The master plan of the eco village LKH Efimovna. We are building an ecovillage
Interview hero
We want live a free and happy life We know how to learn source reduction clean water, air and delicious products in the world What pleases when reasonable people meet on the way
Four years ago, the writer and traveler Alexander Ivanov and his wife Natalya moved from the city to a village in the Altai. More precisely, just to the mountains, because they build the village themselves, according to the principles of an ecological settlement.
Arrivo: Sasha, I learned from you that there is medical term, explaining the craving for a change of place - dromania. It turns out that travel is a disease. Or medicine?
Sasha: We often consider it a deviation from the norm when people do what they love. In fact, it is part of our nature. I just love to travel. Is it a disease? Travel is a means of knowing the world. This is the most fast way get a new life experience. Traveling makes us more mature, kinder, wiser… Most people dream of traveling. Go out into the street and ask any passer-by what he will do if he has a huge bank account? I assure you, travel will be on the list of the most common answers.
Travel starts and ends at home. You build your own house - an eco-village in Altai. Why did you choose Altai?
It was a long choice. Even before meeting Natasha, I was looking for a place where I would like to build a house. Traveling through a lot of regions: from the Kuril Islands to Kaliningrad. Even abroad there were options to get a job.
Once I was called to Altai, just to visit. The second time we came here to buy land.
How is an ecological village different from a normal one?
Obviously, the prefix "eco" itself. In an eco-village, people care more about the environment and live more consciously. This is the first.
The second is the community. There are aspects of community life in ecovillages: self-government, common property, a unifying idea. In ordinary villages, all this is not.
Third. To implement the first two components, residents of ecovillages must think agile. The tradition is so strong in the villages when people do not even think about certain components of their way of life. “Everyone lives like this!” and that's it. And there can be no change.
The prefix "eco" in recent times sculpt everywhere and everywhere, because of which it has acquired a negative connotation. It should be easier for you, but how can a city dweller distinguish a real “eco” from a fake one?
We need to ask the question: whose business is this? Who benefits from it? When any process is involved in money, you need to be on the lookout.
"Eco" is a simple life, as close to nature as possible. Residents of many places on the planet do not even know that I live an environmentally friendly life. These people and these places need to pay attention in the first place. And if you see a huge banner advertising something "eco", then here you need to think about it.
Look at your body and feelings. Train your sense of smell and taste, adjust your sensors. Like the air - it means good air, "eco". Choking - it means not "eco". The purest foods will be the tastiest. At the same time, they can look unsightly. But you can adjust your eyes over time.
In grocery stores, I trust my nose the most. One of the most ancient parts of the brain is responsible for the smell. The smell is harder to fake than the taste. The rule is simple: the product should smell good of itself. Try to find a tomato in the nearest supermarket that will smell like a tomato.
I recently visited the Finns in a cottage on the lake. The owners told me that while the cottage was being built, they lived in a tent for six weeks - in the rain. A familiar picture?
Of course. We lived in a tent for the first two years. And the first winter passed in an unfinished bathhouse. You wake up, the potbelly stove has already cooled down ... but you can’t open your eyes - your eyelashes are frozen to each other. You jump out of the sleeping bag, melt the stove, life is getting better ... It's good that I have a lot of experience in ski trips, otherwise it would be more difficult.
Sometimes, when the thought comes that the weather is not very good now, or that it is difficult, cold, damp…. I remember the first days when we just started to live in our valley, and immediately it becomes more fun. And now it’s a sin to complain: there are already the first buildings, electricity from solar panels has appeared, there is a bathhouse and a gas stove. This is a completely different matter.
Your village is full of strange things: adobe houses, geodesic domes, spiral beds, hydraulic ram pumps... Tell me in a nutshell what does it all mean? How do the locals react to this?
It means that the world is changing. And we have to change with it. If you do not change, then life will stop and the very apocalypse that everyone is waiting for will come.
With local must have a good relationship, because nothing can be built in the conditions of struggle. We must cooperate. The most important thing is to be able to explain to any drunkard, to any, the most ancient grandmother - in their language: simply and intelligibly, what are you doing here with all these strange things. And then all these things will cease to be strange.
