In response of the articles in the December '04 issue of “7th Generation”, and in general as a response to being called “Ecologist” more often than I would like, then I think it’s time to evaluate the meaning of these terms in a broader European context. –Broader than the context I usually experience it used within here in the Czech Republic.
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| (From Lunaria's web) |
…And they are perfectly right!
What they do is ecological sound and they often live in a village setting. The difficulties come when people start to identify this ‘voluntary simplicity’ as being the only definition of ‘Ecologists/ Ecovillage’. In effect the use of the term as explaining a very ‘low-tech’ (considered primitive by the general public), way of life frequently causes the spectators to have a very closed view of ‘Ecologists/ Ecovillage’. A view which I’ve often personally experienced as being very negative.
Here’s the other side of the dilemma:
I’ve graduate with a B.Sc. as “Human Ecologist”, and a M.Sc. in "Environmental Management". This was done through extensive use of computers and internet. In managing PermaLot I spend about half my time working on the keyboard and I often have to use our chainsaw, grass cutter or drive our mini-tractor or old Land Rover 109" with materials, produce or people. I’m rarely far away from my mobile phone and almost constantly online.
-Does this mean I’m not an ‘Ecologist’?
...Well, in one way then I’ll be happy not to be called ‘Ecologist’ as any title only serves to put me into a certain box in the receivers mind frame, and I really dislike being catagorized and filed as something previously discovered! However in the context of this article I have to claim that I still rightfully can call myself an ‘Ecologist’
I am very concerned about the future of the planet and I’ve designated my life to try to do what I believe I can do to help make people aware about the problems we are facing and [more important] to demonstrate possible environmental sustainable solutions for the future. This is basically what PermaLot (The NGO I started) is about. I’m internationally known for my ecological viewpoints and I’ve in some way or another been part of grass root organizations and activities for the past 30 years. I do see that the protests I was involved in for years, (with subsequent court cases) has done little to halt the rapid depletion of natural resources. I’ve simply learned some lessons on the way, (a way which included living alone without electricity in the mountains for 2,5 years) and for me this knowledge means to accept and utilize some of the modern technologies (when appropriate) to reach the aim of my mission.
And I’m not alone! This is where I’ll like to introduce the other aspect of the term ‘Ecovillage’. Having been involved in an ‘Ecovillage Initiative’, (which attracts 100’s of visitors, who come and inspect us as if we were animal in the Zoo), I’ve often wanted to put all of the visitors into a bus and tour them around to some of the well established Ecovillages in Germany or Denmark. It’s so hard to try to explain the vision we have to all the curious Czechs, when all we have is 10 hectares of land, good intentions, limited human resources and even less money; Yes, this is yet another initiative not supported by Nadace Partnerstvi, as we refuse to advocate corporations like Skanska in return of funding to plant trees!
I’d like to introduce you to a bit of the life of my ‘colleagues’ Gunnar and Judith who lives about 1500 km away in Hjortshoj, Denmark, and work as activists and networkers in the international association for renewable energy; Inforse. I admit the following is my fiction however it’s very likely a correct description:
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| Rundbold |
"Gunnar and Judith wakes up in their wooden row-house,(they chose this type of building due to the low embodied energy and wood being a renewable resource). They prepare their kids to go to the new kindergarten, which got started due to the initiative and needs of the large ecovillage they live in. They don’t have to care about starting a fire in the stove as all of the houses are well insulated and designed according to maximize the passive solar gain, besides, many of the houses in the ecovillage are heated by their own bio mass central heating plant, which gets a large part of its biomass from the annual harvest of willows which thrives from growing in the ecovillage’s reed bed system. Anyhow, the kids eat their corn flakes with milk and sugar as most Danish kids, however these ingredients are all organic and available from the local co-op supermarket, and the milk comes from the ecovillage own cows. Once the kids walks off to the nearby kindergarten (they don’t even have to pass any trafficked roads), Gunnar and Judith walk to their work which is a few hundred meters away in a part of the central communal building; the building is also used by a ‘Green Guide’ and a massage therapist, along with several classes, exhibitions and events taking place in the big hall throughout the year. This specific building receives many visitors as it doubles as a demonstration of natural building techniques. It’s a hybrid of rammed Earth, strawbales and as all of the buildings in the village it includes separating composting toilets and rainwater catchment etc.
During the day Judith has to tour a visitor around to various sites and she uses one of the 5 shared cars that has been bought together by a group of the residents. She chooses a new VW Lupo with an impressive mileage and pays a fee according to the kilometer. The fee covers insurance, taxes, service and depreciation of the car. –The future plans is to have the cars converted to bio diesel, however for the time being the oil from the flax grown on the ecovillage organic certified fields are being used to produce linseed oil and paint, another private enterprise in the village.
