[Scpg] ENA eNews, in English

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Electronic Newsletter of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas
<http://ena.ecovillage.org>
Date: March 2002
Issue #0004
Editor: Giovanni Ciarlo:
<mailto:giovanni at ecovillage.org>

Dear Friends;
This newsletter is distributed to subscribers in North, Central,
South America, the Caribbean and beyond. ENA is a grassroots public
policy research, education and networking project, and part of the
Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) <http://www.gaia.org>. Our focus is
to meet the needs of present and future generations for a safe and
healthy planet to inhabit.

To subscribe (free) or unsubscribe ENA E-News, please go to:
<http://www.ecovillage.org/>
Then click on News. An on-line subscription box is available, to add
or delete yourself. Please share this E-News with friends and
colleagues who would be interested.

You may subscribe to our E-News in English, Spanish or Portuguese
versions, and French will be added soon. There is also a link to
back-issues, and to information about ENA's Newspaper and Web News
pages. Please visit!

IN THIS ISSUE

I. UPDATE FROM ENA'S OFFICES

1) Central Office has been working with Orlando Balbás, who together
with Lucia Battagazzore of Uruguay, has translated, designed and
posted almost all of ENA's public access Web pages in Spanish!
<http://www.ecovillage.org>  Then click on Español.

We invite you to have a look. Now if you refer your Spanish speaking
friends and colleagues, there is plenty for them to read. This
includes the Community Sustainability Assessment tool, viewable
on-line and available for download in PDF, in both Spanish and
English.

2) In February-March 2002 Albert Bates, of ENA's International
Office, attended the PrepCom in New York City, for the Johannesburg
Earth Summit coming up this Summer. He presented a Global Ecovillage
Network Slide Show: The Ecovillage Movement in Agenda 21, Progress
and Prospects for the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN).  GEN will
present a series of events, workshops and ecotours in South Africa in
connection with the World Summit on Sustainable Development,
August-September, 2002. For Information:
<http://www.ecovillage.org/wssd>

II. REGIONAL NEWS

BRAZIL

1) See: "The Ecovillage Network Walks a Sun Trail, in the South of
Brazil", a feature article, by Marcel Estivalet of Communidade Tribal
Vale Encantado, on ENA's Web News pages: <http://www.ecovillage.org>
Then click on News, and then 2002.

2) And, from Andre Soares,
Ecovillage Network of the Americas - Brazil,
IPEC - Instituto de Permacultura e Ecovilas do Cerrado
Caixa Postal 45 Pirenopolis
Go  CEP 72980 000  Brasil
Phone/Fax:  55 62 3311529
E-mail   ipec1 at terra.com.br
<http://www.permacultura.org.br/ipec>

Inspired by our participation in Build Here Now at Lama Foundation,
we ran our Bioconstruindo 2001 course. It was an utter success, with
people from all the states of Brazil - architects, housing financiers
and builders loved it and left wanting more. The next Bioconstruindo
course is scheduled for July 13-21, 2002.

WE HAVE BEEN FUNDED!  for 4 years to develop our Living and Learning
center, particularly the appropriate technology education.  We are
launching in August 2002, our 2 semester course: Sustainable Systems
Design and Implementation. This will be a land mark development - our
entire year will be focused around this program. We are engaging
international students to bring more cultural diversity. Media has
been paying much attention to us, with full double page spreads, TV
interviews and radio programs stating our proposed concept as a
practical solution for troubled times.

CALENDAR FOR 2002
April 26 till May 5th  Permaculture Design Certificate Course

July 13th to 21th  Bioconstruindo 2002
A natural building convergence with hands on experience on cob,
adobes, wood structures, straw bales, straw clay, composting toilets,
water systems, renewable energy and much more.

August 2002  First semester of the Sustainable Systems Design Course.
Enrollments and selection of students began in January.

CANADA

1) The Ecovillage Network of Canada (ENC) is fortunate to now have a
Quebec/Maritime representative, who will serve as a contact for new
inquiries on events and other related information about Ecovillages
within Quebec and the Maritimes.  He is:
Pierre Lyonnais
11 rue du Grésil
Hull QC
J9A 3K4

819-772-2196
<mailto:lyonnais.p at sympatico.ca>

2) May 9-12, 2002 Fellowship for Intentional Community's (FIC)
Organizational Meeting, in Waterloo, Ontario. Anyone who is
interested is very welcome to attend and participate in the
discussion of the FIC board and all the people who work on FICs
committees and projects. These meetings are also excellent regional
networking opportunities. Contact Jenny Upton, at:  jenny at ic.org if
you would like to attend.

CARIBBEAN

Claudio Maduane and Luisa Fernanda Giraldo of Colombia received an
invitation from Felipe Bermudez and Luz Maria Colorado of the Puerto
Rico Network and FIGA (Fundación Integral GAIA), to carry out a
series of Permaculture workshops and Ecovillage presentations aimed
at promoting sustainable culture.

