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 Thursday September 05, 2002 12:02 by Kerry Larkin ke_4 at hotmail dot com
 Ecotopia 2002 - County Clare, Ireland Ecotopia was an attempt to practise as one preaches - to live in a way that is true to principles of egalitarianism and sustainability. Socially and environmentally, it was a model for a more progressive society.
Ecotopia is run by European Youth for Action (EYFA), a Europe-wide network of young people and youth organisations. It’s been held every year for the last thirteen years, in European countries as diverse as Bulgaria, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, and Holland; the Ukraine is next year’s destination. This year in Ireland, it was Gluaiseacht, the Irish umbrella group of environmental and social justice organisations, that did the organising on the ground, which was surely no small task. The objective was a two-week gathering that would see its members living in a sustainable way for two weeks, with a focus on workshops and learning; as far as this hippie could tell, that goal was well met. Fair play to the hard workers in Gluaiseacht: while the responsibility for the camp belonged equally to everyone in it once Ecotopia got under way, it was clear that before, and probably after, all the fun, the organisers and their friends put in a tremendous amount of work and expertise to make it happen. A clear and informative guidebooklet greeted newcomers, and wooden and fabric structures in which to sleep, cook, play, read, and meet were scattered about the camp, newly constructed and purpose-built. The site was Bealkelly Woods, on the shores of Lough Derg in East Clare. Local farmer Dell Harding and his horses, dogs and chickens graciously shared this lovely piece of wooded land with the 1,500 or so people who descended on it over the two weeks. The woods and the lake (available for canoeing and swimming) combined to create beautiful surroundings. For natural campers, the amenities were second to none. Add a makeshift, fully functional sweatlodge to the mix, and the sensual pleasures of Ecotopia were enough that it’s a wonder that any cerebral work got done at all. PRACTISING WHAT WE PREACH Ecotopia was an attempt to practise as one preaches - to live in a way that is true to principles of egalitarianism and sustainability. Socially and environmentally, it was a model for a more progressive society. The camp was leaderless, non-hierarchical and run democratically; decisions affecting all in the camp were made by consensus at the morning meeting, although these consensus meetings fell into the usual trap of inadequate facilitation skills and the resulting overshot time limits and frustration. All were equal before the Ecotopian law; “women and men, kids and adults, local people and those from other countries all have the same privileges and responsibilities…women can dig holes and men can take care of children”, the guidebook asserts, encapsulating a positive and liberating attitude held by most there. The tasks for each day (food preparation, firewood collection, childcare, toilet maintenance, etc.) were divvied up at the meeting. One’s monetary contribution was determined via an Ecorate system – ie, someone from an Eastern European country would pay less than someone from a wealthier Western European one. (Irish people paid €5 for three meals a day.) The camp’s impact on the land was carefully considered and minimised. Sustainable modes of transport to get there were encouraged; some participants arrived via bike, one group coming together in a planned bike tour from England. On site, composting toilets were built and happily used; once the holes were full, the structures were dismantled and the holes filled in, and their contents left to decompose, no water or chemicals having been needed. Firewood was collected from dead, downed trees only. Food was vegan; several recycling stations were set up and maintained; very little litter was visible around the place. There seemed to be only one (normal) generator in the camp, used for the VCR and a few power tools. A more ecological and fascinating set-up had volunteers pedaling a bike to generate electricity for a sound system. Another bike was perched in a tree beside a walkway; passersby at night could pull a cord attached to its pedals, which turned the wheel and generated electricity for a torch to momentarily light up the walkway: grassroots sustainable energy… INFORMATION AND INNOVATION And then the learning kept coming, outside of workshops. Members of Indymedia Ireland and Undercurrents (a UK-based “alternative news” grassroots video collective) showed their engaging and inspiring videos at night. Even talking informally with people led inevitably to networking and the exchange of ideas and information. People were from different places, had different strengths and skills, and used different means and methods, but were mostly working to achieve the same aims, and were mostly passionate about and committed to “the cause.” NOT UTOPIA BUT ECOTOPIA Ecotopia was not perfect. But it was an attempt, and a very solid one, at creating a conscious community and an environment where education could take place, in a variety of ways. The atmosphere was positive and good-natured; it was a pleasure to see kids running around naked and muddy, delighted with themselves, and there was music, and creativity engendered by freedom. At night, bike-energy and candles lit our way. One was both calmed and stimulated by just being there. After only five days of this, it was disconcerting to return to the concrete and hustle of Galway. I felt the severe disconnection from the planet that is inherent in this society’s lifestyle, for those few hours or day before readjustment took place. But even after the consciousness of that reality faded, I retained the reinvigoration that Ecotopia had given me. |
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Comments (10 of 10)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Let's hope an Irish Version is cooked up for next year. It sure beat the usual drunken country raves.
If the goal was sustainability, etc... would it not be far more sustainable to buy a few chickens from a local farmer ( ie, the one who's farm you were staying on ) than eating vegan food, which has been shipped from other parts of Ireland or possibly from overseas, requiring mining ( to build ship and trucks ) and the consumption of fossil fuels to transport it to you? Or how about a bunch of eggs?
