ECO-VILLAGES: A new yet prominent approach towards an ecologically sustainable environment
By Suchismita Ghoshal
ABSTRACT : Despite today’s widespread reference to sustainability, initiatives are still quite limited. Ecovillages are communities that carry out an embodiment of sustainable practices and focus on inspiring society as models for alternative lifestyles. The goal of this paper is to analyze the meanings associated with these communities in the academic literature and their relevance to sustainability debates. Regardless of the conceptual imprecision of the term ‘ecovillage’ and important challenges and limitations regarding their social role in society, ecovillage initiatives which revolve around the educational sector have propagated by diffusing alternative ideas and practices throughout society. As they promote concrete actions in the construction of societal alternatives, ecovillages significantly contribute to efforts of rethinking sustainability.
INTRODUCTION: An eco village is a part of the eco-community. Ecovillages are basically small, self- sufficient communities which actually make arrangements for their survival from their surroundings. Renowned environmentalist Joan Boaker first gave the idea of eco-villages which are basically supposed to be socially, economically and ecologically independent and environment friendly. There are almost 10,000 eco-villages in the world today. The main motive of these environmentally originated villages is to produce the least number of negative or low-quality energy or sources for the atmosphere. They tend to supply the productive yet eco- friendly products in general. These natural habitats contain 50-250 people in a small village and there are around a larger number of habitants in a broad-spaced ecovillage. Ecovillages are more of an expanding plan or a project than of a fixed result.
DEFINITIONS COINED BY SCIENTISTS : Robert Gilman in 1991, gave a holistic definition of ecovillages which for many years became a standardized depiction. In his opinion, ecovillages are “human-scale full featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive or healthy human development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.”
The Executive Director of Global Ecovillage Network, Kosha Joubert , has termed ecovillage as “ intentional, traditional : rural or urban community that is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability ( social, culture, ecology and economy) to regenerate their social and natural environments.”
In short, we can say that ecovillages are serving the purpose of a balanced ecosystem which is more likely aimed in restoring the natural elements and maintaining the crucial sustainability.
BENEFITS OF ECOVILLAGES:
- Ecovillages are mainly dependable on utilizing renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. Also, they are formed through mud, wood, and straw.
- Ecologically able habitats never damage the environment, instead they reconstruct the environment. Through the procedures of recycling, reforestation, restoration and habitats, ecovillages rebuild the ecosystems where they live.
- Ecovillages are responsible for promoting values and ethics like ecology, equality, fraternity, patience, cleanliness, respect, generosity, collaboration among their inhabitants.
- Problem solving abilities through community discussions, decision making and group participation prove the members are successfully able in fulfilling commitments.
- The regenerative technologies do not harm the lands as the usage of chemical pesticides are prohibited in them. Rather they use organic agricultural products, bio-organic products and eco-feasible products for the agricultural growth and as a result, a boosted economy. Lower usage of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers etc have shown an impeccable result in environmental immunity.
- The carbon banking through tree and plant growth is an unique perk of these villages.
- The soil quality has been evidently improved through the constant usage of -biomass.
- ‘Living in the green by the green’ formula has eventually helped the residents in living a stress free, psychologically healthy life in all aspects. Their self-esteem has been increased to a greater level and the positive outcome has been reflected through their free spirited habits.
- Ecovillages provide reduced noise pollution in their environment.
- Food is way more nutritious and rejuvenated as they are produced in an organic field than food produced in a chemically-stable field.
- Another aspect of the multidimensional ecovillages is to get access to a better lifestyle in terms of good feelings, good values and the body also responds towards a positive productivity.
- These are places where joy from manual labour tops the cherish and the connection and consciousness with nature which we won’t get to avail from a day-to-day busy life find a place for the inhabitants. It’s an ideology towards a sustainable living.
WHAT IS GEN ? : The GLOBAL ECOVILLAGE NETWORK (GEN) was established in 1995 to support the innovative creation and preservation of human settlement which along with sustainability, regenerates social, economical and cultural environments. GEN strives to visualize an empowered and enriched citizens, communities, and they design and implement the framework of ecovillages for a sustainable future. Building bridges through hope and solidarity towards supporting the development of ecovillages and channelizing the connection and communication between eco-communities across the globe is the main function of GEN.
GEN Europe is responsible for conveying the message of sustainability which is four dimensional and they only include people as members whose thought processes align in the same of the committee.
