ENA eNews  Issue # 0010
Editor: Giovanni Ciarlo: giovanni@ecovillage.org

This is a free Newsletter of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA). You can read previous editions of this newsletter and subscribe in 4 languages on-line. Go to: http://ena.ecovillage.org/English
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Global NETWORK NEWS - Spotlight on Education!

~ October 2005 saw the official launch of Gaia Education at the GEN +10 conference at Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland. The GEESE (Global Ecovillage Educators for a Sustainable Earth) initiative aims to distill international ecovillage experience into a common curriculum.  This initiative has been welcomed and endorsed by UNITAR and UNESCO as an important contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Gaia Education is the product of consultations between leading ecovillage educators on every continent over the last several years. Its purpose is to formalize and make available the experience of ecovillages internationally in pioneering successful models of sustainability.  Over the next 2 years, the ecovillage educational package designed by Gaia Education will be pilot programs in UNESCO's Biosphere Reserves in Cuba and Slovenia and in ecovillages affiliated with the Global Ecovillage Network in Australia, Italy, Germany, Scotland, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Denmark and Senegal. The training curriculu m is now available in English and Spanish. Visit our WIKI at: http://ecovillage.wikicities.com/wiki/Gaia_Education
Contact: May East at mayeast@findhorn.org

~ GAIA UNIVERSITY TO LAUNCH FIRST DEGREE PROGRAMS
Keep an eye on the Gaia University's web site http://www.gaiauniversity.org This year there are exciting opportunities for getting involved in this revolutionary approach to post-petroleum education that is catching fire all over the world. Gaia University will enroll its first class of Action Learning students in the fall of 2006.

~ Living Routes education initiatives offer college credit courses in ecovillages around the world. For programs in Scotland, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, The US, Senegal and more, see: http://www.LivingRoutes.org
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ENA REGIONAL NEWS
For full contact information of regional representatives go to:
http://ena.ecovillage.org/English Click on the Contacts button in the sidebar.

BRAZIL

~ Visit the the Brazilian Ecovillage Network site - http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/ecovila/
Contact: Vanessa Marinho vanessa@abra144.org
For IPEC - Instituto de Permacultura e Ecovilas do Cerrado, see - http://www.ecocentro.org/pdc/

~ The Brazilian Ecovillage Network met last September to solidify and organize its membership. They decided at that meeting to constitute a legal entity of the Brazilian Network under Brazilian law and to launch a new web site in Portuguese dedicated to Brazilian activities and projects. The Brazilian Network has also translated the book "Ecovillage Living" into Portuguese and has made its translation available by internet only, until a print version becomes available. Contact: vanessa@abra144.org

~ Learn and Live Permaculture in a Forming Amazonian Ecovillage Project - Volunteers Needed! ABRA144 Ecovillage is 144 km (89.5 miles) north from Manaus City, and 34 km (21.1 miles) from President Figueiredo Village, BR 174. See: http://www.abra144.org
For more information: comunidade@abra144.org

CANADA

Contact: Lee Davies tycoed@allstream.net

Ecovillage Network of Canada (ENC) http://enc.ecovillage.org
Ecovillage Network of Canada (ENC) is a Canada-wide forum established in 1997 to facilitate exchange of ideas and information on healthy, sustainable living in our homes and daily lives, and to promote ecovillage concepts and practices within the wider Canadian community.

CARIBBEAN

Contacts: Felipe Bermúdez Felipe@ibhomes.com
Liora Adler liora@gaiauniversity.org

An Update from Cuba: "We have been working a lot here in Cuba and have achieved positive results.  We continue to give courses in Permaculture and to promote urban gardens.  We now have a new nucleus, which is very strong in Sancti Spiritus.  We are preparing a manual of Native Permaculture that will serve as a guide for training and will highlight some of the Cuban experiences. We also continue to support the Ecovillage project El Jobero, and they have made great progress.  For the first time we have been able to support them with funding, not a lot, but they have been able to build some basic infrastructure. We are thinking of planning an Ecovillage or Permaculture meeting for 2006 in Cuba. We would like to do this in the Ecovillage El Jobero." Roberto Sanchez - Ecovillage Network of Cuba

EAST USA

Contacts: Dan Greenberg Daniel@LivingRoutes.org
Manda Gillespie manda@urbanecovillages.com

~ US based Ecovillages stepped up to help in disaster recovery and relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck last September. Ecovillagers and communitarians were coordinated in part by a crew of young and older veterans from the charity group Plenty of The Farm in Tennessee, and by expert carpenters and medical assistants from ecovillages, communities and alternative sustainable organizations old and new from all over North America. Peter Schweitzer wrote` "This disaster is rallying all the people like us out there, and it's not just the old hippies, it's compassionate college students, young people and the peace activists, grassroots medical people, community activists and organizers..."

