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The Craik Sustainable Living Project (CSLP) is a nonprofit organization for sustainable development that aims to advance the local use of more ecologically sound technologies and ways of living in rural Saskatchewan, Canada. The four key components of the project are the eco-centre, outreach and education programs, community action, and the ecovillage.
CSLP was created in 2001 from a partnership between the RM of Craik and the Town of Craik to develop a long-term plan for a sustainable community-based project. At the request of area resident Peter Farden of the Midlakes Community Coalition, Lynn Oliphant proposed a plan for the development of Saskatchewan's first ecovillage, which was adopted by community leaders. Four main areas of development were established to relate to sustainability.
The Eco-centre was a multipurpose facility that was built and designed as a focal point for the project. Completed in 2004 under the direction of designer and project manager Cory Gordon, the 6,000 sq ft (560 m2). straw bale and timber frame structure features innovative and energy efficient building design and integrated heating, cooling and renewable energy systems. Local and recycled materials were incorporated whenever possible. The philosophy behind this type of construction is known as green building. Facilities included a restaurant, golf clubhouse, gift shop and three meeting rooms. The Eco-centre was destroyed by fire on March 24, 2016. [1]
CSLP supports Education for Sustainable Development, and is working to provide educational opportunities for children, youth and adults on climate change, renewable energy technologies, ecology, sustainable living and sustainable agriculture. The main projects involved have been the Sustainable Rural Alternatives Seminar Series, the creation of a resource library, and the Climate Change Awareness and Action Pilot Project in the Davidson School Division (which is now part of the Sun West School Division). CSLP representatives have been invited to trade fairs, enviro-forums, eco-fairs and other functions to highlight their work. Promotion of the project has also been advanced through the website, brochures, and articles written for local newspapers and other publications like the Regina EcoLiving Guide.
CSLP has also supported the participation of students in the Youth Forum on Sustainability Program, which has resulted in youth helping to organize a number of workshops for students from Grades K-12 including papermaking, vermicomposting and endangered species. Presenters of these workshops included experts from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Regina, and HELP International.
The Craik Sustainable Living Project strives to motivate local people to reduce their ecological footprint. In addition to education initiatives, CSLP seeks funding and resources to support activities that increases energy efficiency of homes and vehicle use, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and introduce less contaminants into the environment. An example initiative is the no-idling policy in front of the town and municipal administration buildings.
An access road to a 127-acre (0.51 km2) parcel of land was the first visible indication of the development of the ecovillage site in the fall of 2005. The first residents are planning to submit plans and begin construction in the following year. The mayor of the town of Craik at the time, Rod Haugerud, was the first to obtain a lot and begin construction of a straw bale home, but the lot has since been made available to Praxis International Institute. All of the original lots offered have been spoken for, with a second phase underway. Applications are to include plans for energy efficient housing and systems to be built on-site within a year of submission. Future direction for community planning will come from the residents themselves.
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The project has attracted provincial and national attention, being featured in a number of print publications and television features including CBC's The National . Although receiving praise and awards from outside the community, the innovative approach to addressing rural decline and the need for sustainable living only recently received more widespread local public support after a petition was circulated to address concerns in devoting substantial efforts and resources to this project. In a heartfelt show of support, the assembled crowd rallied behind the mayor and members of the project, while also recognizing the value of the petitioner's concerns in drawing positive attention to the project, although inadvertently.
Some of the positive spinoffs of the project are still in the early stages, but include:
The project continues to act as a catalyst, capturing people's interest and imagination. This has been expressed in a number of ways, including a music festival in a hemp field, research into developing sustainable industries in the area, and an invitation to participate in the development of a Regional Centre of Expertise for research and education, with direction and involvement coming from two universities and the United Nations.
An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community. There are currently more than 10,000 ecovillages around the world.
An eco-industrial park (EIP) is an industrial park in which businesses cooperate with each other and with the local community in an attempt to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources, and help achieve sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic gains and improving environmental quality. An EIP may also be planned, designed, and built in such a way that it makes it easier for businesses to co-operate, and that results in a more financially sound, environmentally friendly project for the developer.
The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) is an eco-centre in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales dedicated to demonstrating and teaching sustainable development. CAT, despite its name, no longer concentrates its efforts exclusively on alternative technology, but provides information on all aspects of sustainable living. It is open to visitors, offers postgraduate degrees as well as shorter residential and one day courses; and publishes information on renewable energy, sustainable architecture, organic farming, gardening, and sustainable living. CAT also runs education programmes for schools and sells environmentally friendly items through its on site shop, restaurant and mail order department.
Bafut is a town located in a modern commune in Cameroon, it is also a traditional fondom. It is located in the Mezam Department, which in turn is located in the Northwest Province.
Craik is a town in south central Saskatchewan, Canada, incorporated on August 1, 1907. It is strategically located along Provincial Highway 11 in the RM of Craik No. 222, 140 km south-east of Saskatoon and 117 km north-west of Regina.
The sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact, and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromising the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. They are committed to doing so by enabling opportunities for all through a design focused on inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. The focus also includes minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, air pollution – CO2, methane, and water pollution. Richard Register, a visual artist, first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.
