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Geeseinformation Southern Autumn/Northern Spring 2012
Gaia Trust: Celebrating 25 Years! Ross Jackson, March 2012 Gaia Trust was founded in 1987 on the initiative of Hildur and me with the support of eight or so Danish colleagues. Our objective was to support persons and organisations that were working for a more sustainable and spiritual world. We had no funds to speak of, the initial capital being about £1,000. However, I had been working for the prior 5 years developing and testing computer software to analyse and trade foreign currencies, a relatively new concept at the time. My trading results in the marketplace were exceptionally good, so I donated the rights to Gaia Trust in return for 10% of the new company, Gaiacorp, of which Gaia Trust owned 90%. Over the next 5 years or so, Gaiacorp became a major international player in the currency options market and built up a net worth of about £20 million. We then had to decide how to best use the funds. We decided early on to support projects that were not getting support from elsewhere, so that we might make a difference. Our view was that we knew the problems and we knew the necessary solutions. The major barrier was implementation. Therefore, we decided to support the people that were actually implementing what we considered would become the mainstream lifestyle in the 21st century when things started to fall apart, namely ecovillages, although the name “ecovillage” did not exist until we and Robert Gilman coined it in 1991. Later, we added a second major program, education
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2012/1 in sustainability principles, which led eventually to the establishment of Gaia Education. While Gaia Trust has supported many other smaller projects over the years (over 300 in about 40 countries), including the first permaculture course in a dozen or so countries, GEN and Gaia Education have been and continue to be the two major projects that we have supported and continue to support. None of this would have been possible without an enormous contribution of time and energy by thousands of activists around the world, and for that we are very grateful.
I think we can all be proud of our accomplishments, but the battle is far from won. At the first meeting of Gaia Trust, I said that this project was probably going to take forty years to complete. We have still 15 years to go, so let us not rest until the job is done!
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InanItah EDE, Nicaragua – 25 January to 29 February 2012 Erika Logie February saw an excited InanItah host our 3rd Annual Ecovillage Design Gathering. Using the Gaia Education mandala as our map, we came together to discuss and share ideas for sustainable, evolutionary living, as it applies to the ecovillage setting. This year was our first hosting a Certified by Gaia Education EDE, and it was a transformative experience for both participants and facilitators. At InanItah we believe in experiential and embodied learning and we were delighted to bring this educational philosophy to the EDE experience. Participants engaged in various embodied learning activities, including making a compost heated hot water shower, building with cob, digging swales, conscious dance, yoga and active meditations. Other highlights included full and new moon sweatlodges, dream circles, the AUM social experienceTM, puja circles, weekly Forum style circles, Dragon Dreaming and Power and Privilege Theatre.
“It’s incredible. It’s life changing. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that came here and didn’t learn something about themselves. I think you can learn something from every experience in the EDE course.”
Matt Corso, 23
We were blessed to have some inspirational facilitators enrich the course with their wisdom. Donnie Blaikie, a Native American sweatlodge and ceremony facilitator, shared his perspectives during the Worldview week. Dr. Tabatha Parker, ND, a naturopathic doctor and co-founder of Natural Doctors International, engaged the group in a lively discussion about alternative healing methods. We also took a field trip to Project Bona Fide, a permaculture education and research facility, where agroforestry expert Chris Shanks gave us a tour of a longstanding food forest.
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Liz Johndrow, a professional natural builder and owner of Earthen Endeavors Natural Building, shared earthen flooring, wall, and plaster techniques and her recent work rebuilding homes in a Northern Nicaraguan earthquake disaster area. The students also participated in an interesting dialogue about the steady state economic theory with David Casey, UC Berkeley Political Economics alumni and founder of Project Nuevo Mundo (www.projectnuevomundo.org) In total, 16 participants attended, coming mostly from the US, along with Australia, England, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany and Canada. Ages ranged from 19 to 55, with an equal male to female ratio. A recurring conversational theme during the Social Week of the course was the relationship and contrast in values between the EDE participants of the mostly Western ecovillage community, and those of the surrounding Nicaraguan community. The EDE participants were given the opportunity to co-create our Annual Gratitude Festival, during which we invited our local Nicaraguan neighbours to celebrate our 3rd birthday with food, music, dance, ritual and games. We recognize that the local community’s support makes InanItah possible, and the day is an opportunity to express our gratitude. The participants practiced conscious communication skills and newly learned decision-making modalities and matrixes to co-create the festival in a spirit of cooperation and generosity.
