THE TRANSITION IS UNDERWAY.

At this point in time it might not seem very likely that there could be a transition from industrial-affluent-consumer society to The Simpler Way. However over the last three decades there has emerged a Global Eco-Village Movement (broadly defined) in which many people are moving to values, ways and actual settlements which more or less take the form outlined in The Alternative, Sustainable Society. (This is a society in which lifestyles are non-affluent, there are highly self-sufficient local economies, control is mostly via local participatory and cooperative arrangements, and there is a new economy containing a large non-monetary sector and without any growth.).

The following extract (from Chapter 4 of What Should We Do? Build Eco-Villages!, Ted Trainer) indicates the magnitude and scope of the Movement (early in 2000). Many people are surprised and greatly encouraged to find how much is happening, at an accelerating rate.

It is too early to tell whether this Movement will grow into a wholesale transformation of society, but it could and it is very important that we should work hard to bring this about. The argument in What Should We Do? Build Eco-Villages! is that by far the most important contribution we can make to the solution of global problems is to help the Eco-Village Movement to flourish.

For a discussion of several issues to do with desirable social change and the best action strategies, see Chapter. 5 of What Should We Do? Build Eco-Villages! Basic themes are summarised in Contributing to the Transition.

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Chapter 4. THE PRESENT SCOPE OF THE MOVEMENT.

The purpose of this chapter is to make clear that there is underway a considerable Global Eco-village Movement containing many people who are working for transition to the sort of social forms outlined in the previous chapter. These initiatives are quite diverse and most do not seem to be following any explicitly "revolutionary" philosophy, but they can all be seen as part of a radically new worldview and social movement aimed at building alternatives to industrial-affluent-consumer society. The movement includes many elements and initiatives that I am not concerned with, such as a drug culture and aspects of "New Age spirituality". My focus is on those elements which are about he building of a new society of the kind outlined in Chapter 3.

Two aspects of the movement deserve comment, firstly the evidence of an emerging global shift in ideas and values, and secondly an indication of the many practical developments underway within the Global Eco-village Movement.

Evidence for a paradigm shift.

Over the past two decades many have argued that we are experiencing the development of a new world view or paradigm. It can be seen underlying the rise of the green parties. "Green politics a can be interpreted as a challenge to the pervasive ideology of acquisitive materialism in Western countries." (Rainbow , 1993, p. xiii.) The first Green Party, the New Zealand Values Party, contested the 1972 election on an platform rejecting some of the fundamental assumptions and values of industrial society. More recently European Green Parties, most obviously the German Greens, have seriously questioned industrialism, affluence, modern technology, centralisation and economic growth. Porritt has claimed the emergence of Green Politics as the most important political development since socialism. Bahro stated the task of the German Greens is "...to stop industrial society. In his opinion "The era of modernity has been a historical aberration." (Rainbow, 1993, p. 129.)

Rainbow lists as elements in this paradigm shift the understanding that a) all things are related and that situations and problems must be seen as wholes, b) materialism, affluence, acquisition, waste, individualism, competition, centralisation, bureaucracy and technology are serious problems, c) control by elites, authorities or experts is undesirable and should be replaced by participation and people power, and d) means must be morally acceptable. He identifies this as a call for "a softer society". (Rainbow, 1993, p. 15.)

Among the works, individuals and organisations involved in the new paradigm we can list Capra’s The Turning Point (1982), with its emphasis on the distinction between mechanical and atomistic perspectives on the one hand and organic and holistic perspectives on the other, Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade (1990), which claimed that we are moving from "dominator" culture to "partnership" culture, Galbraith’s The Age of Uncertainty (1977), Drucker’s The Age of Discontinuity, (1969), Toffler’s The Third Wave (1981), Elgin and LeDrew’s Global Consciousness Change, (1997.), Naisbett’s Megatrends (1990), and the "New Age" and Acquarian phenomena. The fact that some of these include mystical and irrational elements is not important here; the point is that even these can be seen as part of a fundamental disenchantment with industrial-affluent society and its values and premises, and a turning to other goals, including less material and more spiritual concerns.

