Global Ecovillage Network: Living 'Sustainable Plus' Lives

TreeHugger loves ecovillages, intentional communities and cohousing. Anything that gets people thinking about their connection to each other, and the earth, through community is hugely important. That’s why we love the Global Ecovillage Network, a “confederation of people and communities that meet and share their ideas, exchange technologies, develop cultural and educational exchanges, directories and newsletters, and are dedicated to restoring the land and living "sustainable plus" lives by putting more back into the environment than we take out.”

We also love the broad definition of ecovillages that GEN seems to support, ranging from traditional village communities, to modern urban developments:

“Network members include large networks like Sarvodaya (11,000 sustainable villages in Sri Lanka); EcoYoff and Colufifa (350 villages in Senegal); the Ladakh project on the Tibetian plateau; ecotowns like Auroville in South India, the Federation of Damanhur in Italy and Nimbin in Australia; small rural ecovillages like Gaia Asociación in Argentina and Huehuecoyotl, Mexico; urban rejuvenation projects like Los Angeles EcoVillage and Christiania in Copenhagen; permaculture design sites such as Crystal Waters, Australia, Cochabamba, Bolivia and Barus, Brazil; and educational centres such as Findhorn in Scotland, Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, Earthlands in Massachusetts, and many more.”

The organization is split into three regions, GEN Europe and Africa, GEN Oceania and Asia, and the Ecovillage Network of the Americas. The network operates to support and promote ecovillages through providing information, networking and advocacy, and by partnering with both governmental and non-governmental organizations to share best practice.