ECOVILLAGE GROUP: Meeting minutes and plans:
Here is the summary of our meeting today, Thursday, Nov 11,
5:30 - 7:30.
We spent a long, long, long time (ie, whole meeting)
talking about whether or not we want to build an ecovillage on a new
site. Out central question was whether or not we would minimize impact on
the islands by building a "perfect" ecovillage and abandoning
the current cities, or by building on the existing sites (and not
abandoning or destroying anything), perhaps to not quite as spectacular ends.
Here is our decision: the two largest cities on the island, holding over 2/3rds
of the total population (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and
Puerto Ayora) will be, over time, rebuilt
completely. The smaller towns will be assimilated in to the larger ecovillages to minimize the need for transportation, and to
centralize supplies. This means that we will relocate small parts of the
cities, bit by bit, as we rebuild that segment. We are not considering a
"remodeling" anymore, this is a total takedown. The materials
(like concrete, wood, steel, etc) which are being used now will be recycled and
reused as much as possible, but the finished town will be entirely different
(like new!) and will incorporate all of green techniques we know of.
This is obviously a change from our previous decision and we know some people
will be disappointed. I'm really sorry! Some wanted the islands to
be totally human free, some really liked the floating island idea, and some
wanted to consider the logistics of making this happen to a higher
degree. We each had different interpretations of the question. Tai
even called Float Inc! Thanks, Tai! (Note: in the discussion,
we decided it might be a really good idea to move the airport on
I wish we could decide things with everybody present, but only about half the team
showed up for the meeting and we just can't wait any longer. Now we can
actually get started!
Here are some things we need to think about:
Energy: where will it come from? (
Building materials: what will these structures be made out of, and how
can we reuse what we already have? (I'll look at this one).
Water: where will it come from, how will we treat it, and how can we
waste as little of it as possible to conserve energy?
Recycling in general: how can we make the most of the waste the village
will generate? can we use it for
fuel/compost/etc?
Farming: where does our food come from? what
kind of food?
House design: there are many types of ecohouses,
which do we want to use? Heating? Cooling? Appliances?
Public spaces: what kinds? Where? How many?
Tourist attractions: if we have any at all, what are they like?
Goverment: is this up to us? If so, what
kind? How does it work?
Transportation: what kind of green transportation can we
use?
Society: law enforcement? schools? cultural centers? libraries? entertainment? public education
about the green village itself or the surrounding ecosystem?
Relations: what can't the village get for itself? What kinds of
things will we need to rely on others for?
Technology: what kinds of things should be available? Internet for all? Satellite TV?
Law: what kinds of new laws does our village need?
Economy: what kinds of jobs will be available? how
do we make them attractive and worth it if they're not what people are used to?
Beauty: how can we make this place attractive and appealing? landscaping?
OK, you're probably all sick of this. Sorry it's such a long email.
Basically we've got a plan now and I think it could be really fun to make this
work, provided we don't all die under the workload. (Yeah, right...) Let's
loosely divide up tasks at Friday's meeting and get started on the
design. We can decide on deadlines then.
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Nov. 12: We have further refined the design topics: