Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People (Paperback)

by Hildur Jackson (Editor), Karen Svensson (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Ecovillage Living is a full-color guide to everything you've always wanted to know about ecovillages, from the people behind them to the tools to make them happen. If you have ever dreamed of natural housing, to know your neighbors, and a more harmonious lifestyle then this is the book for you. This is an unprecedented how-to and why account of ecovillage living, and a vibrant story of people spearheading a lifestyle that is rapidly becoming a new global culture. Here, you will find articles and interviews with ecological builders, water treatment experts, ecovillage designers, mediators, permaculturists, spiritual thinkers, localization activists, and other ecovillage pioneers from around the world. Ecovillage Living is built around the ecological, social, and cultural-spiritual dimensions of ecovillages, each of which is subdivided into five core elements. It displays inspiring, colorful pictures and full-page photo galleries of ecovillages around the globe, visual testimonies to their richness and diversity. The book also provides an extensive list of related resources and contacts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Green Books (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903998166
• ISBN-13: 978-1903998168
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #461,708 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nature Has No Reset Buttons, December 8, 2002

By	J.W.K (Nagano, Japan) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Finally, it has arrived. I've been waiting for this book for a long time. As an environmental philosopher, I have come to believe that ecovillages (or urban villages - the Global Ecovillage Network doesn't distinguish) are our only hope for survival on this planet. And this is the best book available on the subject.

A quick glance at modern society shows many signs of cultural and economic stress: including war, militarization, gun violence, media violence, over-consumption of resources, overpopulation, failing democracy, money in politics, monopolization, sexual inequality, racism, inadequate health care, rising crime rates, advertisement glut, commercialized education, materialism, community fragmentation, work-related stress, mass layoffs, poverty, and a mass sense of alienation - from self, other and nature.

Signs of biological stress in the natural world are even more daunting. Fisheries are collapsing, forests are shrinking, rangelands are deteriorating, soils are eroding, species are disappearing, global temperatures are rising, rivers are draining dry, water tables are falling, the ozone layer is depleting, more destructive storms are brewing, the polar ice caps are melting and sea level is rising (see ECO-ECONOMY for details on the eco-crisis). It is in this context that Chris Bright's warning rings ominous: "Nature has no reset buttons."

Trapped in the confines of global economic corporatism, we must ask, Could it be that the fundamental design of society is flawed? Are large nation-states and even larger corporations conducive to ecological and cultural health? How about wage labor and the monetary system in general? How do we go about creating unique and beautiful communities without inequality, hunger, insecurity, want - and without killing the planet? In a word, how can we live the Good Life? Is it possible?

The answer to all of these problems is the same, and you will find them in this book. Ecovillages are the answer! In this book you can expect to find a great collection of photographs, wonderful charts and graphs, maps, people profiles, design layouts, philosophical perspectives and the historical background of the ecovillage movement. There is no better book on the subject, and no more important subject for the new millennium. How else will homo sapiens reach homeostasis on this planet? If you can think of a way, please send me an email.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Coming of Age of a Movement, October 24, 2002

By	Russ Purvis (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This book has the same potential for impacting global society as Bill Mollison's seminal work, "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual"! In fact, "Ecovillage Living" adds the human dimension to permaculture. As permaculture was a new word and espoused an alternative harmonious world view, based on a natural order and relatedness, "Ecovillage" has now been retrieved from the banality of contemporary "Green" suburban marketing slogans. An acceptable standard for "Ecovillage" has now been defined in all of it's wonderful, practical, complexity. "Ecovillage Living" comes from the source, Hildur Jackson, one of the founders of the Ecovillage Movement.

Like a well cut diamond, "Ecovillage Living's" beauty is multi-faceted. It could be a textbook for the wealth of data, practical real life examples, and additional resources presented. The remarkable compilation of photographs and renderings,takes the reader to many of the 15,000 sites and into the hearts and minds of the movement. This visual variety and global context easily translates into a coffee table icon, that could stimulate dreams into action. In a more personal vein it could be seen as a personal diary/contemporary record of an increasing number of people on six continents that sense their need to reconnect with the planet and each other. It's a diary/record of their dreams manifested, and invites others to join them!

As former President of Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity,Inc., a "Green" builder and developer, and an aspiring Ecovillage occupant, it's a pleasure to give "Ecovillage Living" my highest recommendation.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful book, February 26, 2003

By	garten (Österreich) - See all my reviews

I have never heard of ecovillages before and it seems to be the perfect idea. The book consists of articles about and by different people about different ecovillages around the globe. I am fascinated how many aspects there are to ecological cultural and social living. There is lot of pictures of "green" houses and maps of some villages, also there is emailadresses and a lot of recources. I just started reading but I know that this is definitly the most important book I found in a long, long time.