Gaia Trust: Celebrating 25 Years!

Ross Jackson, March 2012

Gaia Trust was founded in 1987 on

the initiative of Hildur and me with

the support of eight or so Danish

colleagues. Our objective was to

support persons and organisations

that were working for a more

sustainable and spiritual world.

We had no funds to speak of, the

initial capital being about £1,000.

However, I had been working for the

prior 5 years developing and testing

computer software to analyse and

trade foreign currencies, a relatively

new concept at the time. My trading

results in the marketplace were

exceptionally good, so I donated the

rights to Gaia Trust in return for 10%

of the new company, Gaiacorp, of

which Gaia Trust owned 90%. Over the next 5 years or so, Gaiacorp became a

major international player in the currency options market and built up a net

worth of about £20 million. We then had to decide how to best use the funds.

We decided early on to support projects that were not getting support from

elsewhere, so that we might make a difference. Our view was that we knew

the problems and we knew the necessary solutions. The major barrier was

implementation. Therefore, we decided to support the people that were

actually implementing what we considered would become the mainstream

lifestyle in the 21st century when things started to fall apart, namely

ecovillages, although the name “ecovillage” did not exist until we and Robert

Gilman coined it in 1991. Later, we added a second major program, education

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in sustainability principles, which led

eventually to the establishment of

Gaia Education.

While Gaia Trust has supported many

other smaller projects over the years

(over 300 in about 40 countries),

including the first permaculture

course in a dozen or so countries,

GEN and Gaia Education have been

and continue to be the two major

projects that we have supported and

continue to support. None of this

would have been possible without

an enormous contribution of time

and energy by thousands of activists

around the world, and for that we are

very grateful.

I think we can all be proud of our accomplishments, but the battle is far from

won. At the first meeting of Gaia Trust, I said that this project was probably

going to take forty years to complete. We have still 15 years to go, so let us

not rest until the job is done!

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InanItah EDE, Nicaragua – 25 January to 29 February 2012

Erika Logie

February saw an excited InanItah host our 3rd Annual

Ecovillage Design Gathering. Using the Gaia Education

mandala as our map, we came together to discuss and

share ideas for sustainable, evolutionary living, as it

applies to the ecovillage setting. This year was our first

hosting a Certified by Gaia Education EDE, and it was

a transformative experience for both participants and

facilitators.

At InanItah we believe in experiential and embodied

learning and we were delighted to bring this educational

philosophy to the EDE experience. Participants engaged

in various embodied learning activities, including

making a compost heated hot water shower, building with cob, digging

swales, conscious dance, yoga and active meditations. Other highlights

included full and new moon sweatlodges, dream circles, the AUM social

experienceTM, puja circles, weekly Forum style circles, Dragon Dreaming and

Power and Privilege Theatre.

“It’s incredible. It’s life changing. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that came here and didn’t learn something about themselves. I think you can learn something from every experience in the EDE course.”

Matt Corso, 23

We were blessed to have some inspirational facilitators enrich the course

with their wisdom. Donnie Blaikie, a Native American sweatlodge and

ceremony facilitator, shared his perspectives during the Worldview week. Dr.

Tabatha Parker, ND, a naturopathic doctor and co-founder of Natural Doctors

International, engaged the group in a lively discussion about alternative

healing methods. We also took a field trip to Project Bona Fide, a permaculture

education and research facility, where agroforestry expert Chris Shanks gave

us a tour of a longstanding food forest.

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Liz Johndrow, a professional natural builder and owner

of Earthen Endeavors Natural Building, shared earthen

flooring, wall, and plaster techniques and her recent

work rebuilding homes in a Northern Nicaraguan

earthquake disaster area. The students also participated

in an interesting dialogue about the steady state

economic theory with David Casey, UC Berkeley Political

Economics alumni and founder of Project Nuevo Mundo

(www.projectnuevomundo.org)

In total, 16 participants attended, coming mostly from the

US, along with Australia, England, Slovakia, Switzerland,

Germany and Canada. Ages ranged from 19 to 55, with

an equal male to female ratio. A recurring conversational theme during the

Social Week of the course was the relationship and contrast in values between

the EDE participants of the mostly Western ecovillage community, and those

of the surrounding Nicaraguan community.

