Ecovillages Students Exchange Inspiring Success.

A good example for Sarvodaya. Maybe some exchange could be organized with Indian students (some experiences of this kind have been already done) or with thai people involved in thai ecological movement. It is quite well organized, we will present it soon on this blog-magazine

The second half of 2009 saw some fun and inspiring exchange visits between the youth of the Findhorn (Scotland) and Kitezh (Russia) ecovillages. Following a visit by Findhorn youngsters to Kitezh during the summer of 2009, October saw the return visit to Findhorn by twelve young Russian people who were orphans but now have homes and foster families in the purpose-built Kitezh community. The visits were enormously enriching to all who participated. In Russia, the young people visited Red Square, rural Russia and the safe and beautiful surroundings of Kitezh, about five hours south of Moscow. For most of the two-week stay they played a role-play game based on Russian ancient history during which they were sent on quests, sought the advice of the wise old Babajaga and had to make decisions in youth councils about their future. It was an engaging and dramatic time, when the students stepped out of themselves and saw themselves and each other with new eyes.
It was the Russian students’ first visit abroad and their first time flying. When they arrived in Findhorn they experienced the rituals and games of the Findhorn community. At Findhorn’s sister-community on the island of Erraid they learnt about permaculture in the gardens and used the compost toilets. They played group-building games and shared their deeper impressions of the exchange. The Russian students were amazed by the amount of vegetarian food and by the seascapes and biodiversity of Scotland.

The exchange was made possible by the European Commission (Youth in Action) Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm
For more information contact Gabrielle Haworth Hamm, the Youth Worker in the Findhorn Foundation Youth Project: youth@findhorn.cc

The community of the week: Hjortshøj Ecovillage (Denmark)

Also this week I decided to present a danish ecovillage on this blog-magazine. Denmark is one of the most developed countries in the regard of ecology and ecovillages. Even GEN has been created from an idea of a danish couple: Hildur and Ross Jackson.
Then, I think danish ecovillages could be a good example even for Sarvodaya which is moving in the same direction

The Co-operative Community of Hjortshøj (AIH) near Aarhus has over 200 adults and children who have chosen to live in environmentally friendly houses. Hjortshøj is an emerging location for testing, knowledge and teaching of ecology and sustainable development, including construction, power generation, social development, culture, consumption, food, waste and wastewater management, business, economics and agriculture. Our goal is solidarity among fellow human beings, and responsibility in the handling of natural resources.
We evolve in dynamic interaction with the surrounding community, including active dissemination and exchange of experiences. Once a year, we have a vision meeting where we try to look into the future. Vision meetings provide time and space to exchange new ideas and look at the daily life in a larger perspective – this gives a boost to all of us. During a vision meeting there are often concrete new ideas, which can help to continue the ongoing development in the community.

Initiatives in AIH, which reduce CO2 emissions include:

• Approximately half of the houses have one or more walls made of the moraine clay on our site. If you compare with traditional bricks made of clay, we save 99% of the energy normally used. When the houses eventually will have to be demolished, the earth walls will still be part of the local soil – no construction waste from these walls.
• The houses are largely insulated with “paper wool”, which is granulated recycled paper. Energy use for this type of insulation is much lower than the energy used for the traditional melting of glass and minerals. The houses are also very well insulated (including some that are 15 years old), which reduces heat consumption and hence CO2 emissions.
• All heating of homes and water is done either by burning wood chips or through solar heating. Wood chips are burned in our own central wood chip stove, which is coupled to a Stirling engine, which optimizes efficiency by also producing electricity.
• We have 1.5 hectares of vegetables and fruits. From here, approximately 100 persons have totally fresh, sun-ripened organic food without energy consumption for packaging and transportation. In our organic agriculture program, we also produce fertilizer, animal feed, meat and eggs for our own consumption. The proportion of each person’s consumption covered by locally produced commodities is voluntary and quite variable.
• Biodynamic cultivation has clearly improved the structure of the soil, now containing a large carbon reservoir. The degree of tillage is very low, whereby both the release of CO2 and the much stronger greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, is reduced significantly. Approximately one third of the agricultural land is used for multi-year willow, fruit trees and pastures, all of which build soil carbon.
• A portion of the effluent from AIH is used as fertilizer for willow trees, thus binding CO2 by solar means, saving energy and eliminating the emission of nitrous oxide from basins as in conventional treatment.
• We sort our waste into many categories, so a significant part is reused. It is very satisfying. Once systematized, it is no burden.
• We have 2 jointly-owned cars at Hjortshøj. For some, it means that they do not need a car. For others it means the chance not to buy car no. 2. In both cases, it becomes clearer what the costs are. This promotes the use of bicycles and public transportation.
• There are so many things to do in AIH that there is simply no one with weight problems. How about that for a new angle on lifestyle change!

