Could you give us a brief history of the ecovillage movement.

The roots go back 10, 20 even 30 years. The movement itself began to arise in the mid to latter 80ies, as ecovillage initiatives began to arise in many different countries all around the planet. In the early 90ies Ross and Hildour Jackson in Denmark began to explore the possibility of a network by which these initiatives which had been arising could be knit together into a single system.

The movement itself comes out of concerns that people have had since the 60ies and maybe before about the pattern of human living which is clearly not sustainable in its current form of intensive resource use and consumerism. And it also is not satisfying on a deep level for what the human spirit craves: very deeply destroyed relationship to the planet and our relationship to other people in the world, patterns of exploitation and overuse.

So many began groping through in a commune movement - in different forms of communal living kinds of experiments in the late 60ies, through the 70ies and 80ies. Some of those were the early forerunners to the ecovillages we see today. The ecovillages themselves have evolved - are much more solid in their base and their formation. Because they are concerned with a really holistic way of living together in community that can be sustained over time.. so basically i would say it is a 10 year old movement , but it does have roots that go much early.

We see hundreds of ecovillages that are springing up worldwide in countries all over the world in the north and the south.. And many, many more are arising now. We are constantly getting enquiries about how to start, how to get going, who to network with. So it is a vibrant, active, very diverse and growing set of communities all around the world. 

What is the role of ecovillages in the society?

 Generally speaking, ecovillages represent the early pioneers, the early starts on trying to put together a way of living that makes sense given the real realities of the world - and a way of living that is sustainable indefinitely into the future, that really can not take from the earth more than it returns. In fact, we find in some communities cases that the actual enhancement of the ecology and living systems in which the people are involved. So there are hopefully new patterns, and they represent points of hope and possible light for directions that humanity as a whole may be able to begin to move toward. So I think that they are early forerunners, early pioneers of new way and systems of living that are going to be developed all the way through this century and into the future. They have to be developed. We have to make deep, and fundamental changes to make a world that can continue on with 5, 6, 7, 8 billion people living in some degree of reasonable health and harmony.

 The ecovillage movement started off the west, in North America and in Europe primarily. Now as we are reaching out and - we are realizing that it also was beginning there, too , at the same time. It was just simply that we didn’t have a system where we could find out about each other. But, the start of the movement and of the network began in the north, partly because there are better information and communication abilities there.

What are the problems and challenges of the ecovillage movement?

 Wonderful challenges and opportunities are before us. One of the things we are working on now is to deepen our relationships with groups, with movements and traditional and new communities in the south in Latin America, in Asia, in Africa. And that is one of our challenges and real opportunities. We are developing programs and sowing the seeds of real strong networks in these areas that I think can bare fruit in a real global system that we are moving toward. Challenge also the money to keep it moving properly, to have the resources , to have the influence.. I think that by being together - because really over all our numbers are relatively small, we’re tiny compared to the massive humanity, and yet the impact, because of what we see the movement doing can be and already is much greater. So, one of our challenges is to realize, in the best ways what way our limited resources, how best to have a meaningful and positive impact upon the way the human beings think about themselves, about the world, and the future.

And what about urban ecovillages?

 Another challenge or opportunity is establishing ecovillages to the cities. Typically the ecovillages we have seen are more rural or suburban, they are outside with some kind of land base. The whole question of the city in the future is a very interesting and important one. I’ll be at the Ecocity Fore Conference in Brazil in March, and I’m looking forward to the interaction there. Because there are many people who are groping with the whole question on "How can we green cities" and "How can we make them more ecological and sustainable". A city in itself is not sustainable, it does not have a land base, it does not have the water, the resources, the energy, the food to sustain itself. It needs a large hinterland, a large surrounding area that can generate these things for it. In another sense we see cities arising in human history about five, six thousand years ago. When the first real cities got going on the planet, we see this pattern of degradation setting in almost immediatly. So the pattern of environmental degradation and the cities are integrally linked- and this is a very deep pattern. It is not something, we are going to solve quickly. But we need to really look at it and think about it. We have ways of living now, we have technologies, thinking about the world and arranging business and work, that could make a big difference.

 Now, in terms of ecovillages, because they primarily have been rural or suburban with some kind of land base, they look like they don’t necessarily apply to cities. But, what are we learning from these systems? We are learning about people living together and learning ways of living together in community - whether it is a community of 10 people, or 500 people. And, they are also learning ways in which they can recirculate and synergize their own efforts and skills, and also try and live in a greater degree of harmony and reciprocity with the earth.

It is amazing what can be grown in cities. Some of the new, even organic, approaches towards vertical hydroponic systems can grow tremendous amount of food in extremely limited area; indoors of on the edge of buildings. So we have some interesting opportunities for growing food and plants, which I think is important. But we have also learned about the importance of living in some form of community.

A big step forward is the beginning of trying to see if people who care about each other or thinking this way who live, let’s say, in different parts of a large city might not be able to come together and even buy an appartment building together, in common. And then begin to change the building and perhaps a piece of land that may go with the building, to really create something that’s whole - a system where things can be recycled easily, where energy and resources can be saved, one washing machines can handle 10 flats, these kinds of simple economies that can be built in, and then an outreach to their neighbors and communities. Because, in the end it is going to take many, many healthy cells in a city, joining together, to create the cooperative patterns, by which city life can be transformed. The ecovillage idea, which isn’t just rural, it is also urban, has to do with the pattern of relationships of people with each other and the pattern of relationships and care and respect and concern for the wider ecology, the wider system that our life is taking place in.

We do see some interesting starts in urban areas, in Los Angeles or Amsterdam, where we see the beginnings of these new healthy seeds, these new cells of a new body that may be formed over time. So that even the cities themselves will become a lot safer place, too, because neighborhoods and communities within the cities will be knit together more. Some cities already have these patterns, and have patterns of extended families living together but in the western, developed, large urban areas this old patterns have been fragmented. And we need to recover it in new ways.

 Findhorn, March 5, 2000