GEN-europe: Latest News

Micro-Biogas Plants Help Communities to Produce their own Energy

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:34:00 +0000

With the organic kitchen waste of one day enough gas for two hours of cooking can be produced. It is a solution for using renewable energies also in rainy regions or seasons. Shredded organic kitchen waste is mixed with water in a hermetically sealed container and then given to stomach bacteria to be eaten. After a few days already the gasometer in the gas container, mounted above the fermenter, climbs; biogas is being passed onto to the user through a thin hose, and we can light a gas lantern or cook. From each bucket of kitchen residues gas for two hours of cooking results, and on the side valuable liquid fertilizer for the garden is produced. T. H. Culhane could hardly believe that it is so easy it when he first met Dr. Anand Karve from the ARTI-Institute two years ago in the Indian industrial town of Poona. In the micro biogas plants the specialist used kitchen residues instead of the usual cow dung. The conclusion he draws: "It is 400 times as efficient as the system with cow dung!" For years, T. H. has been working in the slums of Cairo and other African countries in order to develop decentralized solutions for energy production together with the local people. At first his plan was to bring decentralized solar energy into the slums. "But the people there did not only suffer from the lack of energy, they also had another giant problem: They were drowning in garbage. What to do with the continuous horrible smell and the misery of the organic waste where rats prosper and children become sick? For composting there is often not enough space." With the biogas idea organic waste becomes a valuable raw material. In the poorest settlements in the African bush and in slums T. H. experimented together with the inhabitants. They used what they found – buckets, plastic containers, hoses, old gas cookers – to build a biogas fermenter, This improvisation capacity T.H. also used in Tamera, and together with the enthused participants of the Global Campus he built a functioning biogas system within two days. The bacteria do in the fermenter exactly what they do in cow stomachs: digesting food. This is also why organic kitchen waste is much more suitable for biogas plants than compost toilets or pure vegetable mass. The general rule is: The more diverse the food for the fermenter the better. With a few shovels of cow dung, diluted in warm water the biogas system is initiated, the bacteria find their food and start to work. The second product resulting from a biogas plant is a fertilizer, a concentrated nutrient solution containing all the elements that made the plant grow in the first place. In many aspects it is even more valuable than compost because from the closed container no ammonium escapes and all the nitrogen is kept as fertilizer. "The only delimiting factor is the fact that the bacteria in a smooth 1000 liter container can digest only one bucket full of kitchen waste. The bacteria do not swim in the compost soup, they live on firm surfaces, on the bottom and on the walls. In a settlement in Kenya the inhabitants had an idea: we could increase the surface in the fermenter. Inspired by the way the inside of a cows stomach is folded we now build drainage pipes with big surfaces into the container a to increase the number of bacteria and thus the efficiency of the fermenter." Tamera's chief biogas engineer Martin Funk: "We have been cooking for months with biogas, it works perfectly. I am enchanted, T. H. is a true master of LowTech – the simple technological solution." More: http://solarcities.blogspot.com

News from GEN South Africa Initiative

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa has been actively involved in raising awareness about the ecovillages in Africa especially after the Ecovillage Design Education training of trainers in Sieben Linden Germany in 2011 (August to September) One member of the Umphakatsi Peace Ecovillage was selected to attend the training, which was followed by attending an ecovillage conference at Sekem in Egypt and another 1 month hands on course of ecovillages in Senegal in November - December 2011.

Subsequent to the above process Ms Tobhi Sarah Motha, who has stepped in as an ambassador for the Global Ecovillage Network in Africa has met with traditional healers, traditional community leaders, headsmen, youth leaders, school governing body members and homebased care groups to share experience and learning gained from the ecovillage design education.

Community dialogues have been held on the 5th, 10th, 19th , 20 and 22 of January 2012 which lasted from 1 to 4 hours. Most of rural villages are becoming ghost villages due to rural urban migration as people are looking for jobs and better services. The information sharing dialogues present opportunity to enlighten grassroot community leaders about the available resources at disposal and how they can be used to transform the 'becoming ghost villages' into sustainable ecovillages using land, human resource and other natural resources such as rivers and energy. This process has also seen some individuals considered elite in the social land scape of South Africa becoming interested in joining the Umphakatsi Peace ecovillage or the existing rural villages where Ms Motha has been working to initiate the transition of the villages into ecovillages. There is a great interest and stir.

