Ecovillages
Imagine a place where all the people are sharing the same values, ideas and future expectations regardless of their background, age and race. A place where there are no signs of stress or hurry; where there is more being instead of more having. Could a place like this exist? Yes, it can and it is called an ecovillage.
The history of ecovillages dates back a few decades, e.g. the Findhorn ecovillage first saw the daylight in the early 1960s. It was founded on a peninsula in Scotland on a vacant farm. Since then it has spread to its vicinity and been modified according to the people living in it. In general an ecovillage can be situated anywhere in the world: in urban or rural areas, in developing or developed countries, etc. Other ecovillages are, e.g. Auroville in south-eastern India and Keuruu here in Finland.
Starting an ecovillage has been a conscious response to the Western lifestyle where globalisation and consumerism control everything. It is also a counter strike against pollution, stress and mental problems that are getting more and more serious in the developed countries. The basic idea is to save the Earth by integrating human lifestyle into the natural environment.
Sustainability is the basis in all the actions in an ecovillage. Food production is local and organic and most ecovillages aim to be self-sufficient in food. Energy comes from renewables such as bio, solar and geothermal energy. Construction is as ecological as possible. All the materials are natural such as wood and clay. Transportation plays only a minor role in these villages because usually ecovillages are not meant to be as big as a town, where an extensive transportation system is required. Waste water treatment is also natural.
But who are the people living in these ecological villages? Is it only environmentalists or activists, the sort of people who sometimes are taken as freaks? No. NGOs etc. might have been involved in the beginning but mostly it is just normal people like farmers, engineers or architects who only got fed up with timetables and stress and had an idea of more sustainable lifestyle.
Fritjof Capra, physicist and systems theorist and a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, has said: “Ecovillages can take people out of poverty and create jobs through the sense and spirit of community. Ecovillages can restore human dignity in a profound way.” Well, I think I might follow my brother’s example and move into an ecovillage myself someday!
11.5.2005 Elina Annala
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