by Rob Wheeler of The Farm Tennessee, USA Just imagine, trying to create climate resiliency in a world that is seemingly hell bent on creating climate catastrophe and disaster, it may feel at times like an almost impossible task. So much to do and comparatively so little resources to do it with. And yet we have to keep going and trying. For our children’s, and their children’s, and even our own sakes. A year and a half ago we started this journey, joining in with 19 other ecovillage … Read more
resilience
Leveraging Diversity to Enhance Resilience
by Macaco Tamerice of Damanhur, Italy Damanhur consists of four communities, each between 90 to 140 residents alongside smaller households. Each community consists of a nucleus spread out in 5 different municipalities. The decentralized structure arose from the necessity of acquiring fragmented parcels of land. This felt as a disadvantage from many viewpoints, but it also has its great advantages due to the beautiful diversity. Some are in the plain, some in the fore mountains and others in … Read more
Women and Youth’s role in Community Resilience
by Mugove Nyika of Gudza Ramuka Community, Zimbabwe In the small rural community of Gudza Ramuka, Zimbabwe, women and children are recognised as playing pioneering roles in the community building process. As the community has been exploring our own pathway to a more sustainable and resilient future, special sparks of discussion and engagement have emerged from these key members. From participation in gatherings, to raising critical questions, to making situations more visible for families, … Read more
Seeds of Hope – A Network of Living Seed Banks
by Suvi Tiihonen of Keuruu Ecovillage, Finland When exploring system loops, we discovered a real clarity in the importance of preparing for outer crises through supporting local food production and closed self sustained systems. While we celebrate the many things we already have in place, we also notice our dependence on external seed producers for most of our vegetable seeds in the ecovillage. We researched the various levels that this could be addressed: from the national level to … Read more
Resilience Through Creative Play
by Giovanni Ciarlo of Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage, Mexico Fifty years ago, a group of young people from 8 different nationalities got together to travel like a family of gypsies around the world. In their early 20s, some with young children, and all together with limited funds, we were determined to form a tribe, visit faraway lands and discover new cultures. Most had a college education, but all had turned our backs on traditional careers. We were bonded by our strong inclination towards … Read more
Ecovillage Resilience Project is Wrapping Up Celebrating the communities and outputs of the Ecovillage Resilience Project
Ecovillage Resilience +2.5 is in its final phase and we look forward to sharing the data and case studies collected over the past 2 years. In addition to highlighting the resilience, strengths and growing edges of ecovillages, the project team will be evaluating current practices, giving insight into how these can be replaced or adapted. While we prepare the final deliverables, explore what will serve your community and learn more about our partners. Resources from the Ecovillage … Read more
Resilience Tracker Tool Release! The Resilience Attribute Tracker is getting it’s final polish and will be released into 20 ecovillages!
The Resilience Attribute Tracker is getting it’s final polish and will be released into 20 ecovillages this week! This survey tool for assessing social-ecological resilience and monitoring change over time was co-developed by all participants of this project from each of the five regions. Resilience attributes refer to the features of a system that contribute to its general resilience and capacity to respond to a range of possible disturbances, stresses and shocks. We explored six key … Read more
Community Resilience Tools What can ecovillages nurture today to be more resilient tomorrow?
This month the Ecovillage Resilience community of practice is starting to develop a new tool for all kinds of local communities to understand, track, and nurture their resilience. The tool will be a mix of what we're learning about resilience from our network and the latest research into attributes of resilience in all kinds of systems. To take a look at some of the background research, explore the resources below. The tool will be ready and available for everyone to use at the start of … Read more
Thinking about Tipping Points This month, the theme we are exploring in the Ecovillage Resilience Project is tipping points – places where a changing climate could push parts of the Earth system into abrupt or irreversible change.
Thinking about Tipping Points: Reflections from the Resilience Project Are ecovillages ready for navigating crisis? I think some are, because they are already doing it. GEN Ukraine is doing heart-achingly beautiful work extending community and new hope to people in their war-torn country. Many members of GEN Africa are working hard to teach thousands of people how to adapt their livelihoods to rapid changes in climate – even while living through civil war. In GENOA, learning about … Read more
Ecovillage Resilience Project Dives Deep Our Resilience Project just had its first Deep Dive session. In the Deep Dive, we shift our focus from the resilience of social-ecological systems to exploring personal and interpersonal resilience, or the ability of each one of us (as well as our social relationships) to cope with shock, challenging feelings, and social dynamics that arise when we face climate change and polycrisis.
Our Resilience Project just had its first Deep Dive session In the Deep Dive, we shift our focus from the resilience of social-ecological systems to exploring personal and interpersonal resilience, or the ability of each one of us (as well as our social relationships) to cope with shock, challenging feelings, and social dynamics that arise when we face climate change and polycrisis. What is a Deep Dive? It's not easy to face radical climate change and polycrisis. To live through, … Read more