Findhorn Ecovillage is an experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn. The project's main aim is to demonstrate a sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic terms. Work began in the early 1980s under the auspices of the Findhorn Foundation but now includes a wide diversity of organisations and activities. Numerous different ecological techniques are in use, and the project has won a variety of awards, including the UN-Habitat Best Practice Designation in 1998.
Highway 11 is a major north-south highway in Saskatchewan, Canada that connects the province's three largest cities: Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. It is a structural pavement major arterial highway which is approximately 391 kilometres (243 mi) long. It is also known as the Louis Riel Trail (LRT) after the 19th century Métis leader. It runs from Highway 1 in Regina until Highway 2 south of Prince Albert. Historically the southern portion between Regina and Saskatoon was Provincial Highway 11, and followed the Dominion Survey lines on the square, and the northern portion between Saskatoon and Prince Albert was Provincial Highway 12.
Northstowe is a new town that will eventually have up to 10,000 homes, with an anticipated population of 24,400 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK. On 1 April 2021 Northstowe became a civil parish, the parish was formed from Longstanton and Oakington and Westwick, with the first town council elected on 6 May of that year. Northstowe has been in development for around 15 years and through varying political administrations. Originally proposed to be "an exemplar of sustainability in the use of renewable energy resources and reducing carbon emissions", Northstowe will still have many exemplar features including a Sustainable Urban Drainage Scheme (SUDS) and bus, bicycle and pedestrian only links. The Northstowe site is five miles (8 km) northwest of the city of Cambridge, between the villages of Oakington and Longstanton. The Northstowe development is being led by Homes England, the successor body to the Homes and Communities Agency, and the developers Gallagher Estates.
The Ecovillage at Currumbin is an innovative residential community at 639 Currumbin Creek Road, Currumbin Valley, Queensland, Australia. It showcases best practices in residential ecologically sustainable development. The ecovillage project has been developed on degraded farmland on the exurban fringe of City of Gold Coast, a major resort city on Queensland’s South East Queensland coast. The developer, Land Matters Currumbin Valley, has rehabilitated the site and is protecting its environmental integrity and biodiversity by preserving 50 percent of the site as an environmental reserve.
Sustainable development in Scotland has a number of distinct strands. The idea of sustainable development was used by the Brundtland Commission which defined it as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." At the 2005 World Summit it was noted that this requires the reconciliation of environmental, social and economic demands - the "three pillars" of sustainability. These general aims are being addressed in a diversity of ways by the public, private, voluntary and community sectors in Scotland.
This page is an index of sustainability articles.
A sustainability organization is (1) an organized group of people that aims to advance sustainability and/or (2) those actions of organizing something sustainably. Unlike many business organizations, sustainability organizations are not limited to implementing sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. For sustainability organizations, sustainability can also be an end in itself without further justifications.
Green urbanism has been defined as the practice of creating communities beneficial to humans and the environment. According to Timothy Beatley, it is an attempt to shape more sustainable places, communities and lifestyles, and consume less of the world's resources. Urban areas are able to lay the groundwork of how environmentally integrated and sustainable city planning can both provide and improve environmental benefits on the local, national, and international levels. Green urbanism is interdisciplinary, combining the collaboration of landscape architects, engineers, urban planners, ecologists, transport planners, physicists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and other specialists in addition to architects and urban designers.
The Cloughjordan Ecovillage is an ongoing project to create an eco-village community with commitments to ecological, social and economic sustainability. This community is being developed on 67 acres (270,000 m2) of farmland within the townland of Oxpark purchased in 2005 and merges with the existing village of Cloughjordan, County Tipperary in Ireland. The first residents moved into their homes in the eco-village in December 2009.
North West Bicester is one of four eco-towns that were originally given the green light by the government in 2009 to act as showcases for environmentally sustainable communities. It will be a true zero carbon development on the edge of Bicester, Oxfordshire, through measures including renewable energy, sustainable travel options and homes with high energy efficiency ratings. In April 2011, the coalition government announced that only NW Bicester would actually be built to the originally proposed standards under the government’s Eco Town Planning Policy Statement 1, which is often referred to as the Eco Town PPS.
Lammas Ecovillage is a low-impact, off-grid ecovillage in Glandwr, near Crymych in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, comprising nine households and a community hub on a 76 acres (31 ha) site. Buildings are constructed of natural materials and energy obtained from renewable sources. Planning permission took some years to obtain, but has established a replicable template for similar future developments in Wales.
Rob Hopkins is an activist and writer on environmental issues, based in Totnes, England. He is best known as the founder and figurehead of the Transition movement, which he initiated in 2005. Hopkins has written six books on environmentalism and activism.
Low-impact development (LID) has been defined as "development which through its low negative environmental impact either enhances or does not significantly diminish environmental quality".
Ecovillages in China are typically rural communities designed to promote ecological, cultural, economic, and social sustainability, in concert with the natural environment of a particular area. These are small human settlements with a community-based approach designed by the community themselves. Ecovillages are not completely isolated from other settlements, although they aspire to increased self-sufficiency.