The Ecovillage Training Center is a "total immersion school" for sustainability. It is located at The Farm, an intentional community/ecovillage in Summertown, Tennessee, USA. The curricula of the center are "holistic and comprehensivist" and foster hands-on learning.
Albert Bates, a long-time resident of The Farm, founded the center in July 1994. The original farmhouse was refurbished and renamed "You're Inn at The Farm," to provide accommodation for participants. There are many permaculture design and energy conservation features at the Ecovillage Training Centre that result in a significant reduction in use of resources. These include a 5-kW solar electric system, water catchment, organic gardens, greywater treatment, ponds, wetlands, and natural buildings.
In addition to offering ecovillage apprenticeships, the Training Center's curriculum includes:
Shiitake Mushroom Growing Basics
Solar Installation
Alternative Energy Systems
Bamboo Cultivation and Construction
Ecovillage Design and Permaculture Practicum
Natural Building Basics
The center is affiliated with the Global Ecovillage Network, Gaia University and local colleges and offers college credit for several of its courses.
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.
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience. Permaculture originally came from "permanent agriculture", but was later adjusted to mean "permanent culture", incorporating social aspects. The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture.
Bruce Charles "Bill" Mollison was an Australian researcher, author, scientist, teacher and biologist. In 1981, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for developing and promoting the theory and practice of permaculture".
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.
Albert Kealiinui Bates is a member of the intentional community and ecovillage movements. A lawyer, author and teacher, he has been director of the Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology since 1984 and of the Ecovillage Training Center at The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee, since 1994.
Kibbutz Lotan is a Reform kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the Arabah Valley in the Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Eilot Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 201. The kibbutz is a member of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism and the Global Ecovillage Network.
Lost Valley Educational Center is an intentional community and ecovillage located on 87 acres (350,000 m2) acres of mostly forested land in Dexter, Oregon, United States, approximately 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Eugene. The center was founded in 1989 and is located on the grounds of the old headquarters of the Shiloh Youth Revival Centers.
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.
Diana Leafe Christian is an author, former editor of Communities magazine, and nationwide speaker and workshop presenter on starting new ecovillages, on sustainability, on building communities, and on governance by sociocracy. She lives in an off-grid homestead at Earthaven Ecovillage in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, U.S. She has said that living in an intentional community "is the longest, most expensive, personal growth workshop you will ever take."
The Institute of Permaculture and Ecovillage of the Cerrado is an experimental educational design center and international community located on the Cerrado savanna of Brazil. IPEC began on a bare, degraded cattle pasture in 1998 to teach and demonstrate permaculture and to apply this information in the construction of a prototype ecological village, or ecovillage. The community exists on 25 hectares of land and is located in Pirenópolis, in the state of Goiás, central Brazil. IPEC is connected to the national university in Brasilia as well as many government ministries, schools and other non-profit organizations.
This page is an index of sustainability articles.
Robyn Francis is an Australian permaculture figure founder of Permaculture College Australia.
The North Carolina Solar Center is a resource center for sustainable energy programs located at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. When it was created in 1988, the center's focus was solar energy. The N.C. Solar Center now serves as a resource for innovative, clean energy technologies through demonstration, technical assistance, outreach, and training. It also administers the Database of Encouragement for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE), a resource providing financial encouragement and policies in the energy industry.
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.
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".
Paul Wheaton is an American permaculture author, master gardener, software engineer, and disciple of the natural agriculturist Sepp Holzer. He is known for writing his book, "Building a Better World in Your Backyard", founding Permies, the largest website devoted to permaculture, as well as for creating and publishing articles, videos, and podcasts on the subject of permaculture.
Paul Yeboah was an educator, farmer, permaculturist, community developer, and social entrepreneur. Yeboah founded and coordinated the Ghana Permaculture Institute and Network in Techiman, Ghana, West Africa. It is located in the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana. The purpose of the Institute is to build and maintain a stable food system, to take care of the local ecosystems, and to improve the quality of life in the rural areas. The GPN trains students and community in sustainable ecological farming techniques. They support projects throughout Ghana; women groups, micro-finance projects; teach growing moringa; mushroom production; alley cropping, food forests development and Agroforestry.
Earthaven is an ecovillage in Western North Carolina, about 50 minutes from Asheville.
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.
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