geese in formation - 3 - 2010

Gaia Education: Optimising the Certification Process

Daniel Greenberg, leading the Gaia Certification Team

As Gaia Education grows and develops, we are proud of how the Certification Team has provided guidelines and support for the continual improvement of EDE programmes around the world. We currently have a team of nine very experi-

enced reviewers, from as many countries, who evaluate certification applica-tions (typically in pairs) in January, May and September.

There are three ways for new programmes to be associated with Gaia Education. Those that do not meet criteria for Full Certification are eligible to apply for a start-up grant and be Supported by Gaia Education. It is also possible to

forego the certification process altogether and simply be Inspired by the Gaia Education curriculum.

Given our global network, we have been increasingly us-ing the online application and evaluation forms. The result has been a greater consistency of information and quicker, more efficient dissemination of applications to the Certifi-

cation Team. This in turn has resulted in speedier feedback to programme organizers and Gaia Education staff. Also, in an effort to decentralize and streamline our systems, we are experimenting with the Chair of the Certi-fication Committee receiving and processing applications and coordinating their review among team members.

Any questions about Gaia Education certifications can be addressed [email protected].

Thank you for your interest.

Gaiaeducation

GeeseinformationNorthern Autumn/Southern Spring 2010

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Geeseinformation 2010/3Gaiaeducation

August 2010 Has Seen a 33% Rise in Visitors to the Gaia Education Website

Marijke Wilhelmus

Hello this is Marijke, Gaia Education webmaster since 2005! I lived for 20 years in Findhorn and for the last 3 years in the Caribbean Island of Bonaire. My passion has always been ecovillages, eco-restoration projects and since arriving here in Bonaire, protecting turtles. Now that I am not based in an ecovillage it seems even more

important to be involved with such an amazing project as Gaia Education.

In June 2010 Blue Oceans Web Design was given the task to develop a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Plan for Gaia Education. Although the comprehen-sive plan focused on SEO, we also included strategies for link building and social marketing.

The SEO included research on keywords and optimising meta tags and con-tent within the website. Our key terms are ‘education for sustainable devel-opment’, ‘sustainability education’, ‘design for sustainability’. If you google UNDESD today, you will see Gaia Education on the first page with UNESCO!

Link building, referring to links to and from related websites, has increased through directories and link exchanges with other websites, further strengthening the presence of the Gaia Education website.

Finally, social marketing, the latest tool for websites, was implemented. Gaia Education now has a presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Vimeo, resulting in even larger networks from which to grow from.

The net results of these three strategies are still building as the area is competi-tive, but Gaia Education is rising in the targeted keywords and most importantly, the month of August 2010 has seen a 33% rise in visitors to the website.

This is an invitation for all of you GEESE Worldwide to help the Gaia Education Communications Plan by suggesting connections with other institutions, sharing links and spreading the word. Become a friend on Facebook or YouTube, sign up for Twitter and add links to Gaia Education on blogs, forums and other websites.

Drumming up interest and funnelling that energy to Gaia Education is the goal. There are people out there who want to make a difference but don’t know where to start, let’s help them find out!

http://www.facebook.com/GaiaEducationhttp://www.youtube.com/user/gaiaeducationhttp://twitter.com/gaiaeducationhttp://www.vimeo.com/12345050

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EDE China - A Trial Two Weeks Training in Guizhou

Ying Cheng

We have been waiting for such a long time and now finally we have had an EDE in China. In August and September 2010, organized by the Partnership for Com-munity Development (PCD, Hong Kong), we held our first two weeks of training.

The first week, Ecological Design, was held from 23-27 August and the second, New World View, from 13-17 September. Both courses took place in Guizhou, a province in south west China.

A total of 29 participants attended both trainings. They were mainly young community facilitators from local NGOs and universities, working on rural de-velopment, revival of traditional culture and sustainable living. Some however were from the country’s Environmental Bureau, the Agriculture Institute and the Social Science Institute, working on organic farming and local knowledge. A local concern group working on environmental protection and nature educa-tion also attended the trainings.