"During our stay from Nov. 2 - 28, we were gave a number of  talks,
conferences and presentations in universities and met with various
environmental and community organizations. We participated in several
radio programs, reaching many listeners and thus generating a lot of
motivation and interest about concrete, innovative alternatives
towards sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyles. We displayed and
sold crafts items made by community members from the Choco region of
Colombia to demonstrate some alternative methods of production using
the resources of the forests in a sustainable way, as well as opening
new markets for fair trade practices.

During our stay, we offered the first Permaculture course on the
island along with Felipe Bermudez and Andre Sanfioreno, beginning
work on infrastructure for the FIGA Eco-center in Trujillo Alto,
outside San Juan. There are plans to create an Ecovillage-based,
wholistic school for exchange of information related to sustainable
development.

We also had opportunities to show the GEN  video 'Habitat Revolution'
along with others like 'The Global Gardener' and 'Alternative
Building' on several occasions."

EAST UNITED STATES

1) Call for candidates!
ENA announces the opening of two seats on our Council of the
Americas, for the East U.S.
We are accepting nominees and volunteers for candidacy.  Information
on the criteria, responsibilities, and procedures for candidates will
be posted on or about March 22.  If you are interested, please review
these before inquiring:
<http://www.ecovillage.org/English/Region/USEast/>

ENA wishes to express great gratitude to Jeff Clearwater, previously
of Sirius Community, now residing and serving ENA's West U.S. region,
and, Corinna Bloom of Vermont, for their invaluable support and many
contributions to ENA since its inception.

2) LIVING ROUTES - ECOVILLAGE EDUCATION CONSORTIUM.
Bring your college education to LIFE and learn skills needed to help
heal our planet and build sustainable communities. Earn college
credit while:
o Designing ecological communities in western MA and upstate NY
o Monitoring a "Living Machine" waste treatment facility in Scotland
o Gardening organically in Australia while being watched by wallabies
o Meditating at Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist monastery in southern France
o Identifying rare medicinal plants in a Rainforest in southern India
o Building a straw bale house on a green kibbutz in Israel

Contact: Daniel Greenberg, Ph.D. daniel at ic.org
85 Baker Road  Shutesbury, MA  01072
phone: 413/259-0025 fax: 413/259-1256
<http://www.LivingRoutes.org>
info at LivingRoutes.org

MESOAMERICA

1) The Mesoamerican Ecovillage Network Invites you to the "VIII
Bioregional Gathering of the Consejo de Visiones Guardianes de La
Tierra" taking place in the state of Chiapas, Mexico from March 31 -
April 7, 2002. More information:
<http://www.laneta.apc.org/rem>

2) The Latin American Student Symposium on Negotiation and Conflict
Resolution will take place in Monterrey, Mexico  June 15 - July 13,
2002
<http://www.iimcr.org/symposium/symposium2002-mx.asp>

Participants will gain a fundamental understanding of contemporary
Latin American issues and develop a skill set to effectively address
conflict at various levels of society.

MOBILE

1) Read about the progress of La Caravana, representative to the ENA
Council for mobile ecovillage projects!  Go to:
<http://www.ecovillage.org/English/Region/Mobile>
Click on CARAVANA ARCOIRIS POR LA PAZ, January 2002.

2) During the last week of November ENA Council member Alberto Ruz
attended the Latin American and Caribbean Gathering of Civilization
and Peace Dialogue in Caracas, Venezuela. He reports the following:

"We were more than 1000 invited guests, with President Hugo Chavez
and Argelian independence hero Ben Bella as hosts, for three days of
intense debate and presentations by more than 35 special panel
members from 22 nations...

I was invited to next year's gathering of the Eagle and the Condor,
by Fran Bracho, ex-Venezuelan ambassador to India... My written
presentation is a synthesis of an unedited work in progress on
Ecovillages: Alternatives for the XXIst Century to be published some
time
soon."

NORTH SOUTH AMERICA

1) In Bogota, Colombia there is a growing movement to create
eco-neigborhoods in a multi-district program involving communal
action committees. These organizations fell in love with the
ecovillage ideas presented by AnaMaria Aristizabal, who wrote her
environmental studies thesis on Ecovillages. During a two week period
of presentations to 60 neighborhood leaders, development plans were
explored and training on ways of carrying out those plans were put in
place with the goal of using them in moving urban neighborhoods
towards more sustainable practices on the social, economic,
environmental and spiritual levels.

Once the plans have been drawn up, 30 will be selected to receive
financial assistance for implementation. ENA Council member Claudio
Madaune of Fundación Darién met with and offered workshops to the
neighborhood teams and teachers from the program who were very
excited about the work. This program is flying well and has
guaranteed funding from local government agencies.

After the initial presentations and encouragement, they organized a
conference on ecovillages attended by Lois Arkin of LAEV and Dan
Greenberg of Living Routes and Sirius Community who offered their
expertise on urban ecovillage development.