Currently, Oude Molen Ecovillage in Cape Town has requested through GEN International that a process of dialogue be facilitated to consolidate a common vision of revitalising the vision of being an ecovillage. Ms Motha is facilitating a social process for this dynamic. This process started on the 26 of January and envisaged to end by the 7th of February 2012.

The overall aim of all the above is to create a network of ecovillages in South Africa as we now know that Senegal has a network of 45 ecovillages and the government has established a full Ministry of Ecovillage.

There is a great protential for South Africa to heal and transform towards making current social ills of poverty, inequality and violence history. The Senegalese experience is a testimony to this effect.

Swedish Ecovillagers come together

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:59:00 +0000

50 people from ecovillages and projects all over the country came together to share, network and inspire each other. There were talks on topics from mindfulness to transition and solar panels, open space groups about community bonding, starting ecovillages, Ecovillage Design Education, financing and eco social business, how to create truly alternative systems and much more, as well as circles on the future and role of the ecovillage movement and the Swedish network. We were lucky enough to also have Danish and Finnish guests, so that we could learn from neighbours and start talking about plans for a future Nordic GEN.

As always though, it was the informal talk, late night dancing and simply meeting each other that made the greatest impression. From the first shared cup of tea, the room was filled with good atmosphere and the excited conversation of people who meet as strangers only to realize they have more in common than they could imagine. When time came to end the last circle, strangers parted like friends and Njord had been reborn as a true network and platform for the more than 50 ecovillages in Sweden.

Outcome of the 'Communicate Yourself!' Workshop

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:45:00 +0000

This intensive and enriching workshop was facilitated by Kosha Anja Joubert and Martin Stengel in the ecovillage of Sieben Linden. 26 Participants from 18 countries had come to share their ideas, cultivate their communication skills, and to practise facilitating and harvesting group conversations. The program contained not just lectures but a lot of exercises, and also provided useful tools to help community building in the future. The participants stayed in contact after the course to support each other's projects the best they can.

Here comes the memory of Arzu, a participant from Turkey: I want to thank deeply from my heart to all people who helped to make this workshop happen. It was an extraordinary week full of richness with diverse people from different cultures, countries and ages who were ready to learn, share and open their hearts and minds. The curriculum, tools and flow of the course were built very well so it worked as a unique learning experience . An excellent safe space was built by the training facilitators - dear Kosha and Martin - and their excellent co-leading skills helped us a lot to explore edges and climb the ladder with one or more giant steps. Thank you very much for your passion, incredible effort and high enthusiasm, Kosha and Martin. The result and the process were both extraordinary. I also feel gratitude towards the Grundtvig program, the Sieben-Linden Community, all people who worked for this workshop and who we couldn’t meet face to face. I still wonder how it was possible to select the participants so perfectly - excellent selection and decision making process. A perfect diversity helped to built a group of rich knowledge, skills, experiences, creativity and possibility. I charged my batteries sustainably with joy, passion, love, knowledge, hope and peace. I regained my hope and confidence to world peace. We were able to create peace in ourselves, peace in the group and peace in the future world. The seeds have been planted now. I strongly believe that each seed will be a giant tree everywhere Europe, full of new life. I have experienced it fully with our group. Yes, most of us feel like we are a tribe now. This workshop expanded every participants joy, courage and hope. I was full of inspiration and creativity, felt great connection to my true self, to the group and to the divine. I think the environment at Sieben Linden helped and magnified the workshop effect very much. The size of the Sieben Linden Eco-Village is excellent for this type of experimental learning . You can easily feel at home. The hospitality of the community members, their patience with us, excellent healthy food and no mobile phone disruptions around were creating a wonderful learning and living environment surrounded by people who walk their talks. I experienced a deep feeling of unity and peace at Sieben Linden. I have witnessed that almost all participants had the similar thoughts and feelings. All of us were creating plans just to be executed when we arrive to our own communities. It was like a miracle. I know that there is a giant people and community investment behind this - grateful to all. And the trees at Sieben-Linden are quite special to me. They are great teachers there, ready to share their wisdom with you. The beauty of nature, community, trainers and anyone involved to make this happen were just a perfect combination. I have participated in many workshops . This became my number one, maybe it is just a coincidence, I don’t know. All I know now is that I communicate from my true self very easily, understand all creatures more deeply, started to sing and dance. And it is still with me and seems it will stay with me. What else can I expect from a week long workshop? If the majority of the people all over the world had a chance to participate in this kind of workshop I couldn’t imagine how the world would be? With gratitude, Arzu Kutan