“Full of the seeker’s spirit and vitality” is how the facilitator Pracha described these young participants, inspired by the new paradigm of thinking and the new world view on sustainable development. Having already started taking action to live out the ecological way of life, they were now seeking their ‘ECO-SELF’.

We were glad to see such a good combination of different experiences drawing together and creating our new learning platform on ecovillages. The facilitators of the two weeks included EDE trainer Pracha Hutanuwatr, Vice President of the Right Livelihood Foundation and Director of Young Awakening in Thailand. He was partnered with Narumon Paiboonsittikun, Director of Wongsanit Ashram, May Cheng, Officer for the Sustainable Living Programme from Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Ada Tsang from Navana Guangxi and Freda Ng, Angus Lam and myself, Ying Cheng, all from the organizing agency PCD.

We are looking forward to another two weeks of EDE training, covering the Social and Local Economy keys, in April and May 2011. This time we hope to integrate elements of training of trainers into our programs.


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Marcelo Todescan

During the Gaia Education Version 5 curriculum symposium in Sao Paulo, I realised that there was something missing amongst EDE Alumni: the ability to exchange experiences and share information beyond the limita-tions of email, internet forums and the regular social networks. I then created a GEESE NING platform, which offers many useful features:

NING can be used in a closed en-vironment, for members only, to exchange messages, newsletters, photos, videos, etc.

NING offers each member the pos-sibility to have their own blog, per-sonal page, post photos and vid-eos, host forums, etc., making the overall experience very interactive, responsive and organised

NING connects with the most used social networks, Facebook and Twit-ter, with the additional advantage being able to upload videos and photos directly from your phone.

In our fast pace and full of information world, it is difficult to keep up with the exchanges on individual basis. Our GEESE NING allows everyone to share information in different scales: from myself to a friend, to my EDE


group or the GEESE of the 22 countries. From knowing what is happening in Japan, and the Philippines, to the UK and everywhere in between, our NING is alive and, I believe the interaction and network offered by platform may contribute to the already beautiful GEESE community, immediately!

Being more ambitious, I believe that in the future this virtual meeting space may evolve into a network of coop-eration and exchange of knowledge, experience and solutions. Above all, the GEESE NING has the potential to become a learning community, where EDE Alumni share undertakings and how we are applying the knowledge gained in the EDEs in the world.

Up to now, the interaction on NING has been a bit shy. But I’m sure that with time, as we gain greater inti-macy with the tools that NING offers- with the first gifts, posts, picts, films and blogs-, interaction will grow and the NING network will start creating its “own collective intelligence”.

For all these reasons I invite every-one to join the Gaia Education GEESE network. Promote your events, share you pictures, tell everyone about your projects. Stimulate discussions and propose new topics!

NING: Building the GEESE Network Now, Strengthening Future Cooperation

Access to the Gaia Education NING

website is by invitation only.

If you have not already received

an invite, contact the organiser of

your EDE.

The Gaia Education NING website

can be accessed at:

geese-gaiaeducation.ning.com

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A New Flock is Born: Gaia Sul Celebrates Two Years of Sucess and Gets Ready for Innovation!

Potira Preiss

In the dawn of spring, a new flock has just been born in the South of Brazil: the second Gaia Sul programme!

Since 2008, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State (UFRGS), Caminho do Meio Institute (representing the Bodisatva Buddhist Community) and the NGO Friends of the Earth Brazil (NAT) have been working in partnership to organ-ise a locally relevant EDE. From the very start the Gaia Sul EDE team has chosen as its visionary challenge to work beyond dichotomies, valuing the co-existence of differences while offering different learning environments. The vision was to allow urban and rural, science and spirituality, public institutions and social movements, to dance in a systemic way. Our programme was therefore setup in a way to allow participants to experience the co-existence of two different settings in two different cities offering diverse perspectives. In the rural area close to the city of Viamão, on a 10 hectare area of land, we found a community of Buddhist practitioners surrounded by large shaded places, productive fields and a great variety of native flora. The community is the headquarters of the Bodisatva Centre for Buddhist Studies (CEBB). CEBB became our setting for the rural experience. Here we would spend our weekends with hand-on practical activities while the night classes were taking place in downtown Porto Alegre.