InanItah is a transformational living & learning centre and intentional community based on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. We host regular workshops and gatherings on tantra, permaculture, natural building, meditation, conscious dance, and massage. More information is available at www.inanitah.com.
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Terra Una Ecovillage EDE, Brazil – April to September 2011 Emmanuel Khodja and Terra Una Team
“Transdisciplinarity in Mixed Dimensions” An immersive Gaia Education program, the EDE was settled fully into the Terra Una Ecovillage and community context, integrating beautifully with the surrounding nature. Run by the Terra Una team and NGO, it was an exciting experience which bridged a gap not yet present in Brazilian EDEs. The Terra Una team aimed to honour the EDE, using the strength of a face to face pedagogy to improve the sense of belonging and support the transformation process of participants. The natural environment surrounding Terra Una also provided a context which balanced the “inside” and “outside” classes, with students not only learning about permacultural design, but also practicing natural building, organic food production, water treatment systems, and so on. However, in Brazil it is not easy for students to leave their family and home and cease income for 4 consecutive weeks while still affording the entire cost of the EDE. We thus decided that it would be better for participants, and also for us, to run the program over four non-consecutive “weeks” of 9 days with 42 hours of activities in each one. This schedule format created a “space-time” where after each course module participants could go home, digest and practice what they had studied. To enhance the application of the content in their everyday lives, the work process was designed around personal projects. Projects were presented in the first meeting, empowering students to apply chosen changes in their lives during a 6 month process. The Terra Una faculty offered online support between modules, reserving the formal time of the dimensions to review the process into each meeting.
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With this novel approach set, a new possibility appeared… “What if we mix the dimensions?!”, or in other words, what if each week has classes from all four dimensions, instead of only one? Very carefully we weaved a pedagogical program to follow a specific sequence that could offer participants a systemic and integrated approach during the course. The main dimension of each week included 55% pedagogical hours on that dimension, with the remaining 45% divided equally among the other 3 dimensions. This methodology allowed us to start with introductory issues and basic concepts important for students to know from the beginning, regardless of the dimension in which it is located. We evaluated this strategy and found that it facilitated the learning of several contents simultaneously. For example, it’s far easier to learn permaculture and integrated design after having seen the holistic worldview and having practiced listening to and reconnecting with nature; it’s good to talk about “shifting the global economy to sustainability” and then return to “personal empowerment and leadership skills”. We consider that we had a worthy and successful experience, confirming that the EDE curriculum not only talks about transdisciplinarity, but can also be studied in a way that is holistic and holographic, just as the program is meant to be. Gratitude to the GEESE for supporting this!
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Unleashing EDE Curriculum V5: The Urban/Ecovillage Intersection Giovanni Ciarlo, Gaia Education Product Development
Ecovillage Design Education A four-week comprehensive course in the fundamentals of Sustainability Design Curriculum conceived and designed by the GEESE—Global Ecovillage Educators for a Sustainable Earth Version 5 © Gaia Education, 2012
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The exciting first phase of development of Gaia Education’s Ecovillage Design Curriculum (the result of which was the EDE V4 curriculum) has been tested in settings across the globe ranging from established ecovillages to forming ecovillages, rural ecovillages to urban ecovillages, traditional villages to university programs and training centers. The very success of the curriculum has prompted development of new materials and content for an updated version of the curriculum – Version 5.
All the information and content of the V4 curriculum also applies to urban settlements. While this curriculum was designed for local cultural and sociopolitical adaptation, it has become obvious to Gaia Education that additional curriculum development was needed. Some of these changes have been due to the pace of change in the sustainability movement in the first decade of this century; others due to an increase in urgency as the issues of Peak Oil and Climate Change take on larger magnitude and accelerate towards dangerous levels. The most urgent matter that has come to the fore at this time is the need for additional content specific to urban settlement design. This has been an emerging trend with the GEESE since the beginning. We have therefore now added this new component to the V5 curriculum with the purpose of supporting, guiding and providing teaching content to the growing number of groups wishing to deliver EDEs in a variety of urban settings. The basic reason for creating urban habitats has been to maximize exchange and minimize transportation. The built community can thus be designed to achieve “maximum energy efficiency, instead of being designed solely to be the engine of industrial production and consumption,” as Jane Jacobs observed.
