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New Threats Against the Peace Community San José de Apartadó / Colombia
In 1997, more than 1000 farmers and refugees declared themselves as neutral in the conflict between the Guerilla army and the Paramilitary. They formed the Peace Community, giving themselves guidelines of non-violence and trying to protect each other from being expelled from their remote parishes and farms. In the following years, more than 200 of them were killed brutally in the merciless fights for land, strategic advantage and resources in that region. But still they stayed together and … Read more
In the Heart of Palestine The First EDE Course in Palestine: Sustainability
From18-27 November and 03-12 December 2015, Global Campus Palestine together with The Holy Land Trust, will be offering a 128 hour EDE Course. The aim is to train Palestinians to become knowledge carriers for sustainability: to inspire and support young Palestinians and community leaders to implement resilient solutions as an answer to the occupation. It is the first Ecovillage Design Education in Palestine. The idea is to provide an excellent standard of education, certified by GAIA … 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
No One Leaves Home The tragedy of refugees.
No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. no one leaves home unless home chases you fire under feet hot blood in your belly it’s not something you ever thought of … 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
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
The Miracle in the Desert Sekem / Egypt
Led by the vision to promote sustainable development of the individual, the society and the Earth, Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish began to cultivate the hot, arid sandy ground of Egypt. Here, he initiated a community as an incentive for new approaches to economy, science, culture and societal life. He named this initiative Sekem – the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph for “vitality”. Dr. Abouleish received many awards for his achievements, including the 'Right Livelihood Award', and an honorary doctorate from … Read more
Editorial GEN Newsletter June 2015 20 Years of GEN: 20 Years of Regeneration – Coming Home to our Planet
20 years ago, a group around the Danish couple Hildur and Ross Jackson founded the Global Ecovillage Network, launched at an Ecovillage Conference at Findhorn. They understood that the power of communities and ecovillages to love, work with and regenerate the life systems that they are a part of is essential to building a sane and sustainable culture. From that insight, it was a natural step to dream of a community of communities, a network of trust, mutual support and knowledge transfer between … 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