The hydraulic ram pump, which runs on the energy of the stream, by the way, is now a curiosity, but before it was in many collective farms, they simply forgot about it.
I never thought a stream could have so many voices. Sometimes you do something around the house, or just walk, suddenly, you hear - someone's voice, as if someone called out. I listened, and it was the water murmuring. Then he was distracted again, and he was already saying something to you in a different voice, mumbling. And if you go behind the hill - there is silence in general, as if it was very close and nothing was making noise.
After four years of living in Altai, do you call yourself Altaians? Are there other places on earth where you feel at home?
When you understand that the whole world is your home, then you can say that you have everything at home. Children are already Altaians. And we, I don’t even know... But if I think about the house, then first of all I remember Altai.
Back in May, on the first "garden" race, when I lived alone in a tent and tried to make my first vegetable beds in my life, and locals they still knew almost nothing about us except rumors, a delegation of local boys on horseback came to me - to establish a cultural exchange. To the words "everything normal people they want to go to the city, but you, on the contrary, have come to the village,” I offered my new neighbors a completely unexpected arrangement of accents for them: “Do you know why I’m more local here than you? Because I am here with all my thoughts, and you are with all my thoughts in the city, that's why.
In the spring you fought forest fires. Even I - on this side of the monitor was scared. How did you manage to deal with the elements? Is it dangerous to live in nature?
Sasha: These dangers are not from nature, but from human stupidity and carelessness. He didn’t put out the fire, threw a match, set fire to the grass - that’s where the trouble came. To ordinary people with simple tools like wet rags, you can still stop a ground fire when the fire crawls over the grass ... But it’s more fun, of course, when there is a backpack forest fire extinguisher, but you can manage without it. The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing. Fires need to be put out. And call the forest firefighters if possible. Do not pass by burning grass in the spring. You see what's on fire - stop, put it out!
Natasha: We managed to mobilize and gather strength. Personally, after the fire, it became easier for me to live.
Sasha, you say to yourself: a writer, a traveler, an eco-builder ... We figured that out. But the teacher and the psychotherapist ...
Yes, I am a doctor by education, I have two specialties: a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist. In addition to clinical practice, he spent a lot of time teaching classes on communication between people. He even taught in kindergarten.
You write a lot about health and personal responsibility. How to stop going to the doctors and not be afraid to make decisions?
If there are health problems - you need to go to the doctor, to the good. In most cases, this is the right decision. But you should not consider a doctor a person who needs your health. It is only for you and no one else. Lead a healthy and active lifestyle, but try to find good, real food and water for yourself.
Natasha, minimalism is in fashion now. How many things do you think a person needs? What size wardrobe is in your house?
Natasha: (laughs). It's hard to call it minimalism. I sometimes want to build up all the walls around the perimeter with cabinets so that there is at least some order. But then our beautiful adobe walls will not be visible, I like them.
There are a lot of things: clothes and books, materials for creativity, toys, sports complexes, building and musical instruments, household items, and travel equipment. I want to put all this on the shelves, to know where everything lies.
Sometimes it seems that things in the house begin to live their own lives, occupying the entire space.
Who are you about the profession? How are responsibilities distributed between men and women in the village?
Natasha: I have never been an adherent of one profession. I'm a fidget - I get bored doing the same thing for a long time. I am an animator by education. Before moving to the settlement, she worked as a teacher in a college, in her specialty. And before that, she didn’t do anything: she taught classes in hand weaving and traditional costume. Sometimes I sewed clothes to order.
In the villages, everything is clear: a man is firewood, water, construction, repair, protection, hunting, fishing. A woman is children, a house, food, clothes, order, a garden ...
It doesn’t matter how we lived before, but having arrived in nature, we willy-nilly begin to build very clear roles in the family again, it turns out urgent need. As if instincts are waking up in people that could fall asleep in the city.
The village always cooks delicious food. What products do you grow? Is it possible to manage only the garden?
No, of course, we buy a lot of products. But every year we grow more and more food. And I think that seven years is a good time to more or less establish autonomy. Shrubs and trees will already grow, the land will be developed ... Now we grow a lot of green crops, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, beans, turnips, radishes, potatoes, peas, beets, carrots ... We constantly plant edible perennial crops.
