Ark and other ecovillages. Ecovillage Kovcheg (Kaluga region) Areas with what forest cover are present

"The ark"

Videos about life in ecovillages

Nika-TV report about the ecovillage "Ark" (rather old ~2005)

Clip about eco-village "Ark", made in January 2006

Clip about the meeting of representatives of operating ecovillages on December 17, 2005

A report about the ecovillage "Grishino" (made by visiting foreigners on slides)

Silent about ecovillages - or "Welcome to the Future!"

I have been to many
ecological settlements and communities of the world.
In 1993 he found his place and now with his family
I live in the ecovillage Grishino.
I'm talking about the obvious here.
but most of us don't think about it.

What is an "eco-village"? The word "ecology" in Greek means "the science of the home." Under the house was understood not only housing, but also the entire space where a person lived. Thus, in short, we can say that an “ecological settlement” is a place favorable for life.

Ecovillages began to appear in different countries in the 60s of the 20th century, and the global ecovillage movement was formed in the mid-90s as a response to the pressure of modern civilization on nature and man. What happens to a person when he lives in a city? He sees artificial light and objects, inhales artificial smells, hears artificial sounds, touches and touches synthetics, eats artificial food, walks on asphalt, sleeps in a reinforced concrete apartment, drinks lifeless water. As a result, he does not receive that divine energy that nature is filled with and begins to feel unhappy. Therefore, I would not call today's megacities and small towns a place favorable for life. Yes, and I would not call modern "civilization" with such a word, so I will call it the word "system". Can you call human civilization that which pollutes water, air, soil, cuts down forests, destroys more and more species of animals, destroys not only nature, but also man himself. It looks like degradation, not civilization. People who are aware of their destiny on Earth today settle in ecological settlements to create a world that is fertile for man and nature, to give birth and raise healthy children, to create together with Nature and God.

In ecovillages, not only a clean natural environment, there is a friendly human atmosphere. Here, children and adults feel safe and comfortable, like in a big family. This is how our ancestors used to live. It was Veche - the consent of all with each other. When the villagers gathered at the Veche, everyone's voice was heard. This voice was respected and accepted by all. Thus, justice was done and a decision was made that satisfies every one. Everyone then was responsible for such a decision, gave him his support and energy. Today, many ecovillages and communities around the world are once again reviving this way of living together, when common decisions are made by consensus (unanimously). Sometimes this is not easy and requires a lot of inner work and awareness, which allows you to reach the level when you hear and understand the other as yourself, and you feel yourself a part of a larger social organism. It is a process of growth for each and every community.

Once I was visiting my friend in America. We were sitting in the living room of his new house. He cryptically said to me: “Do you know, Vasudeva, that you are richer than me?” "Is that how it is?" - I asked puzzled and looked at the two cars standing in the yard for a family of three. "Do you have any debts?" he continued. “Yes, I borrowed $500 - not enough for the trip. Upon arrival in Russia, I will return it. “You see, you have a debt of $500, and I have $500,000. So which one of us is richer? Then he explained to me that he had bought a house on credit for $250,000 and that he had to repay the Bank with interest of $500,000 in 25 years. At the same time, every month he must pay a certain amount, and if he does not do this on time, the house will be taken away from him, as happened with the previous owners. Now he lives in fear of being homeless. This weighs heavily, and he must constantly work and work to feed the Bank - the "system" to which he will end up giving another such house. It turns out that this is how most Americans live.

It is estimated that in different countries people work for the "system" (whether capitalist or communist) from 80 to 95% of their working time and only 5-20% for themselves. At first glance, this seems strange. Here they are, earned money in my pocket. We think that they belong to us, but the owner of the money is depicted on the banknote, for example, "Bank of Russia". Those. money belongs to the "system" and every time we use it, we feed and increase the energy of this "system". The Gospel tells how 2000 years ago people complained to Jesus about the unbearable exactions of tax collectors, and he answered them: “Give Caesar to Caesar,” pointing to the portrait on the coins. Indeed, the coins belonged to Caesar, and he took them back. In the modern "system" everything is more elegant - plastic cards, for example, but the essence remains the same.