The EDE participants were given the opportunity to co-create our Annual

Gratitude Festival, during which we invited our local Nicaraguan neighbours

to celebrate our 3rd birthday with food, music, dance, ritual and games. We

recognize that the local community’s support makes InanItah possible, and

the day is an opportunity to express our gratitude. The participants practiced

conscious communication skills and newly learned decision-making modalities

and matrixes to co-create the festival in a spirit of cooperation and generosity.

InanItah is a transformational living & learning centre and intentional community

based on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. We host regular workshops and gatherings on

tantra, permaculture, natural building, meditation, conscious dance, and massage. More

information is available at www.inanitah.com.

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Terra Una Ecovillage EDE, Brazil – April to September 2011

Emmanuel Khodja and Terra Una Team

“Transdisciplinarity in Mixed Dimensions”

An immersive Gaia Education program, the EDE was

settled fully into the Terra Una Ecovillage and community

context, integrating beautifully with the surrounding

nature. Run by the Terra Una team and NGO, it was an

exciting experience which bridged a gap not yet present

in Brazilian EDEs.

The Terra Una team aimed to honour the EDE, using the

strength of a face to face pedagogy to improve the sense

of belonging and support the transformation process of

participants. The natural environment surrounding Terra

Una also provided a context which balanced the “inside”

and “outside” classes, with students not only learning about permacultural

design, but also practicing natural building, organic food production, water

treatment systems, and so on.

However, in Brazil it is not easy for students to leave their family and home

and cease income for 4 consecutive weeks while still affording the entire cost

of the EDE. We thus decided that it would be better for participants, and also

for us, to run the program over four non-consecutive “weeks” of 9 days with

42 hours of activities in each one.

This schedule format created a “space-time” where after each course module

participants could go home, digest and practice what they had studied. To

enhance the application of the content in their everyday lives, the work

process was designed around personal projects. Projects were presented in

the first meeting, empowering students to apply chosen changes in their

lives during a 6 month process. The Terra Una faculty offered online support

between modules, reserving the formal time of the dimensions to review the

process into each meeting.

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With this novel approach set, a new possibility

appeared… “What if we mix the dimensions?!”, or in

other words, what if each week has classes from all four

dimensions, instead of only one?

Very carefully we weaved a pedagogical program to

follow a specific sequence that could offer participants a

systemic and integrated approach during the course. The

main dimension of each week included 55% pedagogical

hours on that dimension, with the remaining 45%

divided equally among the other 3 dimensions.

This methodology allowed us to start

with introductory issues and basic

concepts important for students to

know from the beginning, regardless

of the dimension in which it is located.

We evaluated this strategy and found

that it facilitated the learning of several

contents simultaneously. For example,

it’s far easier to learn permaculture and

integrated design after having seen the

holistic worldview and having practiced

listening to and reconnecting with nature; it’s good to talk about “shifting the

global economy to sustainability” and then return to “personal empowerment

and leadership skills”.

We consider that we had a worthy and successful experience, confirming that the

EDE curriculum not only talks about transdisciplinarity, but can also be studied in

a way that is holistic and holographic, just as the program is meant to be.

Gratitude to the GEESE for supporting this!

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The exciting first phase of development

of Gaia Education’s Ecovillage Design

Curriculum (the result of which was

the EDE V4 curriculum) has been tested

in settings across the globe ranging

from established ecovillages to

forming ecovillages, rural ecovillages

to urban ecovillages, traditional

villages to university programs and

training centers. The very success

of the curriculum has prompted

development of new materials and

content for an updated version of the

curriculum – Version 5.

All the information and content of the V4 curriculum also applies to urban

settlements. While this curriculum was designed for local cultural and

sociopolitical adaptation, it has become obvious to Gaia Education that

additional curriculum development was needed. Some of these changes have

been due to the pace of change in the sustainability movement in the first

decade of this century; others due to an increase in urgency as the issues of

Peak Oil and Climate Change take on larger magnitude and accelerate towards

dangerous levels. The most urgent matter that has come to the fore at this

time is the need for additional content specific to urban settlement design.

This has been an emerging trend with the GEESE since the beginning. We

have therefore now added this new component to the V5 curriculum with the

purpose of supporting, guiding and providing teaching content to the growing

number of groups wishing to deliver EDEs in a variety of urban settings.

The basic reason for creating urban habitats has been to maximize exchange

and minimize transportation. The built community can thus be designed to

achieve “maximum energy efficiency, instead of being designed solely to be

the engine of industrial production and consumption,” as Jane Jacobs observed.

