dakota camp may have been evicted but the movement hasn’t lost. Here are five lessons activists around the world can learn from the water protectors. "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." —Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting On February 22, 2017, water protectors at the Oceti Sakowin camp, the primary camp of Standing Rock, were evicted by the Army Corps of Engineers in a military style takeover. A peaceful resistance … Read more
Ecosystem Restoration Eco-communities as Sacred Activism
To Gaia, life is sacred, because evolving life forms is what Gaia does. To life, diversity is sacred, because diversity leads to stability in the delicately interwoven ecosystems upon which life depends. To one particular life form on Earth, the humans, perceiving sacredness depends on each individual’s personal level of consciousness. Without authentic adulthood initiations what many humans hold sacred is mere survival in the widely adopted culture of capitalistic patriarchal empire. … Read more
Standing Rock in Colombia A vision of peace after decades of war and displacement
20 years ago, more than 1000 displaced farmers and smallholders in Colombia´s North founded the peace community San José de Apartadó, a neutral village committed to non-violence and forgiveness in the armed conflict that had being going on for decades. They are still there. Sabine Lichtenfels, co-founder of Tamera/Portugal, attended the 20 anniversary of Tamera´s sister community. I am writing this from Colombia, where we – a small group from the Global Campus from Tamera/Portugal, Bolivia, … Read more
Changes in Cameroon Transitioning the Kingdom of Bafut to an Eco-Fondom*
In the Northwest of Cameroon, a whole kingdom is transitioning into an eco-region. In consultation with King Fon Ambumbi II and combining the vision of Mayor Langsi and GEN ambassador, Konkankoh Joshua, a great deal of effort is being invested in creating a transition from rural subsistence farming into a thriving, sustainable, eco-friendly region. Sonita Mbah, Executive Secretary of GEN Africa, reports. Watch the trailer for Bafut Ecovillage: … Read more
Synergies between Degrowth and GEN Synergies between Degrowth and the Global Ecovillage Network
One of the most controversially discussed key tracks during the 5th International Degrowth Conference 2016 in Budapest was “Degrowth and other social movements”. Can degrowth be considered a movement? Does degrowth embrace all kinds of movements struggling for a sustainable future? On one hand, the notion of “degrowth movement(s)” was rigorously criticized for fragmenting the political struggle. It was also critiqued as umbrella concept for creating incongruous hierarchical relations between … Read more
