Donate

Uncategorized

Harvesting from GENOA Metamorph project

by

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

Financial Literacy for Communities Webinar: Exploring Needs and co-creating Resources 

by

Have you and your community been experiencing challenges when it comes to financing fundamentals and good financial management?

We at GENOA share this nervousness and recognise this gap in financial education in our system. We aspire to find a way to support regenerative communities and projects to be stronger in the economic dimension, starting with building financial acumen and creating financial literacy for all in our network. 

Join us to have a stimulating conversation around finance with the vision of creating Financially Intelligent Ecovillages and Regenerative Communities.  We want to hear from you, your needs, your strengths and your experience with finance to explore creating learning resources that could meet the needs of communities to become enterprising, prosperous, and abundant.

Accompanying us in this call is Anil Lamba – a renowned speaker and trainer in Finance Management with his mission of bringing financial intelligence for free to at least a billion people. Dr. Lamba has written several books and over 1500 articles. His books, Romancing the Balance Sheet, Flirting with Stocks, Eye on the Bottom Line, and Financial Affairs of the Common Man are making waves. You can read more about Anil here: https://anillamba.com/about-us/ 

This is an invitation to collaborate with Dr.Lamba to train 1 billion people, with 1 million volunteers to co-create a Financially Intelligent World. Join the movement of making money flow where it is needed the most. 

This is not a talk, it is a sharing space where we hear from each other and explore patterns, commonalities, and leverage points in this seemingly hard and difficult topic of financial literacy. 

Regardless of your background, if you have had some experience working with finance in a project or in your community, join us with an open mind and willingness to share.

Details of the call:

How do you reply to Gaia’s calling?

by

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!

Let’s Map and Weave Local Safety Nets Ahead of Disasters

by

Before the pandemic started in 2020, we had to run a Permaculture Design Course for grassroots leaders in disasters that we knew we could not help out during the Taal volcano relief. Thus, we gathered together different changemakers working for community kitchens, breast milk donations, mental health support, and humanitarian coordination to rapidly prototype scalable collaborations. Before we could implement them, a global pandemic started. Thankfully, the people of Taal were finally able to go home after alert levels were reduced. This experience made us realize our niche and identify, we are neither informal aid nor formal aid since we aim to go beyond aid by designing for resilience and regeneration. We are also not a humanitarian organization, but we are ecosystem enablers and weavers to support collaborations for impact through awareness-based systems change. 

In the last two years, we thought about how we could scale this experience for future disasters in the Philippines, where we face intensifying severe weather and even a rise in sea levels 3x faster than the global average due to climate emergencies. 

We are now giving birth to a mapping and matchmaking platform that weaves needs and offers across informal or mutual aid actors to bridge the gap that formal aid providers can’t meet. After repeated cycles and intensifying levels of response needed over the years, we aim to uplift the spirit of Bayanihan in the Philippines that fosters community-led and inclusive efforts to respond to emergencies. 

RELEAF.COMMUNITY is an online ecosystem that maps and weaves regenerative initiatives and communities fostering mutual aid collaborations as local safety nets in times of disruption. It is an online Mapping and Matchmaking Platform that weaves needs and offers across mutual (informal) aid actors to bridge the gap that formal aid providers can’t meet. It is a Design Lab for Resilience and Regeneration that brings together formal and informal humanitarian innovators addressing regenerative aid solutions as disaster response and preparedness to scale for systemic impact. It is an Ecosystem for Regeneration in the absence of emergencies, we wish to map regenerative efforts across the country to localize solutions and promote the shift from sustainable to regenerative development. Aside from serving as a database, it is a community of practice for regeneration in the country.

Here’s how you can collaborate:

If you have a NEED for assistance and support for communities affected. 

