Ecovillages

Ecovillages PDF Author: Karen T. Litfin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745681239
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillagesÑintentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. In this inspiring and insightful book, Karen Litfin shares her unique experience of these experiments in sustainable living through four broad windows - ecology, economics, community, and consciousness - or E2C2. Whether we live in an ecovillage or a city, she contends, we must incorporate these four key elements if we wish to harmonize our lives with our home planet. Not only is another world possible, it is already being born in small pockets the world over. These micro-societies, however, are small and time is short. Fortunately - as Litfin persuasively argues - their successes can be applied to existing social structures, from the local to the global scale, providing sustainable ways of living for generations to come. You can learn more about Karen's experiences on the Ecovillages website: http://ecovillagebook.org/

Ecovillages

Ecovillages PDF Author: Karen T. Litfin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0745681239
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book Here

Book Description
In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillagesÑintentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. In this inspiring and insightful book, Karen Litfin shares her unique experience of these experiments in sustainable living through four broad windows - ecology, economics, community, and consciousness - or E2C2. Whether we live in an ecovillage or a city, she contends, we must incorporate these four key elements if we wish to harmonize our lives with our home planet. Not only is another world possible, it is already being born in small pockets the world over. These micro-societies, however, are small and time is short. Fortunately - as Litfin persuasively argues - their successes can be applied to existing social structures, from the local to the global scale, providing sustainable ways of living for generations to come. You can learn more about Karen's experiences on the Ecovillages website: http://ecovillagebook.org/

Sustainability and Communities of Place

Sustainability and Communities of Place PDF Author: Carl A. Maida
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857452843
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The concept of sustainability holds that the social, economic, and environmental factors within human communities must be viewed interactively and systematically. Sustainable development cannot be understood apart from a community, its ethos, and ways of life. Although broadly conceived, the pursuit of sustainable development is a local practice because every community has different needs and quality of life concerns. Within this framework, contributors representing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, law, public policy, architecture, and urban studies explore sustainability in communities in the Pacific, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and North America. Contributors: Janet E. Benson, Karla Caser, Snjezana Colic, Angela Ferreira, Johanna Gibson, Krista Harper, Paulo Lana, Barbara Yablon Maida, Carl A. Maida, Kenneth A. Meter, Dario Novellino, Deborah Pellow, Claude Raynaut, Thomas F. Thornton, Richard Westra, Magda Zanoni

Crisis in the Village

Crisis in the Village PDF Author: Robert Michael Franklin
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451417401
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
Robert M. Franklin provides first-person advice and insight as he identifies the crises resident within three anchor institutions that have played key roles in the black struggle for freedom. Black families face a "crisis of commitment" evident in the rising rates of father absence, births to unmarried parents, divorce, and domestic abuse or relationship violence. Black churches face a "mission crisis" as they struggle to serve their upwardly mobile and/or established middle class "paying customers" alongside the poorest of the poor. Historically black colleges and universities face a crisis of "relevance and purpose" as they now compete for the best students and faculty with the broad marketplace of colleges. With clarity and passion, Franklin calls for practical and comprehensive action for change from within the African American community and from all Americans.

Designing Sustainable Communities

Designing Sustainable Communities PDF Author: Judy Corbett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The movement towards creating sustainable communities has gained increased prominence with approaches such as New Urbanism, yet there are few examples of the successes. This text offers an analysis of one such example: Village Homes outside Davis, California. The area offers features including extensive common areas and green space; community gardens, orchards and vineyeards; narrow streets; pedestrian and bike paths; solar homes; and an innovative ecological drainage system.

Sustainability and Crisis at The Village

Sustainability and Crisis at The Village PDF Author: Kosuke Mizuno
Publisher: UGM PRESS
ISBN: 6023860672
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : id
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Agroforestry here can be regarded as an alternative to enhance production while keeping the ecological and biological balance, following the failure of the “green revolution”. This book attempts to systematically and intensively study agroforestry, especially talun-huma, a combination of slash-and-burn agriculture and productive fallow in a village in Cianjur district, West Java, Indonesia, mainly from the socioeconomic perspective. Its methodology takes the holistic approach and is farmer-centered. The research started in 1998, just a few months after President Soeharto stepped down, ushering in the era of reform and democratization, and lasted until 2007. Agroforestry and rural economy faced with crises such as Asian Monetary Crisis in 1997, agrarian conflicts following Soeharto’s exit, and the decrease in land fertility because of the sharp increase in a particular crop—in this case, banana leaf—in traditional agroforestry. Analysis of the sustainability and crisis in agroforestry are demonstrated both quantitatively and qualitatively, as well as institutionally, in this book. This book demonstrates that the agroforestry—or the economy of an agroforestry village—sustained the economy between 1998 and 2007, helping keep it from going into a standstill when the Indonesian economy was in a slump. It also analyzes the impact of institutional changes, such as liberalization of rice import/export and cooperatives, as well as the reform of the village administration on the socioeconomy, especially agroforestry, in the village. It also examines the agrarian conflicts at the research site, especially the looting of teak in the national forest, as well as micro credit, gender relations, and public works, which are all central to a study of agroforestry’s development. The flexibility of the talun-huma and related agroforestry that can accommodate a great variety of plants, and the fertile soil resulting from a multilayered and often dense canopy of vegetation that protects against soil erosion and leaching have enabled people to plant large numbers of banana-leaf, which considerably boosted the villagers’ earnings. The sharp increase in banana-leaf production since the end of 1990s, however, resulted in the decline of soil fertility—analyzed in this book, which also proposes solutions.

