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Thao Kin

Harvesting from GENOA Metamorph project

March 14, 2023 by Thao Kin

In 2022, we conducted GENOA Metamorph project – a process where we dive deep to talk to network members trying to understand more about network needs, GENOA’s role, and how GENOA should navigate the current context of the world. Through this project, we also have developed proposals on how we think GENOA could move forward in the coming years. 

We are happy to share with you the presentations here with highlights from the Metamorph project.

You can also see the slides or dive in our full GENOA Metamorph report in PDF here (we’re happy to provide you with a word doc link where you can make comments as you read – contact us at genoa@ecovillage.org for this). 

Last but not least, please share with us how you would like to get involved with GENOA this year by answering a few questions here (very short!).

Thank you so much!

From the GENOA Metamorph team,
Luvian, Kin, Benjamin, Lila

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How do you reply to Gaia’s calling?

December 26, 2022 by Thao Kin

The energy of year-end seems to be calling us back to the root of our beings – why are we here? what matters to us most? are we living up to our values and potential? Echoing this calling, 60 of us – the seekers, the learners, the caretakers of Mother Earth – have gathered for a two-day gathering called Gaia Calling at Gaia Ashram in the Northeast of Thailand.

The majority of us are from Thailand – with others pouring in from many different countries such as Laos, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, India, Maldives, and all the way from the US and Colombia. What connects us are the love for nature, the yearning to contribute to healing the wounds of the Earth, the longing to connect with like-minded folks; and of course the affection for the host – Gaia Ashram – to which many people have kept returning.

Within this gathering, Luvian and Kin from the GENOA Operations Team, together with two ecovillage founders (Om from Gaia Ashram, Thailand, and Arjun from Atlantida Ecovillage, Colombia), hosted a sharing session on ecovillages as the incubators for a new radical way of living addressing the multifaceted crisis we are facing in the world. The story of how Gaia Ashram and Atlantida came into existence brought rich insights into why the founders chose communities as their way of dealing with planetary collapse, the ups and downs they have gone through, and the powerful impact ecovillages are creating. The GENOA team then shared about the ecovillage network and how anyone either as individuals or part of a community project can join the ecovillage movement through connection, contribution and practice.

In celebration of the journey in life that led us to where we are, we enjoyed connecting the dots of the major events through The Flow of Life – this is also an opportunity for deep listening and mutual understanding as we had moments of pair-sharing and circle sensing. The whole circle was deeply moved by a 15-year-old Steiner student sharing one of his precious milestones in life via a window through the present moment – a great reminder for us all to live mindfully and wholeheartedly.

In deepening our connection to nature, we spent quality time with nature, listened to the sound of the land in Gaia Ashram, and write messages from our hearts to other beings. Everyone, later on, can roam around the garden and meet with these lovely messages reminding us of the magic of life on this land and anywhere else on Earth.

The Gaia Calling gathering offered spaces for everyone to share their gifts with the community by holding a clubhouse (a form of open-space). People went to the space of their choice among Kundalini Mantra, Massage as a bodily connection, Council of all beings, Eco-school construction, and Sound bath during the whole afternoon – enjoying a new experiences, new learning, and new connection.

Below are some photos from the Council of all beings hosted by GENOA – in which participants spent some time in nature listening to the call of a being, and then made a mask to embody this being in the council of sharing. We help space for what wanted to be spoken, for the whispering of the land and other more-than-human beings. It is also a space for humility and understanding to take place, as we deeply realize that humans are not the only inhabitant of the Earth and that we can learn so much from other brothers and sisters of different species.

How else have we listened and replied to the calling of Gaia? Rituals are a sacred way of honoring our interdependence and paying our respect to the land, nature, and our ancestors. The Gaia Calling gathering closed with the traditional blessing ceremony of Isan people of Thailand, and a Latin American land blessing ritual led by Arjun & Jessie (Colombia). With music and love filling the air, we bowed to the wisdom of Earth – Fire – Water – Air and the 6 directions (North, South, East, West, Above, Below) and asked for their blessings.

Through circle activities, heart-to-heart connections, story-telling, rituals, and ceremonies, we have come together to honor Mother Gaia, to celebrate the work dedicated to her healing, and emphasize our commitment to the regeneration of the Earth.

Cheers to the beautiful work that is being done by all members of ecovillages and eco-communities around Asia & Oceania! May our work benefit all beings, human and more-than-human!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Applying whole systems design to your project with REGEN-Nations

August 26, 2022 by Thao Kin

We know that a strong community project needs to work on its social, cultural, ecological and economical design. But how do we weave all these aspects together flawlessly in a project? This is what we will look at in Whole Systems Design module of the REGEN-Nations programme.

Some principles apply to all Areas of Regeneration, and help bring them together in holistic designs for resilient communities and systems. The integral design approach to design and regeneration is paired with a strong focus on collaboration and participation. This means that the principles of integral design are put into practice in ways that actively include everyone concerned and encourage transparency at every level.