Already today in ecovillages it is possible to work for yourself 80-95% of the time. Many settlements of the world try to use ordinary money to a minimum and introduce their own systems of the equivalent of the exchange of labor and products, both within and between settlements. They do it consciously so as not to support the "system" that has a detrimental effect on our planet.

In 1996, ecovillages around the world united in the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). For convenience, this network consists of three sectors: GEN-Europe unites the ecovillages of Europe and Africa, ENA (Ecovillage Network of Americas) unites the settlements of North and South America, and GENOA (GEN Oceania and Asia) - the settlements of Australia, New Zealand, Oceania and Asia . Every year, representatives of all ecovillages of the GEN-Europe network meet at their assembly in one of the ecovillages - each time in a different one. Such meetings are mostly informal in nature - there is an active exchange of information and experience, new connections and joint projects arise. The office of the GEN-Europe network, which performs an informational and coordinating role, moves from settlement to settlement. My like-minded people in the GEN network, realizing the impasse of modern destructive civilization and seeing the emergence of a new sustainable world order in ecovillages, decorated the emblem of the global network of ecovillages with the inscription: “Welcome to the Future!” Here is (abbreviated) how the GEN network defines ecovillages:

“Eco-villages are the settlements of people striving to create a model of sustainable living. These can be new settlements or revived villages. They are an example of a development model that combines several basic principles: a high quality of life, the conservation of natural resources, the promotion of a holistic (holistic) approach to life and a person, which, in turn, implies the ecology of human housing, the involvement of all members of the settlement in the adoption common solutions, the use of environmental technologies. Ecovillages are communities in which people feel supported by others and are responsible for those around them. They provide a deep sense of belonging to a group, and are small enough for everyone to feel empowered, seen and heard, and open to successful interaction with their neighbors. They emerge and act according to the cultural and geographic characteristics of their bio-regions and typically span four dimensions: social, environmental, cultural and spiritual, combined into a systemic, holistic approach that promotes personal development.”

Ecovillages around the world are actively sharing eco-technologies with each other. There really is something to learn from our "Western" sisters and brothers. Back in the early 90s, I visited the Center for Alternative Technologies in Wales in England. This community has collected the advanced eco-technologies of the world. For example, all the electricity consumed by the community is generated from wind, water and solar energy, and in such quantity that a significant part of it is sold outside. Already today, modern technologies allow mankind to live on Earth without polluting nature and without emitting such an amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Due to human activity, the content of CO2 in the planet's atmosphere is now several times higher than the maximum over a period of 160,000 years, which leads to the greenhouse effect and, as a result, to global natural disasters. But the inhuman "system" does not care.

In Germany, for example, in the ZEGG eco-village, for several years diesel cars were driven on rapeseed oil, which is much cheaper than diesel fuel and at the same time absolutely environmentally friendly - it smells like fried potatoes from the exhaust pipe! But the “system” didn’t like it, and such a tax on rapeseed oil was introduced that it became impossible to use it in the future. And in Argentina, a whole fleet of scheduled buses began to run on alcohol, which in those places is several times cheaper than gasoline and environmentally friendly. But American corporations have threatened economic sanctions and forced Argentina to abandon alternative fuels. And there are many such examples.

Ecofootprint Most people do not think about what it costs the Earth, how they live and what they consume. In the mid-90s, environmentalists calculated that for every person on our planet there are 1.8 hectares of land, if it is divided equally among all its inhabitants. Then they introduced the concept of “human ecological footprint” and calculated how many resources, on average, a person takes from the Earth in each individual country. By consuming natural resources, products, energy, things, using transport, etc. we take away from nature a certain area on which all this is produced. What do you think, how much does the average resident of Moscow or St. Petersburg take away from the Earth? It turns out to be 2.5 times more than it is for one earthling, i.e. 5 hectares of land - land where birds, animals can no longer live freely, trees and flowers can no longer grow. For example, you go to the supermarket and buy an apple there. The apple came from New Zealand. What did this apple cost the Earth? Even if it was environmentally friendly and not pollinated with pesticides, bugs and birds lived in that garden. But how much the airport took away from the land and the roads that built the plane and the fuel-producing factories, the factories that built the equipment that built the supermarket, I'm not talking about the whole apparatus that taxes it all ... Here's an apple for you! Or you can just go out and pick an apple in your own garden. Even if it is sourer than New Zealand, but a hundred times more useful. And the Earth will not be a burden, but a joy!

