Source
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-07-18/integrated-sustainable-community-ecovillage-design-education/ — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Context: thesis · No NI feeds (shallow ingest)
Summary
Advocacy paper by Daniel Christian Wahl arguing that transformative eco-social literacy education is the prerequisite for a sustainability culture transition. Reviews the Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) curriculum structure (Gaia Education / GEN, UNITAR endorsed, launched 2005) and the Findhorn Community Semester (FCS), and reports on a pilot programme to create university-ecovillage masters programmes in Scotland. Presents ecovillages as “living classrooms” — community-scale laboratories for sustainability education. No original empirical data; EF figures cited from Tinsley & George (2006).
Key thesis insights
- EDE curriculum — four dimensions: Social · Ecological · Economic · Worldview — goes beyond the “triple bottom line” by treating the inner psychological/worldview dimension as a fourth equal domain. Official contribution to UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014. URL_002
- Findhorn Foundation ecological footprint: Wahl states “2.56 gha/person overall (residents 2.71 gha, guests 2.10 gha)” vs UK average 5.4 gha, lower than BedZED (3.2 gha). ⚠ Secondhand figure CORRECTED by the primary (now ingested as LIT_082): Tinsley & George (2006) actually report residents 2.71 (matches), guests 1.15 (not 2.10), and combined 3.86 gha/person (not 2.56) — the “2.56” and “2.10” values do not appear in the report. Use LIT_082’s figures, not Wahl’s. URL_002
- Gilman (1991) canonical ecovillage definition: “a human scale, full-featured settlement, in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world, in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be continued into the indefinite future.” (Primary source now retrieved: URL_025; NB Wahl’s secondhand quote drops “successfully” and reflows the four-part list into prose) URL_002
- Inner/outer sustainability argument: “Sustainability is not a fixed state … it is a community-based process of learning how to participate appropriately in constantly and increasingly rapidly changing social, environmental and economic complexities.” Sustainable technology ‘hardware’ will fail without the psychological/worldview ‘software’. URL_002
- Ecovillages as living classrooms: “laboratories for social, environmental, and technological experiments” — framing for the thesis background on the ecovillage movement’s educational and demonstration role in the sustainability transition. URL_002
Research targets
Documents to retrieve
- [RT_063 — RESOLVED → LIT_082]
Tinsley & George (2006) — Ecological Footprint of the Findhorn Foundation and Community, SDRC — primary source for Findhorn 2.56 gha/person EF figure.Ingested as LIT_082. Primary corrects the secondhand figure: residents 2.71, guests 1.15, combined 3.86 gha/person (not “2.56 / 2.10”). - [RT_064 — RESOLVED → URL_025]
Gilman, Robert (1991) — Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities, In Context Institute — primary source for canonical ecovillage definition (full-featured settlement, harmlessly integrated)Retrieved as URL_025 (actual title: The Eco-village Challenge, In Context #29, Summer 1991).
Connections
Links to
Referenced by
Sources (4): LIT_030 · LIT_082 · URL_004 · URL_025
SSI indicators (1): I09: Environmental Sustainability