Hjortshøj Ecovillage
AiH, Gammel Kirkevej 82, 8530 Hjortshoj, Denmark.
Guided Tour for Groups:
Att. Peter Myatt, E-mail: Myattpeter@hotmail.com
Ph: +45-86-222124, Moblie: 21787784, Fax: +45 86-227096
Web Site http://ecovillage.dk

The presentation of this Danish community has been kindly offered by LØSNET, a quarterly membership magazine for members of the Danish Association for Ecovillages (LØS)

To involve more volunteers.

The following post wants to divulgate some contents (very short presentation and proposals of Sarvodaya) useful to do public relations with associations of volunteers, intentional communities and ecovillages and other organizations interested to find ways of cooperation. Now it is fixed on the net and can be quoted, copied and pasted all the times it is required!

The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is the largest people’s organization in Sri Lanka and ― involving more than 15000 villages — the major actor in development activities of the country. The Movement’s integrated approach is rooted in Gandhian principles and Buddhism, and is opened to people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds. The literal translation of Sarvodaya Shramadana is “the sharing of labour, knowledge and resources for the awakening of all”. Sarvodaya was founded in 1958 by Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, who was a teacher in a leading Buddhist Institution.
Sarvodaya’s fundamental premise is that development begins with the individual, who is interdependent with family, village, nation and the world. As a consequence of this most of the organisation’s work is taking place with individuals where they live. Sarvodaya is involved in a broad range of activities within fields such as Pre-School Education, Peace, Gender issues, Health, Relief, Micro Finance and Environmental protection programs.

The International Unit
The International Unit of Sarvodaya facilitates initiatives where worldly volunteers and the organization can mutually benefit. Sarvodaya welcomes students, researchers, individual volunteers, international visitors and groups and offers “personalized programs”, according to the interests of participants. It gives the opportunity to spend from 1 to 4 weeks in organized field visits (after an useful introduction about Sarvodaya at the Head quarters, not far from Colombo) and enjoying cultural places in Sri Lanka.
A typical program includes home stay in a Sarvodaya village for a few days and participation in Shramadana activities with villagers to fulfil any needs of village community.
Some individual volunteers may stay in a village or a district center (numero dei district centers; sarvodaya come realtà decentrata), while others could support the organisation’s work at the Head quarters. Individual visitors, in harmony with their own interests and needs, are quite free to choose their location.
International Division can host researchers and university student interns who wish to study Sarvodaya programs, without undertaking a specific task. The International Unit will arrange for their stay and internship according to the specific interests of individual student or researcher.

Summing up International Division of Sarvodaya facilitates:

-Village exploration tours
-International Shramadana Camps
-Opportunities to see the realities of the life in Sri Lanka and acquire firsthand knowledge of the cultural plurality of local people
-The establishment of new relationships between foreigners and Sri Lankan communities.

Sarvodaya provides an opportunity for exploring Sri Lanka and becoming acquainted with organisation’s philosophy of sustainable development. Anyone would like to visit, work as a volunteer or study in Sri Lanka in very welcome to contact us!