Unleashing EDE Curriculum V5: The Urban/Ecovillage Intersection

Giovanni Ciarlo, Gaia Education Product Development

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www.gaiaeducation.net

08 Fall

Ecovillage Design Education A four-week comprehensive course in the fundamentals of Sustainability Design Curriculum conceived and designed by the GEESE—Global Ecovillage Educators for a Sustainable Earth Version 5 © Gaia Education, 2012

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The term Ecovillage in the urban context is used as a development model and metaphor for the re-organisation of our neighbourhoods.

Urban ecovillages have in the past taken backstage to the more common rural

ecovillages. However, urban ecovillages are growing in popularity and with

them, the need to address sustainable lifestyles and community organization

associated with cities, suburbs and high-density settlements worldwide. In

this sense the addition to the existing curriculum does not seek to change

the proven valuable components of the 20 modules already in place in V4,

but rather, to focus on issues that are particular to communities that develop

in high density, urban contexts. One of the many purposes for re/designing

sustainable urban settlements is to reduce or withdraw our dependency on oil

and decrease urban sprawl.

It is also important to keep in mind that the urban/suburban/rural dichotomies

are largely a result of the industrial/capitalist worldview which has dominated

human civilization for the past couple of centuries. Ecovillages offer a

new vision and a new worldview in which all these forms can interrelate:

ecovillages are systemically designed and harmonized to the needs of the

natural environment and human social relations, a vision which honours

traditional and indigenous cultures and their way of creating synergy with the

environment and within the community.

The EDE V5 curriculum is now available on www.gaiaeducation.net.

Dear friends, EDE Alumni and Geese,

The most under-utilised resource we have on this planet is the good intentions and creativity of citizens and our willingness to make a difference. The power of human communities to come together and co-design our pathway into the future is a major driving force for positive change. The Global Ecovillage Network connects communities for a sustainable world.

We warmly invite you to connect to GEN’s circles of activity in your region. The networks of Gaia Education and GEN are closely interlinked - we want to make sure these connections are strengthened. If you would like to be informed about GEN-conferences, courses, or meetings taking place in your country or region, send us a brief email marked ‘Gaia Education - GEN’ to info@gen-europe.org.

We look forward to hearing from you!The Global Ecovillage Network

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Gaia Education @ Rio+20 www.rio20.gov.br

By Filipe Freitas

The Rio de Janeiro ”gaianos” network

has been holding meetings to

prepare Gaia Education’s and the

GEESE participation at the Peoples’

Summit and in other parallel events

at Rio+20.

The idea is to create a space where

we will offer flash EDE classes and

include pedagogical, cultural, artistic

and spiritual activities that follow the

four dimensions of the curriculum.

Rio is expecting 300,000 people and thousands of NGOs.

Despite the complexities in event organization, we are

confident that we will be able to create this space,

promoting the great movement of integration between

GEESE groups worldwide in order to spread principles and

practices supported by a systemic worldview, throughout

Rio+20.

We are very happy to know that the “GEESE” are

coming to share art and knowledge with us. Welcome

to Rio de Janeiro!

Building up to Rio+20

Gaia Education will be present at the 20th annual United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, taking place in Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil, in June this year.

La red de Gaia de Río de Janeiro ha

realizado reuniones de articulación

para permitir un espacio dedicado a

la Educación Gaia en Cumbre de los

Pueblos y en los eventos paralelos a

la conferencia de la ONU.

Queremos crear un espacio donde

podamos tener actividades peda-

gógicas, culturales, artísticas y

espirituales que siguen a las cuatro

dimensiones del currículo.

A pesar de las dificultades en la organización del

evento, estamos confiantes de que seremos capaces de

crear este espacio para promover un gran movimiento

de integración entre los grupos gaianos de todo el

mundo con el fin de difundir los principios y prácticas

apoyadas por una visión del mundo sistémica por toda

la Río+20.

Estamos muy contentos de saber que los “geeses”

están llegando para compartir arte y conocimiento con

nosotros. Bienvenidos a Río de Janeiro!

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Last year, in building up to Rio+20, Gaia Education joined the lead UN campaign Green Dreams Around the World

and partnered with Earth Day Network (EDN) in The Billion Acts of Green® campaign.

