Geese in Formation 4

Future Directions of Gaia Education

Jane Rasbash, Gaia Education Board of Directors

Gaia Education has made great headway in sustainable education in the last few years. Certified Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) courses, which weave together the social, economical, ecological and worldview aspects of designing sustainable settlements have now been run in 22 countries with over 2,000 graduating GEESE. Enquiries are streaming in from around the globe and EDE courses are being run in countries as diverse as China, Brazil, Japan, Israel, Ger-many and Estonia. In addition to this, an expanded version of the EDE, the Gaia Education Design for Sustainability (GEDS), has now been running successfully online for 2 years. Testimony to the relevance and applicability of the course, alumni of both the EDE and GEDS programmes are initiating many other sustain-ability projects. Gaia Education, primarily through the EDE course, is gaining a global reputation as a leader in the field of sustainability education.

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As the New Year dawns…

...may it bring for all Gaia Education associates – students, teachers, organisers and partner institutions – promises of… new dreams to fulfil, new goals to reach and new joys to unfold… with plenty of opportunities to re-design our human presence in the world!

May East, Gaia Education Board

Gaiaeducation

GeeseinformationNorthern Winter/Southern Summer 2010

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Geeseinformation 2010/4Gaiaeducation

An evaluation of operations was recently held and what follows below are the identified future directions. As Gaia Education grows and the EDE expands, new initiatives are evolving. These include:

New revisions of the EDE curriculum, piloted in Brazil, including a greater emphasis on urban planning

Traditional/indigenous village EDEs addressing African and Asian contexts

An expanded, hands-on design course for EDE graduates

Expansion of the GEDS online course to a post-graduate degree and beyond

The development of practical skills and tools to compliment the EDE

The availability of further online products for children, individual self-study, “test your knowledge”, etc.

To further facilitate these exciting new areas and accommodate the continued expansion of Gaia Education, responsibility will be decentralised to allow more input from key people in the network. While much of the success of Gaia Edu-cation is down to the unique skills and leadership of Programme Director May East, as with any burgeoning endeavour, there is room for shared responsibility and administration. Thematic areas will be expanded, notably product develop-ment and certification.

In line with this, the new role of Product Development Coordinator has been created. The Gaia Education board is delighted to announce that as from January 2011, long term GEESE and contributor to the original EDE curriculum, Giovanni Ciarlo, will step into this role. Gio will work with other GEESE cham-pioning the above as well as other areas relating to the expansion of Gaia Education and the EDE curriculum.

NING, the online forum open to all GEESE, EDE teachers and collaborators, as well as members having a common interest in the Gaia Education pro-grammes, will continue to serve as the main communication platform for Gaia Education. The space is open for debate, discussion and sharing amongst GEESE and other stakeholders.

Gaia Education is very encouraged by the accomplishments of the EDE in such a short period of time. It is clear that adaptable, sustainability education is relevant to all in these days of climate change, and the EDE adapts well to a variety of settings around the globe.

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Sieben Linden EDE, Germany: 9 August – 8 September 2010

Kosha Anja Joubert

This year’s EDE course was the third to be hosted in the Ecovillage of Sie-ben Linden (7Linden). 29 participants from 21 countries (Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Malawi, India, Brazil, Korea, Peru, Mexico and all over Europe) attended.

The course lasted a full 30 days, of-fering time for community build-ing and personal change processes. Central themes included: embracing diversity, peace communication, glo-bal consciousness, North-South rec-onciliation, co-empowerment, inspi-rational leadership and participatory pedagogy. With such an international group we additionally enquired into the theme of embracing traditional and indigenous villages as ecovillages, the need to preserve and support their low footprint lifestyles and the use of the EDE as a tool of inspiration and empowerment in these settings. Participants from Africa especially were invited to further this cause.

7Linden’s radically ecological setting, combined with organic meals and the close-knit community that was built, invoked respect and inspiration from the participants. A fair amount of time was allotted to their personal presenta-tions of which the richness of wisdom and experience they shared was as-tounding. The sharing that goes on between participants is absolutely central to the aims and effects of this course!

