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Responsible Tourism Sandele Eco-Retreat in The Gambia
Sandele Eco-Retreat in Kartong is an example of responsible tourism. The lodges are built with compressed, stabilized earth blocks which use a minimum of cement and are frequently stabilized with lime. Electricity, hot water and water pumping are provided using solar and wind power. The Lodges and the Guest Rooms have compost toilets and a constructed wetlands system that minimizes the use of, and purifies, the water flowing from the toilets, showers, hand basins and rainwater. Every step that … Read more
The Final Push: As Time decreases, Intensity increases!
We have now raised over $56,000! Thank you! This campaign has had many inspiring large contributions, and now we are asking for the cascade that will bring us the final stretch. Make your contribution now at donate.ecovillage.org/gen20 More than 45 delegates are now funded from Bangladesh, Senegal, Columbia and many more. THANK YOU!!! You are supporting not just individuals, but key people with the power to change many lives. These participants are leaders of projects on the ground … Read more
Terra Preta Production, Part II: Waterless Urinals - Charging Terra Preta at ZEGG
In 2013, ZEGG in Germany found itself in the midst of a struggle to keep the rights to their own sewage treatment and drinking water. In this situation, Achim Ecker was looking for ways to reduce water consumption and reuse waste water. After visiting Dr. Jürgen Reckin of the University Eberswalde and the Terra Preta Project in the Botanical Garden in Berlin, he started to work with the fascinating prospects Terra Preta offers. In the last newsletter he shared about the production of biochar, … Read more
How to Treat Volunteers? And why are People Volunteering in Ecovillages?
Many motives have been put forward for the reason why people go abroad and look for volunteering work. As a volunteer himself, Rolf Grooten, 70, from Holland, raised the question in the group that he met in March of this year, 2015. We are in the ecovillage-under-construction, Istria Park in Slovenia. Volunteers come from all over the world. While I was at the ecovillage there were people from France, Sweden, a young woman from Germany who spent the winter here, from Ireland, and the … Read more
“In Grave Danger of Falling Fruit” A Visit in Village Homes
This phrase of permaculture co-developer Bill Mollison (although he said “falling food”), kept running through Diana Leafe Christian´s head each time she almost bumped into limbs heavy with peaches hanging over the path. This happened last August in Davis, California, when it was her great pleasure to visit Village Homes with her friend Vince, who lived there at the time. Village Homes is 240-home subdivision in a college town in California’s Central Valley. Begun in 1975 by developers Mike … Read more
Community regenerates land and land regenerates community
Whenever Lucia Battegazzore from Uruguay thought about herself living in a community, she imagined herself in a beautiful place of untouched nature, with a stream of clean water, an old native forest where she could lose herself… However, the place where she has ended up is different. Lucia has experienced first hand that regenerating the ecosystems brings back community - and the other way around. I live in an old vineyard in an intensive agro-industrial zone, where a contaminated creek … Read more
Local Collaboration in Italy "We grow our vegetables as we grow ourselves"
In its 26 years of activity, the Ecovillage Torri Superiore, in western Liguria, has been committed to building positive relationships with the local population, tells Lucilla Borio, founder and former GEN-Europe secretary. Now the local connections also include businesses, and the principles of sustainability and social responsibility. The EU program "The Transition Journey, Sustainability to Touch" (2009/2011), conducted with four GEN-Europe ecovillage partners, encouraged us to look for … Read more
Try my restaurant! Christophe Goll has visited numerous ecovillages. This is the result.
On a tour to teach positive psychology and the study of happiness, Christophe Goll from Sweden has visited numerous ecovillages. Loving contrasts, he spent some nights in a 5 star hotel in between, and now is trying to seduce an old friend into trying the ecovillage life. This is the result. My wonderful friend, Piotr, is the successful man many mothers hope for. Our friendship started in an office tower in 2001, when I was longing for everything the corporate world promised. Today our … Read more
There is a Life after GEN It is not better or worse – it is simply very, very different
Max Lindegger, permaculture activist and co-founder of Crystal Waters in Australia, has been involved in GEN for more than 20 years – indeed he was around when the idea was first mentioned by Hildur and Ross Jackson. Although Max has not been active in GEN or GENOA for a number of years, his own life is still very active in community. He shares with us what his life is looking like now. Work for GEN/GENOA has taken me around many parts of this globe and the many friends I have made over the … Read more
Kibbutz Lotan: Mud and Straw Homes Possible Answers for Earthquake Regions
Nepalese villagers are now faced with massive rebuilding projects following the April 25 earthquake. They could benefit from the lessons learned by eco-minded builders in Israel’s Arava desert. Marlene Dodinval reports. In preparation for future anticipated tremors, an Israeli ecovillage is taking a unique approach to safe and environmentally sound construction rather than the more common, but expensive and less effective, reinforced concrete method often relied on to withstand … Read more