Green Dreams Around the World www.green-dream.co.uk

The exciting Green Dreams Around the World campaign was created to give voice to the dreams of thousands of

individuals as a contribution to the Rio+20 conference. The mosaic of Green Dreams collected in the build-up to Rio+20

will be streamed during the conference, concentrating and amplifying these positive impulses from around globe, at

the conference.

Isabela Menezes from Brazil, an EDE alumni and organiser and Green Dreams catcher, shares:

“When I was invited to be a dream catcher for the Green Dreams Around the World campaign, I imagined how the experience was going to be rich and adorable. And why not? Beginning with the name that for me is so beautiful: “Dream Catcher”! Asking people to tell me their best and most beautiful desires and dreams for a new future, a new planet, a new world! How could I not be thrilled in helping to shape only good things for our future? For indeed, that is what we are doing. Shaping, through all these dreams, a fantastic new world! I am deeply grateful to be part of this dream! I think I will forever be a dream catcher!”

Check out the Green Dreams of EDE Alumni on the Gaia Education YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/gaiaeducation

and the dreams from friends around the world on www.youtube.com/greendreamcifal

Interested in becoming a Green Dreams catcher yourself? Email administrator@gaiaeducation.net for details!

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A Billion Acts of Green® act.earthday.org

The goal of this campaign is to

reach a billion acts of environmental

service and advocacy before Rio+20.

Gaia Education partnered with EDN

to pledge all certified Gaia Education

programmes to the A Billion Acts

of Green® campaign. To date, this

pledge has contributed over 700 acts

to the 633,087,628 so far recorded.

We invite you to join the Billion Acts

of Green® campaign by Supporting

and Promoting Earth Day 2012.

Visit act.earthday.org/act/1314794404/support-promote-earth-day-2012 to

pledge your support.

What can you do?

The future is here and the time to act is now! Join the global conversation on

the Future we Want by sharing your green dreams with friends, colleagues

and the world via the Green Dreams Around the World campaign. After

sharing your dream for a greener future, breathe further life into it by taking

positive, practical steps to making it happen and contribute these steps to the

Billion Acts of Green Campaign®. Simply follow these steps:

1. Video record your dream for the future you want and email to

dhkeobve0zs2@m.youtube.com. Visit http://green-dream.co.uk/

post-your-dream for more information.

2. Pledge your act of green on act.earthday.org

3. Share your dreams and acts with us on Facebook and NING!

http://www.facebook.com/GaiaEducation

http://geese-gaiaeducation.ning.com

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Discovering the Power of Two

Penelope Reyes

The title aptly describes a journey of two people

manifesting their dreams in just three years, after hosting

two EDE’s!

John and I met during the 2007 Wongsanit EDE in

Thailand. Back then, I was a city-bred dreamer with a

strong passion to shift to a more sustainable lifestyle. It

is one thing to have a dream. It is something short of a

miracle to actually find someone who shares your vision

and is willing to journey with you to make it happen.

So, by discovering the power of two – John, with his

intense drive and focus to make things happen, and

myself, being a dreamer, mediator and bridge-builder –

we co-created Tuwa The Laughing Fish – an eco-homestead, green bed and

breakfast, and living and learning centre at Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.

EDE was an inspiration from the beginning. We used permaculture design,

saved the topsoil and closely observed energy and cosmic flows. As a

result, the land is now home to a diverse variety of plant and animal life

and produces abundant harvests like giant Cassavas! We are living 100%

off-grid through an energy mix of solar, wind and biomass. We looked to

local knowledge, especially in building with bamboo, to create structures that

can withstand extreme weather conditions. Mang Osting, the construction

manager, developed a unique way of building a metal frame. The roof was

built on the ground and then raised, level by level, as the house was built.

Spirituality, art and connection to nature play an integral aspect in our lives.

Our first construction activity was a sacred labyrinth space to integrate spiritual

practice into our daily work. Agnihotra is another important daily practice.

Right livelihood and cooperative business are cornerstone values, determining

how we relate to and interact with the local town economy. Re-localization,

social enterprise and exploring alternative forms of trade like barter are key

activities which we strive to implement.

John & Penelope

raising the terrace roof

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To nurture a social space, we used participatory methods

to clarify our vision and develop communication and

decision-making processes. We also recognize that

developing an awareness of how people share in the

context of different cultures is an ongoing process.

Affirmation is key.

Teaching and exchanging knowledge is a very

important focus. Thus, after taking our EDE in Thailand,

we organized 2 Philippine EDE’s which proved to be as

enriching for us as it was for the participants.