~ At Ecovillage at Ithaca, 2005 was both wonderful and very intense with many activities, including publication of Liz Walker's book "Ecovillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture", celebrating their 14th Annual Meeting, hosting 2 delegations of Japanese visitors, hosting a 4 day meeting of the Fellowship of Intentional Communities (a U.S. wide group), meeting several times with some key educators to start thinking about how to adapt the ToT curriculum for use at EVI, holding their biggest fundraiser to date, hiring an assistant, starting publicity for the book, and organizing for a national book tour/fundraising tour which ended on a very successful note. Whew! Please buy the book from their web site http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us - it supports their work and non-profit activities directly.

~ The Global Living Project (GLP) is an educational non-profit organization based in East Corinth, VT on the historic 43-acre homestead of Guy and Laura Waterman known as "Barra." They offer courses from June through August: Ethical Money Management; Nature Spirituality and Creativity; Shrinking Footprints and Learning >From Nature; Gardening for Self-reliance;  Wild Edible & Medicinal; Women's Renewal. For more information: The GLP, P.O. Box 261, East Corinth, VT 05040, (802) 439-6158  - http://www.globallivingproject.org

~ National Cohousing Conference, July 21-23, 2006, Chapel Hill, NC
http://www.cohousing.org Please send your ideas and proposals to: conference@cohousing.org Offer to volunteer: volunteer@cohousing.org
Contact: Joani Blank, 2006 National Cohousing Conference Coordinator - 510-834-7399.

~ The Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm in Tennessee is currently seeking a part-time flexible 20-35 hours per week Inn Manager beginning March 17, 2006. This is potentially a nine-month or year-round position. Please contact Ecovillage@thefarm.org for job description, qualifications and application procedure. For a full schedule of activities, courses and workshops on everything related to Ecovillages and their creation, contact the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm in Tennessee http://www.thefarm.org/etc

MESOAMERICA

Contacts: Giovanni Ciarlo giovanni@ecovillage.org
and Arnold Ricalde despertares222@yahoo.com.mx

~ 2 opportunities to take the 4 week curriculum for Ecovillage Designers in Mexico.
The first by GRUPEDSAC, in the state of Oaxaca from June 19/July 14, with Max Linddeger of Crystal Waters, Australia. See - http://www.grupedsac.org/

Contact: arteorganico@yahoo.com.mx
A second training will be in the state of Morelos, at Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage, in November/December with Giovanni Ciarlo, Huehuecoyotl co-founder and education program focalizer. See: http://www.huehuecoyotl.net
Contact: giovanni@ecovillage.org

~ Courses in Permaculture and sustainable practices in Mexico, at Granja Tierramor in Erongaricuaro, Michoacán, México. See: http://www.tierramor.org/cursos/eventos.htm
April 6 to 9: Introduction to Bio-intensive family gardening with special focus on gardening where there is little water. October/November: Week long course on Permaculture and Community Development

~ A promising ecovillage project in the Caribbean region of Mexico was wiped out by hurricane Wilma, last fall. Solferino Ecovillage is wrecked and nothing of the structures they built on the land remains. Coordinator Maria Ros, mexpando@hotmail.com is making an effort to return to the site and begin reconstruction of infrastructure washed away by the storm. Volunteers and donations are needed and welcomed to pitch in and become part of this very exciting project.

~ The alternative economy network called Tianguis Tlaloc supports its members in creating economies that link work with personal and collective needs without exploiting people or degrading the environment. See: http://www.vidadigna.info where you can also subscribe to their Spanish only newsletter LA OTRA Bolsa de Valores. They are located in México City, Tlaloc 40-7, Col. Tlaxpana, Metro Normal, and offer workshops, fairs, gatherings, e-shop and offices nationwide. Their motto: "We only use community generated money."

