Introduction

Whole Systems Approach to Ecological Design

Appropriate Technology: Water

Organic Agriculture and Local Food

Appropriate Technology: Energy

Green Building & Retrofitting

 Ecological Design

Introduction

The combination of climate change, peak oil and our natural aspirations is energising Ecovillages as a Culture of Sustainability.  The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) places a high priority on the United Nation’s Agenda 21, which came out of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, including:

  1. Local organic food production,
  2. Renewable energy systems,
  3. Permaculture design,
  4. Ecological building and consumable materials, and
  5. The regenerative capacities of local water supplies.

In addition, in this Ecology Dimension, we concentrate on the built environment, restoration of degraded land and water, transport and solid and liquid waste.  We also explore how these design disciplines can be integrated into a coherent whole system.

GEN is dedicated to the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

  1. Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Universal primary education
  3. Gender equality and the empowerment of women
  4. Child mortality
  5. Maternal health
  6. HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Environmental sustainability
  8. Global partnerships for development.

The Ecology Dimension particularly addresses goals #7 and #8 .

An excellent statement of the overview of this dimension is contained in the Gaia Education curriculum:

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“Ecological concerns are fundamental to the design and development of ecovillages and sustainable communities. The prefix ‘eco’ originally meant ‘home’ – not in the limited sense of ‘house,’ but rather referring to the surrounding and supporting local environment. An ecological village, then, is integrated into the landscape in a way that benefits both humans and their encompassing environs. Designers will take great care to ensure that life-supporting natural functions are not only preserved but enhanced whenever possible. The strategy here is one of working with Nature rather than against Nature. The ultimate goal of sustainable settlement design is the creation of self-reliant, self-maintaining, self-regenerating ‘living systems’ that can assume a life of their own.”

To realize the “great turning” that is the culture of sustainability will require a fundamental rethinking of the ways in which societies sustain themselves.  In the words of R. Buckminster Fuller "it will require a design revolution."  There is evidence that it is technologically and socially possible to reduce the negative human footprint on the Earth.

To accomplish this will require a new way of thinking and designing, coupled with a commitment to recycling, conservation and the use of renewable sources of energy.

 

Ecology Dimension Map
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Agend 21

Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.
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Millenium Goals

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.
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