The population of, for example, Holland takes away from the Earth an area 5 times larger than the area of ​​Holland itself. This is how the dairy industry in this country works: Dutch farmers buy feed for their cows in Africa, because it is very cheap. African farmers are freeing up large areas for themselves by driving locals off their indigenous lands, often through brute force. On these lands they sow fodder crops, which are intensively treated with pesticides, otherwise African insects would quickly restore the ecological balance. It is much more profitable for farmers to sell the received feed to Holland than to the local population. At the same time, a significant part of the local population (especially children) is starving and even dying of hunger. And in Holland, thanks to cheap African feed, they get cheap milk, butter, condensed milk, cheese, which are profitably sold for export, including to Russia. At the same time, an environmental problem arose in Holland due to the huge piles of manure from these farms. Heaps of manure take up more and more space and there is nowhere to put them. "Why don't you use them in the fields as fertilizer?" I asked the Dutch. “This manure is unsuitable,” they answered, “there are too many pesticides in it ...” Therefore, I do not recommend eating Dutch dairy products - they cost the Earth dearly, and are not good for health either.

In ecovillages, people are aware of their impact on nature and strive to reduce the level of consumption in all areas to a minimum. There was even such a term - conscious minimalism. In many of the communities I have visited, settlers use one car for several families, which makes it easier to maintain a car and reduce pressure on the environment. By living in an eco-village, a person can reduce their eco-footprint to 1 hectare or less, thus leaving a place for wildlife.

Modern Western society is called the "consumer society". The Russian media and politicians today keep their alignment with the West and convince us that our well-being lies in raising the “standard of living”, i.e. the amount of money we spend. But our "ecofootprint" is directly proportional to our "standard of living". For example, for all people to live like the average American, it would take 5 more planets like the Earth. Modern civilization already consumes 20% more from the Earth than it can recover. What do we leave to our descendants? .

In ecovillages, with a rather low "standard of living", people have a high "quality of life". This is the quality of food, housing, air, social environment, etc. It is this kind of life that I would call a good state, i.e. welfare. It turns out that a person does not consume so much material when he is happy and healthy. .

Unfortunately, some Western ecological settlements consider only the ecological impact of man on nature, trying to minimize it and consuming as little energy as possible. But at the same time, they completely forget about the man himself ... Man is also a part of nature. I had a chance to live in such an “ecological” house in an eco-settlement in Europe (I won’t name which one so that they would not be offended). The house really consumed a minimum of energy. On the grassy roof, there are solar collectors made in the settlement itself. Collectors even in cloudy winter weather heated water up to + 80 gr. C and provided the whole house with hot water and heating. Quite environmentally friendly. But in the room I was just suffocating, and the open window did not help. Then I asked, "What are the walls made of?" I was told that behind the inner wooden sheathing there was a layer of plastic, then a synthetic heat insulator, again plastic and outside again wood sheathing - excellent thermal and waterproofing - emphasized to me. I was amazed! Over the years of living in a wooden frame in my Grishino, I was so unaccustomed to synthetics that my body simply suffocated in non-breathing walls. So much for ecology – an environment conducive to life!

But I want to immediately give a positive example. She stayed with us in Grishino Sandy from Colorado and talked about her eco-house. He intrigued me very much, and I ended up in her settlement on a return visit. It was winter, - 17 gr. C, Sandy's house was located quite high in the mountains in the former gold prospecting village. When I entered the house, I felt warm and comfortable. There was a small potbelly stove in the living room, but it was not heated. I did not find any other heating devices. “And how often do you drown your potbelly stove?” I asked Sandy. “I don’t drown at all - I heard the answer - this is it, just in case it’s standing here.” “But how is the house heated?” I asked. And then Sandy began to talk about the design of her self-heating eco-house. It turns out that at first a foundation pit was dug on the site of the house, which was thermally insulated and covered with soil, through which pipes were laid - air ducts. A greenhouse is attached to the south side of the house, in which vegetables and herbs grow all year round. The beginning and end of this long air duct are led into the greenhouse. When in summer the temperature in the greenhouse exceeds + 30 gr. C, the thermostat turns on the fan, which drives hot air through the duct under the house, warming the soil there. At night or in winter, when the temperature in the greenhouse drops below + 30, the thermostat turns off the fan, and when it drops below + 24, it turns it on again, and the warm air is now flowing from under the house into the greenhouse. Thus, over the summer, a large amount of heat is accumulated in the thickness of the soil under the house, which is enough to heat the house and the greenhouse throughout the winter. Thanks to the warm soil under the house, the floor in the house is also warm. Sandy built her house piece by piece, just like the Indians do. She first built one part of the house, living in which she built the next part, and so on. I used only natural materials. I have never seen a more environmentally friendly home!

