Personally, I do not like rankings. What is good for me may not be good for all. But here are 5 ecovillages in Europe whose learnings were the most benefical for me.
I take the opportunity here to remind you that every ecovillage is different. The principle of an ecovillage is to apply the 5 dimensions of sustainability, but in their own way. Prepare you to find very different communities and not to wait too specific things or you may miss out what the community truly has to offer you, while focusing on your expectations that may be too large or too limited.
Change your glasses or remove them, let’s go…
Tamera in Portugal
Tamera is one of the largest and oldest ecovillages across Europe. Refugee from the Second World War, this German community settled first in the Black Forest in Germany. Traumatized by the war, she had a vision and the need for an alternative world with peace and harmony living with nature.
The most impressive in this community is their work on free love relationships and the ecological dimension. Including an autonomous solar kitchen and a water retention system on a big scale.
Find the full article, click here.
Zegg in Germany
Zegg is a community of more than 100 people only 80 kilometers from Berlin. They began as Tamera, in the Black Forest in Germany, more than 40 years ago. A group of young people who wanted an alternative way of life came together and settled in a former military base where they could evolve in a more tranquil setting, outside of capitalist society of individualism and consumption. In order to enforce cooperation rather than competition, to be rather than having and fill the natural human needs in a sustainable way.
There, I learned the great difference between the social dimension in communities and cities. The different ways to communicate nonverbally and nonviolently. Also the Forum, a tool that Zegg invented to resolve conflicts.
Find the full article, click here.
Damanhur in Italy
Damanhur is a federation of 30 communities of 20 to 30 people living in the north of Italy, one hour from Turin. For 40 years, about 600 people on site are creating a new model of society. In the world, they are thousands.
There, I saw the strength that could bring a group of people when they work in harmony, taking into account the dimension of the whole system design. This community has managed to change laws in Italy and is now heard in major policy bodies like the United Nations…
Find the full article, click here.
Evolving Cycles in Greece
Evolving Cycles is a network project of cultural and eco-therapeutic centers. A true immersion among olive groves in the pioneer group of Rothon Garden, between the Temple of Poseidon and Athens, Greece.
There, it is especially the authenticity of the members who touched me the most.
Find the full article (just in French at the moment, you can use the Google Translate plugin to auto-translate it), click here .
Eotopia in France
Only 250 kilometers from Paris in the center of France, live the 6 residents Eotopia: a vegan ecovillage of three hectares founded almost a year ago by Benjamin Lesage. Known for his journey without money, he has realized his dream at 32 years old by developing a concrete utopia: a community with almost no money, vegan, in perfect harmony with its environment and as environmentally friendly as possible.
Find the full article, click here.
Valle de Sensaciones in Spain
Valle de Sensaciones is a human laboratory to generate sensations for a defined time and in a natural environment. In the Spanish mountains, an hour’s drive from Granada, the community offers experiences like manyTantra workshops or festivals centered on Polyamory. In the summer 2017, I discovered there a new cultural dimension.
Find the full article, click here.
Sunseed Desert Technology in Spain
Nearly a third of Spain is affected by desertification. This phenomenon due to climate change and poor land management, dry land and makes them infertile. To fight against this, environmental solutions exist, with permaculture, now spread all over the world. In Spain, a British group gathered 30 years ago to study this problem and create Sunseed Desert Technology. The project is held today by a community of twenty incredibly young people, from 20 to 30 years, with 4 elder trustees.
There, I discovered sociocracy. A form of political organization functioning with several groups in circles and working without a leader but with coordinators trusting in collective intelligence. I was blown away by the energy of youth deployed in the project.
Find the full article, click here
Go deeper
Find the Ecovillage directory visited in Europe
Dragon Dreaming, Spiral Dynamics, NVC and Sociocracy: the Ecovillage’s most inspiring tools