Click here to register for the full module

Below are the line-up of wonderful speakers that you will meet in this module

In a session called “Introduction to Transition Town“, we learn about the transition town model and movement which aims to establish an ecologically regenerative and socially just future on the backdrop of the climate crisis and economic challenges through community-led initiatives that find local solutions to global problems. This lesson explores Transition Culture, the challenges that we currently face and explores tools to address the climate, consumption, waste and community emergencies that we face in Asia-Pacific and across the world. 

We will meet 3 speakers from the Transition Network:

  • • Paul Shelton gives us a backdrop of the Transition Movement – why the movement exists, what it is for and how everyone of us is a part of this. 
  • • Shunro Yoshida shares the beautiful process of how their community in Japan has been nurturing relationships, changing the narratives of value based on trust with a rather simple method for transactions and resources exchange. Last but not least, 
  • • Mary Stringer brings us to “hyper-localization” – what we can do within our streets, our neighborhoods – shifting from the problems to imagining solutions.

Next, we’ll explore “Applying Whole Systems Design For Regenerative Communities“

In this lesson, we hear from those who have designed and are living the regenerative life by transforming rural villages, customizing intentional communities, and urban and suburbia living around Asia and Oceania. 

Our speakers are:

  • • David Holmgren, co-originator of the permaculture concept; recently published RetroSuburbia and Our Street
  • • Karen Xintong Wang, Former Director-General of Sunshine Ecovillage (China), Secretary of China Ecovillage Network
  • • Verena Maclean, Chair of Narara Ecovillage (Australia); Founder and Director of The Working Journey

Most importantly, this module of the programme will feature Robina McCurdy – the founder of TUI Community (New Zealand) in a live webinar on “Whole Systems Design Tools to Empower your Project“

Robina, a wisdom keeper in the ecovillage movement, shares her experience of how the Whole Systems Design principles have been activated in many community food systems and environmental restoration projects she has been involved with. These inspirational stories will lead us from how these projects came into being and what they do, to who they serve, their main challenges and why they are successful today.

Join us to hear what motivates Robina, as well as her life-work relationship to Whole Systems Design and how to embody these principles in our own project designs. 

Click here to register for this live webinar

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Learn about Regenerative Economics with REGEN-Nations

July 27, 2022 by Thao Kin

You are invited to the one-month Economy Dimension of REGEN-Nation online learning journey, starting from August 11th 2022.

The fact that our economic system is unsustainable urges us to search for alternative systems that are more circular and regenerative. The good news is that many people and organizations are already moving towards the new economy which thrives within the planetary boundaries and prioritizes people and the planet.

REGEN-Nations will take you on a journey through different alternative economic models to meet with people who are actively involved in creating a new economic system.

In this programme, you will learn topics detailed and step-by-step introduction of Social Enterprise with Amanda Kiessel – the founder of the Good Market. You will hear from the Maori wisdom of New Zealand as a circular, “donut” economic model with Teina Boasa-Dean; the impact of Community Supported Agriculture or CSAs with Shi Yan from China; and on designing mindful enterprise ecosystems for food sovereignty with Jon Jandai from Thailand.

Registration is open until August 11th 2022 – Read more and sign up here: https://learn.ecovillage.org/course/regen-nations/ 

Sign up for the full dimension

LIVE WEBINAR

Burnout is real and all too common – but does it have to be part of our project cycle? Join us to learn how we can design our project economy to be transparent and realistic, helping us stay within our human and resource capacity to deliver.

Natalie Limwatana – a regenerative designer from Thailand – invites us into the world of project management and guides us through tools which help us create organisational systems that work for our unique projects.

  • Topic: Resources and Capacity planning for regenerative projects
  • Time: Saturday, 13 August 2022, 1-3PM UTC+7 (check your local time)
Register for the live webinar only
Subscribe to REGEN-Nations

Filed Under: Uncategorized

REGEN-Nations | Ecology Dimension is open for registration

June 13, 2022 by Thao Kin

You are invited to the one-month Ecology Dimension of REGEN-Nation online learning journey, starting from July 4th 2022.

Together we will dive deep into our relationship with the natural world and the solutions for regeneration based on design principles found in nature. 

The live speaker session of Ecology Dimension will welcome Siwakorn Odochao (Pi Swae) – a Karen indigenous activist and entrepreneur from Thailand. In this two-hour sharing session, Pi Swae will share with us his personal & collective journey, which is intertwined with the journey of reinvigorating the relationship between Karen people and the land. You will see it in not only his way of living, but also his business – The Lazy-man Coffee, his agricultural practices and his work in community development.

Join the webinar

In this programme, you will learn topics like Landscape Leadership; Introduction to Permaculture; Rethinking Ecological Practices & Designs through Regenerative Agriculture, Appropriate Technology & Restoration Ecology from practitioners around Asia & Oceania.