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| Sheep |
Gunnar has planned this day so he doesn’t have too work much in the office. He’s taking a few hours off to go and do his part of the communal work in the vegetable fields, which are situated in front of the view from his house, and almost stretches out to the fjord. It’s not a job he has to do, however it’s an option to get a good discount on the vegetables his family consumes, and it’s also a nice change from the office work and a way to interact with his many neighbors.
He enjoys hearing about the latest inventions in the house/tower which Kim is building for his family; Kim is a certified plumber and has many funny ideas, his octagon house build of recycled bricks being one of them. Today Kim is telling about how he has installed three different systems to dispose of the water from the kitchen sink! First of all he can pump it manually so it goes through small pipes in the walls and water each planter box by every window in his house. Secondly he can let it out to water the plants in his private small decorative garden, and lastly he’s able to let it into the general system of the ecovillage, feeding the willows mentioned above.
-Gunnar shakes his head smilingly as he’s heading off to another of the four communal houses in the ecovillage to join three other neighbors. They have all signed up to cook for the communal dinner tonight. There’s usually a communal dinner 4 nights a week and Gunnar and Judith really appreciate the extra time it usually gives to be with the children in the evening and not have to worry about shopping, cooking or cleaning. As there are 25 people who eat, it means that they don’t have to cook too often and when you have to it’s easier to set off the time to cook for several hours, as Gunnar does on this particular day. This communal house features a dining area, a kitchen with some industrial grade kitchen equipment, a play area for children and a couple of industrial grade laundry machines that serves the needs of 30 households.
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| Family Eco-Houses |
After dinner Gunnar and Judith heads home to wash the kids in the warm water which was pre-heated through the solar panels above the house. As the kids sleep in, the parents watch the news and a documentary on the TV before they get ready for the coming day…
Gunnar and Judith are typical of many modern Danish couples in terms of world experience and multicultural background; Gunnar is Danish and spent some time abroad, among other in Czech where he did some of the initial studies of the potential for wind power in C.R. Judith actually grew up in the hills above Budapest (she is Hungarian) and later studied in USA before she met Gunnar and settled in Denmark. What’s not so typical for Danes, (however not as uncommon as in Czech), is that together they act locally through their living situation while the focus of their work is to act globally. They are modern day “Ecologists” living in a very modern “Ecovillage”.
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| Row-houses |
The Ecovillage of Hjortshoj is 19 years old and was started in the outskirts of an existing village. It now contains about 350 people and is intended to expand up to 500 people, with part of the initial planning being that the ecovillage contains several small living groups with each their community house and ways of life; some living in independent self owned houses, others living as renters in rowhouses and so on. One development was a large area of 2nd story row-houses paradoxically built by Skanska using some degree of environmental techniques and design. Many of the inhabitants in Hjortshoj commute to work in the nearby City using the train, which stops 10 min. away. Recently the residents were able to buy a large old neighboring farm, which is being converted to many communal uses.
I like to add that if I had chosen to describe a couple living in the Zegg community in Germany I would have had to focus much more on the communal living with 3 communal meals per day and a large focus on the social interactions and working together.
-This latter version is closer to what we initially envisioned to live in and thereby the original intentions with PermaLot.
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| Visualization of potential for old building on PermaLot's land in Bouzov Svojanov |
…And this brings me back to the introductory words. In the more wealthy parts of Europe there’s a completely different understanding of the term “Ecologist and Ecovillage” . It’s more to do with a selective downshifting in a high consumer based society, as opposed to the Eastern European version, where it seems closer to avoiding technical upshifting, as seen in Lunaria, Mrkev, Zajezova and other similar initiatives. Even though I do respect the Eastern approach, then it’s important to keep an open mind and realize that every ecovillage is as different as every ‘normal’ village, just as every ‘Ecologist’ is as different as every ‘Engineer’ or ‘Christian’.
Description of pictures:
'Rundbold' | Children playing in front of part of the rental units of the Ecovillage, build through a special Danish scheme for social housing. Notice the chimney in the back for the central bio-mass heating system |
Sheep | Sheep grazing on the field of the Ecovillage. In distance you see the fjord. |
Family Eco-house | New house (which I worked on) A modern ‘eco-house’ which cost around 8 mio czk. –The roof also aids in rain water catchment, and is light to save weight. |
Row Houses | New social row housing built by ‘Skanska’ |
