2 0 1 0 STATE O F TH E WO R LD Transforming Cultures From to

THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE SCIENCE/ENVIRONMENT 2010 STATE OF TH E WOR LD Transforming Cultures From Consumerism to Sustainability

Advance Praise for State of the World 2010: “If we continue to think of ourselves mostly as consumers, it’s going to be very hard to bring our environmental troubles under control. But it’s also going to be very hard to live the rounded and joyful lives that could be ours. This is a subversive volume in all the best ways!” —Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and full image The End of Nature “Worldwatch has taken on an ambitious agenda in this volume. No generation in history has achieved a cultural transformation as sweeping as the one called for here…it is hard not to be impressed with the book’s boldness.” —Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank extreme close-up “This year’s State of the World report is a cultural Several million pounds of plastic mindbomb exploding with devastating force. I hope enter the world’s oceans every hour, portrayed on the cover by the 2.4 it wakes a few people up.” million bits of plastic that make up —Kalle Lasn, Editor of Adbusters magazine Gyre, Chris Jordan’s 8- by 11-foot reincarnation of the famous 1820s Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human woodblock print, The Great Wave cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. Left unaddressed, we Off Kanagawa, by the Japanese artist risk global disaster. But if we channel this wave, intention- Katsushika Hokusai. ally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, For discussion questions, we will not only prevent catastrophe but may usher in an additional essays, era of sustainability—one that allows all people to thrive video presentations, and event calendar, visit while protecting, even restoring, Earth. blogs.worldwatch.org/ In this year’s State of the World report, 50+ renowned transformingcultures. researchers and practitioners describe how we can Cover image: Gyre by Chris Jordan harness the world’s leading institutions—education, the Cover design: Lyle Rosbotham media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements—to reorient cultures toward sustainability.

W. W. NORTON B NEW YORK • LONDON www.worldwatch.org and the Transformation of Values

Jonathan Dawson

Tsewang Lden and Dolma Tsering, elderly exploration of what could replace it. The Ladakhi women, are caught on film in an old Ladakh Project is a founding member of the people’s home in London, incongruous in Global Network (GEN), an their fine and colorful traditional costume. umbrella organization for ecovillages that They look on in shock at an old English includes some of the innovative experiments in woman, alone in a sterile white-painted room post-consumerist, community-based living that and so absorbed in watching television that she are at the forefront of this wave of exploration.2 barely noticed the other women’s entry. The The commonly accepted definition of eco- Ladakhi women had never seen anything like villages, provided in 1991 by In Context edi- this before. In the north Indian province that tor Robert Gilman, is “human-scale, is their home, old people are integrated into the full-featured settlements in which human activ- family, considered wise elders and honored.1 ities are harmlessly integrated into the natural Lden and Tsering were participating in a world in a way that is supportive of healthy “Reality Tour” organized by the Ladakh Pro- human development and can be successfully ject to enable small groups of Ladakhi women continued into the indefinite future.”3 to visit western countries, where they see for Today this global network contains an inter- themselves the reality of life in the West— esting and innovative alliance between inten- good and bad—including community break- tional communities with a strong focus on down, loneliness, and violence. The organizers sustainability (generally though not exclusively hope this will reinforce cultural self-confi- located in the industrial world) and networks dence, help Ladakhis appreciate the many pos- of traditional communities in developing coun- itive features of their culture, and show the dark tries. Intentional communities are ones that side of today’s globally dominant cultural ori- have been formed consciously around specific entation—consumerism—that is so rarely pre- values and objectives, most of which today sented in the global media. have a strong focus on some dimension of What is happening here is one small exam- sustainability and call themselves ecovillages. ple of a much wider questioning of the values The communities in developing countries that base underlying the consumerist culture and an are members of GEN seek to maintain their

Jonathan Dawson is a sustainability educator and author based at the Findhorn ecovillage in Scotland.

