A Definition of 'Ecovillage' |
". . . the first appearance of the word "ecovillage" was in the preparation for a Gaia Trust seminar in Thy, Denmark in September 1991, arranged by Diane and Robert Gilman of the Context Institute in Seattle."
One definition of the term 'ecovillage' would be simply that it is a community designed from the very outset to be ecologically sustainable. To place the concept more fully in its context, we might also say that an ecovillage could be defined as a form of intentional community that emphasizes sustainability.
However, the founders of the movement, Ross and Hildur Jackson, conceived the notion in the context of a specific, if vaguely articulated, value system, and felt that the connection with these values should be emphasized. In light of this emphasis, Diane and Robert Gilman developed this often quoted definition of an ecovillage: "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 successfully continued into the indefinite future."
It isn't clear whether or not the Jacksons are fully aware of the nature of humanism, but the value system toward which they often seem to grope is clearly humanistic. More specifically, a synthesis of Confucian/Taoistic humanism would integrate seamlessly with most of the statements made by the Jacksons on the topic of values, and is much more fully developed than their own views.
Perhaps even more to the point, as healthy human development is integral to the concept of an ecovillage, the body of knowledge that has grown up around humanistic psychology is also of immediate relevance. However, presumably because this is not an area of expertise of those most immediately involved in the development of ecovillages, the conscious integration of humanistic philosophy and psychology with the practices of the ecovillage is so far underdeveloped.
On the ecological side, the ecovillage concept essentially incorporates wholesale the concept of permaculture, which, very roughly, is the idea that any society must live within the boundaries imposed by a necessarily finite capacity to both access resources and dispose of wastes. (Famously, the inhabitants of Easter Island failed to do so, with the consequence that their society completely collapsed. For an interesting brief account, follow this link.)
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