ZEGG: Celebrating 20 Years of Existence

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:03:00 +0000

20 years after its founding, the ZEGG community in Belzig (Germany) has become a "blessing" for the district. This is what the politician Wolfgang Blasig said about ZEGG (Center for Experimental Society Design) in the inauguration ceremony for ZEGG´s new, ecological heating system in November. The community of 100 people of all age groups has come a long way since establishing themselves in a former East German secret police training camp. Today the community members are perceived as "pioneers of change" who give important impulses to the "High Fläming" region by turning it into an "energy transition region" – shifting from fossil fuels to the use of renewable energies. Additionally, ZEGG has helped to stop violence and conflicts and to integrate migrants in the little town Belzig. Since ZEGG was founded, many smaller offshoot communities and groups have made the "Fläming" into a green and alternative region. One of the next steps will be to install a regional currency. More: www.zegg.de

Tree Planting Project in Kenya

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:21:00 +0000

Philip Munyasia and his OTEPIC project in Kitale / Kenya, one of the recipients of the GEN excellency award, started to use the prize money in a meaningful way: He has organized a tree planting campaign in which he mobilized groups of women and youths from various schools to plant indigenous trees to promote deeper commitment to environmental protection through planting new trees and taking care of the existing ones. You can read more at: www.organicfarminghealingtherift.blogspot.com

Video-Interviews for GEN

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:50:00 +0000

During the last Ecovillages and Sustainable Living Conference in Tamera, Portugal, several people have been interviewed to give us an idea about their work in the ecovillage movement and to share their inspiring stories how change is already happening in many parts of the world. As President of GEN-International, Kosha Anja Joubert is talking about how GEN and the ecovillage movement is receiving more and more attention by the general public, national governments and even corporations. By taking us on a journey through the development of the movement she draws a picture about the focus of GEN and current activities and explains what is ahead of us - and why there are actually a lot of reasons for hope in this world. more...
Lua Bashana-Kekana, General Secreatary of GEN-Central Africa, offers us her touching story on how she got involved in the ecovillage movement and what is happening on the African continent at present. The insights that she shares are of great value and she explains evidently, what resource African communities thrive on that industrialised countries can learn from. more... A council member of GEN-Europe, Toomas Trapido from Estonia, explains the laboratory character of ecovillages and how the transfer from these incubators can offer solutions to broader society. And he gives an idea on how a sustainability initiative that was born at a GEN conference mobilised more than 13 percent of the population of a country. more... Furthermore, you will find interviews by Macaco Tamerice, giving you a broader picture on GEN structures, ecovillage solutions and the opportunities for education. more... Bernd Müller from the community of Tamera demonstrates clearly how the desert that was encountered when people came to the area of the now well established ecovillage was transformed into an oasis by water retention landscapes and how this technology can be applied to any area in the world. more... And finally, Philip Munyasia from Kenya showcases his project OTEPIC, where people from different tribes come together and create peace and stability in Africa. On the basis of sustainable agriculture he created a center where he teaches permaculture and starts his own community. Listen deeply as Philip is sharing his dream. more... To stay up to date with more videos to come, make sure to follow our youtube-channel.

GEN-Europe-Report 2011 online - Download PDF here

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:40:00 +0000

The annual GEN-Europe-Report is ready and available as a PDF-Download. Also, a letter from...

World Cleanup 2012 - Civic movement Let’s Do It!

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:34:00 +0000

Let’s Do It! movement, which is bringing together more than 80 countries in a World Cleanup 2012 action this year, is activating a global network of civic leaders, scientists and experts to gather the most efficient and sustainable solutions for waste handling, production and product design, applicable for communities and enterprises worldwide.
"Though the capacity and performance of incineration and recycling plants continue to grow, they cannot match with the constantly growing waste generation rate," claims the Waste and Recycling Assessment conducted by Alexander Iscenco, coordinator of the Research Project on Waste Management at University of Copenhagen. "As a result, they recycle a maximum of 11% of all waste, while the rest most certainly ends up in legal and illegal landfills that pollute air, water, soil, flora, and fauna, as well as cause health problems for us," concludes the research report.

