Ecovillage
Ecovillages are communities of people who strive for some of the basic goals such as: self-sufficiency in food, energy, production and services and a lifestyle in harmony with fellow beings and nature. Those people are willing to scale down their current lifestyle, to live just by their basic needs, and heighten their level of consciousness.
However, the ecovillage vision is far more than establishing a cohousing in the countryside and growing your own food. It is about a new low-impact lifestyle that incorporates ecological, social spiritual/cultural and moral 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 for a variety of reasons. Ecovillages are demonstration models which show how the different elements of sustainability synergise; they create new models of social and educational structure, like the introduction of a buddy system, and train our future leaders, capable of addressing and transforming today’s environmental and social challenges. Through the integration of Cultural, Moral and Spiritual principles into their fabric, many intentional ecovillages echo cultural traditions and return to a way of living where harmony with all living beings, including our Earth, is the backbone of daily life. Ecovillages embody a sense of unity with the natural world. They foster recognition of human life and the Earth itself as part of the larger cosmos.
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community; it is wrong when it tends otherwise”
-Aldo Leopold –