In this edition of our newsletter, we celebrate the record number of applications received for the Hildur Jackson Award. We also feature GEN's upcoming online events and webinars, including the launch of the Communities for Future programme in partnership with ECOLISE.
We highlight inspiring messages of connection with spirtuality from Damanhur in Italy, and connection with nature from our GEN Ambassador Amena Bal in India. We take this opportunity to invite you to visit GEN Online Store which includes our new book Cohousing for Life, by Robin Allison. Finally, we invite you to an upcoming event from our partners, including the Collective Trauma Online Summit.
We continue working to catalyze communities. Support us and help ecovillages across the world to overcome the biggest challenge in our history.
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We received a record number of applications for the 2020 edition of the Hildur Jackson Award. 70 projects from 37 countries and across all of the 5 regions will now be evaluated by a jury composed by GEN Advisory Board. The winner will be announced on October 7.
Together with Gaia Trust, GEN developed the Hildur Jackson Award, a €3,000 annual prize that supports and honours projects around the world that demonstrate regenerative best-practices in all dimensions of sustainability. The 2019 winner was ReScope Programme, an international project in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Know more about the Hildur Jackson Award and our past winners in our website.
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GEN Online Events and Webinars
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Two of our trainings are now available on demand, self-paced format: Designing Regenerative Communities and the Journey of Regeneration. We invite you to take a look at our online education platform.
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Launch of Communities for Future programme. Free Online Webinar.
Tuesday, September 22, 14:00-16:00 CEST.
Our partner ECOLISE is launching the Communities for Future programme which values and puts communities and citizens at the centre of the conversation. In this free online webinar, we will hear from successful case studies that have managed to draw together collaborations to shift their local and regional realities. It will highlight the fact that responding successfully to the next phase of the global crises will depend heavily on community engagement. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and be inspired by exchanging in smaller groups.
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 International Colloquium Series on Ecovillages & Resilient Lifestyles
Wednesday, September 23, 16:00-18:00 CEST.
We are pleased to invite you to participate in a Series of Online Colloquiums that GEN Research group is organizing together with The YEEES Project and other partners. The International Colloquium Series on Ecovillages & Resilient Lifestyles will take place from September to December, 2020, once a month, always counting on the participation of a Senior researcher presenting his/her work, followed by a group discussion. Our aim is to exchange experiences, increase data sharing, identify knowledge gaps and opportunities for collaboration, and also to map and systematize research on ecovillages and related topics.
For our first colloquium on September 23, we are honoured to invite Dr. Iris Kunze as guest speaker on the topic of Ecovillage Research and Transformative Social Innovations. Iris Kunze holds a PhD. in geography and sociology. Iris is an expert on social movements, transformative social innovation and sustainable ways of living.
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Greening Schools Free Online Webinar
Tuesday, September 29, 16:00-18:00 CEST.
In partnership with the ReScope Programme, GEN is developing our focus on Schools and Youth and will offer a webinar to explore the learnings from the Greening Schools Green Economy project. We will showcase how schools can apply ecovillage principles in their learning as well as the rich potential for community development through schools.
GEN includes dynamic educators bringing ecovillage principles and methodologies to formal and informal learning environments. This webinar will particularly highlight the approach, methodologies, and results from the experience in Zambia, while drawing parallels with other case studies from the wider network.
We especially invite educators and members of school communities who are interested in integrating regenerative approaches and ecovillage design principles into their learning activities. If you are interested in participating, please contact education@ecovillage.org
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With a small monthly donation, Friends of GEN support GEN’s work at the forefront of a paradigm shift towards a regenerative world - and in the process become more closely involved with communities locally and globally who are building alternatives now.
You can become a Friend and start to receive exclusive benefits that bring you closer to the global ecovillage movement from as little as €5 per month.
Ready to make a difference? Now is the time!
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Highlights from Ecovillages
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The Federation of Damanhur is an ecovillage situated in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. For the first time since the community was founded in 1975, Damanhur will host an online Activation of the Labyrinth in the Temples of Humankind. Join them for a unique virtual experience on September 20, in preparation for the Autumn Equinox. Click here to know more about the First Activation of the Labyrinth in the Temples of Humankind.
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Highlights from GEN Ambassadors
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Amena Bal is a GEN Ambassador that lives in the TI Ecovillage, on the outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The project started in 1995 as an experiment in eco-friendly development. Amena brings us the story of her life at TI Ecovillage and their particular relationship with birds.
My role as GEN ambassador and counsel representative in GENOA is guiding me to support the more subtle aspects of our earth care work and nurture and connect consciously with wild life and their aspirations.
During these surreal, shelter at home times, birds have become my new family. I watch them patiently making nests, drinking and celebrating in community baths; woodpeckers pecking with perseverance, kingfishers darting purposefully around ponds. Observing them has grown wings of deeper awareness and gratitude for their environmental services and role in our whole ecosystem.
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Next to our new Ecovillage Design Cards with its corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched recently, GEN's online store is now offering Robin Allison's new book 'Cohousing for Life’. The initiator of the Earthsong cohousing community and guest speaker of the Regenerative Urban Communities course back in July, writes about her practical and personal story of the Earthsong community and her journey from a lonely mother-of-two in the suburbs to a determined driver of the development of New Zealand’s first cohousing community.
It is a story of a collective endeavour and a heroic journey of despair and triumph which describes the key elements and structures that allowed a diverse group to create a large, innovative housing development. Here you can find ‘Cohousing for Life' and a review of the book in GEN's online store.
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The Collective Trauma Online Summit 2020 is a 10-day free Online Event exploring how to heal personal and collective trauma. Talks by 40+ experts and readings by 10 acclaimed poets. Includes daily live panels and music events. The online event happens from September 22 to October 1. Sign up for free: https://collectivetraumasummit.com/gen
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The European Day of Sustainable Communities is one of ECOLISE's main events. It is a celebration of local communities taking action for an inclusive, regenerative and zero-carbon Europe. The 4th edition of the day takes place on September 19, 2020. Click here to know more and participate.
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The Global Ecovillage Network is partnering with Heartfulness on the International Day of Peace as millions of global citizens are connecting for peace on September 21, 2020. Join us and many other voices of peace to fuel the journey to World Peace. To register, visit heartfulness.org/peaceday
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Gaia Education, UNITAR and the University of Strathclyde present the online course Renewable Energies for Sustainable Development. This online programme will give a comprehensive overview of renewable energy as a means to enable sustainable development at a global scale. It will present the case for how renewable energies represent both an environmental necessity and an economic opportunity. Start date is October 19. Click here to know more and register.
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