Grassroots civic movement Let's Do It! (LDI) which is activating and connecting local civic leaders to organize cleanup actions in more than 80 countries this year, has started to work towards a package of systemic solutions for tackling the inefficient waste management systems worldwide. “Cleaning up the waste and raising the awareness of local communities is the first and important step, but it’s certainly not enough”, says one of the founders of the movement, Rainer Nõlvak. In his opinion, current global efforts have been too inefficient and too slow: "United Nations has been the platform for dealing with global waste. After 20 years, after all the climate talks, we emit globally 38% more CO2 than in 1990. As to how many billions of tons of waste we produce each year, we have no reliable statistics at all. Despite the efforts, we're in a big mess. To really get things moving appears to be out of the hands of many governments."

The movement leaders are now searching and discussing approaches that would integrate education, awareness raising, more efficient and sustainable waste handling models for communities, sustainable production and design into a united global bottom-up effort. “We also need to look into how we can rearrange our current policies to support sustainable solutions by making them sustainable also economically,” says Nõlvak. Many solutions, he says, are already there. “The only way how we can get things really moving and improving, is to engage people and design appealing solutions directly with communities and private enterprises.”

One example is an initiative called Let’s Do It! Delhi, active in India’s capital city. They designed a novel solution in co-operation with the city government to tackle corruption in New Delhi waste management system, engaging citizens and communities directly so that they can report about the unkempt territories via social media sites. Anita Bhargava, a woman behind the initiative, believes: "Green growth can be encouraged by global incentives and by every individual and company in India, participating in ways big and small."

This year, LDI is inviting people to organize country and city-wide cleanup actions in cooperation with their communities. At this point, volunteer leaders in more than 80 countries have taken up the challenge.

The preparation for the World Cleanup 2012 action in each country and city starts by mapping the illegal dumping sites with World Waste Map applications, followed by a massive campaign inviting large numbers of volunteers to help clean up together during one specific action day.

On 13-15th January 2012, LDI will hold a conference in Tallinn to kick off the project World Cleanup 2012. Team-leaders from 46 countries will share their ideas and experiences in organizing city-wide or country-wide cleanup days, therefore offering a knowledge base to all the civic leaders behind the cleanup actions that will be carried out this year, starting from 24th of March.

The Let’s Do It! World Cleanup 2012 conference will take place at the Radisson Blu Olympia Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia and is supported by The Rezidor Hotel Group, Carlson and EAS (Enterprise Estonia).

The journalists who wish to attend and cover the conference are welcome to contact tiina@letsdoitworld.org.

World Cleanup 2012 is a joint volunteer action, led by the grassroots movement Let’s Do It! The aim of the movement is to connect local leaders who are able and willing to engage their communities and societies to solve pressing issues through direct action and cooperation.

Read more about the action and different ways how you can support or join: www.letsdoitworld.org

Peace Community - Cocoa beans to Lush

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

The Urabá region in northern Colombia is one of the most violent regions in the world. 13 years ago more than 1,000 farmers and refugees founded the peace village San José de Apartado to defend themselves by non-violent means against expulsion. Now they received support - by a cosmetics company based in England. In July 2011 the first 25 tonnes of organic cocoa beans from the peace community arrived with Lush. Lush is known by products that look like tarts and pies - in reality there are "fresh, handmade" soaps and creams. Their high prices have a reason: they buy their resources in ecological production, fair trade and free of animal testing. When the first 25 t of cocoa beans of the peace community San José de Apartado arrived in the UK they were first checked for their quality and usability. Now, the cocoa butter which is about 1 / 3 of the beans, will be basis for many Lush products. For the remaining 2 / 3 of cocoa powder, Lush is still looking for a partner, possibly a chocolate manufacture. Paulo Mellett, scout of Lush company and former Greenpeace activist, needed months of bureaucratic work to achieve the appropriate certificates and import permits."Lush´s whole staff was standing behind me, as I suggested last year to support the peace village," said Mellett. "Everyone was thrilled that we can even save lives with our work. Now that we see the high quality of the cocoa beans, we will expand our cooperation. We can handle a lot more cocoa butter." The peace community with its 1300 inhabitants live in a constant struggle against political and economic forces who have already displaced more than 4 million farmers off their land. Many farmers in the region are forced to cultivate coca, as competition with giant corporations makes traditional crops barely profitable. The peace community adamantly stick to their principles:. "The statutes which we have set ourselves forbid us not only to participate in the armed struggle, but also to use or produce alcohol and drugs. It is a question of our dignity. We grow most of what we need to live, but we also need the opportunity to sell some of our products. " Thus the fair-trade collaboration with Lush is a lifeline to the community and vital for their continued brave non-violent resistance.