WHY IS AN ECOVILLAGE CONSIDERED AS A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY ? : An ecovillage is considered as a significant idea of habitat which is far more different than the government and media. The ecovillage movement in its early stage was a huge response from the global audience whose phenomenon provoked them to come forward for a more balanced and healthy way of living that could set a benchmark in the view of an environmental movement. The niche of an anti globalisation movement engages the outrageous protestors coming down on the streets against a corporate dominated global economic model through the boycotts and strikes but the approach of global eco villagers against the government is different and more peace-oriented. They have summoned their resources by constructing small, sustainable societies crammed with eco-friendly commodities as they want to make a model which indicates how we should eventually live to avoid the further destruction of the communities. It is a lifestyle for almost everybody on the planet.
The governments, politicians and other ruling bodies in the administrations are taking the easy ways out by leaving the issues in the middle, but these eco villagers are confronting the problems face to face and taking the most possible initiatives to find the solution where they can reconcile a new culture, a new society, that will necessarily embrace the offers of simple living through healthy life conditions for any curios citizen.
Though the ideal ecovillage does not exist. It is still a work in process – a fundamental component of the new paradigm which will establish an equivalent society in terms of different aspects.
THE ROOT CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ECOVILLAGE MOVEMENT :
- The root causes lies mostly in the social aspects that are the driving force of the movement. The vital point here indicates a neo-liberalism ecosystem which holds no grudges against the environment. The so-called green revolution is claimed to be an ‘economic miracle’ whereas the nation called it an ‘unmitigated disaster’.
- The WTO rules give a totally flawed idea by implementing some laws which prioritize the corporate world more than the local citizens’ needs by subsidizing corporations through publicly funded research and curtleing the wages down. As a result, people got extremely demotivated for the increasing unemployment issues. As corporate funding gets pumped up by delocalizing the local people, sucking the wealth of the communities and grasping the forests which seems to be an awfully incorrect approach as it is not real development, rather it’s global cancer. A system which takes the ladder of growth by eating the core of the life-based experiences of people and more precisely, destroying the ecosystem can never be permitted. So, a movement was silently brewing in the minds of an widely spread corporate sufferers who fostered their power of revolution through supporting this ecologically expertized idea of creating ecovillages.
- THE SOCIAL DIMENSION : The political thinking never gives any importance to the social network. Eco-villages are so unique in their social aspects that they are far away from our destructive modern society. They offer a completely different consumerism and framework of social services. Such a huge wave of responses towards the elegance of eco-villages were received that it can’t be avoided that the social dimension was one of the most widespread and vital arenas of the movement. A high quality life style and meaningful jobs at the same time solved a lot of problems too.
- THE ECOLOGICAL DIMENSION : The solution to the destruction of ecosystems as well as the reduction of human settlements in the areas of forests were main objectives of sustainability. Eco-villages in this case came up as a win-win situation for most of the Sustainability activists. Building them made the homes closer as well as made a place for recreational and extraordinary activities residing in the lap of nature. The finance-based economical model seemed like a chronic disease on the circumstances of giving justice to nature so people showed interest in the dynamic solution like creating eco-communities. As a result, Eco-villages like Crystal Waters in Australia and Earth Haven in USA show a great example to the global audience.
- THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION : This is the era of several critical health issues as well as mental unhealthiness for which as a result, people are coming out in herds to seek for a heavily peaceful life revolving around consciousness both spiritually and soulfully. The people behind the creation of eco-villages believe in a rich lifestyle that is full of change of regular habits that affect negatively. They believe in living with global interconnectedness and solidarity. In such Eco-villages we can easily notice that people from different religions and spiritual beliefs like Budhhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jains, Jews and others are residing together with mutual bonding and fraternity. Such small Eco-villages are in this way coming up with the broader meaning of promoting peace, ‘unity in diversity’ and love.
Auroville in India, Hertha in Denmark, Tamera in Portugal etc promote such a diverse level of spiritual connection. This is fruitfully resulting in broadening the sphere of living a mindful and simple life for everyone on the planet.
ECO-VILLAGES ARE GOING MAINSTREAM : With the ever increasing demand of consciousness and prioritising ecological and environmental sustainability, Eco-villages have been enormously developed and they are constantly coming in the mainstream news while there are any agendas regarding environmental problems mitigation. The inclusion of compost toilets, bio-organic products, more flexible zoning laws, local renewable energy, recycling of bio-waste, and local biological wastewater treatment no doubt helped these Eco-villages stay stable in a long run as well as increased their market value in a global platform.
HOW CAN GOVERNMENT TAKE STEPS TO SUPPORT THE ECO-VILLAGE REVOLUTION?