For more information:
FUNDACION DARIEN
A.A. 700 Turbo - Antioquia  COLOMBIA
Telefax : (57) - 4 - 824 36 10
<mailto:ecoaldeasnsa at hotmail.com>

2) Enrique Hidalgo announces EL PONCHO Ecovillage project pages:
ilpermacultura at hotmail.com
The Instituto Latinoamericano de Permacultura (ILP) - Bolivia has
made a liaison in Australia with Linda Riccio from the PAWA
(Permaculture Association of Western Australia). COBODES (Consultora
Boliviana para el Desarrollo Sostenible) has become a formal 50%
partner in Bolivia. ILP - Bolivia has also joined the
ILP-International based in Norway. Enrique has been co-teacher in a
Permaculture Designers Course for the Kilden Oslash Kosamfunn
(members of GEN Europe) getting ready to build the first ecovillage
in Norway. There is lots of interest amongst youngsters who wish to
travel to the Americas and learn more about the work of the ILP and
ENA.

ILP/ENA Bolivia is getting involved in a joint venture with COBODES
to accelerate the building of the ecocenter and encourage
ecovillagers to join our work. COBODES is also doing a consultancy
related to ecotourism, with the Ecology Institute of Bolivia, the
Architect College and other NGOs which work with ecology related
topics. Building of the ecocenter continues as the Dinning
room/kitchen and more cabins are becoming a reality.

Upcoming Eco-tours:

Backpakers tours from the Amazon to the Andes:
March 18-27, April 25 -May 9, May 25 -June 9, June 22 - July 6, August 10-24

April 7-22  Permaculture Designers Course - 16 days - Designers Diploma.

SOUTH SOUTH AMERICA

ARGENTINEAN PERMACULTURE INSTITUTE offered an intensive Permaculture
Permaculture Design Course from 16th February to 1st march 2002; and
a Permaculture Advanced course on Ecovillage Design from 8th to 13th
march 2002, by Peter Bane (US) &
Gustavo Ramirez (Argentina)

These courses brought together experienced designers from Northern
and Southern ecovillages to share the challenges and the success of
their projects.

For Information about upcoming events, CONTACT:
Asociacion GAIA
Almafuerte 1732 - San Martin - (1650) Buenos Aires - Argentina

Phone: (+54-2272) 492072 - Fax: (+54-11) 47522197
<mailto:gaia at gaia.org.ar>

WEST UNITED STATES

1) From Los Angeles Eco-Village:
The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to demolish the
four-plex at White House and Bimini Place and put up an asphalt
parking lot.  Many neighbors oppose this, because it blights the
neighborhood, destroys educational opportunities, destroys food
producing green space, creates security problems, destroys a key
property in a block of  buildings of historic importance, destroys
housing, damages the quality of neighborhood life, wastes tax money,
and more. Community efforts have already saved the Corner from the
LAUSD bulldozers three times in the past 12 years.  Now we want to
save it once and for all!
Find out about the past struggles at:
<http://www.ic.org/laev>
Click on The Demolition Threat
For information and how you can help, contact:
Alexandra Buresch ala at insightgreeting.com (213) 570-0521
Lois Arkin  crsp at igc.org    (213) 738-1254

2) The third annual Permaculture Certification Workshop, May 26 - June 9,
2002:
at Hummingbird Ranch in New Mexico, taught by the Scott Pittman, from
the Dry Lands Permaculture institute, will include an international
student body.  For more info, go to:
<http://cocreativeculture.com/pc.htm>


III. INTERNET RESOURCES

1) CALENDAR
For more events, visit ENA's regularly updated Calendar of Events at:
www.ecovillage.org  Then click on Calendar.

The Ecovillage Training Center
For details - <http://www.thefarm.org/etc/index.html>
560 Farm Road, PO Box 90
Summertown, TN 38483-0090 USA
<mailto:ecovillage at thefarm.org>
Telephone +01-931-964-4474
Fax +01-931-964-2200

2) NEW FELLOWSHIP WEB STORE NOW OPEN!
Announcing the grand opening of the INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES STORE
with full-featured shopping cart. Working in conjunction with the
very popular Intentional Communities web site, the store now offers
secure on-line purchase for all Fellowship publications and many
other titles, as well as memberships.
Intentional Communities Store:  <http://store.ic.org>


IV. ONE REASON FOR GIVING TO ENA

1) YOU DON'T NEED TO BE RICH TO BE AN EFFECTIVE PHILANTROPIST.
Every contribution goes a long way in supporting the flow of
ecovillage information throughout the Americas, and the energy,
activism and morale of our primarily volunteer organization.

Read 14 more reasons to support ecovillage networking at:
<http://www.ecovillage.org>  Then click on Get Involved!

To make a contribution, make your contribution payable to ENA and mail to:
      ENA Central Office, Kailash - Treasurer
      64001 County Road DD
      Moffat, Colorado 81143 USA
      <mailto:ena at ecovillage.org>

A receipt will be sent to you qualifying this donation for tax
deduction. Donors receive complimentary copies of ENA's printed
newspaper.

ENA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is:
To engage the peoples of the Americas in common effort to join the
global transformation towards ecologically, economically and
culturally sustainable human settlement.

We care deeply about encouraging people of the Americas to think
about, openly discuss and enhance strategies for the creation of
Ecovillages and sustainable lifestyles in their regions.

***
Copyright 2002. Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA). Reserved
rights. Please contact us for  permission, if reprinting:
<mailto:ena at ecovillage.org>

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