Kosha Anja Joubert elected as president of GEN-International

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Kosha was born and raised in South-Africa. Experiencing the system of Apartheid made her decide to devote herself to the study and practice of trustful communication and community building in intercultural settings. She has been living in intentional communities for the past 20 years. She spent ten years in the ecovillage of Sieben Linden in Germany and has recently moved to Findhorn in Scotland, UK. She is a member of the original GEESE-group (Global Ecovillage Educators for a Sustainable Earth) of Gaia Education and co-author of the EDE-Curriculum. She works as a trainer and consultant and has been active in setting up the emerging network of GEN-Africa for the past three years.

Ecovillage Design Education Course in Sieben Linden - apply for funding now

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:05:00 +0000

This course addresses people, that are looking for a meaningful perspective in life and work;...

Major Cyclone hits Auroville – Support needed

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:59:00 +0000

The desasters that we expect in these times of transformation and climate change also hit projects which develop alternatives. On December 30th, the "Universal City", founded 40 years ago by Sri Aurobindo in Southern India, was severely hit by a cyclone. Many people lost their homes. 70 % of the forest, which the inhabitants have planted for decades with much love and commitment, were destroyed. Water and electricity lines were hit. Luckily no people were hurt, and the spiritual center Matrimandir was not damaged. "Restoration efforts will be very challenging throughout Auroville, but these events have a way of demonstrating our solidarity and strength as a community. People have begun to pull together to rebuild what has been lost and this is always inspiring,“ writes Marti, a member of the Auroville community. For a new beginning, the inhabitants can use all the help and solidarity of the planetary family. For the first measures Auroville needs money. We ask all who can to help and contribute with a donation. Read the full article with pictures and find out how to help: http://www.auroville.org/cyclone/cyclone.htm

Green Phoenix: System Change through Providing Alternatives

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:29:00 +0000

From November 22 to 28, 2011, 35 international experts in the four fields: economy, ecology, social skills and education met pioneers of communities, kibbutzim and ecovillages at Schweibenalp in the Swiss alps. They exchanged and explored possibilities for a deep system change. One of the major speakers was Macaco Tamarice, president of GEN Europe (Global Ecovillage Movement). She said: "It seems that humanity´s biggest challenge has become the knowledge how to live together. In social experiments like ecovillages and intentional communities this skill can be relearned and shared with initiatives, companies and all kind of groups." Finance specialists did not come away with only critizing the existing system, they were questioned seriously how to build alternatives: just, fair and community based economies. While some experts said, that in future humanity will live well without financial currencies, they all agreed that for this time of transition solutions have to be found how to fund alternative models. Catherine Austin-Fitts, former vice-minister for finances in the US: "In fact communities can generate money for their projects just like the Wallstreet does: out of the thin air. But it will be under the control of communities and by this be just and fair." Also energy, food and water can be maintained locally and community-based, like the experts said. Jürgen Kleinwächter, inventor of the Solar Power Village: "We don´t have an energy crisis, only a fantasy crisis." In every region people in villages and slums can learn to provide themselves with renewable energy, by using sunshine, water, or garbage. Representatives of the communities Tamera (Portugal), Damanhur (Italy) and Neot Samadar (Israel) declared their projects as experimental sites for testing decentral solutions in the supply of energy, water, and food. The Green Phoenix conference brought its changes even to its venue: Schweibenalp, maintained by a community and member of GEN Europe, has started to create an Alpine permaculture project. More: www.schweibenalp.ch