Porto Alegre, the second largest city in southern Brazil, boasts a population of 1,420,667. It is one of the wealthiest cities in Latin America and has an interesting diversity. Descendents of native indigenous peoples live side by side with Africans, European colonizers and immigrants. The city is famous for its pioneering social and political initiatives.

The Gaia Sul programme was designed around a 210 hour programme, taking place over four months and complemented with an internship of 40 hours. The profile of the 2010 programme included 13 men, 24 women and 14 differ-ent professions. Participants came mainly from Porto Alegre and Viamão, but included people from around the State, one person from Rio de Janeiro and one from Peru. During the programme participants worked in design groups focusing on real-life sustainability projects. This format gave participants the


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opportunity to learn from those who are already ‘living the dream’ while at the same time gave them an opportunity to share their insights. The design groups were also useful to practice and experience conflict resolution, decision making, communication skills and created strong bonds among the groups.

In order to build relationships between participants and the venue community, we held events together such as meditation classes, celebrations and Living in Community – a time when participants were invited to join in the daily tasks needed to maintain a community. These tasks included garden maintenance, cleaning, cooking, etc.

This year’s programme was deeply influenced by the symposium held in Brazil to update the EDE curriculum to Version 5, bringing new educators and focusing on practical tools and mobilisation. For the biologist Guilherme Reich, the core message from the Ecological Dimension is the sense that we are all connected as nature: “The human being has a very strong power for transformation and change, negative or positive. So we must think in the environment, where we live, and act! Make sure our steps here on Earth can be softer and more each day and in order to do that, we need a total, global and aware engagement.

One of the Gaia Sul 2010 innovations was the internships. We invited 15 institutions which work in rapport with Gaia Education values and act in the 4 Dimensions, to welcome internship programmes for the Gaia Sul 2010 participants. The list of programmes was very diverse, with options in rural and urban areas, programmes which were either accumulative or immersive and options to get paid or to be involved as a volunteer.

The Gaia Sul team is really happy and feeling we have a lot to celebrate. Each year the circle gets bigger. Gradu-ates join the organisation process and the action’s network is growing wider every day. May the beautiful colours blossoming here in the South reach GEESE in the 4 corners of the world!


Gaia Sul 2011

The Gaia Sul 2011 programme has already been re-certified and will have a new format, with evening urban classes to the wider com-munity and lectures in the Federal University. The idea behind is to am-plify the dialogue with the academic community and to plant and spread seeds of different pedagogical ap-proaches in the University. The 2011 course will also increase its contact hours, offering more time for the design process and a weekend of sites’ visit to local projects, which

are references for sustainability.

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Aerial view of Hildur’s farm

A Personal Letter from Hildur Jackson

October 7, 2010

I woke up this morning to my 68th birthday with a dream of dancing a wonderful waltz with my husband, flying over the dancing floor. My body felt cosy and painless and immediately my spirits soared.

The last 10 days have been tough. I was afraid of losing courage. So much pain and discomfort. Now I know I will

make it through the last two chemotherapies! After these on Oct 17 and Nov 8, radiation for 24 days in a row. It will be finished by Xmas. From New Years my chances of survival for the next 10 years should be almost like anybody else’s. And in Feb, my hair will be coming back. I kind of like myself without hair, much better than I expected, but hair warms and softens.

I thank you for all your prayers and thoughts and for the wonderful work you are all doing. The idea of this keeps me going and gives meaning to my life. We expect to have the next GEESE meeting here in June 2011 with a week of educating the educators before or after, profiting from all the gathered knowledge. The Danish network wants to put up an EDE which might profit from this too.