The Deep Ecology movement, broadly defined, must be included in the list. Naess puts the paradigm shift in terms of a move from "technocentrism" to "ecocentriusm". (Naess, 1989, p. 16. See also Sessions, 1995.) Ife sees an emerging global green movement focused on sustainability, steady-state economics, decentralisation, participation, community control, local economics, self-sufficiency, cooperation, low consumption and a global perspective. (Ife, 1991.)

Even in the 1970s Inglehart (1976, 1995) claimed world wide survey evidence showed that a paradigm shift from industrial-consumer values was underway, including change from concern with scarcity and growth to security and the environment, from centralisation, large scale and hierarchy to participation, and against belief in science and technology as sources of progress. Plimer (1989) comes to similar conclusions especially regarding change from belief in "unparalleled growth" to "growing sense of limits", and from concern with high living standards to concern with better quality of life.

The Voluntary Simplicity movement, initiated by Elgin’s book with that title published in the early 1980s, now involves a journal and various themes to do with "downsizing your lifestyle". (Elgin,1981.) More recently Elgin (1997) argues that a new global culture has begun, claiming that 10% of Americans are now exploring Voluntary Simplicity. Birrell describes a similar shift in Sweden, in a report entitled From Growth to Sustainability. (Birrell, 1989.) Schwarz and Schwarz say "Voluntary Simplicity is one of the top trends of the nineties. By the year 2000, fifteen percent of people in their thirties and forties...will be part of the ‘simplicity’ market..." (Schwarz and Schwarz, 1998, p. 10.) "In a random survey of 800 people taken in 1995, 28% had downshifted -- voluntarily cut back income over the last five years...82% agreed that ...we buy and consume far more than we need." (p. 11.) They quote a study which found that "...one person in eight had either taken a crucial step towards downshifting or was thinking of doing so." (p. 25.)

Pusey’s study of middle Australia found that there is considerable discontent with the preoccupation with greed and consumerism. (Eckersley, 1999.) Mackay finds increasing desire for a simpler less materialistic life among Australians. (Eckersley, 1999.) In 1995 a report by Young and Balance arrived at a similar conclusion for the US. High priority was put on having more time, less stress and a sense of contributing. Only 1 in 5 put high priority on more material possessions. (Eckersley, 1999.) These studies indicate ambivalence and confusion, with attraction to material prosperity but an increasing questioning of it as well. Milbrath refers to a study yielding "...solid evidence that a new paradigm is emerging. He labels this "...a New Environmental Paradigm in which consciousness of limits to growth is central." (1989, p. 118.)

Central within the new paradigm is the notion of participation and grass roots control. Korten talks about a rise of "people centred development". (Korten, 1990.) Edwards and Holme (1996) say, "...the emerging world order is...some form of grass-roots self-reliance and self-empowerment." Schuurman refers to "...a growing demand for a people-centred development." (Schuurman, 1993, p. 214.)

Two more areas where the transition in thinking is apparent are firstly to do with the increasing interest in local economic development, regional economic self-sufficiency, town economic renewal and local currencies, and secondly to do with the critical literature on Third World Development. Although these represent radical changes in thinking they are better discussed in the next section where action and projects are considered.

Although a minor phenomenon at present, it can be confidently predicted that this paradigm shift will accelerate in coming years given the pace at which the globalisaztion of the economy will make it painfully obvious to more and more people that the old values and systems will not provide well for all.

Building new systems.

Much more impressive than the evidence of a change in world view is the growth of alternative settlements and systems. As Ife says, "At the grassroots level...increasing numbers of people in different countries are experimenting with community-based alternatives, such as local economic systems, community-based education, housing co-operatives...a community-based strategy based on principles of ecology and social justice is already emerging, as a result of the initiative of ordinary people at grass-roots level, who are turning away from mainstream structures..." (Ife, 1995, p. 99.)