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The term Ecovillage in the urban context is used as a development model and metaphor for the re-organisation of our neighbourhoods. Urban ecovillages have in the past taken backstage to the more common rural ecovillages. However, urban ecovillages are growing in popularity and with them, the need to address sustainable lifestyles and community organization associated with cities, suburbs and high-density settlements worldwide. In this sense the addition to the existing curriculum does not seek to change the proven valuable components of the 20 modules already in place in V4, but rather, to focus on issues that are particular to communities that develop in high density, urban contexts. One of the many purposes for re/designing sustainable urban settlements is to reduce or withdraw our dependency on oil and decrease urban sprawl. It is also important to keep in mind that the urban/suburban/rural dichotomies are largely a result of the industrial/capitalist worldview which has dominated human civilization for the past couple of centuries. Ecovillages offer a new vision and a new worldview in which all these forms can interrelate: ecovillages are systemically designed and harmonized to the needs of the natural environment and human social relations, a vision which honours traditional and indigenous cultures and their way of creating synergy with the environment and within the community. The EDE V5 curriculum is now available on www.gaiaeducation.net.
Dear friends, EDE Alumni and Geese, The most under-utilised resource we have on this planet is the good intentions and creativity of citizens and our willingness to make a difference. The power of human communities to come together and co-design our pathway into the future is a major driving force for positive change. The Global Ecovillage Network connects communities for a sustainable world. We warmly invite you to connect to GEN’s circles of activity in your region. The networks of Gaia Education and GEN are closely interlinked - we want to make sure these connections are strengthened. If you would like to be informed about GEN-conferences, courses, or meetings taking place in your country or region, send us a brief email marked ‘Gaia Education - GEN’ to info@gen-europe.org. We look forward to hearing from you! The Global Ecovillage Network
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Building up to Rio+20 Gaia Education will be present at the 20th annual United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June this year.
Gaia Education @ Rio+20
www.rio20.gov.br
By Filipe Freitas The Rio de Janeiro ”gaianos” network has been holding meetings to prepare Gaia Education’s and the GEESE participation at the Peoples’ Summit and in other parallel events at Rio+20.
La red de Gaia de Río de Janeiro ha realizado reuniones de articulación para permitir un espacio dedicado a la Educación Gaia en Cumbre de los Pueblos y en los eventos paralelos a la conferencia de la ONU.
The idea is to create a space where we will offer flash EDE classes and include pedagogical, cultural, artistic and spiritual activities that follow the four dimensions of the curriculum.
Queremos crear un espacio donde podamos tener actividades pedagógicas, culturales, artísticas y espirituales que siguen a las cuatro dimensiones del currículo.
Rio is expecting 300,000 people and thousands of NGOs. Despite the complexities in event organization, we are confident that we will be able to create this space, promoting the great movement of integration between GEESE groups worldwide in order to spread principles and practices supported by a systemic worldview, throughout Rio+20.
A pesar de las dificultades en la organización del evento, estamos confiantes de que seremos capaces de crear este espacio para promover un gran movimiento de integración entre los grupos gaianos de todo el mundo con el fin de difundir los principios y prácticas apoyadas por una visión del mundo sistémica por toda la Río+20.
We are very happy to know that the “GEESE” are coming to share art and knowledge with us. Welcome to Rio de Janeiro!
Estamos muy contentos de saber que los “geeses” están llegando para compartir arte y conocimiento con nosotros. Bienvenidos a Río de Janeiro!
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Last year, in building up to Rio+20, Gaia Education joined the lead UN campaign Green Dreams Around the World and partnered with Earth Day Network (EDN) in The Billion Acts of Green® campaign.
