On a global level there is an increasingly
urgent need for positive models which demonstrate a viable,
sustainable human and planetary future. Ecovillages or sustainable
communities address this need, looking at sustainability
not only in environmental but also in social, economic and
spiritual terms.
Ecovillage principles can be applied equally
to urban and to rural settings, to both developing and over-developed
countries, and provide solutions to human and social needs,
while at the same time protecting the environment and offering
an enhanced quality of life for all.
Ecovillages are communities with tightly-knit
social structures, united by common ecological, social and/or
spiritual values. Working with the simple principle of not
taking more away from the Earth than one gives back, ecovillages
are consciously diminishing their ecological footprint.
"Ecovillages restore, honour and celebrate
the four elements and their interconnected
processes in Nature and in people."
"The study and application of the
ecovillage model is not only for ecologists. The model must
be presented to the public in a systemic way, in a non-linear
methodology, to generate a critical mass and a point of
transition.
Ecovillages can take people out of poverty and create jobs
through the sense and spirit of community. They can restore
human dignity in a profound way."
Fritjof Capra, Fundacao Gaia
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