BLOGS.WORLDWATCH.ORG/TRANSFORMINGCULTURES 185 Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values STATE OF THE WORLD 2010 traditional values and cultural distinctiveness throughput? Ecovillages serve as research, and to win back greater control of their eco- training, and demonstration sites for such a nomic destinies in the face of pressures proposition. unleashed by economic globalization. The attempt to delink growth and the accu- The most visible and tangible projects mulation of material goods from well-being within ecovillages tend to be those related to lies at the heart of the ecovillage concept. technology and the development of alternative The low levels of that typically systems of various kinds. Most first-time visi- prevail within ecovillages result partly from the tors to ecovillages are there to find out about design of their systems so as to reduce energy ecological housing, biological wastewater treat- and materials intensity and partly because, by ment systems, renewable energy technologies, opting out of the global economy to varying community currencies, and the like. degrees, they forgo opportunities to maxi- Less immediately obvious, but arguably mize income. even more significant, is the contribution of Several recent studies confirm that the eco- ecovillages to a radical transformation of val- logical impact of ecovillages is markedly lower ues and consciousness. Ecovillages are engaged than for average conventional communities. A in the transformation of values in four ways that 2003 study by the University of Kassel looked may make the transition to sustainability eas- at carbon dioxide emissions associated with ier and more graceful: two ecovillages in Germany. It found that per • delinking growth from well-being, capita emissions in the Sieben Linden and • reconnecting people with the place where Kommune Niederkufungen ecovillages were they live, 28 and 42 percent, respectively, of the German • affirming indigenous values and practices, average. Sieben Linden scored especially well and in the fields of heating and housing: as a result • offering a holistic and experiential educa- of renewable energy generation and the use of tional ethic. highly energy-efficient building materials and insulation, the community recorded emission Delinking Growth from Well-being levels just 10 and 6 percent, respectively, of the national average.4 There has been growing awareness in recent Two studies of energy consumption at years of the inadequacy of gross domestic Ecovillage at Ithaca in upstate New York— product as a measure of true wealth, with its one by Cornell University, another by the exclusive focus on economic capital forma- Massachusetts Institute of Technology—found tion but with no reference to other forms of that the community’s consumption was more capital—the health and biodiversity of the nat- than 40 percent lower than the U.S. average. ural environs, the strength of communities, And a study undertaken by the Stockholm the well-being and happiness of people. What Environment Institute found that the Findhorn would a society look like that consciously ecovillage in Scotland has a per person eco- developed its various forms of capital in a more logical footprint a bit over half of the U.K. aver- balanced and integrated way? Could commu- age, the lowest footprint recorded for any nities—indeed, whole societies—learn to sub- settlement in the industrial world. Findhorn stitute other forms of capital for economic residents achieved an especially low footprint wealth, demonstrating how quality of life could in the areas of home heating and food—21.5 be maintained or even enhanced while signif- and 37 percent per person, respectively, of the icantly reducing consumption and material national average.5

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There is substantial anecdotal evidence that relationships and builds a strong and nurturing the quality of life within ecovillages is gener- sense of connection with the land. ally high—certainly much higher than would Many of the other footprint-shrinking design be expected for communities that operate on features—preparing and eating meals together, low levels of income. The anecdotal evidence car clubs, community-owned renewable energy has been reinforced by a 2006 study compar- facilities, community currencies and investment, ing the contribution of built (economic), and so on—similarly engender a spirit of coop- human, social, and natural capital to quality of eration that builds community and contributes life in 30 intentional communities with that in to strong feelings of well-being. the town of Burlington, Vermont. The study found that the quality of life was slightly higher in the inten- tional communities despite the fact that average incomes were signifi- cantly lower because of a greater cultivation and appreciation of other forms of capital, especially social cap- ital. Of special importance in deter- mining quality of life, the study n o i t identified the strong social bonds a d n u o

