About Ecovillages

Eco-villages are a relatively new idea that some say has Archaic roots. The goal of ecovillages, in the words of Hildur Jackson, is to "honour the cycles of nature and to live as beautifully and in as dignified a way as possible with them; respect the soil, the plants, the animals and our fellow human beings in an earth centered world view to follow the pulse of life." Current economic institutions are set up for egocentric exploitation among many competitors, which has now reached a global scale.
What does this mean for planet earth? This means further environmental degradation, resource exploitation, increased consumption and many many more environmentally related dilemmas. The current balance of earth has been severely disrupted and it must reach or strive towards a sustainable equilibrium. This balance will require a shift in consciousness on how we view our world, a break from egocentric, materialistic consumption and massive social participation. This also goes hand in hand with how we live our daily lives and what must change in order to reach the desired goal.
Eco-villages offer the possibility of a newly found conscious understanding of planet earth, helping to direct our actions and the choices we make. Members of the communities all do their part to contribute to the group collectively. All the members are free to think, exchange ideas, share items and live in a communal manner. The ecovillage's daily functioning will be based off ideas related to sustainability. For example food will be grown in an organic matter, energy will be renewable, waste and consumption kept at a standard, etc... The purpose of this blog is to elaborate on the potentials of ecovillages in rural and urban settings, how they can be implemented, the trade-offs, the positives and negatives and much more. The overall goal is to accurately describe to the public this relatively new idea.

Source: Jackson, Hildur. Creating Harmony: Conflict Resolution in Community Gaia Trust/ Permanent Publications. 1999