Versammlung

harvested themes from an ecocentric life

Some German ecovillages (Ökodorf) take their carbon footprint so seriously that they don’t allow computers or personal smart devices outside business or personal spaces, and there they have wired, not wireless, LANs. For inveterate cyberamphibian scribes like me, this can be a problem. As I tour from ökodorf to ökodorf this month, gathering stories, laughing at common foibles, and being inspired by each other, I’d love to share that with a wider audience.

At the Nature Community, a former hotel and hunting museum in Bavaria now remade as a mythical, magical, Black Forest ökodorf, more than 400 people arrived from all over Germany, Europe and the greater world of ecovillages for a week of music, dance, sauna, workshops and decisions. We had delegations from Vietnam, Tasmania, Korea, Brazil and many others I didn’t meet. On the final day I was asked to open the morning plenary with a short speech. I didn’t record it, so this is just from memory, but here is what I think I said.

Plenary Talk

The “elders of GEN” are actually elderly now. [Laughter] Ross Jackson is 90, Hildur has passed, Declan will be 92 next week, and Max and I are approaching 80.

When I was given the task, 30 years ago, of organizing a new network for experimental communities in…