A short permaculture course and an introduction to Dragon Dreaming were in-cluded. While the latter was highly appreciated, the former could have drawn on the expertise of the 6 permaculture trainers on the course rather than bringing in outsiders.

This year’s design projects were aimed at spreading knowledge about simple, appropriate technologies, useful in a wide range of settings. These included how to work with biochar and Terra Preta, build solar cookers and dryers,


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clay ovens, water catchment systems and strawbale constructions.

Finally, the registration of the 7Linden EDE as an official course with the European agency for life-long learning continues to be extremely helpful in providing partici-pants from the EU with scholarships, and along with external funding, enables us to fund the participation of people from the South. This year’s course was offi-cially visited by representatives from the German and Belgium national agencies who were especially sup-portive and impressed by the sense of community that was alive in such a diverse group.

The 7Linden community appreciated the opportunity to share with this diverse group of appreciative individuals!

Core faculty team

Anja Kosha Jouber – main focaliser

Robin Alfred & Martin Stengel – over course facilitation

Key resource people

John Croft - Dragon Dreaming

Jascha Rohr – permaculture

Chistian Felber – economic dimension

What went well?

Building a close-knit community in a very diverse, international group

Integrating Dragon Dreaming with founder John Croft

Improving the quality of the economic modules

Balancing the 4 dimensions

Balancing process and content

The ecovillage setting of 7Linden: connection to the broader community, living example & design projects

Faculty teamwork

Involving an assistant to support the smooth running of the course

Health care

Effects on participants and their engagement

What could have gone better?

The introduction to permaculture - with 6 experi-enced permaculture trainers on the course, we lacked the flexibility to draw on their expertise, a learning for next time to perhaps be a little more radical

Lack of internet connection. Broadband access will be available from 2011

The invitation process for participants from Southern countries: fate did not seem to be on our side and in the end 4 could not make it. This placed a challenge on keeping all our spirits up!

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Rio de Janeiro EDE, Brazil: 29 July – 28 November 2010

Diogo Alvim

General Presentation

November 28th saw the closure of the second Rio de Janeiro EDE. Run from August 2010, the Terra UNA Association held the course in partner-ship with the Botanic Gardens and the National School of Tropical Botany. An awesome 62 participants from around Brazil and four foreign countries (Germany, Argentina, Portugal and Chile) attended!

Rio is the host city of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, representing a new challenge for the city – how to overcome old social and environmental challenges in a rather short time period. For those of us interested in a transition towards a greener and more secure city, these events have in fact made our work more complex: mainstream solutions have unfortunately been insubstantial and unsustainable.

EDE RJ has therefore exercised new possibilities of bridging and engag-ing with the complexity of the moment, searching for new answers in an attempt to deepen the values that move and connect us all as human beings. In this sense the EDE was a contribution towards the re-design of Rio’s transition.

By being present as a community, the Terra UNA ecovillage showed that engaging with these political issues has the potential to strengthen the spiritual presence in political life, and visa-versa. A sense of belonging was created among the participants through this collaborative process.

Course Structure

RJ EDE again included a balance of theory, activities and internships. Class-es were held in the evenings on Thursdays and Fridays and daily Saturdays and Sundays.


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Design Groups

The class was divided into 6 groups around differing case studies for which each group will be delivering a report. The 6 case studies included:

A cooperative (COOPERCENTRO) of recyclable material collectors operating in central Rio

A small favella where one of the local leaders was a participant

NGO Verdejar which since 1996 has been working to protect a small frag-ment of forest placed in the middle of a high conflict and crowded sub-urban zone.

An in depth study of municipal school children

A Waldorf school

A farm involved in a reforestation project in the Mata Atlantica ecosystem, used as a reintroduction zone to captured animals confiscated by the local government.

The Internships

This year we were able to offer five different internships. The goal, un-like in 2009, was to provide an immersive experience. All internships were therefore offered in rural areas on projects that would allow an experience of cohabitation:

Terra UNA Association: www.terrauna.org.br

Uniluz: www.nazareuniluz.org.br

El Nagual: www.artnagual.com.br

Intuitive Technology Bioaquitetura (TIBA): www.tibarose.com

Vila Yamaguishi: www.yamaguishi.com.br

The internships are currently taking place and will be held until 15 January 2011. Students will again be submitting reports.

The 62 students left the course with an awareness of the magnitude of the work to be done in Rio’s rapid transition and the possibility of each one of us contributing. We at Terra UNA are looking forward to receiving the reports and hearing how these new possibilities unfold.


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Letter from Giovanni Ciarlo

Product Development Coordinator

I have been involved in the ecovillage movement since the early 80s when a group of my closest friends and collaborators joined forces to create an ecovil-lage. Founded on the intersection of art and ecology in central Mexico, Ecoaldea Huehuecoyotl is now known worldwide for its achievements as a new model of a small rural ecovillage.

Thirty years later I am honoured with the opportunity to take on a new role in the ecovillage movement: that of Product Development Coordinator for Gaia Education. This new role takes me full circle: In 1996 I helped create the Ecovil-lage Network of the Americas (ENA). This culminated in joining the GEN board in 2003 and becoming board president in 2009. In between, I was part of the founding group of GEESE and ran the EDE in Mexico and Norway. Last year I joined the Gaia Education Design for Sustainability (GEDS) faculty at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and now, in 2010, I join the product development team.

The exciting role of the product development team is to take the EDE forward to new and wider incursions. The team provides guidance and curriculum material for designing sustainable villages, organisations and lifestyles for the emerging, low-impact civilization.

The best part of this role for me is that I will be working closely with the GEESE, Gaia Ed’s board and Gaia Ed’s fabulous director, May East, who has been leading the GEESE on our flight to the four directions over the past six years.

It is with great excitement and humility that I take on this new role. Coming into the sustainability debate with original and substantial offerings, offerings that are applicable to human settlements everywhere, is one of today’s challenges. Yet the EDE is doing just that - it has now been offered in 22 countries, on every continent and in settings ranging from grass roots centres to institutions of higher education. The effect the course has had has been phenomenal and the welcome it has received is nothing less than inspiring, transforming lives and communities everywhere.

The product development team aims to continue in this direction. People around the world are ready to make the transformation towards social justice, environ-mental conservation, security and well being, reconnecting with each other and the higher self. This transformation starts with the transformation of society

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to a new worldview, encompassing the highest ideals and technology of our times. Gaia Education continues to lead the way, offering cutting edge learning opportunities and experiences that accelerate the achievement of these goals.My role as Product Development Coordinator begins with two initial mandates.

1. Complete the upgrade of the existing EDE curriculum to reflect the urban issues of sustainable design. I will be following up on the wonderful work done by Chris Mare, Potira Preiss and others after the Brazil symposium. The upgrade will draw from the piloted urban EDE in Brazil plus the experi-ences and successes of many independent urban projects

2. The development of the EDE for traditional and indigenous villages. This will be done in partnership with regional stakeholders and the newly emerg-ing GEN Africa network. For this, I will be inviting people working with such villages to contribute new thinking and research that can achieve the dual goals of both learning from their wisdom and harmonious practises, and in turn, offering appropriate solutions to their contemporary challenges.

The goal is to present these additions to the EDE curriculum at the next GEESE meeting in Copenhagen, June of 2011. Focus from there will shift to devel-oping and coordinating a hands-on, design for sustainability course for EDE graduates, equipping a cadre of sustainability designers and consultants to assist in the creation of new ecovillages everywhere. Further ahead is the production of new educational materials aimed at reaching populations living in slums, refugee and youth camps and disaster recovery areas.

From my vantage point, as faculty on both the Sustainable Businesses and Com-munities Master programme at Goddard College and the GEDS programme, I see first-hand the rising demand for training and development of academic programs in sustainability. My students are both challenged and inspired by the vision put forward by the EDE and Gaia Education.

As president of GEN I see the opportunity for GEN to serve as a hub for research, networking, and leadership in the growing sustainability revolution. Despite the usual challenges of a volunteer organisation, I am confident that we will suc-ceed in providing continuous inspiration and state of the art solutions to current global problems.

While the challenges are many, the energy and commitment to meet them is strong and growing. GEN and Gaia Education are a source of inspiration and hope to all those who believe that a better world is possible.


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Put the Earth in Your Hands…Lotan’s Unique Opportunities to Learn Practical Ecology

May East

Since 2006 the Centre for Creative Ecology, Kibbutz Lotan, has been running the successful Green Apprenticeship Training Programme based on the Gaia Education Ecovillage Design Curriculum.

With the talented in-house faculty of

Mike Kaplin – Permaculture design, sustainable building, green technologies Mark Naveh – Worldview, social and economic dimensions Dr. Michael Livni – Worldview dimension Leah Zigmond – Organic gardening Alex Cicelsky – Sustainable building, ecological design, soil science Daniel Burstyn – Jewish Studies

and various guest lecturers from the Lotan community, this is a predomi-nantly hands-on programme offering practical ecological and permaculture skills while balancing the 4 dimensions of sustainability.

According to Mark Naveh the main aims of the Green Apprentice programme are:

Providing the cognitive rationale, experiential practice and the technical skills necessary for a movement towards a sustainable culture based on beliefs, values and principles

Investigating core beliefs and values of a sustainable culture as seen through Lotan’s specific cultural lens of experience.

In the last cycle of certifications Living Routes and Lotan certified the joint Peace, Justice and the Environment programme. Students, mostly from the US, lodge in the Eco-Campus neighbourhood and learn earth building techniques, gardening, goat husbandry, cheese and yoghurt making. These practical skills are set against a backdrop of deepening their studies in peace & social justice, eco-psychology, religions in Israel and their response to modernity.

A typical day sees the students starting with a daily morning celebration fol-lowed by classes and sessions where they join the kibbutz work branches.

Weekly pot-luck dinners and presentations, organised by the students them-selves, are part of community-building process, enhancing their social skills.


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Community Design Studios are held in groups of 3-4 students which remain constant throughout the course. Weekly Kabbalat Shabbat prayers are optional and in September they are invited to join the many Jewish holidays, starting with the New Year Rosh Hashanah and proceeding to Yom Kippur, the Sukkot holiday which finishes with Simchat Torah.

Visits to other communities in the region throughout the course highlight dif-ferent community models of socio-economic organization and the Be’er Sheva trip focuses on two of Israel’s most marginalized populations – the Bedouin living in unrecognized villages and new immigrants of Ethiopian origin.

I had a memorable visit to Lotan in November, witnessing the students pre-paring for a trip to Jerusalem where they were going to visit the old city and tour with the Rabbis for Human Rights the separation fence, the occupied ter-ritories and Western Jerusalem. I joined a pot-luck pizza night, evening Shab-bat prayers, was offered a Watsu session, presented Gaia Edu activities to the community and taught a session on models of change and Transition Towns.

Mark took me on tour to visit other kibbutz nestled in the heart of the Arava Valley and flanked by the Mountains of Edom and the Negev Plateau, a re-gion blessed with breathtaking landscapes. This was a unique opportunity to strengthen the partnership between Gaia Education and Lotan, a place “where desert and spirit come together”.


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Special Season’s Greetings

from Hildur

I finished chemo a month ago and on Dec 17th I am finished with ra-diation (25 times in all, 5 times

every week) and can begin to plan life ahead. It has been tough but I am grateful that I managed.

I look forward to the GEESE meet-ing here in June. I wish all the GEESE around the planet a wonderful transi-tion time.

Here December 13th is the shortest afternoon. In two weeks it will be the shortest morning. For that reason the Old Norse celebrated Joule for two weeks. Joule meaning wheel. The 21st is of course the shortest as such. One of my granddaughters, Silke, was the bride in the Santa Lucia pro-cession where girls dressed in white gowns walk in procession in schools and old age homes with candles in their hands while they sing about the holy light – Santa Lucia. For me this turning and return of the sun has a special meaning this year.

I am so grateful for the contact among us all and the work you are all doing out there.

Love, Hildur

Gaian Economics – Living Well within Planetary Limits

The second of the 4Keys to Sustainable Com-munities, Gaian Economics – Living Well within Planetary Limits, has been released!

