Multiple studies report that ecovillages, appropriate technology villages, and other intentional communities provide high-quality lifestyles while residents use anywhere from half to a quarter as much fossil fuel energy as their counterparts who are not living in ecovillages.[1] Researchers sometimes refer to reducing fossil fuel energy use to one-quarter as much, as making a "Factor Four" improvement.[2]
Although definitions vary widely and there is no specific set of defining standards, ecovillages are typically identified as communities working intentionally to achieve "ecological, economic, and cultural dimensions of sustainability . . . integrated into a holistic sustainable development model that is adapted to local contexts . . ., consiously designed through locally owned participatory processes."[3]
As one ecovillage founder notes, there is growing evidence that "conventional systems are failing" under the ecological pressures of our increasingly unstable climate and rapidly increasing human populations, which is leading more and more communities that are beginning to consider and planning to achieve greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.[4] Imminent needs include: learning how to best manage energy use while rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, documenting and cataloging best practices, and sharing successful approaches with many more (eventually all) less than fully-intentional communities.
This ongoing open-source research project aims to collect, categorize, and catalog the best eco-village tools, techniques, and practices for achieving net-zero carbon emissions and long-term environmental and ecological stewardship, using multiple criteria. The project goal is to identify and report on as many practical ideas and case studies as we can identify, about energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy in ecovillages and other intentional communities around the world. Information is welcome here about any and all ecovillage and intentional community practices that describe tools and techniques that are succesffully being used to reduce fossil fuel energy use.
Preliminary ideas about categories for practices that enable significantly reduced fossil fuel energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions include:
- BUILDING MATERIALS AND METHODS
- FINANCING
- FOOD SYSTEMS
- GOVERNANCE, DECISION-MAKING, AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS
- ENERGY
- HOUSING
- LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
- RESOURCE SHARING
- TRANSPORTATION
- WASTE MANAGEMENT
- WATER
Concepts are being peer reviewed and categorized, with as many ideas as practical incorporated into comprehensive design guides, such as:
- Architecture 2030 design palette -- Architecture 2030 and 2030 Districts
- Donut Economics
- Foundation for Intentional Communities
- Global Ecovillage Network
- Global Ecovillage Network, The Ecovillage Impact Assessment
- Global Ecovillage Network, Solution Library -- The Solution Library already includes major topics of Ecology, Economy, and Integral Design. Guidelines describe how new solutions can be offered to this library.[5]
- Global Ecovillage Network, Ecovillage Design Cards -- available in multiple different languages. GEN’s 32 Ecovillage Principles translate into 32 Ecovillage Design Cards. The cards are divided into five groups – four Areas of Regeneration (culture, economy, ecology and social) arranged around one central path of transformation: integral design. [E]ach Ecovillage Design Card is composed of the Ecovillage Principle, the corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and questions of the Ecovillage Impact Assessment (Level 1). [An online] video introduces and presents the SDG Edition of the Ecovillage Design Cards on the Map of Regeneration."
- LivingFuture.org and the Living Building Challenge
- The Natural Step
- PatternLanguage.com
- Pattern Language for a Conservation Economy (also known as Reliable Prosperity)
RESOURCES[edit | edit source]
- GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES AND OPTIONS
- Condominium Associations
- Homeowner Associations (HOAs)
- Land Trusts
- Permaculture Communities
- Regenerative Communities
- TYPES AND VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF ECOVILLAGES
- Appropriate Technology Communities
- Cohousing
- Energy Communities
- Intentional Communities
- Ecovillage & Intentional Community Solutions: Design Patterns
- Ecovillage & Intentional Community Solutions: Research Questions and Needs
- Ecovillages as Incubators for Sustainability Transitions (EVIST), Swiss National Science Foundation Research Project, University of Basel. https://ecovillages.theologie.unibas.ch/de/evist/
- Ecovillages map/data
- Lesley Lokko, brilliant architect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesley_Lokko
- Low-Tech Lab. Languages include French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portugese. https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Accueil#
- Low-Tech Tutorials. https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Group:Low-tech_Lab#Tutoriels
- ReGen Villages, https://www.regenvillages.com/# and https://except.eco/projects/regen-villages-oosterwold/
- Solutions Highlighted in Audio, Video, and Print Media
- Topical Collection on Ecovillages and other Community-led Initiatives as Experiences of Climate Action, NPJ Climate Action (Open Access), https://www.nature.com/collections/cededfjcfb
FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTIONS ABOUT ECOVILLAGES AND INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES[edit | edit source]
READERS: Please suggest any and all ideas for additions to this list of Research Questions and Needs. If implementing particular techniques or practices might require changes in laws, rules, and regulations, please help identify and describe those changes. Where possible, please include examples of governing bodies making the necessary changes.