Building houses from improvised natural material is one of the principles of the ecovillage movement. So, I was impressed by the houses that I saw in the Kutumba ecovillage in South Africa. They are built from a mixture of clay and straw, which is built up on woven wicker frames. This is a traditional African building technique. True, traditional houses in Africa are round in shape, but here the variety of shapes simply had no limits! Creativity flourished - writhing walls were decorated with smeared shells and pieces of ceramics!

Organic farming and permaculture are actively used in ecovillages- the science of how to grow plants in co-creation with Nature. At the same time, a person performs a minimum of work and interference in nature, and receives a maximum return. This science was founded by Bill Mollison, an Australian scientist who was inspired by the observation of the Indians of South America: they went into the jungle, planted beans there, and then returned there to harvest. One of the principles of permaculture is not to dig up the soil, which preserves and even increases its fertility. So we in Grishino have been planting potatoes in hay for many years - the old grandfather's "permaculture" method. At the same time, you don’t need to dig, or hill, or weed, or dig out ... In the spring you put potatoes in the ground (if it is virgin soil and turf - even better), or rather on the ground, and cover with hay. When she hatched, you report another layer of hay - “spud”. In the autumn he took off the hay with his fingers - there are potatoes, as in a nest. The turf under the hay has rotted and the next year you can plant carrots or any other crop in this land without any digging.

Of course, personal contact with the soil and the plants you grow is also important. For example, some residents of the Findhorn community in Northern Scotland have the ability to communicate with plant spirits. Plants talk in detail about what they love, how they would like to be looked after, where they planted, how they combined with each other, etc. The settlers try to fulfill all these wishes. As a result, they grow such vegetables that agricultural experts simply do not believe their eyes and the fact that such fertility is possible in northern latitudes ...!

Eco-villages - the movement "back to the future". As it was with our ancestors, as it was preserved among the indigenous peoples, so in today's ecovillages the attitude towards the Earth as a living being is being revived. Now there is even such a science - “deep ecology”, which helps a person to feel the wholeness of all living things, to realize his place in this, as the Indians say, “The Sacred Circle of Life”. Our ancestors not only lived in the cosmic natural rhythm of the Sun, Moon, planets and constellations, harmoniously weaving their will and actions into a single dance of Creation, they treated the surrounding Nature with great awe and respect as a creation of God. So the American Indians still perceive Nature as a living Book through which the "Great Spirit" communicates with them. From childhood, they are accustomed to perceive everything that happens in it as symbols sent to them by the Spirit.

So in Rus', for generations, people developed relationships with one or another natural place. And the place actively interacted with the person, responding to his actions and requests. For example, there were "charmed groves" where you could hide from the enemy with a whole village, and the enemy could not find anyone in them.

Living in an ecovillage, on earth, you especially feel how the place responds to your attitude towards it. Sometimes it gives you pleasant surprises. So in the autumn in Grishino, I thought that I would like to transplant wild sorrel from the field to one of the beds on my site, and plant wild currants from the forest among the pines near the house. Walking through my garden in the spring, I found that one of the beds was completely overgrown with wild sorrel, and wild red currant itself grew between the pines ... I was very pleased! You didn’t even need to pick up a shovel, nature did everything by itself!

And another example: a girl from Italy wanted to come to Grishino in winter. After describing our winter to her, we persuaded her to come in the summer. As it turned out, she aspired to us in the winter in order to see the Northern Lights. And now, apparently, especially for her in the middle of the summer in Grishino, Nature staged a real performance - she rolled such Northern Lights, which you rarely see even in winter. The girl went home with a sense of satisfaction and gratitude to Nature for the fulfillment of her desire.

