The purpose of the experimental Learning Village in April was to bring people together who are committed to practices such as facilitation, storytelling, improvisation, visual and other art forms, all combining the multilevel aspects of participatory tools. Kirsi Joenpolvi, GEN-Ambassador for Finland reports. The concept of community has many facets and its meaning is constantly broadening. New kinds of leadership skills, learning environments, the use of collective potential and creativity … Read more
Report
Ecovillages Responding on Crisis What is EmerGENcies Protocol?
The initiative, called the EmerGENcies Protocol, is in its third year of ideation continuing to explore its form. These include members from all regions and the GEN network, blueprint representatives, GAIA Education, and other independent projects unrelated to our networks. The complexity of what is at stake (to design an innovative and holistic response to the growing number of emergency situations), explains the diversity of the projects that make up the EmerGENcies Protocol. Initiator … Read more
Strand Report Deep Exchange Among Communities
Our strand was about deep sharing among communities. Elders of three lively, important communities held it: Sabine Lichtenfels from Tamera, Achim Ecker from Zegg, and Craig Gibsone from Findhorn. It is also worth remarking the presence of Vera Kleinhammes, from Tamera, and Ina Meyer-Stoll, from Zegg, who also brought their experience to the circle. Report by Filipe Freitas and Karsten Petersen We started around the fire, sharing a strong field of energy nourished by ancestors’ presence, in … Read more
Global Campus 2015 in Tamera: On the Way to Form a Global Community
During the GEN summit, GEN International and Global Campus became partners. In this report, Leila Dregger shares about the last Global Campus gathering from July 18th to August 15th, where 30 members and representatives of the base stations of the Global Campus met in Tamera, Portugal, studying and sharing peace knowledge, exploring new skills and experiencing community. While the global crisis threatening their home regions every day remained to be in our focus, they lived in the Solar … Read more
Walking for Water in California The Way of a Pilgrim
Walking Water is a journey of exploration and co-creation from the source of the water in the magnificent Sierra Nevada mountains near Mono Lake, to the place of end use around 560km away in the Greater Los Angeles Area, which is home to some 18 million souls. As a pilgrim I discover the mystery, the magic, the meaning and the magnificence of life, in every step I take, in every sound I hear and in every sight I see. Satish Kumar, spiritual and ecological activist. It seems especially … Read more
Refugee Aid by Eco Villages – The Journey of a Refugee from Syria, Part 1
Wars, climate change, economic and injustice have made millions of people refugees. Thousands of them die, stranded on the borders of Europe or the United States. Eco villages are, as it has now been said on the GEN summit in Dakar again, especially for young people an alternative to migration. But Eco villages of the North can help directly, can provide a new opportunity to refugees. This is the story of Fayez Karimeh from Syria - similar experiences are currently refugees in various Eco … Read more
GEN +20 Summit Developing the New Story of Community
This year's Global Ecovillage Network Summit at Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland, marked the organisation's tremendous growth and development since its emergence 20 years ago. Returning to the place where GEN was launched into the world in 1995, the founders Ross and Hildur Jackson were joined by other GEN legends, Declan Kennedy, Robert Gilman, Jan-Martin Bang and Helena Norberg-Hodge, in bearing witness to how their offspring has now developed contacts with communities on every inhabited … Read more
A Letter from Greece Taking Action in Times of Crisis
Skala Ecovillage is becoming a place of hope for people who are working on a perspective in the middle of the chaos. Anna Fillipou reports about the situation in the country. «Nothing is like before» one of the signs of May ’68 seems to be written for Greece also today. The questions that everybody, who follows what is happening in Greece the last days are: “Was it really necessary this humiliation of the Greeks?", or as, Mat O'Bryan from Washington Post says: "Germany doesn't want to save … Read more
Ecovillage Summit in Dakar, Senegal Results, Challenges, and Consequences
Update - GES Reports The Official Reports from the GES Summit are now available - read them here: GES Report - Supporting Documents Transition 2 Resilience - Participant Reports Fundraising & Program Development GES GEN-Africa General Assembly The Senegalese Ecovillage Network: The Past, Present and Future GEN Ecovillage Transition Strategy 2015 - 2020 From December 10-14, 120 people from 40 countries met for the first International Ecovillage Summit in … Read more
Learning is Living La Cité Ecologique, Canada and USA
La Cité Ecologique started in Canada in 1984 as an alternative school based on holistic education. Today La Cité has two ecovillages - one in Quebec with 90 inhabitants and another in New Hampshire with 40 inhabitants. The glue that keeps the two communities together is the shared focus on care for children and youth. Marie Vaillant moved in as a teenager with her family and later became the director of the second ecovillage. My family moved to La Cité Ecologique when I was 14 years old, in … Read more
