Camphill Village Kimberton: An Ecovillage in our Backyard!



As mentioned on our group blog Ecovillage Evolution, Kimberton is part of the Camphill Village movement. This movement began in Scotland and now has many villages throughout the world. Members of these villages are also natives from various parts of the globe. Camphill Villages emphasize ecologically sound living principles and community conviviality while recruiting members with disabilities, giving them a chance to be productive in life.

This village is in close proximity to Philadelphia, located in a town called Kimberton, Pennsylvania. The JEM group was given a personalized tour for over 2 hours around the village observing the low impact modes of living.

I was informed by Diedra, one of the coordinator's of the village/ tour guide, an array of information pertaining to water, waste, recycling and sewage.

Water, like most ecovillages, is seen as a precious necessity to life. Looking after its health is of utmost importance at Kimberton. Along its rivers they maintain riparian buffer zones to prevent runoff, contaminants and other threats to the health of the water. The also took out many invasives. All water is sourced from the creek and a well, which are both located on the 422 acre property.

They use a cistern to collect toilet water, landscape water and laundry water while rain water is collected in specialized catchment areas. They use a Wetlands mimicking system to purify their gray and black water. It purifies sewage for about 50-60 people. They also use flow forms to add oxygen to the water to help purify it.

Conservation is also key here. They use low-flow-toilets and shower heads and even have 2 composting toilets.

The community tries very hard to watch its trash output. They donate clothes, have rummage sales, make art out of old jeans and monitor carefully them amount of trash they produce. There craftiness is a communal attempt towards internal recycling. They collect food from Kimberton Whole Foods and Tritter Joes and consume what they can, feeding the pigs and composting. Recyclable items are sent to Pottstown by local services. There trash is collected by the local service.

All in all I was very impressed to have seen the village firsthand and witness the wonderful things being done! A+ to Kimberton! Thanks for allowing our visit!

It's Alive! The Living Machine at Findhorn Ecovillage & Recycling

Photo Courtesy of Flickr

Findhorn uses the Living Machine. The machine treats sewage water from the 300 residents living there. In addition to that, it serves as a brilliant example for many students and visitors to observe and study. Many can enjoy seeing the creative processes in action that make the Living Machine possible.

Findhorn currently uses the machine to undergo Phase I water treatment. They plan to install a Phase II treatment system in the near future to get off the "water grid" or mains they use now. This system will reuse the water for all purposes and distribute it accordingly. The final goal is to someday be completely self sufficient with their water resources.

As for recycling, Findhorn has a rather extensive system. They recycle paper, glass, batteries, metal and even have a clothing drive. They do not have plastic listed as being recycled, however the document may be a bit outdated. It is unclear what they do about non recyclable items, but I assume they are connected to the Findhorn's municipal trash service.

"Ecovillage Style Living" in the Rich Coast

Studying abroad at the School for Field Studies in Atenas, Costa Rica during the spring semester of 2008 allowed me an early glimpse into the frontiers of "ecovillage style living," without knowing anything about it at the time. Although the campus I was a part of is not recognized as an official Ecovillage, there were many daily rituals and practices related to certain fundamentals encompassing the essential concept. First off the property was previously an old farm. So all of the orange and mango groves were left intact and are still maintained. The fruit is used to eat, make orange juice and is also sold to the local community at a low, affordable price. It is maintained by using an all natural herbicide made from molasses. It is 100% environmentally friendly! We used this herbicide as well as planted and maintained the organic garden which provided food for our own personal consumption. It was also interesting to note that many people in the neighborhood grew there own food or raised there own livestock for personal consumption as well. The electricity was from hydroelectric sources and mostly used at night because of all the sunlight Costa Rica gets during the day. Fluorescent light bulbs were used to promote energy efficiency when electricity ws being used. The center decided to forgo hot water heating systems so consequently the showers, where we cleaned ourselves with organic/environmentally safe products, were always cold. The centers location at the top of the hill allowed for breezes to pass through consistently, a sort of 'passive cooling system'. The professors and workers mostly lived either on campus or in the neighborhood. So there was no need for a car to get there. To leave one would take the bus or call the cab, both of which are common means of transportation because many Costa Ricans in Atenas either own one car or don't have a car. Students all lived in one house with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a common area, classroom and an outside patio with chairs and hammocks. Recycling was huge. Everything like glass, paper, cardboard, tin foil, containers, plastic, batteries and more were all collected for reuse. Food was eaten in the main house. Wasted food was composted and later used as fertilizer. Dishes were cleaned by a "Pandilla" system where a different group each week would do the washing by hand, while another group cleaned the bathroom, and another grouped planned a community event. It was structured so that each week a group would do a different task. Meetings and other classes were held in the outdoor classroom. The campus itself is full of various plants that attract multiple forms of wildlife. Butterflies, monkeys, snakes, tarantulas, bats, birds and even a sloth were seen throughout my stay at this campus. Many of these critters were common place.

Living here taught me the value of team work and group cooperation. It shows that with structured, well planned systems, sustainable concepts can be initiated and can work. It requires work but with the help of the group, its gets accomplished quickly. There was surprisingly minimal conflict between members of the group (30 of us) despite everyone being very unique. Although there is much room for improvement to make the SFS center even more efficient and environmentally sound, it has done a relatively good job so far and continues to strive in doing so on its current budget. Although it is not in an urban setting it still provides an example of how ecovillage dynamics can work. It would be interesting to see how it all pans out 10 years from now......
http://www.fieldstudies.org/pages/147_center_for_sustainable_development_costa_rica.cfm

An Artist's Innovative Conception on Ecovillages

The artist Roger Dean, made famous for doing many album covers (amongst other achievements) in the 60's and 70's for bands such as Yes, Boston and Pink Floyd is now pushing his artistic abilities even further to enhance the present conceptions of sustainable design by inventing it through his unique vision. Truly remarkable. Check it out!

http://www.rogerdean.com/architecture/willowater.htm

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