An interesting, new idea for us was that in the city we never thought about the number of certain products. Since we did not make any stocks, we did not grow anything ourselves, and we bought food as needed in the nearest store. In the village, people clearly know how much food they eat.
You don't have to answer, but readers are interested to know what you do for a living? How do you feel about money in general?
This is a topic for a separate lecture. I wrote a lot about this on my site. Money is not the most important thing in our life, but we do not deny it. When we have, we spend. If necessary, we work. I `m teaching. I sell books. I help people build houses. Sometimes I write for some publications.
Let's get back to travel. Do you often go somewhere together, do you take your children with you? How convenient is it?
Natasha: We both love to travel, and children are our continuation. They are still very young and are always with us. Therefore, yes, of course - we travel with the whole family and quite often. Once or twice a year we go on a big trip and periodically make trips for a few days.
Sasha, you say to yourself that you are absolutely happy man. I've abandoned the idea of happiness. Maybe in vain?
Happiness is going beyond terminology. I thought that you would buy new clothes and become happy, but bought it, it turned out that you didn’t. I thought that you would fall in love, get married, but you got married, it turned out that your brain has an answer to this too. So you run around in circles looking for it. In this sense, it is really better to refuse happiness as an idea. There really is not much of it. Our brain will always find a way to deceive itself. We get lost in these deceptions and forget about the essence. The bottom line is that happiness is the same nature, direct experience. And the happiness you are talking about is like air or health. You only notice when it's gone.
yours A new book will be about winter. What is the reason for this choice?
Winter makes Russian people Russian. We have a lot in everyday life and culture tied to this time of year. Winter is the time that checks everything that we have done in a year: what we have grown, what we have built. Winter is simply my favorite time of the year. I love skiing, snow and sledding.
Winter is the time when you can meet yourself. Because there is no one but you in winter. There is no big work, no people, no entertainment, and the "winterer" has to face the fact that he does nothing, and nothing happens around him. Much is cleared up inside the hibernating head, around which there is universal calm.
It's a pity to part with you. I really want you to just wish something to the readers of Arrivo.
Sasha: Find something you love and do it with love. Well, ask yourself questions.
Natasha: Watch what is happening around. Listen to what is happening within you. Learn to love.
It happened! One person dreamed of reviving this beautiful place in the very center of Ukraine. He traveled about 40 thousand kilometers before he met with this wonderful land. The start was made in 2012. There are very few indigenous people left in this abandoned village, and nothing foreshadowed changes, if not for the power of THOUGHT and DREAM of this man! After some time, after he dreamed of new like-minded people, one summer, young families from different parts of the country and even from other countries began to come here without saying a word. Everyone was united by the desire and desire to create their own family estate, to live in harmony with nature, to create the future with their own intentions. This is what is happening today! We have more than 30 families! New natives are born :)!
Once in these parts there was a navigable river, the course of which is still preserved. Houses were built respectively along the river on the right and left banks. From all sides the village is surrounded by mixed. Each site is adjacent to the forest. Even 50 years ago, there were about 260 households here, and the length of the entire settlement is about 200 hectares.
In the process of how the river became shallow, people continued to live here, and the name of the village Chmyrivka comes from the concept of "chmyr" - a swamp. They say a sorcerer lived here - a healer who helped people. His nickname was also - "schmyr". In honor of him, the name of the village appeared.
Today the most daring and sensible ideas are embodied! We named our settlement family estates"Z - UST - THREE - CH". Three “Ch”s are heard in the name itself (Cherkasy region, Chigirinsky district, Chmyrivka village :), and with Ukrainian language"Zustrich" - means a meeting. An amazing and random meeting of like-minded people. It feels like the earth itself called and gathered us in this place. We thank God's providence, the dream and the power of thought that help us create our amazing and happy reality!
Much has already been done and much remains to be done.
Read more about our settlement, residents, children, new events and projects in the following publications.