PROJECT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, COLLABORATORS, CONTRIBUTORS[edit | edit source]
I would like to find a way to list and properly acknowledge the many collaborators and contributors to this work, to give thanks for those who are actively helping with this project. It is a growing list of fabulous people, each bringing their own special talents and interests to this work. Please help me to figure out a mechanism for making it easy for everyone to share basic information about themselves here.
I am Tom Stanton, from Michigan, USA. Until I learn better, I might consider myself to be the founder or initiator of this project. Here is some basic information about myself: User:TomStanton
CONTRIBUTORS[edit | edit source]
- Anonymous, Cotati, California, USA
Applying the Sustainable Development Goals[edit | edit source]
See below a list of Appropedia Category:Ecovillages and their corresponding SDGs. Please help fill out missing information on the corresponding page.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Global Ecovillage Network, What is an Eco-Village [Webpage, retrieved June 2023], https://ecovillage.org/ecovillages/what-is-an-ecovillage/
- ↑ Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker published a book in 1998 entitled Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use - A Report to the Club of Rome. https://www.routledge.com/Factor-Four-Doubling-Wealth-Halving-Resource-Use---A-Report-to-the-Club/Weizsacker/p/book/9781853834066 A follow-up book by von Weizsäcker and co-authors, published in 2009, is entitled Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity. See https://ernst.weizsaecker.eu/factor-five-has-been-published/ See also: https://ernst.weizsaecker.eu/topics/factor-four-factor-five/
- ↑ Joubert, Kosha, and Leila Dregger, 2015, Ecovillage: 1001 ways to heal the planet, Devon, UK: Triarchy Press, preface. ISBN 978-1-909470-75-0. https://ecovillage.org/product/ecovillage-1001-ways-to-heal-the-planet/
- ↑ This statement is from an introduction to "The Ark" ecovillage in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, from founder Marat Omarov, on 24 January, 2024. See also Alexander, Christopher, 2002, The Nature of Order, Volume 2, Part 3. https://www.patternlanguage.com/bookstore/bookshelf.html#0. See also Stanton, 2022, pages 13-14, for a concise summary of Alexander's admonitions in The Nature of Order, v2, Part 3. https://www.academia.edu/89816933/Stanton_Presentation_Full_Set
- ↑ Joubert, Kosha, and Leila Dregger, 2015, Ecovillage: 1001 ways to heal the planet, Devon, UK: Triarchy Press.. ISBN 978-1-909470-75-0. https://ecovillage.org/product/ecovillage-1001-ways-to-heal-the-planet/ -- This book includes thirty brief case studies about ecovillages in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Each highlighted action or practice is listed, using identifiers found in the GEN Solution Library.
- SDG01 No poverty
- SDG02 Zero hunger
- SDG03 Good health and well-being
- SDG06 Clean water and sanitation
- SDG07 Affordable and clean energy
- SDG08 Decent work and economic growth
- SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
- SDG12 Responsible consumption and production
- SDG13 Climate action
- SDG15 Life on land
- Ecovillages