According to Norberg-Hodge, "Around the world, people are building communities that attempt to get away from the waste, pollution, competition, and violence of contemporary life. (Norberg-Hodge, 1996, p. 405.) The agency she has founded, the International Society for Ecology and Culture, works in Ladakh to reinforce local economies and its video Local Futures, is an inspiring illustration of what is being done in many parts of the world.

The New Economic Foundation in London works to promote local economic development, with a special interest in bujilding local quality of life indicators and in establishing local currencies. Schroyer"s book Towards a World That Works (1997) documents many alternative community initiatives. "Everywhere people are waking up to the realities of their situation in a globalising economy and are beginning to recognise that their economies’ resources and socio-political participations must be regrounded in their local and regional communities." (p. 225) "Everywhere social and economic structures are re-emerging in the midst of the market system that are spontaneously generated social protections to normatively re-embed the market..." "It is no exaggeration to say that local communities everywhere are on the front lines of what might well be characterised as World War III." (p. 229.) "It is a contest between the competing goals of economic growth to maximise profits for absentee owners vs creating healthy communities that are good places for people to live." (p. 230.) "In Britain, over 1.5 million people now take regular part in a rainbow economy of community economic initiatives." (New Internationalist, 1996, p. 27.)

Friberg and Hettne (1985) argue that two main groups are behind the emergence of self reliant communities, viz., those holding "post materialist" values, and those who have been marginalised, such as the unemployed and the Third World poor.

In Living Lightly Schwarz and Schwarz discuss the many alternative settlements they visited on a recent world tour. They say that these people "...hope that the tiny islands of better living which they inhabit will provide examples which will eventually supplant the norms of unfettered capitalism which rule us today. Their hope is not in revolution but in persuasion by example." ( p. 2.) "What is new is that small groups of Living Lightly people are now part of an articulate and increasingly purposeful global culture which promotes values that run counter to those of the mainstream." (p. 2.) "They think the empire will eventually disintegrate...In anticipation of that collapse islands of refuge must be prepared." (p. 3.) Living Lightly people "...can only hope to prevail through their own example and the gradual erosion of the dominant system through local initiatives that exchange high living standards for a high quality of life." (p. 165.) Living Lightly people "...are in revolt against the emerging global economy and want to set up viable local alternatives." (p. 150.)

The following pages are not intended to give a representative summary of what is happening in the eco-village movement. Rather, a number of specific examples and cases are briefly noted in order to indicate the nature and scope of the movement.

In the rich countries.

One large category of these developments is to do with "intentional rural communities". Since the 1960s many of these have been established, especially in rich countries. More than 600 are listed in the US Communities Directory, (2000). Many are inspiring examples of highly self-sufficient economies in which people live very cheaply and cooperatively and ensure for each other a high quality of life with very low environmental costs. (Trainer, 1995a, Chapter 18, Schwarz and Schwarz, 1998.) (In fact these communities typically devote much time and effort to restoring their local ecosystems.) This relatively communal way of life might not suit the majority of people and it is not the case that all ecovillages must take this form. It should be understood as only one of a wide variety of more sustainable forms of settlement. In other words, the eco-village concept is much broader than the intentional rural commune, including settlements which provide for more private ownership of property, and potentially embracing existing towns and suburbs. Many eco-villages are now functioning or are being established and a formal international organisation exists, the Global Eco-village Network, with regional branches in Europe, the USA, Asia and Oceania. Newsletters are published, conferences organised and new villages established. In 199 Global Eco-village Network published a booklet summarising 20 Ecovillages. Another booklet in 1999 describes 57 notable examples presently functioning or being developed in Europe. (Grindhdeim and Kennedy, 1999.) The 2000 edition will list over 300.

The typical features within eco-villages includes recycling of all water and wastes, collection of all or a high proportion of energy and water used, ecologically benign building designs and materials, production of food, solar passive house design, cooperative procedures, committees, town meetings, high levels of cooperation and mutual concern, participatory community control of settlement affairs, and the existence or creation of enterprises serving the community. One of the best known and promising settlements of this kind is the Australian Crystal Waters Permaculture Village which is now 20 years old and has 80 homes, guest accommodation, and a village centre.

