Living with the Land: Natural Building
Phil Moore and Lauren Simpson Permaculture People Editor’s note: We are very happy to share with you the second short film, Natural Building, in Lauren and Phil’s new series Living with the Land for Permaculture Magazine. Natural buildings are an ancient tradition with a modern appeal. Creating healthy, beautiful homes from natural materials such as earth, […]
Igniting regeneration. A Latin American Permaculture Convergence in Colombia
Story and photos by Ivan Kuxan Suum Ancient Futures Lead photo by Adrian Felipe Pera The recent Latin American Permaculture Convergence (or CLAP ) was held from the 15th to the 21st of June in Varsana Ecovillage south of Bogota, Colombia. For five consecutive days the different open-air and indoor spaces of the host community hosted a buzzing […]
GEN+20-Day 1: Healing to create something worth living for
Photos by Leila DreggerReporting from GEN+20(Global Ecovillage Network 20-Year Anniversary Summit) FINDHORN, Scotland — One of the world’s oldest ecovillages, this legendary community is host of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN)’s 20th anniversary Summit. Founded 52 years ago, it is a modern spiritual and educational campus on multiple acres in the northern tip of Scotland, United […]
The Vatican Goes Green and the White House RAINBOW!!
In the same week two momentous new items have gone viral around the world and are causing a veritable collective tsunami among millions of our brother and sister Earthlings from the four directions. The Vatican has just been painted green with the “Encyclical Letter Laudato Sí: Care For Our Common Home”, by Pope Francis. It […]
The Call of the Sage: The seed has sprouted
Left and above: First Encounter, Vision Council: Call of the Sage – Teopantli Kalpulli. By Laura Angélica Almazán The call of the caracol has called us together once again. The family has reunited one more time to continue with a mission that started more than two decades ago, and gets more and more relevant every year. The […]
El Llamado de Quetzalcoatl: Materializando la Visión
Por Tracy L. Barnett Traducido por Angélica Narákuri TEMICTLA, México – Si alguna vez hubo duda de que Quetzalcóatl vive, esa duda fue disipada en una luminosa, húmeda y brillante semana en el corazón de México. Aquí en Temictla, un valle sagrado, una pequeña ecoaldea y un centro de retiro espiritual en el borde de […]
Común Tierra: A journey through sustainable communities of the Americas
Editor’s note: In November of 2010, as I was winding down my journey through the Americas, documenting sustainability initiatives in the 10 countries I visited, my path crossed with that of Ryan Luckey and Leticia Rigatti, the couple who make up Común Tierra. They were doing exactly what I had wanted to do but ran […]
Bienvenidos a CASA! Bem-vindos a CASA! Welcome HOME!
CASA is the Council of Sustainable Settlements of the Americas, a network of projects that are working towards sustainability in diverse countries of Latin America. Sustainable Settlements are: EcoVillages, EcoNeighborhoods, EcoTowns, Transition Towns, Nomadic Ecological Project (EcoCaravans), Permaculture Centers, Organic Farms, Collectives, Networks, Cooperatives. Projects who are creating a regenerative and sustainable culture through the […]
Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians makes its debut
This week Huicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians had its world premiere – fittingly in the remote mountain enclave of Real de Catorce, the picturesque colonial capital of Wirikuta — followed by a second showing after a rugged two-day journey into Wixarika territory in the even more remote Sierra Madre. The most important movie to date […]
Helmut, the German medicine man
Living in Teopatli Kalpulli has many advantages, and one of them is the constant stream of wise and interesting individuals who come our way. Recently we enjoyed a workshop with Helmut, a German medicine man who comes to Teopantli Kalpulli every two years to participate in the Promesa del Sol ceremony. During his stay he […]
A New Humanity on the Move: 31 Years of Community in Teopantli Kalpulli
Abuelas at Opening Ceremony (Elena Flores photo) Last weekend Teopantli Kalpulli held the first in what promises to be an ongoing series of alternative living festivals aimed at inspiring a movement in human consciousness. This tiny community of just 22 families has had an influence far beyond its size since it was founded as an […]
Call of Quetzalcoatl: Materializing the Vision
TEMICTLA, Mexico – If there were ever any doubt that Quetzalcoatl lives, that doubt was dispelled in one moist, glistening, luminous week in the heart of Mexico. Here in Temictla, a sacred valley, a tiny ecovillage and spiritual retreat center on the edge of Chalmita, a pilgrimage destination to millions of people of diverse traditions, […]
Ecobarrios Program changes lives while changing neighborhoods
By Tracy L. Barnett Antonio Sánchez Gramiño was always one of those who would shake is head and laugh when he heard people talk about changing the world. It’s not that he didn’t care; he’s always been ecologically minded. It bothered him to see people wasting water and creating trash. It’s just that he thought […]
From caterpillars to butterflies: Mayan dreams for 2012
The last golden rays of 2011 slipped away gloriously yesterday, lingering across the chalky face of the Pinnacles, an ancient towering limestone formation in the north of Boone County, Missouri – one of the places on this planet I will always call home. The unseasonable warmth had us removing layers as we scrambled up to […]
Meet Anna and Dave, the Permacyclists
Meet Dave and Anna, the Permacyclists. She was a corporate lawyer from Brussels; he was a sociologist from New York. Neither of them was happy with their chosen profession, and after a great deal of soul searching, they decided to do what many dream of but few actually do: They quit their jobs, studied permaculture, […]
From sierra to sea: Huichols make their mark on Cancun
CANCUN – “Arriving at the ocean is very important; you can’t just walk up to it like it’s a common thing,” Antonio told us as we bumped along through the night on our way to Isla Blanca. “We consider the sea to be sacred; we come from the sea. We have to ask permission to […]
Eagle and condor meet in visionary gathering of souls
CHALMITA, Mexico State, Mexico – Long before the sun appears over the towering white cliffs all around us, this temporary village comes to life. The guardians of the ceremonial fire are stoking the flames for the temazcal; the kitchen crew is chopping and peeling and stirring; smoke is rising from the women’s tipi. Suddenly the […]
Juan Rojas: Recovering indigenous memory in El Salvador
Tracy L. Barnett LA FLORIDA, El Salvador – “That’s one of the purposes of the Salvadoran state, to make us forget,” Juan Rojas explains to me as we bump down the rugged dirt road that leads to his homestead, just six kilometers from San Salvador, but a world apart.