We request that you:

  1. 1. Are an SEC/CDA- Registered organization (or with business permits for social enterprises) in the Philippines
  2. 2. Have a landing page for direct donations to be channeled to your registered bank accounts or donation channels
  3. 3. Have partners or initiatives doing mutual aid on the ground 
  4. 4. Can receive and deliver donations on their behalf
  5. 5. Can report donations made within the next 3-6 months. 
  6. 6. Help us promote the platform through your network. 
  7. 7. Work with our team of volunteers who will be your support system to help map and match

Green Releaf Initiative, The Philippines

Green Releaf Initiative’s mission is to transform the narrative of disaster risk reduction (DRR) by “designing for resilience and regeneration”. We promote place-based learning by developing learning sites for ecosystem restoration using regenerative design. We weave ecosystems of collaborations across sectors and stakeholders in a landscape to lead together in designing and implementing their regeneration goals. We strive to restore and regenerate natural and human habitats through nature-based solutions that heal our relationship with the earth. We at Green Releaf believe that a whole-systems approach can bring about healing and transformation on the personal, collective, and planetary levels.

Cover picture credit: Jilson Tiu

Applying whole systems design to your project with REGEN-Nations

by

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

Learn about Regenerative Economics with REGEN-Nations

by

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

Implementing Ecovillage Principles in the Sundarban Coastal Community, Bangladesh

by

This is a story of the flagship mangrove ecosystem conservation and climate change adaptation in the Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh. It is a story of humans living in harmony with nature, meeting their needs of drinking water, energy, and other livelihood needs through integrated native and organic farming, various nature-based enterprises, mangrove restoration, climate information service, environmental education, and ecotourism.

Bangladesh is a very small country with an area of 147,570 square kilometers with an exaggerated population (of 160 million). The Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh is a disaster-prone area and on the frontline facing the impacts of global climate change. The Sundarbans region is a UNESCO declared Natural World Heritage as well as a RAMSAR wetland site. It is also known as the largest single mangrove forest in the world. The Sundarbans mangrove flagship ecosystem is safeguarding and providing livelihood support for the 3.5 million climate-vulnerable coastal people of Bangladesh. Hence, if this ecosystem is disrupted by climate impacts, the people living in its surrounding would lose their source of drinking water, crops, livestock, farming land, and in general, their source of livelihood.

Ecovillage declaration day

Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) has been trying to promote ecological balance and create harmony between humans and nature by implementing the eco-village concept in the Sundarbans coastal region of Bangladesh. It aims to solve the major complex social and environmental problems such as poverty, drinking water, electricity, cooking fuel, riverbank erosion, education, natural resources management, woman empowerment, etc. there. Applying the Eco Village concept is the best way to solve complex social and environmental problems as it aims to create a life system where local people could live without harming the ecosystem. In Sundarbans, the Eco Village concept is divided into three components which included Green Housing, Green Education, and Green Business. Through our initiatives; people are getting safe drinking water from local and modern technology services such as re-excavating ponds, establishing solar-based pond sand and filter system as well as Reverse Osmosis (RO) with Water ATM. Distributing improved cooking stoves and solar lamps, solar home systems, generators, batteries, and established solar stations are contributing reduce the amount of fuel and carbon emissions. 

Local students planting mangroves

Planting mangroves and social trees help to stabilize the environment in addition to providing safety to the villagers. Motivated students and villagers are using their increased knowledge of the environment and ecosystem in their day-to-day life. We can already see that by ensuring proper natural resource management, the supported honey collector families are earning 10 times more for their natural honey business. Coastal marginal families are improving their livelihood by doing agro farming activities – a farming system that integrates both plants and livestock together. Supported Sundarbans marginal families are generating income by making, processing, packaging, and selling the products using available raw materials from the agriculture, fishing, and forestry sectors. Community-based eco-tourism activities also contribute to promoting livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities, and the local culture as well as reducing the pressure on Sundarbans forest resources.