International Division-Sarvodaya Headquarters
98, Rawathawatte Road, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
E mail sarvishva@itmin.net
Tel +94112655419
Web site www.sarvodaya.org
Blog Sarvodayashramadana.blogspot.com

Sarvodaya is meeting the world!

Around three months ago, I wrote to the web-master of GEN's web-site (GEN is the acronym of Global Ecovillage Network, involving around 13000 communitarian experiences world-wide), David Yekutiel, asking to promote the initiatives of International Unit of Sarvodaya. These are related with the welcome of international volunteers, students, professionals in Sarvodaya's headquarters and, mostly, in Sarvodaya's villages to get their volunteer support, giving them a chance to know better the activities of the organization and to visit places, in Sri Lanka, of historical and cultural interest.
David has accepted to give his contribute and now Sarvodaya and its initiatives are in the home page of the GEN"s web site. This is a first important step to reinforce the international relations of Sarvodaya, very useful to enter in a new phase.
I suggest to everybody a visit to mentioned GEN's web site and to read, in the Ecovillages News, about Sarvodaya.

Reflections on Sarvodaya and Sri Lanka: Beyond Dependency.

What is following is the report of a professional volunteer in Sarvodaya who prefers to remain anonymous:

An interesting feature of Sri Lankan working life is the general spontaneity of activities. For example, few people keep office diaries, which I have never encountered before. This means it is often easier to do something now, rather than to plan it for the following week (at the risk of everyone forgetting). One fellow volunteer suggested that the difference between European people (with their planning obsession) and Sri Lankans (who take a more relaxed approach) is that historically, Europeans had to plan for climatic seasons and agricultural change (e.g. gathering firewood for winter, or sowing seeds at the right time). Consequently, a longer-term view comes naturally to Europeans, whereas it has less relevance in a tropical society. There is an interesting debate over the ability of cultures characterised by spontaneity to succeed in a world dominated by the Anglo-Saxon business model (which also drives development activities).
In general, it seems that the potential for economic success in Sri Lanka is huge. It’s a very fertile country, with plenty of water, high literacy levels, and a population density which is small by comparison with the rest of Asian. For this reason, I really want to participate in exciting discussions of commercial development, income generation, and the avoidance of dependence on foreign aid. Unfortunately, there are few people here with whom I can hold such a conversation, partly due to the shortage of fluent English speakers. Those people I do talk to appear to have little energy or real passion to break free. There is almost an acceptance of the status quo.
This absence of visible energy and passion may be partly due to cynicism about national politics and the seemingly permanent militarisation, corruption and absence of trust between ordinary Sri Lankans and those with power and wealth. Sometimes, the easiest option is exodus. I have met a number of people either dreaming about emigration to Australia, or actually in the process of leaving. This can’t be good for Sri Lanka. Developing nations need to retain their best and most energetic people.
Sarvodaya has historically been heavily dependent upon donor funds from both the West (Europe, North America) and the East (e.g. Japan). I believe there is a danger that a culture of dependency may have become entrenched here. If so, this will result in the dangerous paradigm of waiting for financial help, rather than focusing upon creating wealth, gaining independence and self-sufficiency. This dependency issue is a very difficult nut to crack.
Unfortunately, Sri Lanka (and hence Sarvodaya) faces the growing problem of a shrinking international aid budget. The tsunami is old news. World economies are struggling and central Africa undoubtedly requires greater assistance than Asia. Under these circumstances, will the donors return after the economic crash? How can Sarvodaya, which is a welfare organisation operating on a national scale, possibly continue within the pre-existing paradigm of international donor support and inadequate self-generated income?
Within ten years, we should know the answer. Transforming Sarvodaya into a less dependent organisation could be similar to the metaphor of turning around a supertanker. It will surely take a very long time, but is essential if Sarvodaya is to avoid beaching itself on the shifting sands of international aid priorities.

The community of the week: Svanholm (Denmark).

