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Middle East: GEN Palestine Building the Foundations of GEN Palestine
Hakoritna Farm, one of the winners of the GEN Excellency Award 2014, co-hosted a meeting of GEN and Global Campus Palestine with the Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie, in order to meet the many challenges for peace and sustainability in an occupied country and to prepare the creation of GEN Palestine. Frederick Weihe reports. From the 19th - 24th of November, a historic event happened in support of peace, cooperation, and sustainable solutions to climate change in occupied Palestine. … Read more
Cross the Bridge! My Friend, My Brother! The Salaayel Ecovillage Approach in Mauretania
Severe droughts in recent years have had negative consequences, including impacts on the socio-economic life of our people. One of the most serious consequences was the exodus, which forced village communities to lose some of their socio-cultural values: in hospitality, pride, solidarity, and the cultural space of the village. The initiative, Salaayel, rebuilds original values to establish regional sustainability, in order to re-establish the bonds and bridges between villages, cultures and … Read more
Maia Earth Village, Phillippines: Creating a Wholeness Center
Maia Earth Village, in the Philippines, is giving birth to the Wholeness Center, a whole-systems model in the 'Asia of Transformation Medicine' programs, that have global applications in supporting inner work-oriented healing centers, hospitals and energy processes around the world. Pi Villaraza shares. Transformation Medicine began as an intuitive journey undertaken by two unlikely partners, a successful integrative doctor from Cebu City, named Dr. Romy Paredes, and myself, Pi Villaraza, as … Read more
CASA Latin America: Good News from Mexico
“Why spend time chopping down a tree that is rotting from the inside out when instead you could be focusing on making sure the young trees grow safely?” These wise words seem quite pertinent to the current sustainability movement across Mexico—and the globe. Fernando Ausin Gomes reports from Mexico. Mexico is facing turbulent, systemic collapse. During the last few months, struggles have arisen throughout the country to protest the disappearance of hundreds of people, and of government … Read more
Japan’s AS-ONE Community: The Story of a 14-Year Community Creation Process
In 2001, some volunteers gathered in Suzuka, Japan, aiming to realize a happy society free from fighting and opposition, in harmony with nature. A borderless community named “AS-ONE COMMUNITY” has been created in an ordinary neighborhood of Suzuka, a typical middle-size city and also well known as a city of the Honda company. Hiroko Katayama, GEN ambassador reports. The name ‘AS-ONE’ was taken from a line of John Lennon’s masterpiece Imagine, ‘and the world will be as one'. Nowadays, 38 core … Read more
The Evolution of Money: GEN ́s Role and the Proposed Ecovillage Exchange System
GEN could become the place to conceive a new paradigm of money. Jamie Brown (agent of Biomimicry in Switzerland), and Matthew Slater (an economy specialist), share about the background and proposal to create an exchange system of Ecovillages, and launch it at the July 2015 Ecovillage Summit at Findhorn, Scotland. Background: Why GEN Feels Poor Our money system is at the point of an evolutionary phase-change resembling the natural completion of a youthful growth period. Our global system … Read more
Water Flows in Damanhur Permaculture Approach to Water Flows in the Tentyris Region of Damanhur
In Damanhur, the community region of Tentyris has a special relationship with water, honoring it as a natural force and enjoying an abundance of it on the lands. In 2011, a team from Tamera, Portugal, came to collaborate on the creation of a large scale water retention system of six lakes, that are now in use. In November 2014, a new Permaculture Design for Sustainability course was launched, focusing on developing the wetlands area of Tentyris as a continuation of the work of utilizing, and … Read more
GEN Europe Conference 2013
Come with us to visit the 2013 Global Ecovillage Network Conference at the Schweibenalp community in Switzerland! The gathering brought together 300 people from 51 countries, leaders from the EcoVillage and sustainable communities movements around the world. For more Information: www.gen.ecovillage.org. - Video produced by The Común Tierra Project, that documents EcoVillages in Latin America. http://comuntierra.org https://youtu.be/m2YIcIqn5OI … Read more
Ecovillages and Food Sovereignty Results of the Survey
17 projects took the time to answer the questions on food sovereignty. The answers came from the USA, from Africa, from Asia and Europe. Thank you all very much. Of course this survey can never be representative in a scientific way, but it helps us to have an overview on the state and intention of the ecovillages on growing their own food. All of the projects that answered, grow their own food, even those with less than 2 hectares. Four of them produce so much food that they can sell it … Read more
Why Dancing Rabbit Changed its Gover (Part two of Ecovillage changing Governance)
In the summer of 2013 Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri made their own dramatic change in governance — shifting from whole-community business meetings to a representational system with seven elected members. Dancing Rabbit began thinking about change in 2009, when they realized how their growth in membership had altered their social structure. In earlier years everyone ate together in the same place at the same time, giving them frequent daily opportunities to connect and talk informally … Read more