All of the implemented activities of BEDS are focused on solving regional social, economic, and environmental problems. Around 15,000 coastal families are now free from the scarcity of safe drinking water because of our drinking water service and this contributes to achieving SDG-06 (Water security). Our livelihood supporting activities (honey business, environmentally friendly agriculture, and fishing, eco-tourism, Agro Farming, production and sales of goods from agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sectors, sewing activities, mangrove nursery establishment, crab fattening, etc.) are contributing to sustainable livelihoods for local people and assisting to achieve SDG-10 (jobs and livelihoods). The kerosene purchasing cost of coastal communities has been reduced and students can read at night as 3,000 coastal families are now using renewable energy for their lighting purposes; which definitely contributes to achieving SDG-07 (Renewable energy). BEDS has always focused on engaging multi-stakeholders for the proper execution of project activities and ensuring the sustainability of the activities which contributes to achieving SDG-17 (partnership).

For transforming the coastal communities, we have created a brand by naming the BANOJIBI for marketing the Eco village products. BANOJIBI is a Bengali Word and the meaning of the BAJOJIBI is forest dwellers. So, the Banojibi owns by the Sundarbans resource harvesters and coastal marginal farmers.

Bangladesh Environment and Development Society

The Bangladesh Environment and Development Society (BEDS) is a community-based non-profit, non-government, and development organization committed to maintaining ecological balance and creating harmony between humans and nature. BEDS was established for solving complex environmental and social problems in Bangladesh such as the adverse impacts of global warming, unsustainable use of natural resources, drinking water crisis, Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem and biodiversity destruction, increasing uses of dirty energy, gender inequity, and human rights violation, etc. BEDS has completed more than 50 projects and received a number of prestigious awards including the Energy Globe National Award in  2018; the Divisional Environmental Award in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015. In addition, one of the BEDS implemented projects “Eco Village in Bangladesh” has been selected to be showcased at Expo 2020 Dubai’s Global Best Practice Program. Find out more about BEDS on their website.

REGEN-Nations | Ecology Dimension is open for registration

by

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

REGEN-Nations | Cultural Dimension is open for registration

by

“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

Making the Rainiest Place in India Wet and Green Again!

by

In October 2020 Sadhana Forest started its reforestation effort in Meghalaya, a state in northeast India, which is known for its hilly terrain and extremely high rainfall.

When we first came to Meghalaya we thought that our experience in water conservation and reforestation was not relevant. Then we started traveling the state and witnessed first-hand the massive deforestation, soil degradation, and the great challenges with the water supply. After a few more visits and a deeper understanding of the ground reality, we started working with the Government of Meghalaya on training local communities and demonstrating different water conservation and tree planting techniques. 

Our solar-powered deforestation bus

Two old wooden buses were turned into a mobile reforestation unit. They were fitted with a small kitchen, bathroom, and solar panels on top to meet the electrical needs of the team. With these buses our team of long-term volunteers drove across the state for one and a half years, working in 25 different villages.

Conducting training with local villagers

The focus of the team was on water conservation (swales proved to be very helpful on the sloped terrain), reforestation (using only native species), soil regeneration (using legumes that were chopped and dropped), and training. In every village, local people were trained in the aforementioned techniques. We planted only indigenous, food-bearing tree species, with the aim of improving food security in the area.

Our team lived very simply, staying in the villages, cooking for themselves, and sleeping in the buses and in tents. This made them very accessible to the local villagers, who welcomed them with open arms. The trainings were met with great enthusiasm, and in every village motivated volunteers stood up to continue the ecological restoration work after the departure of our team. The project was a great success and the Government has asked us to establish three permanent immersion centers in the state, one in each of the tribal regions: Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia hills. These centers will enable an immersive experience in nature and sustainable living and will provide training in water conservation and reforestation. A team from Sadhana Forest will live in each one of the centers and will interact with the local people and provide training.

Digging swales as a part of our water conservation work

If you are interested in making a long-term commitment and getting involved, you can email us at india@sadhanaforest.org. 

About the Author

Sadhana Forest is an international reforestation and water conservation volunteering organization. Sadhana Forest welcomes 1,500 volunteers per year that come and stay on sustainable vegan off-grid community campuses. It was founded in 2003 by Yorit and Aviram Rozin in India and later expanded to Haiti and Kenya, working on food security with local people living in drought-prone rural areas planting indigenous food-bearing trees. In 2020 a new project was started in Meghalaya, northeast India. Find out more about them on their website sadhanaforest.org.