that develop within intentional com- F n r o

munities, their “ownership provi- h d n i sions as well as…process for F y s e t allocating work and rewarding con- r u o tributions,” and the “emphasis the C community placed upon the preser- Harvesting organic vegetables at Findhorn ecovillage, Scotland. vation of natural areas.”6 The authors concluded: “Results of this This ethic extends into the economic life of study represent an existence proof: it is possi- ecovillages, where cooperation and solidarity ble to achieve a high (and probably more sus- are promoted and the relationship to work is tainable) quality of life while consuming at transformed. The Twin Oaks ecovillage in the rates much less than the U.S. average.… We state of Virginia declares: “We use a trust- have much to learn from intentional commu- based labor system in which all work is valued nities around the world that have been actively equally. Its purpose is to organize work and experimenting with issues related to quality of share it equitably, giving each member as much life and sustainability.”7 flexibility and choice as possible. Work is not It is especially interesting that many of the seen as just a means to an end; we try to make activities and design features that are responsi- it an enjoyable part of our lives.” 8 ble for low energy and resource use within eco- villages are also among the most important in Reconnecting People with contributing to a better quality of life. The the Place Where They Live decision by many ecovillages to grow a signifi- cant amount of their own food, for example, One of the more pernicious impacts of today’s involves community members working coop- globalized economy is the weaker connections eratively together in a way that strengthens that people feel to the place where they live.

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There has been a progressive homogenization and woven people more deeply into the web across the world over the last 50 years or so of of life. Moreover, the way in which this was foodstuffs, clothing, farming technologies, done—early efforts involved the planting of building materials, styles, and so on. As a part non-native species that created other environ- of this trend, increasingly diets no longer reflect mental hazards, but these were progressively the changing seasons. replaced with more diverse and native species— This disconnect is enormously important in demonstrates how ecovillages are able to learn providing a seed bed for alienation and con- and be flexible with their efforts, catering to the sumerism. When resources are pulled in from needs of the environment as discovered along all over the world, people lose all sense of the the way. Similar efforts at large-scale tree plant- carrying capacity of the bioregions they live ing and earth restoration can be found at Sól- in—and thus of any obligation to attempt to heimar in Iceland, The Farm in Tennessee, live within such limits. People’s natural and many other ecovillages.9 propensity to love the web of life that all The journey toward being more rooted in humans are part of becomes lost in a fog of bioregions is also a cultural one. Many eco- ignorance of what that web looks and feels like villages engage in rituals to mark and celebrate in specific places. the turning of the seasons—building on, Reestablishing a keener appreciation of the though generally not slavishly adhering to, qualities, patterns, and rhythms of home places traditional practices. Grishino ecovillage in and what they can sustainably yield is funda- Russia, for instance, has become an important mental to refinding a balanced and respectful center for the celebration of and training in place within them. Nurturing just such an traditional Russian song, dance, arts, and enhanced appreciation is of central importance storytelling. In Findhorn, the turning of the to the ecovillage ethic. year is marked through celebration of the In part, this manifests in attempts to Celtic festivals in song, dance, storytelling, increase levels of self-sufficiency. Ecovillages and bonfires.10 typically seek to develop an enhanced under- standing of ecological building techniques Affirmation of Indigenous using local materials, local medicinal herbs, Values and Practices wild food foraging, organic food production and processing, energy generation with locally The corporate marketing and indus- available renewable resources, and so on. tries have played a central role in shaping the They are seeking to deepen their connec- values underlying today’s consumerist culture. tions in their own bioregions, to increase They have played an especially devastating role resilience in a period of energy transition, in undermining the cultural self-confidence and to reduce dependence on money and of groups falling outside of the global con- the global economy. sumer class. Consequently, an important Similarly, many ecovillages are engaged in dimension of the value shift required in the initiatives to restore the health of their sur- transition to a sustainable global society lies in rounding ecosystems. Over the last 40 years, celebration of the diversity of human cultures, to cite but one example, the Auroville ecovil- encouraging each to value and take pride in lage in southern India has planted nearly 3 their distinctiveness. million trees and engaged in widespread earth Ecovillage networks in developing countries restoration projects that have simultaneously tend to be very active on this front. Activities enriched the diversity of local natural systems with new groups generally focus on building