Ecovillage Conference in Egypt Catalyzes the Movement in Africa

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:14:00 +0000

The attendees came to attend a conference put together and run by the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). The Ecovillage Conference, subtitled “Empowering Communities for Sustainable Development in Northern Africa” was sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry as part of a larger funded project to launch sustainability initiatives in Northern Africa. GEN is a constantly expanding network of sustainable communities and initiatives, bridging all cultures, countries, and continents, which promotes the building of community and solidarity as core to the transition to resilience. Through its efforts in bringing together the conference, GEN organizers reached out to a wide network of organizations already working on social and environmental issues in the region. Most conference attendees came from the targeted Northern African countries of Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, and of course Egypt and received full funding to attend, including their flights to Egypt. But some representatives traveled from other parts of Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. Attendees showed quite a wide range of livelihoods as well: from students, architects, and entrepreneurs to educators and directors of NGO’s. Kosha Joubert, President of GEN International, and her partner and leadership-trainer, Robin Alfred co-facilitated the conference, and created an atmosphere that was both focused on the topic and open to the free expression of ideas. The conference opened on Friday evening with an introduction to GEN by Ms. Joubert, followed by a greeting from SEKEM founder Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish and his son Helmy, who shared their wisdom through some of the lessons they have learned over the years. Saturday consisted of a thorough tour of SEKEM in the morning and presentations from a range of attendees about existing initiatives in Africa. Sunday, the final day of the event, allowed time for more presentations, followed by a variety of workshops for attendees to choose from, and also held space for processing key concepts learned and discussing next steps. Workshops ranged from a discussion of growing the GEN Africa network, which is just reaching a point when it can expand considerably, to a tour and examination of subsurface soil irrigation practices at SEKEM. The conference concluded Sunday evening with a joyous celebration of music and dance performed by attendees, representing the cultural traditions of their respective countries.
The conference would certainly not been as much of a success without the inspiring backdrop and gracious hosting of SEKEM. The project began in 1977 as Dr. Abouleish’s dream of greening the desert and creating a model for improving the lives of Egyptian people. Due to his tireless efforts over many years, his dream has manifested into a reality. Now, in a lush green setting of date palms and other desert plants, over 1400 Egyptians come here each day to work and attend school. The project consists of eight separately-operating businesses, ranging from organic farming and livestock rearing, to herbal pharmaceutical processing and textile production. The site also holds a fully-functioning medical center which provides care for all workers. Several schools, including a Kindergarten, Community School, and Vocational Training Center, provide the 600 children and teens who attend with a holistic education based on the Steiner system. A key demonstration of the alternative business model of SEKEM is evident every Thursday afternoon: all employees and students come together in a huge circle at a central location, linking hands in a ceremony of appreciation for their work, and uniting as a community, far more than just a business. Attendees’ initial impressions of the conference appeared to be overwhelmingly positive, with a general feeling of agreement that the event provided an excellent mix of presentations and time for discussion and networking. Many attendees appeared ready to collaborate between their existing projects, and expressed a desire to initiate national GEN networks within their respective countries. They also showed strong interest in growing the recently-started GEN Africa network, which already has projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa. Overall, the Ecovillage Conference appears to have been a great success, with both the conference facilitators and the host site of SEKEM receiving a great amount of appreciation. It is hoped that the networking and connections made at the conference will catalyze the burgeoning ecovillage movement in Northern Africa. More resources:

Video about Ecovillage Conference in Egypt: Youtube
Photos from the Conference: Picasa

For questions or comments, please contact egypt.conference@gen-europe.org.

