Ecovillages: Social Innovations towards a

Regenerative Culture ’

Taisa Mattos

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO

CENTER OF PHILOSOPHY AND HUMAN SCIENCES

EICOS PROGRAM: INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES OF COMMUNITIES AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY

Ecovillages: Social Innovations towards a

Regenerative Culture

• Global Civilizational Crises - our current lifestyle in

consumer society is unsustainable. Need to

transition to other ways of living/thinking

• Ecovillages:

Good examples of sustainable living models

Low environmental impact, low consumption

and high quality of life

Seeds of a regenerative culture

General Contextualization

Crises as an opportunity for transition

“If current human systems are unsustainable, it is

prudent to look to those who are pioneering

sustainable living practices. To ignore communities

that are actually reducing their ecological footprints

dramatically, that are creating models of

sustainability from the ground up, would be

intellectually negligent and pragmatically unwise.”

(LITFIN, 2009, p. 124 e125)

Argument based on research findings

The greatest challenge of sustainability is socio-

cultural, not environmental or economic/financial.

Ecovillages, as social innovations, have been

experimenting with sustainable social models,

practicing participatory governance systems,

honoring cultural diversity, creating community and

adopting a holistic worldview, pointing to possibilities

for a regenerative culture.

Ecovillage Movement

• Propositional Social Movement

• Offers examples and solutions x Critiques

• Covers all arenas of life x specific cause

• Focus on community and sustainability

Method:

• Experimentation – living laboratories: create and test tools,

methods and technologies for integral local development

• Education / Trainings – to raise awareness, empower and

disseminate sustainable practices and worldview

• Local – Global (Global Ecovillage Network)

ECOVILLAGE DEFINITION

“An ecovillage is an intentional or traditional

community using local participatory processes

to holistically integrate ecological, economic,

social, and cultural dimensions of sustainability

in order to regenerate social and natural

environments.”

(Global Ecovillage Network, 2015)

Culture - The 4th Pilar of Sustainability

socially inclusive,

environmentally sustainable and

economic efficient includes subjective aspects

of sustainability (cultural)

(FLEMING, 2013)

Going Beyond Sustainability

Regenerative Development

“Regenerative development acknowledges

humans, as well as their developments, social

structures and cultural concerns, as an inherent

and indivisible part of ecosystems. It sees human

development as a means to create optimum

health in ecosystems. Understanding the unique

and diverse human and non-human elements of

each place is a crucial part of regenerative

development”

(JENKIN; ZARI, 2009 p. 5)

Rockström and Sukhdev key note speech at the Stockholm EAT Food Forum in

2016. Credit of the image : Azote Images for Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Low impact, high quality lifestyles

Ecovillage at Ithaca, USA

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Low impact, high quality lifestyles

Ecovillage at Ithaca, USA

Creating Community in urban areas

LA Ecovillage, USA

Replenishing sources of water Tamera Ecovillage, Portugal

Biological wastewater treatment - Living Machine

Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland

Ecological sanitation - Compost Toilet Tamera Ecovillage, Portugal

Regenerate Soils – biochar CO2 sequestering at The Farm, Tennessee, USA

Organic Food Production Tamera Ecovillage, Portugal

Grow food and soils – Organic Agriculture Otepic Ecovillage, Kenya

Organic Food Prodution Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland

Grow food and soils – Organic Agriculture Vila Yamaguishi – SP, Brazil

Renewable energy Ecovillage 7Linden, Germany

Renewable energy Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland

Renewable energy Solar Village, Tamera - Portugal

Green Building/ Waste Recycling Bafut Ecovillage, Cameroon

Green Building Terra Una Ecovillage – MG - Brazil

Traditional AND innovative solutions Eco-campus, Kibbutz Lotan, Israel

Reforestation / Green Building Ecocentro IPEC – GO - Brazil

Regenerate Ecosystems Over 2,000,000 trees planted - Auroville, India

Social Entrepreneurship Sekem, Egypt

Fair trade and ethical systems of exchange

Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland

Empower local economies - Social Currency

Damanhur, Italy

Using inclusive decision-making Schloss Tempelhof Ecovillage - Germany

Participatory decision-making processes Findhorn Ecovillage, Scotland

Health and well being

Visão Futuro – SP, Brazil

Innovative and inclusive education Inkiri Piracanga – BA, Brazil

Education for Sustainability 7 Linden - Germany

Honour local cultural traditions

Cartoong Ecovillage – The Gambia

Colaborating cross-sector to scale up Ecovillages Ecovillage Transition Asia - Thailand

Transitioning 14.000 traditional villages

ANEV – Nacional Agency of Ecovillages - Senegal

"To live more ethically with others and the planet

does not mean returning to the past, but to develop

new and creative technologies and forms of social

organization."

(CAPRA, 2006)

Ecovillage Moviment Contributions

Laboratories – creating and testing tools and methodologies for local sustainable development.

Dissemination of new values and ways of living.

Low consumption, low environmental impact and high

quality of life.

Training: new skills, new technologies, sense of community, empowerment for collective action

Examples / “Models” that can be adapted and re-created in other contexts.

Ecovillage Moviment Challenges

Broad definition - gives directions, but no clear criteria.

Lack of detailed mapping of the Ecovillages worldwide.

Little systematization of knowledge / experience.

Academic Research: few scientific studies aim to

contextualize the phenomenon within a philosophical

approach and/or human, social and political sciences.

Challenges in the implementation and maintenance of

the Ecovillages.

Taisa Mattos

taisamattos@hotmail.com

EICOS PROGRAM: Interdisciplinary Studies of

Communities and Social Ecology

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

pos.eicos.psicologia.ufrj.br

GEN – Global Ecovillage Network

www.ecovillage.org

http://gen.ecovillage.org