Green Dreams Around the World
www.green-dream.co.uk
The exciting Green Dreams Around the World campaign was created to give voice to the dreams of thousands of individuals as a contribution to the Rio+20 conference. The mosaic of Green Dreams collected in the build-up to Rio+20 will be streamed during the conference, concentrating and amplifying these positive impulses from around globe, at the conference. Isabela Menezes from Brazil, an EDE alumni and organiser and Green Dreams catcher, shares:
“When I was invited to be a dream catcher for the Green Dreams Around the World campaign, I imagined how the experience was going to be rich and adorable. And why not? Beginning with the name that for me is so beautiful: “Dream Catcher”! Asking people to tell me their best and most beautiful desires and dreams for a new future, a new planet, a new world! How could I not be thrilled in helping to shape only good things for our future? For indeed, that is what we are doing. Shaping, through all these dreams, a fantastic new world! I am deeply grateful to be part of this dream! I think I will forever be a dream catcher!” Check out the Green Dreams of EDE Alumni on the Gaia Education YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/gaiaeducation and the dreams from friends around the world on www.youtube.com/greendreamcifal Interested in becoming a Green Dreams catcher yourself? Email administrator@gaiaeducation.net for details!
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A Billion Acts of Green速 act.earthday.org The goal of this campaign is to reach a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before Rio+20. Gaia Education partnered with EDN to pledge all certified Gaia Education programmes to the A Billion Acts of Green速 campaign. To date, this pledge has contributed over 700 acts to the 633,087,628 so far recorded. We invite you to join the Billion Acts of Green速 campaign by Supporting and Promoting Earth Day 2012. Visit act.earthday.org/act/1314794404/support-promote-earth-day-2012 to pledge your support.
What can you do? The future is here and the time to act is now! Join the global conversation on the Future we Want by sharing your green dreams with friends, colleagues and the world via the Green Dreams Around the World campaign. After sharing your dream for a greener future, breathe further life into it by taking positive, practical steps to making it happen and contribute these steps to the Billion Acts of Green Campaign速. Simply follow these steps: 1.
Video record your dream for the future you want and email to dhkeobve0zs2@m.youtube.com. Visit http://green-dream.co.uk/ post-your-dream for more information.
2.
Pledge your act of green on act.earthday.org
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Share your dreams and acts with us on Facebook and NING! http://www.facebook.com/GaiaEducation http://geese-gaiaeducation.ning.com
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Discovering the Power of Two Penelope Reyes The title aptly describes a journey of two people manifesting their dreams in just three years, after hosting two EDE’s! John and I met during the 2007 Wongsanit EDE in Thailand. Back then, I was a city-bred dreamer with a strong passion to shift to a more sustainable lifestyle. It is one thing to have a dream. It is something short of a miracle to actually find someone who shares your vision and is willing to journey with you to make it happen. So, by discovering the power of two – John, with his intense drive and focus to make things happen, and myself, being a dreamer, mediator and bridge-builder – we co-created Tuwa The Laughing Fish – an eco-homestead, green bed and breakfast, and living and learning centre at Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
John & Penelope
EDE was an inspiration from the beginning. We used permaculture design, saved the topsoil and closely observed energy and cosmic flows. As a result, the land is now home to a diverse variety of plant and animal life and produces abundant harvests like giant Cassavas! We are living 100% off-grid through an energy mix of solar, wind and biomass. We looked to local knowledge, especially in building with bamboo, to create structures that can withstand extreme weather conditions. Mang Osting, the construction manager, developed a unique way of building a metal frame. The roof was built on the ground and then raised, level by level, as the house was built. Spirituality, art and connection to nature play an integral aspect in our lives. Our first construction activity was a sacred labyrinth space to integrate spiritual practice into our daily work. Agnihotra is another important daily practice. Right livelihood and cooperative business are cornerstone values, determining how we relate to and interact with the local town economy. Re-localization, social enterprise and exploring alternative forms of trade like barter are key activities which we strive to implement.
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To nurture a social space, we used participatory methods to clarify our vision and develop communication and decision-making processes. We also recognize that developing an awareness of how people share in the context of different cultures is an ongoing process. Affirmation is key.
Tuwa view giant cassava
Teaching and exchanging knowledge is a very important focus. Thus, after taking our EDE in Thailand, we organized 2 Philippine EDE’s which proved to be as enriching for us as it was for the participants.
