Ecovillage

From Ekopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

An ecovillage (or eco-village, eco-place), is an agglomeration (rural or urban) aiming at self-sufficiency ( as much as possible) and where the priority is to consider Man and the environment as the heart of the matter. The guiding line is not to take from the earth more than we can give back.


Contents

[edit] Description

The word ecovillage was born from the fusion of ecology and village. It's a widely term used to represent several community models. They try to integrate a mutual assistance social environment with the least impact on the ecosystem. To achieve this, several sustainable techniques are used such as permaculture, ecological building, green production, renewable energy, self-sufficient agriculture and so on.

Ecovillages (or intentional communities) integrate different aspects such as permaculture, ecological building, green production, renewable energy, self-sufficient agriculture and so on.

It's difficult to compare projects because none of the ecovillages is working the same way. Some of them have a political vocation while others mostly are devoted to quality oflife or to developping artistic creation. The differences are huge between an alternative rural place, composed of young population intending to pass it on to, and a real estate civil company created by several retired couples around ecological values. That's why some will talk about an intentional community, rather than an ecovillage. The common point is these initiatives are a collective living place (rarely a community), where ecology and solidarity are essential values.

Experienced as alternative laboratories, ecovillages can include a vegetable garden production, ecological buildings, a resources center, a reception place, or art workshops. The aim is to create a common convivial and fair way of life, with minimal ecological footprint. The collective aspect is the most difficult part. Deciding, building, moving forward together is a real challenge in a society in which individualism comes first. The reason for failure will often be linked to human relationships. But such a community will also have advantages : sharing knowledge, exchanging, machines (vehicules or household electrical appliances for instance) and tools sharing, and above all a permanent stimulation to go further into one's approach.


[edit] History

The word ecovillage was born during the Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Because of the Brundtland report of the world committee on the environment made in 1987 which acknowledges global warming, water scarcity, the threat on living species and growing global poverty , the 178 coutry leaders met in Rio to discuss the planet's future.

The fastidious Agenda 21 was the issued, setting ambitious targets. Among them, Gaia Trust and Global Ecovillage network (GEN) proposed "the Earth is our home" in order to support eco-homes financially as being living examples of sustainable communities which can solve the multitude of complex problems raised by the Brundtland report. They could be used as experimental models, in urban or rural zones, throughout the world whatever the location, the climate, or the culture provided the community has the will and skills to make it work.

Owing to their long experience of cohousing communities, the Danish people were ready to create the first viable association of communities as soon as 1993. Then Gaia Trust targeted 20 projects of ecohousing all over the world which could become eco-village projects because they had already developed several facets of the global concept of eco-villages taking into account their culture and way of life, as being different from so-called modern societies.

The ecovillage model tries to harmonize human housing with the natural local ecosystem.

As early as 1994, the GEN strategy becomes clearer and a network is set aiming at sharing ideas, cultural and educational development to prove ways of life which are respectful of the environment can last and be transmitted to the next generations.

At the international conference of Housing United Nations II in 1996 in Istanbul, the GEN presented eco-villages as positive living models of sustainable development, combining the use of advanced technologies with a satisfying spirituality while living harmoniously with nature.

The 20 eco-villages appointed by the Gaia Trust presented their achievements and the GEN and Gaia Trust asked for 100 millions to support the creation of the "Earth is our home" program.

From this moment, the three regional networks have done great work. At present, we can count 243 members in the world network. Some of these members are eco-villages, while others are associations of ecovillages such as the French Network of Ecovillages with 34 eco-village projects. However we must bear in mind that that only the members of the associations and networks are listed on the internet websites.


[edit] In practice

Typically, ecovillages aim at the best possible integration of human housing in natural ecosystems, it implies a sustainable integration of communities. Such ecovillages already exist in several countries with a strong emphasis on :

the preservation of the environment
Implanting an ecovillage is seen as creating a "State within the State" for local autorities.
For humans
For the community

[edit] A legal civil entity

For local authorities, implanting an ecovillage is seen as creating a "State within the State". Local rules and laws are hardly favorable to the constitution of such entities and to the activities they may generate. Far from it, as time goes by, local authorities tend to be keen on protecting themselves from such groups by imposing new local rules that can seriously hinder the implantation of ecovillages.

[edit] Existing projects

Ecovillage name Geographical location Since Reference
United Kingdom
Bedzed England, Beddington, London 2002 Site Web
Mozes England, The Meadows, near Nottingham 2009 Web site
Belgium
Terre d'Enneille Durbuy, Belgium 1992 Web Site
Village de la Paix-Dieu Dieu-le-Garde, Jehay, Belgium 1992 Web Site
Canada
Mont Radar St Georges de Beauce, Quebec 2004 Web Site
L’écohameau de La Baie La Baie, Quebec 1990 Web Site
TerraVie Montcalm, Quebec 2006 Web Site
L'arche écologique de Chateau-Richer Chateau-Richer, Quebec 2006 Web Site
Boreal Living Borealis, Alberta 2004 Web Site
Kakwa McBride, British-Colombia 2003 Web Site
Unite the Caring Toronto, Ontario 2007 Coming soon
France
Carapa - éco hameau St Paul Lacoste, France 1995 Web Site
Ecovillage Vegan Ardèche, France Web Site
Projetorgone France - not yet defined 2006 Web Site
Ecovillage of New Caledonia (Island of) New Caledonia, France in project Web Site
Switzerland
Fermes Communautaires Libres Clos du Doubs, Suisse 1986 Web Site
Elsewhere in the world
Findhorn Findhorn, Scotland 1962 Web Site
Auroville Auroville, India 1968 Web Site
Lebensgarten Steyerberg, Germany 1986 Web Site
Crystal Waters Conondale, Australia 1981 Web Site
Aldinga Arts Ecovillage Aldinga, South Australia 2001 Web Site
The Farm Tennessee, USA 1971 Web Site
PAZ Ecovillage Terlingua, Texas USA 2007 Web Site

[edit] See also

Nuvola filesystems folder image.png

Ekopedia's base contains free multimedia documents on
ecovillage.

[edit] Internal links

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography


Noia 64 apps kfm home.png Portal:Lodging – Get access to Portal Lodging's articles.
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
participate
Toolbox
In other languages