Duemosegaard now has two families with my daughter-in-law and two granddaughters having moved into one of the wings. We hope to be more people here, though last week we did have some other new occupants: 3 Icelandic horses, an old dream of mine. When my children were small we had these wonder small, strong horses and the children learnt a lot from handling them. Now they will be for my grandchildren, daughters-in-law, my brother’s children, and visitors. It’s quite a task to prepare for horses though! Also, an organic farmer, Jorn, is working here halftime. The fields are light green with clover grass and barley. We enjoy being farmers and hope to create a CSA, making it useful in the local transition. I send my love to all of you. Hairless Hildur

Duemosegaard now has two families with my daughter-in-law and two

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Tamera EDE, Portugal, 3–31 May 2010

Rico

Wow, what a great EDE course we had!

This year 79 people from 12 countries took part in the 4 week EDE course in Tamera. Running in its 5th year and without special advertisement, the number of participants almost doubled compared to last year. The international diversity of the group enriched par-ticipants, facilitators and community alike!

The 79 participants were made up of 48 women and 27 men. We were very impressed by the group’s awakened participation. Despite great interest in the subjects, students took on communitarian tasks happily and were eager to help each other. In supporting this large number of participants, we used a process called triplets – micro groups of 3 people. Time and again we asked the students to deepen the course content within their micro groups. The questions and in-sights which came up there were later brought into the wider group. In this way intense and regular after work times developed for the whole group.

This year saw the integration of 5 young people from Tamera, around the age of 13, into the course. The youth participated in the EDE as part of their school education, accompanied by a young teachers’ team. Time and again the youth group used its own study spaces for their after work.

Four young musicians from Sao Paulo, Brazil, frequently joined our group. They are from one of the most violent slums on earth, the “Favela Jardim Angela”. For 20 years they have been helping street children and youth with their band, using music and art, offering an alternative to drugs and violence. Not only did the EDE course have the opportunity to enjoy their music, but also to have deep and moving insights into their peace work. Asked what does it mean to live in a slum? Claudio Miranda, group founder, answered: “To live in a slum means to appreciate life. It means to serve others. It means to feel the pain and to transform it into joy.”

This year we were again able to present a fantastic team of EDE facilitators. Led by Juliane Eckmann, the cooperation amongst the team members was simply great. We regularly opened spaces amongst us to share our inner processes and


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insights, building a base of trust within the team and enabling us to support each other fully as facilitators. Our rather young leading team was accompanied throughout by the mature women of the community. Experts from the com-munity were also invited to give speeches about various subjects of the course, a diversity of voices which our students enjoyed.

The students started each day with 2 hours of karma yoga (hands-on-time). Karma yoga involves conscious, meditative work in the garden, the kitchen or in the campus area. We had 4.5 hours a day for speeches, study times and forums. One hour every day was dedicated to sports, enjoyed by all enthusi-astically and led by the students themselves.

For the basic studies of the course we chose 2 texts, written by project founder Dieter Duhm, titled “Beyond 2012” and “The Planetary Theory”. In this way the integration of the EDE students into the community, which was very much wished for beforehand, could easily emerge.

One important insight we took from the course is that we need much more time for the individual subjects. Our opinion is that one month is too short to deal with all the issues in a profound way. As per previous years, we con-tinued after the EDE with the 2.5 month long Monte Cerro Basic Semester, allowing for a deepening of the content. Review and Highlights

The first week was dedicated to getting to know each other and to reaching a social-politic world view. Lived Peace Work was an absolutely ingenious speech by Benjamin from Mendelssohn, long-time co-worker of Tamera and a young carrier of the project. He took himself as an example for how daily life can serve as a space of learning and studying, based on a holographic struc-ture of the universe. He presented in an impressive way a new understanding of how the world is structured and interwoven with deep insights concerning the connection between inner and outer peace work.

Global Outreach, in the second half of the week, gave us the opportunity to deeply look at the real situation of the world. Different moving reports from the participants mirrored impressively the actual state of humanity and its self destructing civilisation, alongside humanities will to survive, revive and live in peace.

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The presentations made visible the importance of the emerging peace re-search communities and ecovillages around the world, interconnecting the frame of a global community and their mutually supportive work.

The second week shed light on the social aspects of community building and gave students an opportunity to look into their own visions. Together with the participants we spent almost 24 hours in nature, coming into contact with nature and her beings. We spent the night alone, a time which served as an approach to personal visions. For many students, this time was precious and path-breaking.