With a foreword from Mark Richmond,!Direc-tor of the Division for the Coordination of UN Priorities in Education, UNESCO the long await-ed!Economic Key!is now available to download from! Gaia Education website.! Also in book form printed on 100% recycled paper from www.green-shopping.co.uk.

Co-editor Jonathan Dawson says:! “This is a timely book that provides an outline map for explorers in the territory marked ‘the New Economics’. !The transition is already under way from economics as the grey and dismal science to an exciting and creative exploration of how we can live well within our means, weaving ourselves back into the web of life. !This collection of readings represents the most imaginative and inspiring thinking on the subject from some of the leading pioneers in the field”.

The book is co-edited by Ross Jackson, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Jonathan Dawson and published by Permanent Publications.

The Power of Collective Wisdom

Kosha Joubert’s book! The Power of Collective Wisdom, recently published in Germany, takes you on a journey of enquiry into some questions, offering glimpses of possible answers and introducing a range of practices and methods to help steer us towards a collectively wise future:

How come humans seem to be do ing better at collec-tive stupidity than at collective wisdom and how can we change this?

Surely we all want to leave this planet a better place for our children and their children to live in?

How can we weave our best intentions and love for this world into a tapestry of col-

lectively wise decisions and actions?

The Power of Collective Wisdom can be enjoyed now in German, or soon in English.

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What’s new on NING?

Two new Forum discussions on the NING platform have been created (geese-gaiaeducation.ning.com):

As per its title, the Influence of the EDE programme in your life discus-sion encourages all EDE graduates and facilitators to share their stories

The Share your ecovillage design case study! discussion is encourag-ing EDE & GEDS grads alike to share the case studies of their ecovillage designs as a means to building up a timeless repository of information, ac-cessible by all.

Please encourage your EDE graduates to share their stories and case studies, lu-bricating the flow of inspiration, knowl-edge and wisdom among us all!

The Park, FindhornForres IV36 3TZMorayshire, Scotland, UK

[email protected]: +44 1309 692011

Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in Scotland No 353967Scottish Charity No SC040839

www.gaiaeducation.net

Gaiaeducation


Current and Upcoming EDEs around the Globe

UMAPAZ EDE in Sao Paulo, Brazil, lifted off on 2 December 2010 with a record 120 participants! It will be running until 18 December 2010.

EDE Japan is still underway, running until 2 April 2011, while the GEDS online pro-gramme, which commenced 11 October 2010, continues until the end of the current

academic year. Upcoming EDEs include:

Kibbutz Lotan, Israel 27 December 2010

– 6 February 2011

www.kibbutzlotan.com

Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand 17 January – 13 February 2011

Ecovillage Design Education

14 – 20 February 2011 Design Studio

21 February – 6 March 2011 Training of Trainers

www.sulak-sivaraksa.org

Siddharthvillage Community College of Ecology, Orissa, India

29 January – 27 February 2011

www.siddharthvillage.com

Damanhur, Italy 2 April – 20 April 2011

www.siddharthvillage.com

Kasteel Niewenhoven, Belgium 6 June – 2 July 2011

www.kasteelnieuwenhoven.be

Ecovillage Design Education: Certifications

It is with pleasure that Gaia Education announces the below new certifications and

re-certifications:

New Certifications

Son Rul-lan, Mallorca, Spain

Brasilandia, Sao Paulo, Bra-zil – The first hands-on EDE to be taught in one of the largest slums in Sao Paulo, boasting a population of 350,000 people

Federal University of Parana – School of Architecture and Urbanism (UFPR), Curitiba, Brazil

Living Routes and Kibbutz Lotan, Israel – Peace, Justice and the Environment semester programme incorporating the EDE

Re-certifications

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Caminho do Meio Institute, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand

University of Environment and Culture of Peace (UMAPAZ), Brazil

Living Routes at Findhorn, Scotland

Living Routes at Auroville, India

Deep gratitude to the great Certification team and Daniel for his orchestration and

wishing much inspiration to the 9 programmes in preparation!

Documents

Geese in Formation 4