Reunion Under the Redwoods

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:02:00 +0000

Hosted by the US-based nonprofit, Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC), the “Art of Community” conference took place north of the San Francisco Bay Area at Westminster Woods, a rural church camp on a curving, redwood-lined road a few miles from the tiny Sonoma County town of Occidental. The FIC focuses on intentional communities in general, not ecovillages specifically, but four US ecovillages were represented: Los Angeles Eco-Village; Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Missouri; La’akea Ecovillage, Hawaii; and my home, Earthaven Ecovillage, North Carolina. Plus two communities that don't call themselves ecovillages, but certainly seem to share the same values and practices: Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, northern California, and Tryon Life Community Farm, Portland, Oregon. And both Western US representatives to the Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA) were there: Jeff Clearwater, currently visiting communities up and down the West Coast, and Lois Arkin, cofounder of Los Angeles Eco-Village. Workshops touched on various aspects of starting, joining, or living in any kind of community. For example: Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making, and Sociocracy; self-governance and power dynamics; effective meetings; good facilitation skills; and helpful communication processes, including nonviolent communication. Plus workshops on elders in community, love relationships in community, sexuality in community, and songs and games for community. Not to mention panels on urban community, spirituality in community, and an “ask the experts” panel of community founders. Whew! A highlight of the weekend was the screening of the just-released new video, Within Reach. This video shows how two young community seekers, Ryan Mlynarczyk and Mandy Creighton, bicycled 6,500 miles across the US to visit 100 communities to find one to join. Within Reach premiered Saturday night to a packed and cheering crowd. Another highlight was the keynote talk Friday night by Dr. Kevin Danaher, co-founder of Global Exchange, an international human rights organization. Kevin Danaher is also a founder and an executive producer of the US-based Green Festivals, and executive director of the Global Citizen Center. He showed how all of us at the grassroots level are co-creating an emerging economic system — worldwide, sustainable, and cooperative. We loved it! One of my favorite workshops was Tree Bressen’s presentation of the “Pattern Language of Meetings,” similar to architect Christopher Alexander’s classic work, A Pattern Language. Over a three-year period, Tree with a group of facilitators uncovered 91 principles of well-functioning meetings. These will soon be published as a deck of large cards with photos depicting each principle. I’m looking forward to introducing the cards to groups I work with to highlight effective meeting behavior. Another meeting-process workshop I enjoyed was Tim Hartnett’s ”Inspired Collaboration.” Tim, a co-founder of Sunshower Farm community near Santa Cruz, California, is author of Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making. In his workshop he combined principles from mediation, conflict resolution, and Marshall Rosenberg’s nonviolent communication process. I did a Friday night slide show of some of my favorite ecovillages worldwide (including Sieben Linden and Damanhur, which I had the pleasure to visit in August). I also hosted “The Ecovillage Timeline Game,” where participants had the task to arrange cards along a series of long narrow tables to show the many steps of creating a new community, and another task — figuring out how they would decide this. Late Sunday afternoon, when the Art of Community conference was over, we 200-plus participants bicycled, drove, and car-pooled out from under the sheltering redwood trees to return to our daily lives — all of us all a little bit richer in our community dreams and skills. Diana Leafe Christian, author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities (which has been translated into French, Italian, and Spanish) and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, is a GEN-Europe Ambassador, representing GEN-Europe in the US. She is editor and publisher of Ecovillages, a free online newsletter about. Diana is also an EDE trainer, and speaks at conferences, offers consultations, and leads workshops internationally. She contributed chapters for two Gaia Education books: Beyond You and Me and Gaian Economics. Diana lives in an off-grid homesite at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. http://www.DianaLeafeChristian.org This article also appears in slightly modified form in the Communities magazine, and Diana’s online newsletter, Ecovillages (http://www.EcovillageNews.org)

Become a GEN-Ambassador

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:55:00 +0000

In this role, you will be supported by GEN in doing outreach work for the ecovillage-movement.

Ecovillage Design Education Sieben Linden - Training for Trainers 2011

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:34:00 +0000

Introduction

This year's EDE course was the fourth to be hosted in the Ecovillage of Sieben Linden. 35 participants from 21 countries (Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, China, India and all over Europe) attended. The international focus of this particular EDE has always been strong. Now, after years of preparation, our work has received a new level of recognition and support from both the German Foreign Ministry and a German foundation (Heidehof Stiftung). We were able to invite a diverse group of experienced grassroots activists and are now able to engage in follow-up work (see below). The ongoing project is framed as a collaboration between GEN (Global Ecovillage Network) and Gaia Education in the area of North-South reconciliation and the spreading of strategies for climate change adaptation and stabilisation of communities. Scaling up ‘Ecovillage Design’ to describe not only the design of individual projects, but the emergence of whole ecovillage networks, is what makes this approach attractive to policy-makers. The Senegalese government's aim of transforming 14.000 traditional villages into ecovillages is a strong underpinning for this approach. The potential of civil society engagement is coupled with a supportive political climate to achieve effective change processes. The EDE course is a tool of empowerment and networking that can kick-start such processes. Linking emerging networks into regional and national GEN-networks adds recognition and effectiveness. 7Linden provides a radically ecological setting, having lowered its carbon emissions to a third of the German average. This aspect of walking our talk in changing our lifestyle invokes respect and a basis for collaboration with projects from the global South. The course lasted a full 30 days, which offered enough time for community building and personal change processes.

Special emphasis on Participatory Pedagogy, Integral Design and concrete follow-up projects

Like every year, many of our participants are experienced trainers and facilitators themselves – and come with the aim of starting up EDEs in their home countries. This year, we made the ‘Training of Trainers’- aspect, which is a part of every EDE, more explicit. Our focus on participatory pedagogy has always been strong, but was vastly intensified. An introduction to both Permaculture Design and Dragon Dreaming (a holistic participatory method for the realisation of outrageously successful projects through dreaming, planning, doing and celebrating) is included in this EDE and highly appreciated by participants. Including these help for a process of creating follow-on projects to emerge from the group. This year, we included more sessions on the actual creation of project designs, business plans and concrete funding applications towards the end of course.