A demonstration Eco-village is being developed in Russia on a 166 ha site including an abandoned village which is being restored. There is an Eco-village being built on an 11 acre site in the middle of Los Angeles, which includes 4 acres of gardens. Around 80% of paid work required by residents and about 40% of food is planned to be provided from within the site. Only 10% of water used will have to be imported. (Arkin, , p. 41.)

An important element in the general alternative settlement movement is the rise of urban agriculture. The United Nation’s now acknowledges the rapid development of urban agriculture and its crucial importance in coping with the growth of Third World cities. The extensive scope for food and materials production in cities comes as a surprise to many. However there are large areas of unused land in cities, such as derelict industrial sites, let alone the parks, hospital grounds, railway edges, nature strips etc that can be used for food production. In one study of 86 American cities the area available, including vacant lots, derelict factories, land beside railways, school grounds, parks etc. was found to be almost sufficient to feed the people in those cities. (Nicholson-Lord, 1987.)

Cohousing is another element in the overall movement. This involves clustering new housing to enable more land to be put into productive uses, and to enable sharing of facilities and therefore considerable reduction in resource use. In one case sharing of laundries reduced the need for washing machines by 90%. (McCammant and Darrant,1988.)

One of the most widely adopted initiatives has been LETS. (Local Employment and Trading System.) This enables people to begin working for each other and trading even though they have no conventional money, thereby stimulating the development of a local economy. There are several hundred members of the Australian Blue Mountains LETSystem . There are many other monetary and financial systems in operation whereby communities invent or print their own currencies. (Many are reviewed in Douthwaite, 1996.) There are also alternative banking systems through which communities ensure that their local savings will be available only to local people and firms, thereby guaranteeing that their capital will be used to develop the town or suburb in desirable ways. Elected board make loans according to principles voted on by the townspeople. South Shore Bank is America’s oldest community bank, servicing a deprived Chicago area. It now employs 350 people and has enabled the establishment or survival of 8000 small firms. There are many more or less related agencies, with titles such as the Institute for Local Self Reliance, the National Congress for Community Economic Development, The Urban Cooperative Block Project. There are more than 2000 Community Development Corporations functioning within the US on self-help local development, primarily for low income groups. (Garr, 1995, Bruyn and Meehan, 1987.) In 1995 President Clinton allocated $380 million for community banks in poor areas. (Fourth World Review, 1996, p. 13.)

The United Town Organisation works to establish national associations of towns and local groups, claiming that "...there is a world wide counter movement toward local autonomy." The Town Meeting initiative is based on the conviction that "...a growing grassroots movement sees the future of the US in self-reliance and home town development." The Federation of Egalitarian Communities links many groups across the US who hold land in common and take responsibility for the welfare of members, distribute output according to need and control their own affairs via participatory procedures. "...we want to help more people to discover the advantages of a communal alternative..." The US National Congress of Community Economic Development includes many non-government agencies working to build low cost housing and to establish small firms. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has worked in more than 100 US towns and cities since 1973.

In the early 1980s the decline of towns in Finland led to the Village Action project which by 1992 had grown to involve 2800 village committees. Their concern is to take collective action to improve the town and to build community self-sufficiency. Working groups build and restore community facilities. Economic growth is explicitly rejected as a goal. (Paietila, 1993.) In Sweden 5 ecovillages exist and another 50 to 60 are being planned. (Fritz, 1995, p. 231-233.)

Most if not all of these groups would see themselves as anything but revolutionary. Many are simply trying to organise more satisfactory living conditions for themselves within a system they are not consciously challenging fundamentally. Some are assisted by the state. They could be seen as instruments the state uses to placate potentially angry disadvantaged communities and to keep people within and sympathetic to the social system that has impoverished them in the first place. However this does not dint their revolutionary potential because irrespective of motives these ventures are in fact taking the first steps in the direction of radically alternative ways and systems. To some extent they all involve local people in using their own resources to build some degree of local cooperative and participatory economic self-sufficiency based on some understanding that if they don’t look after themselves no one else will. At this stage most of these ventures are typically not accompanied by the sort of critical global consciousness required, but the crucial point is that they have begun to travel the right road whether they know it or not. ( Among the important work for us to do is to try to help them develop that consciousness; see below.)

