What is the EEE-project?
The Exploring European Ecovillage-project (EEE-project) started with a great interest in sustainability and how we can live more sustainably. Autumn 2018, AwareAvani visited 12 different ecovillages around Europe, and conducted several interviews with residents. The idea was to explore a variety of different European ecovillages, and to share the findings through a documentary. The documentary was released in 2022. Watch it here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/exploringecovillages
Why ecovillages, you may ask? Ecovillages were found to be particularly interesting as they include social, environmental and economic dimensions, as well as local participatory processes. We cheerfully hope the creative approaches of the ecovillages can work as inspiration sources to the great potentials we all have to take action in regard to the many environmental and social challenges of our time.
Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) defines an ecovillage as:
“[…] an intentional, traditional; rural or urban community that is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes in all four dimensions of sustainability (social, culture, ecology and economy) to regenerate their social and natural environments.”
Expeditions
In the documentary, we wish to show the ecovillage diversity. Therefore, we reached out to communities differing from each other in terms of characteristics, focus and practices. The journey took us to ecovillages in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Below you can see a map of the journey.
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A-van-i
For the expedition, we used a van to transport us, and to act as an office and a home. Avani is a Sanskrit girl's name meaning “Earth”, but it also happens to be the name of our van. We would love for Avani to be electric, but this is unfortunately out of our budget. However, we tried to reduce our ecological footprint in other ways, including installing solar panels, insulating with wood fiber and using second hand products.
Map showing the locations of the ecovillages visited
Ecovillages
The ecovillages visited were Hurdal økolandsby (Norway), Utsikten ekoby (Sverige), Solbyn ekoby (Sverige), Dyssekilde økosamfund (Denmark), Friland (Denmark), Sieben Linden (Germany), Mokri Potok (Slovenia), Damanhur (Italy), L'ecovillage Sainte Camelle (France), Lakabe ecoaldea (Spain), Arterra Bizimodu (Spain) and Merkaba (Portugal).
Remember to check our social media channels for updates made througout the journey!