188 WWW.WORLDWATCH.ORG STATE OF THE WORLD 2010 Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values cultural self-confidence and celebrating the are becoming recognized as of growing rele- communities’ strengths and achievements. vance far beyond the ranks of radical outsiders. The Sri Lankan nongovernmental group One of the principal ways that the values and Sarvodaya, a founding member of GEN, works models they have developed are being shared with over 15,000 communities island-wide. It more widely is through education. has developed a methodology for com- munity assistance that begins with an empowerment program. This includes a strong element of social and spiritual empowerment, including meditation, cultural validation, peacemaking, and conflict facilitation. Only when this foun- dation has been built does the more tangible work of economic empower- ment and physical infrastructure devel- opment begin.11 n a

The Ladakh Project in India similarly t o L z places great weight on building cultural t u b b i

self-confidence. It has helped to establish K y s e the Women’s Alliance of Ladakh (WAL), t r u o a network of over 6,000 women from C almost 100 different villages, with the Straw-bale, earth-plastered domes being built on geodesic twin goals of raising the status of rural frames will become student housing at Kibbutz Lotan’s women and strengthening local culture Center for Creative Ecology, Israel. and agriculture. Some of the more cre- ative programs initiated by WAL are No TV The various educational packages devel- weeks, aimed at encouraging people to resist oped within ecovillages reflect the core ethics the consumerist ethic; annual festivals cele- of the communities themselves in that they brating local knowledge and skills, including are holistic—exploring interdependence and traditional spinning, weaving, and dyeing and the relationships between issues and subjects the preparation of indigenous food; and the that are generally considered independently Reality Tours that brought Tsewang Lden and in more conventional settings—and experien- Dolma Tsering face to face with the reality of tial, in that they engage all of the learner’s old people’s lives in an industrial country.12 faculties—head, heart, and hands. In this regard, ecovillage education can be A Holistic and Experiential seen as part of the wider trend toward envi- Educational Ethic ronmental education based on systems think- ing. What is distinctive in the ecovillage Something extraordinary has happened over educational model is that the learning experi- the last decade or so in the relationship ence unfolds in the context of a live experiment between ecovillages and the mainstream soci- in the translation of post-consumerist values ety that they were created to be an alternative into the fabric of a sustainable community. to. As interlocking economic, ecological, and Immersion in such living laboratories can be a social crises have deepened, the various exper- profound transformation for students as they iments that ecovillages have been engaged in experience in a very tangible way the dynamic

BLOGS.WORLDWATCH.ORG/TRANSFORMINGCULTURES 189 Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values STATE OF THE WORLD 2010 relationship between values, lifestyle, and com- Master of Science degree in Sustainable Com- munity structures.13 munity Design—with two compulsory sections A number of ecovillage-based educational on Ecovillage Practice and Community Design initiatives have sprung up over the last decade Practice taught by Findhorn College staff at the or so. The Ecovillage Training Center at The ecovillage.16 Farm in Tennessee, the Center for Creative A major new ecovillage-based educational Ecology at Kibbutz Lotan in Israel, and Eco- initiative, Gaia Education, has developed a logical Solutions at Crystal Waters in Australia curriculum derived from good practice within are three among many centers worldwide ecovillages that has been endorsed by UNI- whose courses in the various dimensions of TAR and welcomed as a valuable contribution sustainability now attract participants from to the UN Decade of Education for Sustain- across the social spectrum.14 able Development. The curriculum is now Numerous educational partnerships have being taught in ecovillages and universities also developed between ecovillages and more on every continent.17 mainstream institutions that aid the diffusion An undergraduate study-abroad program, of ecovillage values and models into wider Living Routes, offers students at U.S. univer- society. A United Nations CIFAL training sities the opportunity to do formally accredited center, one in a network of 11 centers world- semesters at ecovillages on every continent, wide that provide training in sustainability to while Ecovillage at Ithaca, in New York, is local authorities and other local actors, opened engaged in an ambitious alliance with Cor- in 2007 at Findhorn in Scotland. This draws nell University and Ithaca College to enhance on expertise developed within and beyond university-based sustainability curricula in the ecovillages to build the planning and imple- United States.18 mentation capacity of local agencies in Scotland These developments on the educational and, increasingly, in northern Europe.15 front represent an opportunity to spread eco- Meanwhile, the Findhorn College, an edu- village values and models into the wider soci- cational institution within the ecovillage, reg- ety. As the world seeks to make the transition ularly hosts the University of St. Andrews to a rich, diverse, and sustainable global soci- undergraduate program in sustainable devel- ety, the lessons learned by ecovillages are opment. And as of September 2009, Heriot- likely to be an important source of informa- Watt University in Edinburgh offers the first tion and inspiration.

