In “developed” countries we find Ecovillages (often also called intentional
communities) formed by people who for different reasons want to live closer to
nature, be part of a community, build their own houses, choose dry toilets and
rainwater catchment, live more slowly, be creative and more.
In places “less developed” e.g. Senegal
and
Bangladesh
the
eco-village
movement is more about keeping and
improving
traditional
villages
/
communities
to
function
in
a
sustainable manner.
I actually lived eight years of my
childhood in a co-housing community,
an experience I appreciate. And later
I’ve also lived in two big Danish ecovillages.
In Thailand, Colombia and Mexico I have visited eco-villages, these are
younger, smaller and more spiritual than the ones in Denmark.
www.casacontinental.org
Especially in Colombia they honour and use some of the pre-hispanic
indigenous
traditions:
www.resilience.org/stories/2013-03-18/the-colombian-renaissance
www.schumachercollege.org.uk/blog/learning-from-indigenous-traditions-in-latin-america-by-jonathan-dawson
Other important solutions are Appropriate Technologies, a term for
innovations that uses renewable energy and can be made of easy accessible
materials, some examples are bike machines, biochar makers, hippo water
roller and the universal nut sheller.
I recently met two inspiring women from the organization Fuprosomunic
that helps women in Nicaragua to change from wood burning stoves to solar
cookers. They received:
‘The Energy
award
2013
category’:
Globe world
in
the
AIR
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZufkUK_xlxQ
Martha Veronica Rocha from
Nicaragua receiving ‘The Award’ for
her Fuprosomunic organisation.