Another category of initiatives has emerged within the welfare system. Many individuals and groups struggling on inadequate resources to provide for the unemployed, homeless children, prisoners, old people, addicts, refugees, victims of domestic violence and people recovering from psychological problems have based their activities on community gardens and workshops enabling self sufficiency and communal living. These provide participants with useful work, experience of community, a sense of making an important contribution, an opportunity to learn social and practical skills and an opportunity to produce to meet food and other needs directly. The video entitled The Homeless Garden Project shows how great the intangible benefits can be, including restored sense of self worth. (The Homeless Garden Project, P. O. Box 617, Santa Cruz, CA 95061.)

Possibly the best known town that is pioneering alternative ways in rich countries is Maleny in southern Queensland, Australia. Over the past 20 years 16 cooperatives have been set up, including a credit union (town bank), business incubator, publishing enterprise, youth club and community radio station. A community development fund and a community insurance fund have been established through voluntary taxes. There are several social, leisure and cultural cooperative groups, including groups for arts, film and theatre. By 1993 the bank had lent $14 million, in a tiny region with only around 9000 people, enabling the creation of 33 businesses. There are skills registers, a LETS and recycling businesses at the local rubbish tip. Some entire alternative communities, including Crystal Waters, have been set up near Maleny funded by the Credit union, thereby avoiding borrowing from normal banks. Many people work part time; they will tell you "We are far too busy to work for money." The region now has an unusually low unemployment rate. (Its main problems are to do with the population growth generated by people attracted to settle within the area. ) Many are looking to Maleny as an emerging model for the way towns can move towards sustainable forms. (Douthwaite, 1996, Schwarz and Schwarz, 1998.) It would seem fair to say that Maleny’s success has been due to a number of somewhat unconnected and uncoordinated initiatives. The focal concern in Chapter 6 below is to work towards a strategy whereby a town Community Development Collective can take a coordinated and wholistic approach to building a new economy.

No part of the overall transition has been more significant than the Permaculture movement. (Mollison, 1989, 1991.) Permaculture is an approach to the design of settlements which minimises the need for external or artificial inputs while maximising yields, permanence and ecological sustainability. Landscapes are carefully planned so that all available productive niches are filled with plants, animals and self-maintaining systems (e.g., for water catchment, fire protection, wind protection, cooling, leisure, providing animal fodder) that will meet many food, material and social needs. Especially important are tree crops, (eliminating fuel use and erosion losses from ploughing), recycling nutrients, and the researching of the most resilient and productive plants for specific localities The Permaculture movement has recently had its twentieth birthday and now more than 5000 people have passed through its courses. Its basic principles are foundational to the Global Ecovillage Movement since its focus is on ways whereby backyards and settlements can become highly self-sufficient.

Some reference should also be made here to the alternative technology groups. As well as promoting the well known renewable energy forms, these groups are increasing the use of very cheap and effective building methods, such as earth and straw bales, and sewage recycling, e.g., via composting toilets and reedbeds. The best known alternative technology demonstration site, The Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, has been functioning for more than 20 years, has some 25 people living on and staffing the site, and has more than 50,000 visitors each year. Again these are in general not overtly politically radical organisations but by increasing understanding of the alternative technologies they are building the store of skills and outlooks that are crucial for the growth of the local self-sufficiency movement.

In the Third World.