But today on the planet we see how people unceremoniously invade nature and, naturally, meet similar hostility in response. Andrei Tarkovsky clearly demonstrated this principle in the film "Stalker". But the “zone” is our entire Earth. Nature is sensitive not only to our physical actions, but even more strongly reacts to our thoughts, feelings and vibrations - that which we radiate. The pollutants that humanity throws into Nature on the astral plane would stun any ecologist if he saw them. For many, it is no secret that these pollutions are the cause of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, epidemics and other cataclysms. Therefore, today, more than ever, the Earth needs happy people who radiate vibrations of joy, kindness, love, inspiration that heal the planet. The Indians say: "stand with your feet on the ground, reach the stars with your head and make your dream come true." The more people now follow this advice of our red-skinned brothers, the faster we will embody the “beautiful far away” on our Mother Earth.

Vasudeva Vladislav Kirbyatiev

And here is another eco-village - the Ark. One of the most successful and populated. This is attributed to the energetic and thoughtful actions of the organizers of the settlement. It is curious that this is the only settlement I know of that does NOT invite new settlers to itself. Below is some information from the main page of the site.

"The ark"- an operating eco-village, in which about 100 people currently live, including 40 children, and about the same number are preparing to move, equipping their plots.

The ecovillage occupies 121 hectares of land, of which 78 are reserved for individual plots, one hectare each, 7 hectares - the common area in the center of the settlement, including a small pond, 21 hectares of agricultural land for common use and 15 - roads and driveways.

Where is it?
We are located 140 km. southwest of Moscow and 30 kilometers from the cities of Maloyaroslevets and Obninsk. However, the settlement is separated from "civilization" by 12 kilometers of broken concrete road plus 2.5 kilometers of a field road, almost impassable in muddy roads. A clean spring river flows along the edge of the settlement, the banks of which abound with springs with excellent drinking water, and it is surrounded by a forest on three sides. One and a half kilometers away is a huge neglected church, the second largest in the Kaluga region, a silent witness to the former crowds of these wonderful places.

Who are we?
People of different ages, from students to pensioners, and a wide variety of professions and specialties: workers and economists, officers and teachers, musicians and scientists, entrepreneurs and programmers. Most have families and children, all had normal living conditions in the city, but decided to leave their homes and move to the "open field", starting life almost from scratch.

Why?
It is not easy to explain this in a nutshell. Probably, in modern urban civilization, we have ceased to see the prospect for our own lives and for the future of our children. Convenient and comfortable urban life further deprives a person of simple and natural values ​​- fresh air, clean drinking water, wildlife around, elementary silence, confidence in the future.

Our children suffer especially, squeezed by the walls of apartments and cramped courtyards, intimidated by the ubiquitous cars, banditry and other attributes of a modern city. And, not finding a place for themselves in this life, they more often go into the unreal world of computer games, television and drugs.

Take responsibility for your life, return the tradition of strong families and good neighborly relations, gain confidence in the future, drastically reduce the negative impact on nature, create a favorable environment for your children, restore the lost culture, covering all aspects of human life and society, regain a sense of joy and creativity is our task.

In essence, the ecovillage is an experiment, a lively and creative search for a new way of life that combines the conservative way of simple and healthy rural life and modern knowledge and technologies used wisely and carefully. About how we are moving along this path, about the successes and problems can be seen by studying the materials of our site.