The presentation of this Danish community has been kindly offered by LØSNET, a quarterly membership magazine
for members of the Danish Association for Ecovillages (LØS)

In 1978,the 800 year-old Svanholm Estate was acquired by a group of people with a dream to live a sustainable life in community and the dream is still alive.
Today, the 420 hectares are inhabited by 90 adults and 60 children. Together, we operate an organic farm and several businesses. We have a common purse, common meetings and a common kitchen, but no common dogma. We also have apartments and privacy.

Community with a common Purse
The collective is formally organized as a limited partnership in which all are members.
The collective makes all major decisions at the monthly common meeting. Decisions can only be taken by consensus, not by voting.
Svanholm is based on an economic system whereby the broadest shoulders carry the greatest burden, but where the individual does have some financial flexibility what we call an 80/20 joint economy. Each member can keep 20% of his/her gross salary for personal use. The remaining 80% goes to cover a range of common and fixed costs: taxes, rent, telephone, all meals, social care, pension contributions and more.

Service provides leisure Time
Nearly half of the adult members work outside the collective, as teachers, doctors, TV editors, forest workers, etc. The rest work in various forms of on-site production or in service groups such as; the Kitchen Group, which cooks the meals in the common kitchen, the Construction Group, which maintains the many old buildings, the Accounting Group, which manages finances, the Kindergarten Group, which takes care of the children, and the Cattle Group, which is in charge of the dairy, cows, etc., and, of course, the Organic Farming Group, which is responsible for agricultural production, packaging and sales.
The many service groups perform tasks which would otherwise be performed by each person or family. This gives more leisure time to members.

Diversified farming
Svanholm has historically prioritized diversified organic farming with traditional crops, forestry, sheep and dairy cows. In modern times it is more common to have monoculture production, but for Svanholm it has always been important to maintain the cycle between livestock and crop rotation, and also ensure an active life on the farm.

Life on the estate
Svanholm is a lively estate, unlike many other estates that are currently occupied by a small family or working as a corporate domicile. At Svanholm, people live in the many beautiful buildings, and are here around the clock, because many are working on-site. There are many children who live a free country life in a safe environment.

Sustainability Pioneers
Svanholm was a pioneer in developing a sustainable lifestyle and now has considerable experience in organic agriculture, climate-friendly food, organic milk production, wind power, CO2-neutral heating, sustainable construction, sustainable timbertrade, organic vegetable packing and local democracy, governance and community. Svanholm has existed for more than 30 years, and has proved to be a sustainable and viable example of an alternative lifestyle in today’s Denmark.

Svanholm is open to visitors by appointment. Contact Christina Jensen for more information. Please mail: christina@svanholm.dk
See more on www.svanholm.dk

Potentiate the worldwide network of ecovillages to preserve environment. A good perspective for Sarvodaya.

I quote from web magazine, of danish ecovillagge network, Løsnet (International Climate Edition n. 61-62, dec 2009):

New Study shows that Danish ecovillages have CO2 emissions 60% below the national average.

Summary
Measurements of CO2 emissions at three Danish ecovillages by environmental
consultants Pöyry A/S earlier this year document that the their average CO2 emissions are a full 60% below the national average. The study is consistent with foreign studies which have shown that the “ecological footprints” of three ecovillages in the USA, Great Britain and Hungary were less than half of their respective national averages. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), numbering thousands of ecovillages across the world, has long argued that lifestyle change is a key strategy in reducing pressure on the ecosystem without sacrificing quality of life. Now we have additional evidence.

Background
The ecovillage movement started in Denmark in 1991 and is growing steadily.
Denmark has more ecovillages per capita than any other industrialized country, and was the first to form a national network in 1993. Ecovillages are small sustainable communities, both rural and urban, both North and South. Southern members of GEN are mostly traditional villages, e.g. 15,000 in Sri Lanka. The Northern variety are mostly intentional communities built by ecovillage pioneers who, through personal commitment and with little encouragement from governments, are designing and building small sustainable communities and teaching about sustainable living in their regions. The three in this study include two of the oldest, Svanholm and Hjortshøj, and one of the newer, more “mainstream” ecovillages, Munksøgaard near Roskilde, which is currently the largest in Denmark with about 250 residents.

