In July I had the opportunity to spend a week volunteering there and experience community life up close. Hoppi, the main contact for volunteers did a great job in organising and so I was able to help out on several pots, learning different things from stripping trees, cleaning bricks, liming a round house, repairing a water way and chopping firewood. Others helped the beekeeper to find the queen or put the reciprocal roof onto a roundhouse. We were six volunteers in total and a nice bunch of people – everybody coming from a different angle. I learned alot in terms of alternative constructions, saw an example of a community and had lots of interesting conversations.

The inhabitants are people like all of us, they came because it was their childhood dream or because of a very environmental consciousness or the urge for a change in their life. They might have a little bit of experience as hobby gardeners or hobby furniture makers, but all have lots to learn still and I admire their courage. One thing that stood out for me was a very strong sense of the motto Learning by doing: “If the roundhouse gets a crack, well then we have to fix it. Next time we will know what to do different.”

The ecovillage is part of the Lammas Project, which aims to show that there are sustainable solutions to the challenges of climate change, peak oil and rural regeneration. There will be also a community hub building that allows others to learn about this kind of lifestyle and benefit from lessons learned at Tir Y Gafel.

All the best to all plot holders and thanks for a great week,

Sylvia

PS: For all who would like to visit themselves. There are guided tours offered and another volunteer week is coming up in September, just subscribe to the Lammas mailing list to be kept up-to-date.

http://www.lammas.org.uk

Sometimes it seems to be a popular nation-wide sport, complaining about what others did or did not do, about how bad the world is, but no of course none of us could change the world anyway.
But then sometimes you come across these little projects initiated by a few creative people and you just think: “This is really neat!”

One of those initiatives is Easy Sunday’s. It’s a simple idea and it works. Four colleagues (of mine actually) got together and founded Easy Sunday’s. This was almost a year ago, since then they cook and bake and prepare food about once a month to then invite friends and everybody else to join them for a brunch on Sunday’s each time at a different location in Brussels.

Everybody that enjoys the food and drinks donates a bit of money, which then goes to a good cause, be it to buy school supplies for a Moroccan school, supporting handicapped babies in Vietnam or like this coming Sunday to support children with severe heart problems. Will you come too on Valentine’s Day?

For more info check their site, you can also sign up on Facebook

http://www.easysundays.info/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48328815999

Bon appetit,

Sylvia

Mira

And what does this 350 number even mean?
350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in “Parts Per Million” in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it’s the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

View the map of actions here

The Guardian has devoted The Age of Stupid to be

the first successful film dramatisation of climate change will open

The global premiere of The Age of Stupid will begin in New York on September 21st and move on to over 40 countries on September 22nd. It will also be streamed live online for those without screenings in their area. Look for a screening of the film near you – here.


You want to take action now? Download the Action Pack prepared by Greenpeace & Friends of the Earth!


The Brussels screening will be at Kinepolis near the Atomium. See you maybe there, Mira


Here the trailer:



…and here an interview with Pete on the Guardian website:

Einstein is said to have remarked: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The new Happy Planet Index Report indicates that something like this could be driving the religion of endless growth, one of the central pillars of traditional economic thinking.

Driven by evolutionary instincts, which the writers of the Bible documented so well by letting God state ‘go forth and multiply’, western societies still have the official goal to chase the end of the rainbow. Everybody knows we have only one Earth (for the foreseeable future), and everybody who cares can find out quickly and easily, what the inevitable result of exponential growth with limited resources is. Hint: it’s not pretty.

Continuous quantitative and compounding growth is always exponential.

Glass 1, 2 and 3 of that tasty Bordeaux brings great relaxation, glass 8, 9 and 10 misery and sickness. If we grow our consumption by 1 percent every week or month, we die a horrible death.

Surprise surprise: quantity does not create happiness. Ask Michael Jackson.

Do you care about quality? Do you care about happiness? Check out the report: Happy Planet Index