Faculty Team

Kosha Joubert served as main focaliser of this course. Martin Stengel and Robin Alfred both collaborated in the overall facilitation of the course. Other trainers included: Chistian Felber (economist, teaching at university in Vienna and author of several books on a new economy of solidarity), Paulo Mellet (Permaculture teacher and Connecting link to LUSH), Silke Hagmaier (Horse whisperer), Beate (Permaculture Trainer and EDE-alumni), Jane Rasbash (Board-member of Gaia Education), Eva Stützel (project consultant at Sieben Linden). The presentations of participants were essential: the richness of wisdom and experience they shared was central to the aims and effects of this course!

Outcomes

One concrete outcome is the “Children’s caravan to COP 17: An expression of hope for our common future”. The seed-funds for this project were generously offered by all of EDE participants during an empowered fundraising session.
The German Foreign Ministry has already offered to support the EDE in 7Linden again next year. It feels wonderfully effective to be able to build on current relationships and projects in various countries.
Also, around 12-16 project proposals are being rounded off and will go in to German embassies worldwide. These include proposals for funding of EDEs in Senegal, Thailand, Bangladesh, Congo, Ghana, South Africa, Orissa; for adaptation of the curriculum for schools in India; and much more… (Thank you, Jane Rasbash!)
Paulo Mellet from LUSH, an ethical green business, is supporting previous alumni in Peru, Ghana and Congo to set up training centres, run EDEs and permaculture courses, and to build long-term fair-trade relationships.
The further emergence of GEN-Africa: we have 14 new GEN-Ambassadors. Kenya, Congo and Ghana are in the process of setting up national GEN-networks in their countries.

2012 Course

The 2012 course will follow similar lines as this year’s course. We look forward to deepening relationships with particular countries and organisations. May the seeds blossom! With gratitude to all those institutions and people involved in bringing the EDE in Sieben Linden to flower:

The focalising and training team
The Ecovillage of Sieben Linden
GEN-Europe and GEN-International
Gaia Education
The German Fedral Foreign Office
The ‘Heidehof Stiftung’
And all the NGO’s and organisations in Africa and elsewhere who supported some of their best people to come and share their valuable time and experience with us.

Kosha Anja Joubert,
overall focalizer of the EDE in Sieben Linden, president of GEN-International

GEN-Europe now active on facebook & twitter

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:17:00 +0000

To provide information more instantaneously but also to stay in touch with our friends and followers, we are now using facebook and twitter to offer updates on events, websites, articles and news on ecovillages, permaculture, sustainable living, community and all topics related. You can just follow the links above to go to the social networks, login or create a new account and follow us / like us to stay in touch, give us feedback, inform us about your events or just listen quietly. If you are new to social networks, then you can read a beginner's guide for twitter at http://michaelhyatt.com/the-beginners-guide-to-twitter.html or a beginner's guide for facebook at http://helpmerick.com/a-beginners-guide-to-facebook.htm. Looking forward to hearing from you and extending our antennas in the social media world.

Invitation: Ecovillage Conference - Empowering Communities for Sustainable Development in Northern Africa

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:39:00 +0000

This comes as a message to change agents, grassroots actors and social innovators from North African countries:
You are invited to the Ecovillage Conference - Empowering Communities for Sustainable Development in Northern Africa, taking place in 'Sekem' in Egypt in late November of this year.
Funding is available for 50 participants from Northern Africa! There is also space for 20 self-financing participants from other countries. The conference will be in English. We are considering organising translation into French or Arabic on request. We ask you to contact us at egypt.conference@gen-europe.org if you are interested in attending. Download the invitation (PDF)

Not only that: Funding is also available for 10 participants from Northern Africa for a 4-week long training called the Ecovillage Design Education - Training for Sustainability, taking place in Senegal from November 23 - December 22, 2011.
For more information on the nature of this training, please see: www.gaiaeducation.org.
The program is an official contribution to the UN Decade for the Education for Sustainable Development and will take participants on a journey to see and learn from the best appropriate technologies in the Ecovillages of Senegal.
We ask you to contact us at the same address (egypt.conference@gen-europe.org) if you are interested.
Again, there are also some places available for self-financing participants from other countries. The course will be in French.