Methods
Pöyry AS was consultant to the Danish Climate Ministry “1 ton less” campaign,
and has used the same calculation model in this study. The report calculates only CO2 emissions. It does not consider other greenhouse gases. In addition, Pöyry looked at the effect of some special ecovillage CO2 emissions from:

1. Domestic production of organic vegetables, etc. on there own territories;
2. Organic products in general;
3. Water consumption and wastewater treatment;
4. The composting of organic waste from households;

The full report is posted on the website of the Association of Danish Ecovillages
(LØS). "CO2 Emissions in Eco-villages”, Pöyry, July 2009".

Results:
Average Emissions
A Dane emits on average 10 tones of CO2 per year, of which 3.8 tons are due to state and municipal works and the export of various goods. This means that every Dane is directly responsible for the remaining 6.2 tons. Emissions come from heating of homes, transportation, electricity consumption, water consumption and emissions associated with food and other consumables.

Ecovillage Data
The average resident of the three Danish ecovillages emits just 2.5 tons of CO2 per year -60% less than the average Dane.
The difference lies primarily in that ecovillages:

•typically use CO2-neutral heating
(e.g. wood chips)
•have reduced transportation
•use primarily organic products

70% Less for Heating
The Danish ecovillages’ home heating has no effect on CO2 accounts, since they all use CO2-neutral heating. It should be noted that the average ecovillage resident uses only 1825 kWh per year for heating –70% lower than the average Danish consumption of 5967 kWh per year.

37% Less CO2 from Electricity
A Dane emits on average 0.95 tons CO2/year due to electricity consumption. The
Danish ecovillages in the study emitted just 0.60 ton CO2/year –37% less. Svanholm’s CO2 emissions are zero because Svanholm produces all its electricity needs from its CO2-neutral wind turbine.

35% less CO2 from transportation
The Danish ecovillages emitted only 35% of the Danish average CO2 due to transportation. The lower CO2 emissions in the ecovillages are due to less driving in private cars, greater use of public transportation and less air travel than the average Dane.

29% less CO2 from general consumption.
On average, the ecovillages emitted 29% less CO2 from goods consumption, due
to own food production, higher consumption of organic and eco-labeled products and more recycling than the average Dane.

12% less CO2 from water consumption
On average, the ecovillages emitted 12% less CO2 due to water use. This in spite
of the fact that Svanholm – the largest organic farm in Denmark with over 400
hectares – uses substantial water for its large scale agriculture. The other two ecovillages emitted 56% less CO2 than the Danish average.
CO2 Emissions from Ecovillages are probably even lower.
Additional factors, which were not included in this study, would probably increase the ecovillage deviation from the average Danish household even more, for example, the importance of organic food production and local production in general, which saves packaging and transportation. Nor did the study look at the importance of the materials life cycle.
This means that some of the activities in the ecovillages are not yet sufficiently clarified, so here are obvious opportunities for further refinements.
Another topic that has not been studied in this context, and which the ecovillages would like to have studied, is the difference between conventional and organic/biodynamic agriculture in Denmark. There are foreign studies on this issue showing that organic/biodynamic agriculture is more resistant to climate changes than conventional farming. Moreover, the reports indicate that there is more stored CO2 in the soil in organic/biodynamic agriculture than in conventional. There is a great need for incorporating such factors into the discussions of climate strategies.

The Ecological Footprint
The international focus right now is on green house gasses and the problem of
climate change. But the environmental problem is broader and includes a general overloading of the ecosystem and irresponsible use of non-renewable resources. These other aspects must not be forgotten. There are a number of
resource-saving measures in ecovillages, which have no effect on CO2 emissions.