So I am a freshman at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Ever heard of it? Yeah, I hadn't either until my senior year of high school. It is a small liberal arts college with about 1300 students. Although we are a small campus, we have big dreams and big goals.
Here on campus, I am part of a club called SEAK, which stands for Students for Environmental Activism and Knowledge. What we do is try to promote environmental knowledge on campus and in the community.
Well we recently came up with a huge project. It is called The Eco-Village. Basically, it is a plan to build an alternative living arrangement for students on-campus.
One of the benefits of an Ecovillage is the experience in an alternative living situation. When groups of people work together to produce their own food, to provide their own energy, to deal in sustainable ways with waste products, and the work together actively to support a thriving ecosystem for other species of plants and animals, they build lifelong leadership skills. Southwestern University focuses on transforming lives and engaging minds. The Ecovillage provides a unique and particularly powerful living-learning community for just such an enterprise. Lives are transformed as sustainable lifestyles are learned and implemented. On many levels this is a practice in eco-justice, as we determine to live sustainable lifestyles and to consume on a more just level, a model is put in place for others in the community to practice. It is feasible to live justly and sustainably, to educate ourselves and others in the process, and to truly impact the community—both local and global.
We also have a video on YouTube that tells about our project proposal. We applied for a $25,000 grant from MTV and GE last semester, but we unfortunately we didn't win.
If you have any suggestions or comments about this EcoVillage, please feel free to share. We are just trying to get the ideas out there and encourage people all over to start their own environmentally friendly projects.
Here is the link for the video, so check it out and tell me what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSL_8On5RwA
Just a few weeks ago I was reading about an Eco-village being constructed in... New Zealand maybe? The plans were pretty awesome. I always tell hubby that when we build our home, it's going to be eco-friendly. He had no clue what I meant by that until I showed him the story about the village. He thinks it's a pretty cool idea (so long as he can still have cable and internet of course.. which he can).
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
That sounds like a really neat idea. I think any time people make an effort to live in a low impact, sustainable way it benifits everyone, and going to college shouldn't mean you have to put your efforts to take care of the world on hold.
To fund your project you maybe able to get grants or tax cuts for converting to sustainable energy, as well as grants typically available to colleges for housing and/or environmental education.
Good luck, and if I ever go to your college (not likely due to location, but who know), that's the houseing I want.
Hey you guys, I can't agree more that college and low-impact sustainable lifestyles and learning should go together. Thought you might want to know about Living Routes Study Abroad in Ecovillages, where students are really 'walking their talk' taking academic courses with field work such as restoring ecosystems and habitat, developing participatory models of governance, growing healthful organic food, building "green" homes, working for justice and social change, empowering girls and women and youth at risk, and utilizing renewable resources such as wind and solar energy.
These accredited study programs (January, Summer, Semester and Year Abroad) all contain integrated Service Learning and take place in Ecovillages in India, Peru, Scotland, Senegal, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S
Check out the student Blogs at www.livingroutes.org/weblogs/weblog.php
Best of luck~
In community, Gregg