I often ask John how we managed to do all these things - just two people, in

three years?! Synergy is exponential. A single person couldn’t have done all

this alone. And limitless potentials arise when even more like-minded people

come into unity.

We are forming an EDE – inspired community and we are inviting interested

EDE alumni to join us either through internships or resident membership.

Tuwa is hosting the third Philippine EDE this June 1-28, 2012. We hope to co-

create a positive future by awakening together to the many possibilities of

community living.

For more information, visit www.tuwa.ph.

Tuwa view

giant cassava

John building a solar shower

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For a limited period, Permanent Publications are offering a 25% reduction on all their books. This fantastic saving means you can now purchase Gaia Education’s 4Keys at 25% off their regular price!

Visit http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/books/pp/gaia-education-1.html to take advantage of this offer.

Geeseinformation 2012/1Gaiaeducation

Occupy World Street – A New Book by Ross Jackson

In Occupy World Street, Ross Jackson delivers one of the most incisive, clear descriptions

of the global financial practices that have driven economies to the brink of collapse and

puts forward a detailed plan to reorganise global trade alliances on a more human scale

and gradually phase in institutions which support sustainable economies, uphold human

rights and respect environmental standards.

Más allá de ti y de mi Ahora availabe en español!

Más allá de ti y de mi, un excelente libro con buenos artículos relacionados con la

dimensión social de la sostenibilidad y publicado por Gaia Education en su colección las

4 Llaves, está disponible en pdf para descarga gratuita en – www.gaiaeducation.net

EDE Case Study: Hopeland

Hopeland is located in a village called Malantreni (near the town of Argos) in

Greece. Spiros Milonas, a core member of the Hopeland team in Greece, attended

the 2011 Findhorn EDE where Hopeland became the case study for his design

group. Other members of the design group included Agi Berecz, Concepcion

Pinero, Carmen Carter, Sabine Guehne, Shyam Kishore, Emmanuel Mappus and

Isabelle Malleze.

The aim of Hopeland is to be a living model of sustainability and local development by

using and preserving available resources efficiently, strengthening people’s relations

by embracing diversity and showing practically how humankind can co-create with

nature. This vibrant community acts as a center for learning through a natural way of

life by sharing knowledge, skills and innovative methods as well as hands on activities

that nourish body, mind, heart and spirit. Download the full Hopeland case study and

view additional case studies from EDE’s around the world on www.gaiaeducation.net.

Llave SocialEditores

Kosha Anja Jouberty

Robin Alfred

Más allá de ti y de miInspiración y sabiduría para

crear comunidad

La llave social del EDE

Gaiaeducation

para las comunidades sostenibles del planeta

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Upcoming EDEs Around the World

With the Japan, Thailand and Nicaragua EDE’s having just come to completion,

many more are on their way! See below and visit www.gaiaeducation.net for

further upcoming EDE’s around the world!

BASD, Bangladesh

10th March - 22 June 2012

www.gaiaeducation.net

EDE Ecohabitare, Brazil

13th April – 8th December 2012

www.ecohabitare.com.br

Damanhur Ecovillage, Italy

5th May – 2nd June 2012

www.damanhur.org

Tuwa The Laughing Fish, Philippines

1st – 28th June -2012

www.tuwa.ph

Mama Na Bana Ecovillage and Permaculture

Living & Learning Center, Congo

3rd – 30th June 2012

www.gaiaeducation.net

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, USA

29th June – 5th August 2012

www.ecovillageeducation.us

Siddharth Village, Orissa, India

10th February 2012 – 10th March 2012 (English)

www.siddharthvillage.com

Newly Certified Programmes

� Mama Na Bana Ecovillage

and Permaculture Living &

Learning Center, Congo

� Hallingelille Ecovillage, Denmark

� EDE Paraiso na Terra, Brazil

� Bahia One Drop Solutions, Brazil

� Khula Dhamma, South Africa

� Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Re-Certified Programmes

y Sieben Linden, Germany

y Kibbutz Lotan, Israel

y Son Rul-lan, Spain

y Auroville, India

The Park, FindhornForres IV36 3TZMorayshire, ScotlandUnited Kingdom

administrator@gaiaeducation.netphone: +44 1309 692011

Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in Scotland No 353967Scottish Charity No SC040839

www.gaiaeducation.net

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