Possibly even more impressive than developments in rich countries are those in the Third World where many have long since realised that conventional development will never solve their problems. (Trainer, 1995a.) There is now a large development literature dealing with this recognition and the attempts to pioneer a "people-centred" development strategy which makes local resources available to local people to devote directly to meeting their needs via relatively simple systems and standards under their own control. (Trainer, 1995a.) The basic principle is of course not new, owing much to Gandhi, but it can be argued that we are witnessing a surge of interest in it now given the failure of conventional development. "...a new pattern of development is taking place at community and village level in rural areas of he Third World. In the spirit of self-reliance, numerous 'grassroots' groups have decided to take charge of their own development in rural villages throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia. (Schneider, 1988, p. xi.) Similar generalisations and cases are given by Galtung, (1980, p. 162), Shiva, et al, (1997), Rist, Rahnema and Esteva, (1992), Holmberg and Timberlake, (1991), Burkey, (1993), Ekins, (1992, pp. 100-108), Chopra, (1989), Lang and Hines, (1993), Ife, (1995, p. 95), Page, (1995), Craig, (1995), Higginbotham, (1995), Goldsmith, (1998), Esteva and Prakash, (1996), Amon, (1994), Korten, (1990), Human Settlements Program, (1994), Rich, (1994), Pereira and Seabrook, (199,) Marglen, (1998), Elgin and LeDrew, (1997).

The magnitude of the movement is suggested by a table Brown presents indicating thousands of grassroots organisations in several countries, e.g., an estimated 12,000 organisations in India 8,000 villages in Sri Lanka , and 100,000 Christian Base Communities in Brazil. (Brown 1989, p. 157.) He describes Indian mobilisation of "...massive work teams to do everything from building road networks to draining malarial ponds...." (p. 156.) Green says "...local communities all over sub-Saharan Africa are forming self-reliance groups to eliminate hunger and save their environments by diversifying cereal, fruit and vegetable crops and building community fields, village granaries, and anti-salination structures. No one knows how many groups there are. In Kenya alone figures of 16,000 to 25,000 groups have been quoted." (1990, p. 49.)

Mies and Shiva give a similar account of self-reliant village development in Maharashtra, saying that throughout India there are "... many thousands of examples of alternative practice." (1993, p. 160.) These movements "...radically reject the industrialised countries' prevailing model of capitalist-patriarchal development. ...they...want to preserve their subsistence base intact, under their own control."

A similar account of the Zapatistas approach to local development is given in the Fourth World Bulletin, 3, 2. (1990, p. 49.) The Zapatistas strenuously reject integration into mainstream Mexican society and are fighting for local autonomy and self-government. "The Zapatista model may well be the model for a new world order..."

Mies and Shiva say the people who "...actively participate in such movements radically reject the industrialised countries’ prevailing model of capitalist-patriarchal development...they want to preserve their subsistence base intact, under their own control." They discuss the resolutions of the 1989 African conference entitled Alternative Development Strategies which endorsed "...people-centred development, planned disengagement from international capitalism, regional food self-sufficiency, development from below, concentration on small and medium sized enterprises, and self-reliance. They conclude that "...catching up development ...is neither possible nor desirable." (Mies and Shiva, 1993;, p. 302.)

Possibly most impressive of all is the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka which involves some 3 million people and 7000 full time employees in 8000 villages in communal efforts to meet basic needs using local resources and simple technologies. (Ekins, 1992, p. 100.)

Esteva and Prakash (1996) say many Third World people are "delinking", they are "...starting to protect themselves ...by rooting themselves more firmly in their soils, their local commons, cultural spaces that belong to them and to which they belong." They refer to "a proliferation of localised initiatives." (1996, p. 25.) Foutopoulos says, "... a whole series of recent initiatives and struggles have developed in both the South and the North, which represent...attempts by local people to reclaim the political process and to re-orient it within the local community." (1997, p. 133.)

Most of these initiatives are small but Auroville and Ananda Nargar are very large scale developments in India, within the general eco-village model. Auroville extends over 2600 acres and includes many villages. Some of the most impressive pictures I have ever seen are of Auroville land initially little more than red sand but 20 years later heavily forested after the planting of literally millions of trees. Ananda Nargar is more like a city. It covers 110 square km, has 23 agricultural research centres, many large biogas generators, 65 bee keeping operations and many industries including building, food, clothing, medicines and paper.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the potential significance of the shift taking place in Cuba towards alternative agricultural strategies. With the downfall of the USSR Cuba lost its sugar export market and therefore has since been unable to import fuel for agriculture. It has been forced to facilitate local and urban agriculture along Permaculture lines, especially using minimal inputs of energy and artificial fertilisers, and developing small scale localised systems. There are now hundreds of community gardens and commons in Havana. There is also a very poor town in Ecuador that has planted 1500 fruit trees along its streets. (International Permaculture Journal, 44, 5.) Permaculture teams have assisted in the establishment of these projects. The development of alternative agriculture in Cuba could be one of the most significant developments in the history of the Third World because if these initiatives succeed they will demonstrate to oppressed people everywhere that there is an alternative path to conventional growth and trickle down development, one that is not a form of capitalist development independent of transnational corporations etc., but one that conceives of development in terms of local people meeting local needs.