The third week focused on the theory of global healing, holography and economy. In the first few days we asked whether or not healing on Earth is possible and dealt with the theory of global healing. Within this framework we learnt about the holographic world view and dealt with new possibilities of consciousness. This week also saw the introduction of forum work, one of the most important “tools” of the Tamera community. Every participant had the possibility to stand in the “middle” of the circle and to show what moves him or her currently, using words or artistic means. The aim is to come closer to our own inner truth and to gain more knowledge about our own inner proc-esses. The audience can later share what they observed and perceived, in a truthful manner and coming from a supportive attitude. In a well led forum, a healing space of trust emerges amongst participants.

The fourth week dealt with the issues of technology, architecture and ecol-ogy, including the implementation in Tamera’s SolarVillage, green building, permaculture and water biotope. The central point was the project design, which the students prepared in groups and presented at the end of this week.

In closing, we want to give a sincere thank to all co-workers of GEESE and Gaia Education for their engagement and a great visit from Jane Rasbash. We want to especially thank May East for her great support. We are happily look-ing back on a very strong, intense and successful EDE course 2010. May it be another seed for a new world!

Shalom and Salam Rico

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EDE Comes to India with the Upcoming Indigenous & Traditional EDE in Orissa

Aili Pyhala, George John

The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), togeth-er with Gaia Education and Siddarth Ecovillage, are designing a four-week EDE course to take

place in Orissa, India, from January 29th to February 27th, 2011. The EDE will focus on indigenous/tribal and traditional communities.

Orissa, a state located on the east coast of India by the Bay of Bengal, is home to a network of 3,900 ecovillages. Women’s organisations are very strong in the region, campaigning against GM crops and pushing for Orissa to become an organic state.

Siddarth Ecovillage, founded in 1986, has established vil-lages all over India, working towards a global neighbour-hood, ecological balance and individual and community empowerment. People from different countries and vari-ous states of India have been visiting these villages for individual, organisational and community development and transformation trainings. Siddarth Ecovillage’s work with the tribal people of Orissa has led to the formation of a network of 200,000 tribal people.

After attending the Sieben Linden EDE, George John, founder of Siddarth Ecovillage, felt that Orissa would make an ideal setting for an EDE, helping to put these villages on the global map while simultaneously sharing the empow-erment of the EDE and inspiration of Orissa with others.

The intention of the course is to empower grassroots ac-tivists and representatives of indigenous and traditional villages and village networks. As in the rest of Asia and Africa, there is a growing interest on behalf of many vil-

lages to revive their traditional wisdom and practices while integrating appropriate innovative technologies and thereby defining their own path of sustainable de-velopment. Additionally, some villages might benefit from being officially recognised as ecovillages, a process for which GEN is currently developing guidelines.

The Orissa EDE is inviting 20-30 grassroots leaders from indigenous networks as well as other social and environ-mental activists from all over India and Asia. There will also be some places reserved for participants from other countries, facilitating North-South and South-South dia-logue and exchange. The course will take place in English.

A tentative plan to organise a 2-day conference after the course, to which larger networks (including sectors of government, academia and business) will be invited, is also on the cards. Here inspirations and insights from the course will be shared and the next steps planned. It is the hope that the course and conference will ultimately add to the already growing global alliance of sustain-able communities and ecovillages, further strengthening these networks with the deep roots of tribal wisdom.

The course will be conducted at a newly constructed hill resort in Orissa, by Siddharth Ecovillage, along strong eco-tribal tourism guidelines. The Woodsong World Resort is also home to the Siddharth Ecovillage campus.

For more information on the Orissa EDE you can contact George John at [email protected].


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Philippine EDE Extends Frontiers of Experiential Learning

Penelope Reyes

Organized by Happy Earth, the Philippine EDE team explored innovative con-tent together with renowned Ecovillage author Diana Leafe Christian, who participated in this month-long training both as facilitator and as student.

The participants very much appreciated the different case studies, videos, and presentations which offered an in-depth look at ecovillages, the unique worldviews that frame them, the legal and financial structures that bind them, their ecological aspects and sustainability best practices.