~ Bioconstruction: Building with Nature, is an international workshop, taking place now at Rancho "El Pardo" Tlaxco, Tlaxcala, Mexico. For other courses with master Permaculturalist Alejandra Caballero, see: http://www.proyectosanisidro.com.mx
eMail: proyectosanisidro@hotmail.com

~ A Permaculture farm is starting an ecovillage, El Zopilote, on 5 hectares of land in Nicaragua, on Ometepe Island, in Lake Nicaragua. Volunteers are needed for their Permaculture program, and to build cabanas and kitchens for eco-tourism. http://www.ometepezopilote.com

~ Courses at Las Cañadas in Veracruz, Mexico http://www.bosquedeniebla.com.mx
March 22 to 24 Advanced Horticulture / April 17 to 22 Bio-construction
eMail: bosquedeniebla@infosel.net.mx Tel / Fax: (273) 734 15 77

MOBILE

Contacts: Alberto Ruz subcoyotealberto@yahoo.com
Penélope Baquero laranarcoiris@yahoo.com

~ Last September, the Brazilian Network and La Caravana Mobile Ecovillage Project joined forces to organize the second Continental Biorregional Gathering in South America, O Chamado do Beija-Flor. See: http://www.ochamado.org/ Afterwards, they presented a proposal to Gilberto Gil, Brazil's Secretary of Culture, to become an "Itinerant Point of Living Culture" and asked for national funding for a year of visits to nearly 50 local cultural centers in 5 regions of Brazil. On the last day of 2005, the proposal was officially accepted, and became the first experimental "itinerant" group, whose task is to help weave networks among these "points". The Caravan is evolving into a "cooperative social enterprise", such as the Ashoka Foundation proposes and encourages, with a schedule and fixed itinerary, and a commitment to do multi-cultural presentations, workshops, a series of documentaries and an illustrated book of this experience. See - http://www.lacaravana.org/2006/english/whatculture.htm
Congratulations and best wishes to the Caravan's enthusiastic international crew of volunteers.

NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA

Contacts: Enrique Hidalgo ilpermacultura@hotmail.com
Carlos Gómez (Pato) pato@ecovillage.org

~ Colombian women's project: The Association of Women Heads of Families is a grass-root organization working in Cali, Colombia. For over 2 years they have been constructing an ecovillage based on the principles of Permaculture and sustainable development for 80 families, whose principle income earners are women. They work agricultural land, which is planted with orange, tangerine, lemon, papaya and plantain trees, providing some income, while the government approves and funds the housing project. They have learned organic agriculture, have a vegetable garden, and are engaged in rearing small animals such as ducks, partridge, guinea pigs and rabbits. They would like to have contact with northern organizations for technical advice, especially in the management of sewage, the production of bio-gas and alternative power and water systems. Contact: Angela Dolmetsch Atadol@aol.com
See - http://www.awhf.org.co

~ The El Poncho Eco-Center in Bolivia has secured a loan for $90,000 US to finish phase 2 of their 4 phase project, to allow them to receive up to 40 people comfortably for their training programs. They are also building a 100m3 water tank (for drinking and irrigation of their ecological park), an experimental educational farm, the first natural self-cleaning swimming pool in Bolivia, the first Solar Restaurant for up to 160 people, and an events center through which they hope to reach the national market for sustainable education and eco-tourism.
See: http://www.el-poncho.org

SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA

Contacts: Lucia Battegazzore 7generaciones@ecovillage.org
Silvia Balado gaia@gaia.org.ar

~ "Learning and Exploring Sustainable Lifestyles" Programs at the Centro de Vida y Aprendizaje Gaia, Argentina March 3 to 12, 2006 http://www.gaia.org.ar
Contact: Asociación Gaia - Instituto Argentino de Permacultura
Tel: (+54-2272) 492072 - Mobile (+54-2227) 15552554 / eMail: gaia@gaia.org.ar

WEST USA
Contacts: Lois Arkin crsp@igc.org
Jeff Clearwater clrwater@earthlink.net

~ LA Ecovillage offers year round courses and workshops on Ecovillages and urban sustainability. See - http://www.laecovillage.org or write to: crsp@igc.org

~ Introducing Portland, Oregon's newest urban ecovillage initiative, Tryon Life Community (TLC), made up of the Cedar Moon intentional community (16 adults and 3 kids, spanning three generations) and Tryon Life Community Farm, the non-profit education center. http://www.tryonfarm.org/

