Modern living has been decried as ecologically disastrous by laymen and experts alike. Breakdown of traditional forms of community, wasteful consumerist lifestyles, destruction of natural habitats, urban sprawl, factory farming and over-reliance on fossil fuels, have caused many to break away from mainstream society. They have set up their own eco-communities, or eco-villages, as they are more commonly known, which are based on shared values of social, economic and ecological sustainability. Eco-villages are now being created intentionally, the world over, so people can once more live in eco-communities that are connected to the Earth in a way that ensures the well-being of all life-forms into the indefinite future.
In the West, the term ‘eco-village’ gained currency with the publishing of ‘Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities,’ a seminal book by Robert and Diane Gilman, in 1991 by the Gaia Trust. Gilmans’ definition of an eco-village has become a standard one. According to them an eco-village is a full–featured human settlement in which activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.
Eco-villages exist around the globe in 70 countries. They range from a handful of people living quietly together to communities of more than 1000 members. Although there is no blue-print, eco-villages are found to integrate various aspects of ecological design: ecological building, alternative energy, environmentally benign manufacturing or production, permaculture (landscaping designed to mimic nature and to provide the community with food, fibre and fuel), and community building practices. Local purchasing to support the local economy, local food production and distribution, moral purchasing to avoid objectionable consumption, consensus decision-making for governance and a choice to respect diversity characterize an eco-villages. Hildur Jackson and Karen Svebsson observe in their book, ‘Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People,’ that eco-villages are more a value system than physical structures. They explore the cultural-spiritual aspect of eco-villages, as exemplified by Auroville in India – a community with over 1,500 inhabitants.
Eco-village is distinct from co-housing. Cohousing projects also house communities united by a common belief and with strong ecological and social underpinnings. However they are built by typical developers, for whom the environment is not priority while eco-villages are built with sustainability in mind by atypical developers who interface with the local authorities to get permits to produce energy and process waste in different manners than governments usually mandate.
Gaia Trust, a Danish-based charitable association founded in 1987, supports communities in transition to a sustainable and more spiritual future society through grants and proactive initiatives. Their support to the eco-village concept has been of critical importance. Several eco-villages, across the globe have come together under Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) – a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridge different cultures, countries, and continents. GEN serves as umbrella organization for eco-villages, transition town initiatives, intentional communities, and ecologically-minded individuals worldwide.
Network members include large networks like Sarvodaya (2,000 active sustainable villages in Sri Lanka); the Federation of Damanhur in Italy and Nimbin in Australia; small rural eco-villages like Gaia Asociación in Argentina and Huehuecoyotl, Mexico; urban rejuvenation projects like Los Angeles EcoVillage and Christiania in Copenhagen; permaculture design sites such as Crystal Waters, Australia, Cochabamba, Bolivia and Barus, Brazil; and educational centres such as Findhorn in Scotland, Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, Earthlands in Massachusetts, and many more.
GEN’s main aim is to support and encourage the evolution of sustainable settlements across the world, through facilitating the flow and exchange of knowledge about eco-villages and demonstration sites. GEN’s efforts were largely responsible for eco-villages being named in United Nations’ top 100 listing of Best Practices, as excellent models of sustainable living in 1998.
Could the ecovillage concept be extended to the entire world, including the mega-cities? There are many sceptics and nay-sayers. However they clearly need to understand that an ecovillage vision is far more than establishing a cohousing and growing your own food. It is about a new lifestyle that incorporates ecological, social and spiritual/cultural dimensions, a lifestyle that re-establishes the local networks that have always been a part of human existence, but which have been disintegrating in more recent history.
The concept has long been woven into the fabric of eastern nations. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, regarded as the father of the Indian nation, was its most famous proponent. The eco-villages of today mirror his teachings on gram-swaraj or self-sufficient villages based on localized economics, comprising of agricultural independence, community self-sufficiency and sound environmental practice. Much of the angst felt by the current generation is rooted in environmental as well socio-cultural degradation. If not eco-villages, at least the values promoted by them may be the solution for the many ills of modern-day society and the planet.