The western governments who are currently subsidizing the unsustainable economic growth model by investing billions of euros are on one hand underestimating their own citizens and the other hand bootlicking the corporation’s to make them fattened with money. If a small amount could be transferred to support and boost the people who are organizing a global revolutionary movement that are for our sustainable growth, that could definitely make a difference and major obstacles could be smoothened. There are a huge population waiting in line to join this movement by applying all the provisions of environmental improvement, educating ecovillage frameworkers and keeping a keen eye for the drawbacks.
5 EXAMPLE OF MOST THRIVING AND ELEGANT ECO-VILLAGES :
Living in an ecovillage won’t be less than a dream come true. A place dedicated to healthy living, an intense connection with nature, a soulful meditation in the morning to dive in the ocean of consciousness and a collective community growth are all someone should keep in their bucket list.
Here are the list of 5 Eco-villages below which are promoting a revolutionary lifestyle that can make a human hustle for a peaceful well being.
- CRYSTAL WATERS – SUNSHINE COAST, AUSTRALIA : It is located in an Australian Wildlife Sanctuary, aiming to peacefully share the land between humans and wildlife. This area takes 20% of the land. Their main activities include playing various games, marketing, organising festivals, art exhibitions, workshops, poetry and music concerns and many more.
- PUNTA MOCA, COSTA RICA : Their main motive is to work for sustainability and education. The location can be found in Gandoca Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge of Costa Rica. The area is rich in biodiversity. The community mainly teaches about permaculture, herbalism, yoga, art and building tree houses with renewable materials from the jungle.
- FINDHORN ECOVILLAGE – FINDHORN, SCOTLAND : It is located on the Bay of Marry. The main objective of this community is to promote ecological beauty, architecture and community building through sustainable education and others. They have also been awarded with “UN HABITAT BEST PRACTICES”. Their zeo carbon formula makes an abode for only natural materials and they have gardens where residents share their communication with their neighbours and the speciality of this ecovillage is that they have their own currency that is Eko, where they can have a sustainable economy too.
- GOVARDHAN ECOVILLAGE, PALGHAR, MAHARASHTRA : Seventy miles north of Mumbai, this eco-village is located at the foothills of Western Ghats. It is one of UNESCO’S World Heritage Sites. It is basically run by ISKCON, indicating the main motives to organize environmental activities, from water conservation to green building methods through the touch of vedic traditions.
- AUROVILLE – PONDICHERRY, TAMIL NADU : Based on the name of the Indian Philosopher Sri Aurobindo, this ecovillage is a home to 2500 residents from around the world. It was founded in 1968 by a French expat- Mirra Alfassa and currently it is working on the diverse spheres of sustainable living, running nature building courses, and promoting permaculture. Big perk of their ecovillage is that they serve delicious, organic, fresh food in their restaurants attached to Sadhana forest. It plays a pivotal role in promoting restoration for sustainable growth.
CONCLUSION : This study has dynamically focuses on the aspects and impacts of the Eco-villages as a part of eco-community which has promoted a new way of life to cherish the taste of entireness, finding new meaning towards living a peaceful approach in achieving the sustainability as well as fostering towards the enhancement of enchanting start as an environmentally concern human. There are enough informations studded in the study that depicts that the quality of life has been evidently improved among the residents of those Eco-villages who were somewhat stuck with their miserable life and deplorable habits. Ever since the origination of ecovillages, it has constantly been promoting the integral wellness which can transform an entity from a corpse to a rejuvenated human charger. Along with the challenges and steps of the movements, we also have come to know the main factors that are working as driving forces to build these Eco-villages into a mainstream news as well as a fruitful outcome of ecological movement.
REFERENCES :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecovillage
- https://medium.com/responsible-travel/what-is-an-ecovillage-here-are-some-of-the-best-international-ecovillages-6346107ef419
- https://www.iberdrola.com/environment/ecovillages-alternative-ecological-communities
- https://gen-europe.org/ecovillages/what-is-an-ecovillage/
- http://environment-ecology.com/ecovillages/383-the-ecovillage-movement-.html
- https://www.fodors.com/world/asia/india/experiences/news/photos/6-innovative-eco-villages-in-india
Suchismita Ghoshal hails from West Bengal, India. At the age of 23, she has shaped her life in a way where she cuddles with literature and devotes herself into finding peace through love, compassion, learning & community service. With an academic career in science till graduation, she is currently pursuing her masters in business administration ( MBA).
She is also a professional writer, published author, internationally acclaimed poet, literary critic, literary influencer, content writing member, change-activist & a nature lover.