Registration is open until July 7th 2022 – Read more and sign up here: https://learn.ecovillage.org/course/regen-nations/ 

Sign up for the full dimension
Subscribe to REGEN-Nations

Filed Under: Uncategorized

REGEN-Nations | Cultural Dimension is open for registration

May 24, 2022 by Thao Kin

“Cultural shifts happen on a different level; they come into view only when we step back enough to see a bigger picture changing over time.”

Joanna Macy

Join us to explore the role of culture in any given context, how it influences our society and behaviour, and the subtle yet impactful way that culture forms the foundation of our day-to-day realities. With this deep understanding, we will be the stronger catalyst for change toward “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”.

The Cultural Dimension of the REGEN-Nations learning programme is starting on May 30th, 2022. Registration is open until June 2nd, 2022!

Sign me up
Sign up for the Cultural dimension

Meet our live speaker for the Cultural Dimension, Kai Sawyer. Kai joins us from Japan and we are looking forward to his webinar on Breaking the cycles – Transforming violence and oppression into love-in-action. You can find out more about Kai and you can also join us for just his webinar here. 

Book your place for the webinar with Kai Sawyer
Subscribe to REGEN-Nations

Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to Add your Project or Community to the GEN Website: A Step-by-Step Guide

September 6, 2021 by Thao Kin

If you’re an ecovillage community or project that’s looking to list your project on the GEN Ecovillage Map and Database, we have prepared a step-by-step guide on how to do so. Please follow the instructions below:

Step 1: Register your personal account on ecovillage.org

Go to ecovillage.org

Click “login”

If you already have an account – enter your details, if not – create a new one.
This can be a personal account or the account of the community. However we advise you to create a common account so that the community can always access it even when there is a change in members

Step 2: Add your project

We want to register the ecovillage/community as a project in the GEN database. In order to do so, you need to log in your account (that you’ve created above), then go to  https://ecovillage.org/projects/ and choose “Add ecovillage” as the photo below

Step 3 – Add details

After clicking on Add ecovillage, you should see the screen like this, where you can add all the detailed information about your ecovillage/community (the more detailed the better)

Step 4: Finish and wait for approval

After you are done with this step, the website will take you to the next step. After your registration is done, the GEN team will check your information before publishing it. Once your profile is published, it should look like this example, under the tab Ecovillage

From then on, you can always come back and update your info when needed.

Congratulations on adding your community or project to our website! We are looking forward to having you listed on our website so our growing audience could easily find your community and projects. We hope this will foster more collaborations and interaction between people that are engaging in ecovillages and regeneration!

Filed Under: explainers, GENOA Inc. Tagged With: database, ecovillage, ecovillage map, GEN, members, project

REGEN-Nations 2020

April 12, 2021 by Thao Kin

Oceania & Asia hold many of the worlds climate vulnerable nations. With dense populations and great social and political divides, many countries already face challenges prior to the COVID19 pandemic and will face more vulnerabilities and challenges ahead. There is an urgent need for regenerative projects on the ground which both embody traditional wisdom and have a holistic and appropriate approach.

In 2020 the first REGEN-Nations course was run from September 2020 to March 2021 and welcomed 16 teams from around Asia and the Pacific, with 11 countries represented, Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Each team joined with two lead members and several supporting members. They started with a project in either ideation or scaling stage and applied the learning from this program to develop and deepen their project design.

The program offered a wide range of online sessions from check-in calls, to leadership, mentorship, and coaching sessions, to workshops and webinars on the areas of regeneration of ecovillage design. In addition to the cohort of 16 teams (49 team members in total), the program REGEN-Nations reached over 120 participants through its open webinars and workshops in each dimension.

Through the ReGEN Nations program, GENOA was able to also engage a network of thought leaders, trainers, activists, ecovillages and kindred spirit organisations from the region. These were founders and spokespersons from Ahimsagram, Pun Pun Organic Farm, Moonshadow, Ecosystem Restoration Camps Gaia Education Course, Wellnessland Health Institute, Gaia Ashram, Permaculture Education Institute, Bahay Teknik, RetroSuburbia, Sunshine Ecovillage, Narara Ecovillage, BHW Lands Trust, the Good
Market Global, Transition Network, Slow Food Asia-Pacific and Regeneration International.

It was special to feature topics that ranged from Buddhist and Maori perspectives on right livelihood and economies, interfaith peacebuilding from Sri Lanka, Filipino innovations in disasters, to Permaculture design, popularized by Australians to offer more applicable solutions to the complex realities of countries in the region ranging from poverty, conflict, and the climate crisis, among others.

By the end of REGEN-Nations 2020/2021, 10 prototype projects- covering areas of permaculture, community gardens, food forests, regenerative agriculture, peace-building, health and well-being, community education and social enterprise- were incubated and we’re able to grant seed funding for 3 teams to supplement the development of their project.

Hear from some of the teams who joined the REGEN-nations prototype cycle in 2020

The next cycle of REGEN-Nations is about to start, with new speakers and flexible access. Find out more here:

ReGEN-Nations homepage

“Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”

The Dalai Lama

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Filed Under: education, Regen-nations Tagged With: ecovillage design education, GENOA, regeneration, Whole Systems Design

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