By Tracy L. Barnett Nov. 6, 2010 MEDELLIN, Colombia – I arrived just after dawn after a nine-hour bus ride from Cali, but a fresh breeze from the mountains awakened my excitement at being here in this legendary city at last. Known as the City of Eternal Spring, its descent into war and drug-related violence […]
El Salvador proves fertile ground for permaculturists
By Tracy L. Barnett SUCHITOTO, El Salvador – A gentle breeze ruffles the thatched roof of the hilltop shelter here at the Permaculture Institute. An electric-blue morpho butterfly flits past, a sharp accent against the muted blue of Volcano Guazapa in the background. An incongruously peaceful backdrop for the violence, massacres, scorched earth and […]
Salvadoran environmental activists put their lives on the line
Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett SAN ISIDRO, Cabañas, El Salvador – We arrived in this tiny mountain community to find Father Neftali Ruíz at the head of a march for justice, with Father Luis Quintanilla and Bishop Gabriel Orellana not far behind. They were wearing white robes with brightly woven vestments draped around […]
At home with a Mayan permaculturist
By Tracy L. Barnett San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala – Rony Lec is roasting coffee beans on a clay comal when I arrive, stirring patiently as the smoke rises. He grew the coffee out back, and every step of the process, like many of his processes, is his own. We’re seated at his kitchen table now, […]
Hotel Ajau: A green deal in Guatemala City
GUATEMALA CITY – I have spent the past week making contacts, getting the lay of the land and working on freelance stories, and I couldn’t have found a better home-away-from-home here in the capital city than Hotel Ajau. I’ll admit I chose it because I read in Rough Guides that it offered a good price, […]
Outside in the darkness, up in the hills not far from here, a chorus of coyotes is greeting the coming of the dawn. How appropriate, I think with a smile. Here in Huehuecoyotl, place of the old, old coyote, I’ve just bid farewell to the greatest coyote of all, Subcoyote Alberto Ruz Buenfil, who is […]
Huehuecoyotl: An eco-power center in the hills of Morelos
Long before I ever planned this trip, I learned of Huehuecoyotl, an ecovillage inhabited by an international group of movers and shakers nestled into one of the most magical valleys of Mexico, up in the hills outside of Tepoztlán, about an hour outside of Mexico City. This week I finally got a chance to go […]
Guadalajara Guerreros: Fighting for a better world
Today I awoke in the verdant mountains near Tepoztlán in Central Mexico, far from the commotion of city life in Guadalajara. Before I move on, I want to take a few moments to acknowledge the work of 24 extremely dedicated, talented and creative people I met during my time in that city, people who touched […]
It's not enough to be biodegradeable...
Life in Guadalajara is not so different from life in Houston. Sometimes, only the language is different. My friend Alicia, like me, struggles to remember to bring the cloth shopping bags when she goes to the supermarket. This day, she remembered. Here’s a little reminder she likes to keep handy: “It’s not enough to be […]
The Rolling Cameras of Guadalajara
Last week I had the chance to visit with Carlos Ibarra, news photographer for El Mural and one of the founders of Camara Rodante (literally, “rolling camera”.) This intrepid group of biking photographers is dedicated to promoting biking in a variety of ways. Besides their weekly outings, which traverse a variety of rural terrains around […]
From Mexico to Palestine: Carbon offsets
Much has been written about the pros and cons of carbon offsets. The idea, if you haven’t been following, is that you pay money to a nonprofit organization to plant trees or invest in renewables or otherwise reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere in an attempt to offset the carbon you’ve generated. There […]