The initiative group of the settlement started its work in 2001 (8 years ago), the common house and the first houses were built in 2002 and the "oldest" settlers have been living on the earth for 7 years. In the settlement on 120 hectares, 79 plots per hectare have been allocated. Now about 40 families (more than 110 people with children) have moved to permanent residence, more than 90 houses and buildings have been roofed. Almost all houses (except for the ordered log cabins) were built by their settlers. We have accumulated experience in felling log cabins, building log houses, panel houses, frame houses, as well as frame houses made of light adobe. Since 2007, the ecovillage school has been operating. There is a large common house, workshops, a sawmill, more than a dozen baths operate, including a common one on a cold spring river. More than 16 estates keep bees. 11 wells and about 15 ponds have been dug. The eco-village is engaged in improving the biodiversity of the surrounding forests (oaks, lindens, cedars, etc. are planted), as well as cleaning up areas of barbarously carried out cuttings in the vicinity. Accumulated experience of stopping felling. Ecovillage hosts three-day seminars for those who wish with topics: construction, beekeeping and the experience of living in an ecovillage. Several films were filmed in the eco-village ("How to build a warm house out of clay and straw", "Building houses from timber...", "The third meeting of representatives of active settlements" and others), and a film "The Seminar of the eco-village Kovcheg in St. Petersburg" was also filmed at our performance ". More than 2 years ago, a choir was created in the ecovillage, in which only permanently residing settlers sing and which gives concerts that people remember. Three rounds of active settlements were held in the settlement: * First round in 2005 (12 settlements, ~6 active) * Third round in 2008 (17 settlements, 15 active) (movie available!) * Fourth round in 2009 (25 settlements) , 24 acting) (so far 80 minutes have been uploaded, there will be a big movie!) Attention! Since September 2008, the arrival of guests in the ecovillage is limited! Please come only for guest days (once a quarter), or at the invitation of a specific settler who can give you enough attention and answer all your questions.

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settlement wall

Free information

Status Developed settlement Positioning Eco-settlement consisting of family homesteads Updated on May 13, 2013 Online since April 21, 2009

Entry conditions

Join our team!

Strict. Details on the site.

Location

Russia, Kaluga region,

Opportunity to arrive

No, it's forbidden!

How to get to the settlement?

Attention! Guest access to the settlement is limited! Please come only if you have an invitation from a specific settler who will answer all your questions. Free to come only on a guest day (follow the announcements on the site of the settlement - http://www.eco-kovcheg.ru/)

Please, if you can not specify precise settlement coordinates! Thank you so much in advance for your tact!

About team

Members

Infrastructure

Roads to the settlement

Roads within the settlement

Nearest settlements

Communications

Cellular connection Water available Public springs Gas pipeline Electricity Yes, most

Shop

The "Ark" has its own shop an hour a day (where everything is purchased at a wholesale base), significantly reducing the need to dangle into the city.

Common Home

There is a shared house

Educational institutions

School

Has its own school (established in 2007)

Distance to school

Nature

Plots with what forest cover are present

• With individual woody plants up to 5-7 years old

Yes, significant

Forest types

• coniferous forest
• mixed forest

terrain

• small hills

Reservoirs (less than an hour walk)

• Shallow pond not suitable for swimming
• A stream suitable for bathing people not in full growth

Ark Village began back in 2001, when four families leased a 297-acre (120-hectare) plot of land from the government for 49 years for free.

It is located approximately 87 miles (140 km) southwest of Moscow, in the Kaluga region.

Each house is allocated one hectare (2.5 acres) of land to grow food, which is more than enough. At the moment, about 40 families (120 people) live in this village permanently and about 80 (200 people) in the summer. More than 15 children have already been born in the community, while others will be born soon.

The founder of this ecovillage was once a successful businessman from Moscow, who moved away from the city for the sake of the health and happiness of his child. Today he is a beekeeper and gardener. Among the rest of the inhabitants, we can also find a former wrestler, a former German model, a former opera singer and other people of a wide variety of professions and specialties. Most of them once had a fairly well-to-do and habitual residence in the city, but resolutely abandoned it in favor of living in harmony with nature.

Eco-settlement Kovcheg has a common house, a car repair shop, a school, a locksmith shop, a theater, sports grounds, land for agriculture, etc. A clean spring river flows near this village, which provides residents with good drinking water.

Children of eco-settlers learn to play musical instruments: balalaika, orchestral flute, violin, domra, piano, recorder and also learn vocals. Thanks to this, concerts in this village are held regularly. Also, this community from time to time holds various seminars, shares its experience and useful knowledge with people who are interested in their views and values.

In addition to the ecological lifestyle, the people of this community take care of the surrounding forests, clearing them, removing diseased trees and planting new ones. They also oppose illegal logging.

Of course, nature and everything connected with it is very important for these people. But they consider the most important value to be people united by common values ​​and views on life and God's commandments, which must, of course, be observed!