RESOURCES and CALENDAR
For extensive listings, see: http://ena.ecovillage.org/English Click on Resources or Calendar

~ CALL FOR PROPOSALS: projects which promote an exchange of experience and good practice among youth between the European Union, candidate countries and EFTA/EEA, and, countries of Africa, the Caribbean, Pacific (ACP), Asia and Latin America. The general objectives of these projects shall be to contribute to the development of youth policies, youth work and of the voluntary sector, as well as capacity-building and leadership development for youth organizations in the countries mentioned. The deadline is 30th of June.
See - http://europa.eu.int/comm/youth/call/eac4705/call_for_proposal_en.pdf

~ CALL FOR PAPERS: As part of the Sustainable Communities conference offered by BALLE in Burlington, Vermont June 8-11, 2006, Global Community Initiatives and the Vermont Network are hosting a one day conference on the role of Higher Education in Sustainable Communities on June 7, 2006. Submissions and proposals are welcomed, describing educational programs, efforts taken to engage stakeholders, and new initiatives that institutions of higher education have taken to develop sustainable businesses and communities.
See - http://www.global-community.org Contact: Gwendolyn Hallsmith, Executive Director, Global Community Initiatives 12 Parkside Drive, Montpelier, VT 05602 Phone 802-223-1190 Fax 802-223-8660 eMail: ghs@global-community.org

~ Ecocity 6 Conference - "International Convention of the Cities of the Future" in Bangalore, India, August 5-12, 2006, in association with Ecocity Builders, USA. The Organizing Committee invites you to submit abstract(s) for paper(s) and poster(s). Contact: Mr. P K Shanbhag & Rajeev Kumar - Chief Coordinator & CEO, Central Secretariat eMail: ecocity6@gmail.com
ICCoF, Bangalore, India. Phone : (+91) 98 8010 7467 & (+91) 98 8619 4776
See: http://www.tciconferences.com/ecocity2006/ecocity2006.htm

~ Prescott College in the USA is pleased to announce that it will offer the country's 1st fully accredited PhD program in Sustainability Education, beginning Fall, 2006. This low-residency 4 year program will offer a sequence of foundational courses along with the opportunity for individually-designed course work and a dissertation/project that supports change for a sustainable, socially just, and secure society. See - http://www.prescott.edu/

~ A new youth component of GEN began to form in October, 2005 at the GEN+10 gathering at Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland. An early goal is to organize an international conference for the summer of 2007 aimed at youth wishing to live more sustainably and in community. A committee of elders and youth activists is convening a meeting for "Next GEN" (the GEN proposed Youth Council's name) from July 24-28, 2006 in Huatusco, Mexico, to plan a 2007 conference in Portugal, as well as to develop their organizational structure. The July 2006 meeting will be held at the Mexican ecovillage Las Cañadas in Veracruz. To register and learn more see - www.bosquedeniebla.com.mx
Contact: Wesley Nutter nuttewe@earlham.edu Phone (US) 484-356-8288
~ Alcan Prize for Sustainability announces Call for Entries -
Deadline: March 31, 2006.
$1 million will be awarded to not-for-profit, non-governmental, and civil-society organizations based anywhere in the world that are working to advance the goals of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. http://www.alcanprizeforsustainability.com

~ Appropriate Technology for the Developing World, March 13-16, 2006
This workshop provides an overview of different technologies being used to improve people's lives in the developing world. Ideal for organizations working in rural areas and for people wanting to get involved in sustainable development work! See - http://www.solarenergy.org
Presented by IRRI-Mexico and Solar Energy International

~ Ina Mater-Stoll and Achim, of ZEGG Ecovillage in Germany are coming to the US in May and June to offer Forum techniques workshops. They will be on the East coast in May offering the Forum at Twin Oaks Community in Virginia, and travel to California in June. They are available to present this unique form of Creation, Discovery and Community Formation through the ZEGG Forum. More information about the Forum is on the Zegg website:
http://www.zegg.de/englisch/texte_und_vortraege/forum.php
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Distributed without profit for research, networking and educational purposes, ENA offers this e-Newsletter free of charge. Copyright 2006 - Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA). We encourage



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"We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow." - Anonymous