The students learned consensus decision-making early on in the course, skills which they practiced all throughout the 4 weeks and which proved helpful in dealing with group planning, design and interpersonal conflict. Playing the “Ecovillage Board Game” helped tremendously, making people understand the pivotal relationship between a communities’ vision, their mission and their purpose, alongside issues such as membership guidelines and decision-making.

The EDE alternative currency design project provided the students with a solid ground for understanding the global economic and monetary system and facilitated their development of an alternative currency system, backed assets and piloted by the students themselves during the course.

Tuwâ The Laughing Fish, the venue for the EDE, provided an enriching stage for the learnings. Tuwâ, the Filipino word for joy, is an eco-homestead, green bed & breakfast inn and a Resilience Demonstration

Centre in Cabiao, Nueva Ecija. With off-grid living it served as a model for a low-carbon lifestyle. Tuwâ was founded and designed by EDE alumni John Vermeulen and myself, Penelope Reyes, both of helping with the facilitation of the course.


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The participants lived as a close-knit community in a caring and supportive environment, where meditation, yoga and mindfulness training were a daily optional session during early mornings. For earth care, they engaged in hands-on learning. This included starting a vermi-composting bed and various fer-mentation projects.

The students were given a chance to do actual site visits and sector analysis in adjacent lands for their respective

design projects. Hearing the successes and failures of an actual ecovillage founder, Diana Leafe Christian, proved to be very enlightening.

The trainers presented permaculture design strategies – from saving the topsoil during earthworks to reading the patterns of the land and all-in-all, provided a meaningful learning experience that highlighted the visible and invisible structures that are needed in successfully designing and starting ecovillages.


The 4Keys to Sustainable Communities: UNESCO Patronage

May East, Maddy Harland

We are honoured to report that we have received UNESCO Patronage to the publication of Gaian Economics – Living Well within Planetary Limits. Editors of this book, the second of the 4Keys to Sustainable Communities to be released, are Jonathan Dawson, Helena Norberg-Hodge and Ross Jackson.

Gaian Economics will be available for download from the Gaia Education website from 30 October 2010 and we are hoping to launch it formally dur-ing the Bioneers Conference at Findhorn, 30 October – 3 November 2010. Once launched, it will be available to purchase in hardy copy format fromwww.green-shopping.co.uk and all good book stores. (Permanent Publication www.permaculture.co.uk.)

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Your Editor for This Issue...

Is myself, Paola Vidulich. I am a 2010 alumni of the Thailand EDE and part of the 2011 Thailand EDE facilitation

team. Having lived in South Africa most of my life, the last two years have been spent journeying through the external World in search of inner dreams and passions. The result has been a wonderful shift in paradigms and cool alignment, a process which has been at times painful, at times beautiful, always good! I am cur-rently living between the Findhorn ecovillage in Scotland and Wong-sanit Ashram in Thailand.

The Park, FindhornForres IV36 3TZMorayshire, ScotlandUnited Kingdom

[email protected]: +44 1309 692011

Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in Scotland No 353967Scottish Charity No SC040839

www.gaiaeducation.net

Gaiaeducation


Upcoming EDEs Around the Globe

EDE Japan commenced on 18 September and will be running until 2 April 2011, while the UOC Online Programme started on 11 October. Other upcoming EDEs include: Kibbutz Lotan, Israel 27 December 2010 – February 6, 2011www.kibbutzlotan.com

Wongsanit Ashram, Thailand17 January – 13 February 2011: Ecovillage Design Education14 – 20 February 2011: Design Studio21 February – 6 March 2011: Training of Trainerswww.sulak-sivaraksa.org

Siddharthvillage Community College of Ecology, Orissa, India29 January – 27 February 2011www.siddharthvillage.com

Damanhur, Italy2 – 30 April 2011www.damanhur.org

Chinese EDE Curriculum

The Ecovillage Design Education Curriculum has now been translated into Chinese! Download the free PDF soon at www.gaiaeducation.net (select Publications > Curriculum in the menu).

www.gaiaeducation.net

Ecovillage Design Education

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