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Chelsea Green, 1999); “Friends of Gaviotas,” at prepared for Conference on Constructed Wetlands www.friendsofgaviotas.org/Friends_of_Gaviotas/ for Wastewater Treatment in Tropical and Sub- Home.html; Jan Gehl and Lars Gemzoe, Public tropical Regions, December 2000; Raven Le Fay, Spaces, Public Life (Copenhagen: Danish Architec- “From Dust to Dawn,” Magazine, tural Press, 2004); “Jan Gehl,” Project for Public No. 45, pp. 39–42; Sólheimar, at solheimar Spaces, at www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/ .hlutverk.is/page.asp?Id=834; The Farm, at placemakers/jgehl; “The Vision of City Repair,” at www.thefarm.org. cityrepair.org. 10. Russian ecovillage Grishino, at www.grishino Ecovillages and the Transformation of Values .ecology.net.ru/en/index.htm; Findhorn Founda- tion, at www.findhorn.org/index.php?tz=240. 1. Claus Schenk, “Paradise With Side Effects,” Capricorn Film, International Society for Ecology 11. Sarvodaya Empowerment Programmes, at and Culture, Ladakh, India, 2004. www.sarvodaya.org/about/empowerment-program mes. 2. Global Ecovillage Network, at gen.ecovillage .org. 12. The Ladakh Project, International Society for Ecology and Culture, at www.isec.org.uk/pages/ 3. Robert Gilman, “ In Context, summer 1991, ladakh.html#womensallianceofladakh. p. 10. 13. For more on systems thinking, see David W. 4. Information on both from Kom- Orr, Earth in Mind (Washington, DC: Island Press, mune Niederkaufungen, Gemeinschaftlich Nach- rev. 2004), and Fritjof Capra, “Ecoliteracy: The haltig, at www.usf.uni-kassel.de/glww/ziele.htm. Challenge for Education in the Next Century,” Liverpool Schumacher Lectures, Center for Eco- 5. Jason R. Brown, Comparative Analysis of literacy, Berkeley, CA, 20 March 1999. Energy Consumption Trends in Cohousing and Alter- nate Housing Arrangements, Department of Civil 14. The Farm Ecovillage Training Center, at and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts www.thefarm.org/etc; Lotan Center for Creative Institute of Technology, 2004, unpublished thesis; Ecology, at www.kibbutzlotan.com/creativeEcology; Jonathan Dawson, “Findhorn’s Incredible Shrink- EcoCentre, Ecological Solutions, at www.ecologi ing Footprint,” Communities, summer 2009. calsolutions.com.au/venue/ecocentre.html.

6. Kenneth Mulder, Robert Costanza, and Jon 15. CIFAL Findhorn, at www.cifalfindhorn.org. Erickson, “The Contribution of Built, Human, Social and Natural Capital to Quality of Life in 16. Findhorn Foundation College, at www Intentional and Unintentional Communities,” Eco- .findhorncollege.org/index.php; Sustainable Com- logical Economics, August 2006, pp. 18–19. munity Design, Heriot-Watt University, at www.postgraduate.hw.ac.uk/course/327. 7. Ibid., p. 20. 17. Gaia Education, at www.gaiaeducation.org. 8. “Work Areas,” More About Twin Oaks, at www.twinoaks.org/community/index.html. 18. Living Routes, at www.livingroutes.org; “Part- nerships for Sustainability Education,” Ithaca Col- 9. Tency Baetens, “The Use of Horizontal lege, at www.ithaca.edu/hs/science_in_the Planted Filters for Decentralised Wastewater Treat- _community. ment in Auroville, An Overview and Description,”

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