To date, there is no generally accepted definition of an eco-village. We will define an eco-village as: a settlement of reasonable size with all the features human activity in which it is safely integrated into the natural environment, which supports healthy human development and can successfully exist indefinitely.
The human scale is when everyone in the community knows each other and everyone feels that they can influence the direction of the development of the settlement. As a rule, this is a group of less than 500 people.
A settlement with all the features of human activity. All aspects of human life: accommodation, recreation, social activity and commerce should be presented in a balanced proportion. Most modern settlements - urban, suburban and rural - are divided by function: some areas are reserved for living, others for shopping, still others for production, and so on. These areas exceed the dimensions in which people feel comfortable. The ecovillage concept replaces large scale and specialization with the integration of functions in a reasonable size. Eco becomes a replica of the whole society in miniature.
Human activities are safely integrated into the natural environment. One of the most important points of this principle is the ideal of equality between man and other forms of life, in which man does not try to dominate nature, but finds his rightful place in it. Another important aspect is the cyclical use of materials: the use of renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc.); composting organic waste and returning it to the earth; recycling of wastewater; non-use of poisonous and harmful substances.
Supports healthy human development. Ecovillages are human communities, and without the true health of their inhabitants, they can hardly be successful. "Healthy human development" should holistically include all aspects of human life - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, and not only for individuals, but for the entire generation as a whole.
Can successfully exist indefinitely. The principle of sustainability obliges a certain honesty in the concept of the eco-village. Without it, it would be easy a short time create settlements that seem harmoniously inscribed in nature and have all the necessary features, but in fact will live in a hidden form of capital accumulated in other parts of society, or will not include some important aspect of life (for example, children or the elderly). These "blind spots" are found in many existing communities. Of course, we are all interdependent, and a settlement of reasonable limits cannot be completely multifaceted; but the principle of sustainability requires non-exploitation of other parts modern world- both human and the rest, as well as belonging to descendants.
Forward, not backward
If ecovillages are such a great idea, why don't we live in them anymore? One of the most common answers is that most people do live in ecovillages. According to this view, the best model of an ecovillage is a traditional peasant village, and in order to find pristine harmony with nature and with each other, everyone must return to this way of life.
It is certainly true that there is much to be learned from these villages, which still contain about half of the world's population. However, we do not think that they embody the ecovillage ideal described here. Their work is hard, life expectancy is short, opportunities for personal development and education are scarce, and there is very little variety in lifestyles. The harmony between these villages and the environment is often directly dependent on low population density, a luxury we no longer enjoy. Finally, traditional villages can hardly be considered examples of harmony between people. Rural life is painfully patriarchal: quarrels and distrust between courts and neighboring villages, a suspicious attitude towards the outside world.
We want to clearly define ecovillages as a distinctly post-industrial phenomenon. Although they absorb all human experience, they are by no means a return to the previous way of life.
Ecovillages grow out of needs and opportunities brought about by:
- new environmental restrictions (due to high population density),
- new equipment and technologies,
- a new level of consciousness (symbolized in part by a photograph of the Earth from space).
And if this is so, then the answer to the question why we still do not live in eco-villages is simple: these needs and opportunities are so new that society has not yet had time to realize them. Most of The technology and knowledge on which ecovillages are likely to be based is less than 20 years old.
Problems of ecovillages
It's hard to be a pioneer in anything, including building sustainable settlements, but there are rewards along the way.
Numerous groups have been building ecovillages for decades. To appreciate the difficulties that pioneers face, let's look at their main problems.
biosystem problem. In order to realize the ideal of harmlessly fitting an eco-village into its natural habitat, it is required that it:
- preserve the natural environment in its territory,
- produced food, fuel and other bio-resources locally,
- decontaminated and recycled all their waste,
- avoid adverse effects on environment in other places through the use of products produced outside the village.
The problem of the building environment. It is necessary that the eco-village:
- was built from environmentally friendly materials,
- used renewable energy sources
- minimal use of motorized transport,
- was built in such a way as to have the least impact on the local ecosystem.
The problem of the economic system. In order for the ecovillage to embody the ideal of healthy development of the individual and to represent all the features of human activity, significant economic activity is required. Here are the most likely economic questions:
- What is sustainable economic activity in terms of maintaining the life of the members of the settlement and in the ecological sense?