As with the initiatives in the rich world, most of these Third World developments are not clearly based on any crtitical theory. In fact most hardly involve any theory at all. Rist says, "These many ways of rejecting ‘development’ do not add up to ac ‘theory’ that could be contrasted to others..." (Rist, 1997, p. 245.) Yet most are contributing to a potentially highly subversive movement.n They involve people a) cooperatively b) using the resources around themselves to c) develop simple arrangements that will d) enable them to produce for themselves most of the things they need for asatisfactory quality of life. The core concept is the highly self-sufficient and cooperagive village existing in a sustainable relationship with its local environment. All these elements flatly contradict capitalist development.

The main problems with the Eco-village Movement.

It is now important to switch from eulogising the Eco-village Movement to criticising it. My argument has been that the Movement is of the utmost importance since it gives us our best hope of avoiding global catastrophe. The responsibility this puts on the Movement is therefore huge. Yet at this point in time the Global Eco-village Movement falls short of having recognised and taken up that responsibility as effectively as it should have. It is extremely important that we within the Movement should work hard to sharpen its focus and purpose

It is not important that the movement, given the very wide definition I am taking, includes many who the mainstream would regard as dropouts, drug abusers and no-hopers, and many who hold dubious "New Age" beliefs. In my experience many within the Movement also often exhibit a debilitating sloppiness and "mush-mindedness". We should recognise that the Movement includes many people who are unable to cope with the consumer rat race and who have been damaged by it. It is therefore not surprising that most social theorists, especially those on the Left, quickly dismiss the alternative lifestyle realm as having no significance in the quest for desirable social change. My argument is not in support of everything that can be found within the Eco-village Movement but that central within it are some developments that are of great significance with respect to the development of a sustainable world order. The following critical comments are addressed to those within the movement who are working on this task.

Firstly the Movement needs to develop a more unified, clear and forceful theoretical position. Above all it should become more consciously radical and political in its outlook. It is at present essentially a practical movement, wherein many people have simply begun to practice and experiment with ways that seem to them to be more desirable in terms of the experienced quality of life. As Esteva and Prakash says, "...most of the people who are really making a difference are not interested in theories of social transformation and in fact are unaware of them. The activists are merely solving local problems with local resources." (1997, p. 4.) The movement needs to become clearer about what its core principles and goals are, and to recognise and assert their politically radical nature. lt urgently needs to integrate and to give more attention to Left analyses of existing society, and the impossibility of reconciling the eco-village concept with anything like a capitalist economy. Yet many within the movement at present do not want to think in these terms.

Secondly, when we look at actual structure and functioning of particular ecovillages it becomes evident that many do not go anywhere near far enough. All embrace some obviously relevant and desirable principles, especially to do with Permaculture design, local food production, alternative technologies, community, spiritual values and ecologically consciousness. But many are far from satisfactory in the extent to which they involve and emphasise the most crucial and difficult core commitments, notably simpler lifestyles, development of highly self-sufficient local economies both within the village and within the surrounding region, collective productive procedures such as community working bees, development of commons, development of the non-cash economy, and explicit rejection of consumer society, of globalisation and of an economy driven by profit, market forces and growth. (My article "Towards a checklist for eco-village development", Trainer,1998b, is an attempt to get the Eco-village movement to focus on these themes.)

