|
I recently finished reading Gaviotas - A Village to Reinvent the World
It is hard to describe without getting very "environmental / green / sustainable -- and Libertarian" (which is easy for me) ... But this is not about a group of hippie commies from the US moving to Columbia to commune with nature (and drugs)
It is about a group of well educated Colombian visionaries and technicians moving "way out" in 1971 to create a community that reflected their values -- having fun with technology and living close to the land. Today it could be described as an "open source" kind of thing...
Seems they are still going at it after 30 years. Employing themselves and many others in several businesses such as solar energy, forestry and music. They are 200 miles from the nearest city so the town is not connected to the internet (at least I can't find it..)
Here are some links about what they are doing:
Friends of Gaviotas
Gaviotas is a village of about 200 people in Colombia, South America. For three decades, Gaviotans - peasants, scientists, artists, and former street kids - have struggled to build an oasis of imagination and sustainability in the remote, barren savannas of eastern Colombia, an area ravaged by political terror. They have planted millions of trees, thus regenerating an indigenous rainforest. They farm organically and use wind and solar power. Every family enjoys free housing, community meals, and schooling. There are no weapons, no police, no jail. There is no mayor.
The United Nations named the village a model of sustainable development. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called Paolo Lugari the "inventor of the world."
Gaviotas the Healing Community- a book review from a Tibetan Buddhist website
Colombia's Model City
Over the years Gaviotas technicians have installed thousands of the windmills across Colombia - in some places gaviotas is the local word for windmill. Since Gaviotas refuses to patent inventions, preferring to share them freely, the design has been copied from Central America to Chile.
...
A techno-tour of the llanos shows how Gaviotas has revolutionized life here. The most significant invention is a simple hand pump capable of tapping aquifers six times deeper than conventional models,
...
The only hospital within a 12-hour radius, it serves all comers, including both guerrilla and army forces battling in the area. "The rule here is never to ask," says Bernal. "Like the Red Cross, everybody respects us."
...
If the National University's pharmacology department and the Guahivo shamans have their way, this greenhouse will one day become the finest medical plant laboratory in the tropics.
...
The Sustainable Village
|