Ecovillages

Ecovillages PDF Author: Jonathan Dawson
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603581162
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description


Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities

Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities PDF Author: Patrick M. Condon
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1597268208
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Questions of how the design of cities can respond to the challenge of climate change dominate the thoughts of urban planners and designers across the U.S. and Canada. With admirable clarity, Patrick Condon responds to these questions. He addresses transportation, housing equity, job distribution, economic development, and ecological systems issues and synthesizes his knowledge and research into a simple-to-understand set of urban design recommendations. No other book so clearly connects the form of our cities to their ecological, economic, and social consequences. No other book takes on this breadth of complex and contentious issues and distills them down to such convincing and practical solutions.

Surviving Collapse

Surviving Collapse PDF Author: Christina Ergas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197544126
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
As major environmental crises loom, Christina Ergas makes the argument in Surviving Collapse that one possible way forward is a radical sustainable development that turns the focus from monetary gain to social and ecological regeneration and transformation. Employing qualitative and cross-national comparative methods, Ergas examines two alternative, community-scale, socioecological models of development: the first is a grassroots urban ecovillage in the Pacific Northwest, United States, while the second is a government-subsidized, but cooperatively run, urban farm in Havana, Cuba. While neither are panaceas, they prioritize social and ecological efficiency and subsume economic rationality towards those ends. Featuring cases that not only allow us to synthesize their strengths but evaluate their weaknesses, Surviving Collapse reveals a multitude of varied paths toward reaching radical urban sustainability and empowers us all to imagine, and possibly build, more resilient futures.

Sustainable Communities

Sustainable Communities PDF Author: Rhonda Phillips
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113504807X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
With a foreword written by Senator Bernie Sanders What is a durable economy? It is one that not only survives but thrives. How is it created, and what does it take to sustain over time? Sustainable Communities provides insight and answers to these questions. Citing Burlington, Vermont's remarkable rise to award-winning status, this book explores the balance of community planning, social enterprise development, energy and environment, food systems and cultural well-being. Aimed at policymakers, development practitioners, students, and citizens, this book describes which and how multiple influences facilitate the creation of a local, durable and truly sustainable economy. The authors hope to inspire others by sharing this story of what can be done in the name of community economic development.

Sustainable Revolution

Sustainable Revolution PDF Author: Juliana Birnbaum
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1583946845
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Urban gardeners. Native seed-saving collectives. Ecovillage developments. What is the connection between these seemingly disparate groups? The ecological design system of permaculture is the common thread that weaves them into a powerful, potentially revolutionary—or reevolutionary—movement. Permaculture is a philosophy based on common ethics of sustainable cultures throughout history that have designed settlements according to nature's patterns and lived within its bounds. As a movement that has been building momentum for the past 40 years, it now is taking form as a growing network of sites developed with the intention of regenerating local ecologies and economies. Permaculture strategies can be used by individuals, groups, or nations to address basic human needs such as food, water, energy, and housing. As a species, humans are being called forth to evolve, using our collective intelligence to meet the challenges of the future. Yet if we are to survive our collective planetary crisis, we need to revisit history, integrating successful systems from sustainable cultures. To boldly confront our position on the brink of the earth's carrying capacity and make changes that incorporate the wisdom of the past is truly revolutionary. Sustainable Revolution features the work of a worldwide network of visionaries, including journalists, activists, indigenous leaders and permaculturists such as David Holmgren, Vandana Shiva, Charles Eisenstein, Starhawk, Erik Assadourian, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Albert Bates, and Geoff Lawton. This beautifully photographed collection of profiles, interviews, and essays features 60 innovative community-based projects in diverse climates across the planet. Edited by anthropologist Juliana Birnbaum Fox and award-winning activist filmmaker Louis Fox, it can be read as an informal ethnography of an international culture that is modeling solutions on the cutting edge of social and environmental change. The research presented in the book frames the permaculture movement as a significant ally to marginalized groups, such as the urban poor and native communities resisting the pressures of globalization. Sustainable Revolution uplifts and inspires with its amazing array of dynamic activists and thriving, vibrant communities.