I often ask John how we managed to do all these things - just two people, in three years?! Synergy is exponential. A single person couldn’t have done all this alone. And limitless potentials arise when even more like-minded people come into unity. We are forming an EDE – inspired community and we are inviting interested EDE alumni to join us either through internships or resident membership. Tuwa is hosting the third Philippine EDE this June 1-28, 2012. We hope to cocreate a positive future by awakening together to the many possibilities of community living. For more information, visit www.tuwa.ph.
ower John building a solar sh
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Occupy World Street – A New Book by Ross Jackson In Occupy World Street, Ross Jackson delivers one of the most incisive, clear descriptions of the global financial practices that have driven economies to the brink of collapse and puts forward a detailed plan to reorganise global trade alliances on a more human scale and gradually phase in institutions which support sustainable economies, uphold human rights and respect environmental standards.
para las comunidades sostenibles del planeta
Llave Social Editores
Kosha Anja Joubert y
Robin Alfred
Más allá de ti y de mi Inspiración y sabiduría para crear comunidad
Más allá de ti y de mi Ahora availabe en español! Más allá de ti y de mi, un excelente libro con buenos artículos relacionados con la dimensión social de la sostenibilidad y publicado por Gaia Education en su colección las 4 Llaves, está disponible en pdf para descarga gratuita en – www.gaiaeducation.net
La llave social del EDE
Gaiaeducation
For a limited period, Permanent Publications are offering a 25% reduction on all their books. This fantastic saving means you can now purchase Gaia Education’s 4Keys at 25% off their regular price! Visit http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/books/pp/gaia-education-1.html to take advantage of this offer.
EDE Case Study: Hopeland Hopeland is located in a village called Malantreni (near the town of Argos) in Greece. Spiros Milonas, a core member of the Hopeland team in Greece, attended the 2011 Findhorn EDE where Hopeland became the case study for his design group. Other members of the design group included Agi Berecz, Concepcion Pinero, Carmen Carter, Sabine Guehne, Shyam Kishore, Emmanuel Mappus and Isabelle Malleze. The aim of Hopeland is to be a living model of sustainability and local development by using and preserving available resources efficiently, strengthening people’s relations by embracing diversity and showing practically how humankind can co-create with nature. This vibrant community acts as a center for learning through a natural way of life by sharing knowledge, skills and innovative methods as well as hands on activities that nourish body, mind, heart and spirit. Download the full Hopeland case study and view additional case studies from EDE’s around the world on www.gaiaeducation.net.
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Upcoming EDEs Around the World
Newly Certified Programmes
With the Japan, Thailand and Nicaragua EDE’s having just come to completion, many more are on their way! See below and visit www.gaiaeducation.net for further upcoming EDE’s around the world!
Mama Na Bana Ecovillage and Permaculture Living & Learning Center, Congo Hallingelille Ecovillage, Denmark
BASD, Bangladesh 10th March - 22 June 2012 www.gaiaeducation.net EDE Ecohabitare, Brazil 13th April – 8th December 2012 www.ecohabitare.com.br Damanhur Ecovillage, Italy 5th May – 2nd June 2012 www.damanhur.org
EDE Paraiso na Terra, Brazil Bahia One Drop Solutions, Brazil Khula Dhamma, South Africa Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Re-Certified Programmes yy Sieben Linden, Germany yy Kibbutz Lotan, Israel yy Son Rul-lan, Spain yy Auroville, India
Tuwa The Laughing Fish, Philippines 1st – 28th June -2012 www.tuwa.ph Mama Na Bana Ecovillage and Permaculture Living & Learning Center, Congo 3rd – 30th June 2012 www.gaiaeducation.net Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, USA 29th June – 5th August 2012 www.ecovillageeducation.us Siddharth Village, Orissa, India 10th February 2012 – 10th March 2012 (English) www.siddharthvillage.com
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The Park, Findhorn Forres IV36 3TZ Morayshire, Scotland United Kingdom administrator@gaiaeducation.net phone: +44 1309 692011 Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in Scotland No 353967 Scottish Charity No SC040839
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