- Which parts of the settlement should be public and which should be private?
- What should be the ownership of land and buildings?
- How to combine economic and environmental efficiency?
- Is there an acceptable alternative to a money economy?
Management problem. The ideals of justice and non-exploitation indicate the general direction of the development of eco-villages, but do not provide clear recommendations for their implementation. The ecovillage is most likely to face the following governance issues:
- How will decisions be made, what methods will be used for different types of decisions?
- How will conflicts be resolved?
- How will community decisions be implemented?
- What will be the role and expectations of leadership?
- What will be the relationship of the eco-village with the district administration?
The problem of unifying values. In order to cope with all the problems, the members of the eco-village must have common values as a support. The need to develop and maintain such a community raises the following questions:
- What shared values, behaviors and activities should be expected in the group?
- What should be the group's overall vision, if there should be one at all?
- How should the group find, develop and develop this vision?
- How close should relationships be between group members?
- What is the best way to develop this intimacy?
- What will be the relationship with those outside the group?
The whole system problem. There is an even deeper and often invisible "whole system" problem. Perhaps the biggest challenge that anyone who creates an ecovillage faces is the need to change so many aspects of life. Community founders usually try to work on all the changes at the same time. However, this requires much more time and money than it first appears.
When attempts to create a community failed, almost always one of the reasons was the group's desire to do too much too quickly, not according to their resources.
The problem of the whole system, then, is to get a true picture of the scope of the enterprise and to find an approach that allows the community to develop gradually and steadily.
All these problems together may seem (and be!) Insurmountable. As far as we know, there are as yet no communities that fully embody the ecovillage ideal. However, there are many groups that have had significant success in developing approaches to each of these problems. Even more communities in a few years will be able to be considered full-fledged eco-villages.
The article was prepared on the basis of the book "Eco-villages and sustainable settlements" by R. Gilman
Per last years The concept of eco-settlements has become increasingly popular, which, for example, can be compared with the popularity of monasteries in the Middle Ages.
Today there are about 15 thousand eco-villages in the world.
And every year their number is steadily growing. So, eco-villages can be found in the Kaluga, Leningrad, Moscow regions.
This is a unique opportunity to feel the beauty of rural life!
The very concept of "eco-village" does not exist in Russian. Many interpret this word as: "environmental, clean." Ecovillage consists of small houses made of natural wood.
The settlement is located in picturesque place, away from gassed megacities. This is a place where tourists come to breathe really fresh air. Ecovillage offers its visitors not only clean air.
There are many such places around the world, and all of them are considered a great place to relax. famous for its Russian hospitality. Foreign tourists can hear Russian folklore, relax on a Russian stove, taste national dishes and drinks.
It also offers entertainment such as: milking a cow, feeding the household, mowing the grass. For a city dweller, such "pleasure" will seem the highest point of enjoyment. Hunters and fishermen will be able to indulge in their favorite hobby at any time of the year.
An ecovillage is usually understood as a settlement of reasonable size, with all the features of human activity, which is safely integrated into the natural habitat, where it can exist indefinitely and support healthy human development.
Due to the fact that the number of people in eco-villages is low (less than 500 people), therefore, everyone here is familiar, and everyone can influence the development of the settlement. In a balanced proportion, all aspects of people's lives should be shown: social activities, recreation, food, accommodation, and so on.
There must be equality between man and other forms of life, that is, man lives harmoniously with nature, does not dominate it, but finds his proper place. Cyclical use of materials: the use of renewable energy sources, the recycling of wastewater, the return of organic waste to the earth, the avoidance of harmful and toxic substances.
An important place in ecovillages is occupied by productive vegetable garden. Planting plants in such places is strictly without the use of poisonous fertilizers, whether pepper planting or planting fruit trees.
Advantages:
- remoteness from the city, no nearby industrial productions polluting the environment;
- ecological lifestyle: familiarization with nature and harmony with it, but taking into account human requirements for comfort;
- opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Flaws:
- limited ways of earning;
- the emergence of problems of unifying values;
- little variety in lifestyles.
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