December 2007 interview with Fiston Marc Malago, Project Manager of WVI’s Ruzizi Valley Project, an eco-village for refugees in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.

A photostory of the Eco village site

PLAYLIST: www.youtube.com This is a 3 hour long talk relating to a series of books called the Ringing Cedars of Russia. It covers a great deal of very important and interesting ideas about improving our lives and planet in a very simple and effective way. Many issues are covered including perspectives on how one can be most effective at making an impact, language, family, life, gardening, relationships, love, children and permaculture principles. It is well worth bookmarking this page and watching the full discussion which is in 13 parts mostly of 15 minutes length. Share this, there is plenty to blog about and discuss.

As an adjunct to the farm’s activities, The Village Organic Farm hosted local food feasts celebrating food from within a 50km radius (many key ingredients came from our farm requiring a journey of about 50 metres). Held at Crystal Waters Eco-Village between 2005 and 2007, we invited 60-80 guests to enjoy up to ten courses, with each course presented by the producer of the showcased food. They were great events with joyful conviviality and heartfelt celebration of the people that bring our food from farm to fork.

‘The Turning Point: A Return to Community’ – A film about Findhorn, resilience, localisation and the importance of community. Buy the DVD at www.theturningpointfilm.com

TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THIS CO-HOUSING COMMUNITY AND FIND OUT WHAT INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES ARE ALL ABOUT.

Small Groups Of People Make The Changes This video introduces us to the Kew Bridge Eco Village in London. Activists inspired by the land rights group The Land is Ours, that holds that land should be free and accessible to all, occupied an undeveloped site on 6 July 2009, just across the river from The Royal Botanic Gardens. They built homes of reclaimed materials — everything from clay, hay, wooden planks, pallet wood, and tarps. Over 30 people lived there year round. They figured out how to get and heat the water they needed. Structures included a shower, compost toilet, and kitchen. They grew food and held seed swaps. They recycled their waste. The local blacksmith was very impressed with their skills and resourcefulness. They were trying to demonstrate that you can live quite comfortably without mortgages or being connected to public utilities. Some of the members had been homeless; others left houses and jobs in order to live out, on a daily basis, the principles of anti-consumerism. “People know that something is wrong with the way that we’re living and that we’ve got to do something. History shows us that small groups of people have always been the groups that have changed this.” says one resident. They were evicted in May of 2010, as the developers reclaimed the property. From this video we get the sense that it was more of a success than a failure. We can only hope that the tent cities springing up in the US have some of this progressive vision, idealism …

Visiting the Centre of Alternative Technology in Wales, founded in 1972, true pioneers of the renewables and sustainable living movement.

Conversation by Ruben del Muro with Ross & Hildur Jackson founders of Gaia Trust, Global Eco-village Network (GEN) and Gaia Education. Filmed in Tokyo, Japan, during the Ecovillage Conference Tokyo 2009. Please visit: light-seeds.net, http & www.gaiaeducation.org www.gaia.org