Claudio Miranda lives in one of the favelas of Jardim Ângela, São Paulo, Brazil. He and his band Poesia Samba Soul run a remarkable cultural project, ‘favela da paz’ (slum of peace), which offers hundreds of young people the possibility to express themselves through the arts, poetry and music.
GEN Columnists
- Diana Leafe Christian
- May East
- Ross Jackson
- Max Lindegger
Ecovillage Roots - Learning How to Start a Successful Ecovillage
Diana Leafe Christian
(June/July 2010) I began teaching how to start new ecovillages almost by accident. I was editor of a US-based magazine about intentional communities, and had visited many communities in North America. This led to presenting workshops on how to start new communities, including ecovillages. Which led to joining Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina. And to writing a book on starting ecovillages, then another on how to join them, then publishing a free online newsletter about ecovillages internationally. . . . Over the years I’ve become passionate about what experiences really help people become informed and empowered enough to create successful new ecovillages. What learning methods work best? Read Full Story
Diana Leafe Christian is author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools To grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community (New Society Publishers, 2003 and 2007, respectively), and editor/publisher of the free online Ecovillages Newsletter. A member of Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, US, Diana teaches workshops and speaks at conferences internationally.
Gaia Education Worldwide - Maximising Edges
May East
Gaia Education has its deep roots in the ecovillage movement. Its body of knowledge springs from the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry of ecovillages acting as laboratories of sustainable living. Created over a series of meetings among experienced ecovillage educators, the circle decided to call itself the GEESE (Global Ecovillage Educators for Sustainable Earth) to acknowledge the importance of collaboration and roving leadership as exhibited by the migration behaviour of a flock of geese. Read Full Story
May East is a Brazilian social change activist who has spent the last 30 years working internationally with music, indigenous people, women, anti-nuclear, environmental and sustainable human settlements movements. Since 1992 she has lived at the Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland where she is the Ecovillage Education Coordinator. May is a sustainability educator and works internationally as Programme Director of Gaia Education.
Breakaway
Ross Jackson
“Breakaway” is a code word for what has been occupying most of my thoughts over the past several years and is also the working title of the forthcoming book that I hope to have published later this year. The subject matter is the coming global economic/political crisis, broken into two parts—problems and solutions; one part looks back, i.e. what are the major causes of the mess we are in, and one part looks forward, i.e. a proposed strategy—the only viable one that I can imagine—that could lead us out of the morass and towards a more sustainable and just world. This is what I call the “Breakaway Strategy”, a subject to which I will return. On this set of blogs, I will discuss various aspects of my thinking. Read Full Story
Ross Jackson, PhD, has for many years been an innovative leader in both the business and NGO worlds. He is chairman of Gaia Trust, a Danish-based charitable entity he co-founded in 1987 to promote a more sustainable and spiritual world. In his capacity as Gaia Trust Chairman, Ross, together with his Danish wife Hildur, is co-founder of the Global Ecovillage Network, (GEN) and Gaia Education and has supported hundreds of sustainability projects in dozens of countries over the years.
Ecovillage Musings
Max Lindegger
When I grew up in Switzerland money was very scarce in our family. I can't remember how much pocket money my sister and I got or if indeed we got any at all. I collected stamps for a hobby and the best way to enlarge this collection was to try and earn some money. It was not easy then and, it seems to be even more difficult now. I used to collect kindling, bundle it all into neat little packets and take it door to door. I remember "Old" lady's (when you are a child anybody over 50 was "old") being my best cus- tomers. My load in my little wooden cart would quickly empty and I had some cash to spend on my stamp collection! Read Full Story
Max was a primary partner in the design and development of the Award -winning Crystal Waters Permaculture Village, where he lives. He is a respected and sought-after teacher in the disciplines of sustainable systems. His reputation is born of 20 years of hands-on experience and leadership in the design and implementation of practical solutions to the challenges of sustainability. As the founder of the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia and the Ecovillage Research Group, Max participates in and contributes to the international flow of current thinking and best practice in the fields of sustainable systems design and education.
Announcements
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United Nations Cancun 2010 COP16UN climate change conferece The sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto...Read More...
Photo Showcase
Belgian Ecovillage Kasteel Nieuwenhoven is the latest to join a growing number of communities offering the 4-week Ecovillage Design Education (EDE).
A collaboration of permaculture teachers has resulted in the offering of a Permaculture Design Certificate at Marda Permaculture Center in Palestine. Teachers and dryland experts from Australia joined with Marda founder Murad Alkhuffash, bringing together Arab and Australian students.
The World Summit on Birth was held in May 2010 at Damanhur, Italy. Midwives, doctors, healers and artists attended. Sessions were dedicated to: exploring birthing conditions in Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and America, the sacredness and ritual of birth, and to creating a Spiritual School for the Art of Birth.
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