We also need to work outside our settlements to build highly self-sufficient local economies. We can't produce everything we need within the Ecovillage. A sustainable society cannot import fridges and radios from the other side of the planet. It is not much good having a perfect Eco-village that exists within and gets its supplies from a surrounding economy that continues to be driven by market forces, profit, growth and corporate greed. Thus the most difficult task ahead of us is not building intentional communities but finding out how to slowly transform the existing towns and suburbs of consumer society into thriving, highly self-sufficient local economies. Eco-villagers are in the best position to work on this crucial task within their surrounding regions.
 
 

Evidence in support of these claims is easily marshalled from the Global Eco-village Network’s publications. For example a recent statement by the President entitled "What is an Eco-village?" makes no reference to any of the elements I claim above to be crucial. (Kennedy, 1999.) In the accounts of five ecovillages then given the focus is on the development of harmonious and cooperative community but again there is little or no reference to living simply or building self sufficient economies in the community or the region, let alone scrapping the capitalist economy.

The same general picture emerges from a tally off elements mentioned in the recent Directory of Eco-villages in Europe (Birkland and Kennedy, 1999) which outlines 57 eco-villages. A tally of elements referred to in the entries shows considerable reference to environmental sustainability, ecologically acceptable building design and materials, food production, community and spiritual values, but very little reference to living simply, commons and communal productive arrangements like working bees, or developing economic self-sufficiency. Finally, reference should be made to GEN’s Eco-village Self Audit Check List which sets out 24 items in 5 groups. These define settlements which are far more sustainable and satisfactory than the norm in consumer society, being especially strong on community and mutual care, self government, alternative technologies and ecologically acceptable design principles. But again there is no reference to living simply, the development of highly self-sufficient economies within eco-villages and in the surrounding regions, or to commons and working bees. There are sections on vision and commitment, but no reference to contributing to transition to a sustainable world order. The checklist does not indicate priorities. The argument in Chapter 3 above is that emphasis must be put on a few basic principles such as trying to live simply and in relatively self-sufficient communities and working for the transition from consumer society. Most eco-villages seem to put most emphasis on the physical and environmental design elements, while either neglecting what ought to be the top priorities or not giving the emphasis they should have.

In my experience there is within the Global Ecovillage Movement in general a considerable concern with the core principles in what I have described in Chapter 3 as The Simpler Way. But a glance at GEN publications and statements supports my claim that there is far from sufficient emphasis on them.

Finally, we need a much greater sense of enthusiasm and urgency, determination and commitment to the cause. Far too many people within the movement are too relaxed and easy going. Many are downright self-indulgent, enjoying their liberation from the consumer rat race without making a significant effort to contribute to social change. In general the alternative lifesltyle and intentional communities movements have fallen far short of making the effort that is appropriate. Again the stakes are extremely high; the fate of billions of people and of the entire biosphere depends greatly on whether or not we get the mainstream to grasp that The Simpler Way has to be taken. If the above predictions regarding the future availability of petroleum are correct we probably only have 20 years to do the job. Those in the best position to tackle it are the people who live in the alternative way. Yet they have not thrown themselves into the task with anything like the required energy.

Conclusion.

This chapter has given no more than a rough indication of the many organisations and projects now practising and living to some extent within the new paradigm. All of these have come into existence within less than twenty-five years. There are now many people in small groups attempting to build societies of the required form, or particular aspects of The Simpler Way. They are not highly visible so most people do not realise the scope the movement has taken on. It is no longer just a movement about ideas, possibilities and utopian dreams. We now have many sites where ordinary people, as distinct from governments, corporations or officials, are actually building and experimenting with more sustainable ways and settlements. (Douthwaite, 1996, Schwarz and Schwarz, 1998.) We have now actually gone beyond beginning the building and have entered the next phase where the experience gained from these trials is being reviewed. For example Richard Douthwaite’s Short Circuit (1996) is a 400 page description and critical evaluation of alternative economic initiatives to do with local a currencies, banks, food and energy production. Editions are now being prepared in France, Germany, North America, New Zealand and Australia. Before long we should be able to draw on the accumulating experience to write the guide books that will enabled communities to follow tried and tested strategies.

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