I am very skeptical of this eco-vego-fascism which says vegan is always better. What do you see more of in the Irish countryside - sheep or fucking fruit trees? Which is the climate better suited to producing? Just a thought.
chris
... how dare you mate! Over the past couple of years, your so-called "drunken country raves" have been extremely instrumental in bringing 1000's of different people from all over the country together: without this loose network of
dancers, romancers and necromancers, much of the
deviant activity going on in Ireland at the moment would not be possible. Up off your vegan hippie arses and go and do something constructive, which doesn't mean looking down your utopian noses at the rest of the world...
eating meat is far more unsustainable. it takes a lot less land to grow veggies and grain on than it does meat or dairy. the mass production of meat all over the world has lead to environmental disaster. i'm not a vegan facist, i would never force anyone to become vegan or veggie but as the kitchen organiser at ecotopia i decided that we would have a vegan kitchen because the whole idea of ecotopia was to live in a sustainable manner and to present people with new ways of living. the land owner did not have enough chickens to feed everyone and i would not buy chickens or eggs from other nearby farmers because i could not be sure that they were farmed organically. i put a lot of effort into ordering the food trying to have as much irish produce as possible and very little exotic ingredients. the veggies all came from local organic suppliers. the fact that the kitchen was vegan also saved us the bother of cold refridgeration and we all know that huge fridges and freezers are definatly not sustainable or environmentally friendly.
although the meat you consume in ireland is local, what about the huge amounts of meat that is exported out of ireland, think of all the fossil fuels that uses up. i believe that to eat meat or dairy is to support the industry, an industry that causes huge environmental damage eg macdonalds cutting down rainforests to breed cattle, pumps animals with chemicals and treats another species like the are nothing but products to be consumed.
as i said before i'm not a vegan facist. i enjoyed cooking vegan meals at ecotopia and as far as i could see the majority of people there enjoyed eating them, no one asked for meat!
"although the meat you consume in ireland is local, what about the huge amounts of meat that is exported out of ireland, think of all the fossil fuels that uses up."
Excellent point! So, let's stop exporting all that yummy beef, lamb, and chicken to other countries, and eat it here; and we can stop importing oranges and bananas, and the Earth will be all that much better off, won't it?
"an industry that causes huge environmental damage"
Because, no one growing fruits or vegetables causes any environmental damage, right? Nonsense. Most farmers growing fruits and vegetables - including "veggies and grain" - use chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which are carcinogens and which do get up the food chain and into water supply.
My point is that anything can be done in a bad way. Saying that "meat is bad" because of the existence of factory farms is basically like saying "veggies are bad" because most farmers use pesticides and fertilizers. Bollocks!! Drive around Kerry or Clare. What do you see, mostly? A bunch of sheep grazing on a hill. No "factory farming". No burning down rain forests. I mean, what could be more sustainable than a bunch of sheep wandering around a grassy hill, that grows naturally? Not much that I can think of.
If you want to take the worst example of everything, then let's do that for all types of food, and we can all just stop eating altogether.
Natives have been eating meat for thousands of years, and they didn't destroy the planet, now did they?
"macdonalds cutting down rainforests to breed cattle"
Wow. First of all, activists really need to get off this McDonalds thing. I'll let you in on a little secret: they're not the only place in the world that serves meat. There are lots of other fast food joints in the world, and lots of other ordinary restaruants as well. Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, Supermacs, etc., etc. And the hundreds (thousands?) of restaraunts in every major city in the world.
McDonalds didn't invent the hamburger, they didn't invent eating meat, they didn't really invent a fucking thing. Add to that the fact that McDonalds has only really become big in the last 25 years or so, and blaming the world's woes on McD's is pretty trite. If fat-ass Western consumers weren't stuffing their faces there, they'd be stuffing them somewhere else. Note the list of alternatives above.
Second, while McDonalds may be ultimately responsible for the destruction of rainforests, they don't do the actual cutting themselves. They leave that to local farmers. So saying they do just makes it sounds like you're trying to exaggerate or slander them.
"at ecotopia and as far as i could see the majority of people there enjoyed eating them, no one asked for meat!"
No one asked for meat? Shocking. No offense, but that's like saying "So ya, I went to the Christian Coalition convention and no one asked if I wanted to go do bong hits and have casual sex." At a hippy-lefty gathering - in other words, a vegan gathering - why on earth would anyone ask for meat? Obviously, the overwhelming majority of the people who would go to something like this are strict vegetarians, and the minority who weren't would know well enough that there won't be any chicken legs roasting on a spit over the campfire. Ecotopia? I mean, c'mon!
OK, I'm done now.
chris
>>On site, composting toilets were built and happily used; once the holes were full, the structures were dismantled and the holes filled in, and their contents left to decompose, no water or chemicals having been needed.<<
What evidence is there that this is a good way of disposing of human excrement? What studies are there to show how deep a hole should be dug, what type of structure in the soil and underlying rock prevents immediate run-off of human waste into the lakes and streams that people are swimming in and the wells that people are drinking from? What weather conditions are good for this? Disposing of human waste is tough engineering problem and requires the use of bio-fermenters, UV-ponds and bacterial cultures in order to produce low virus and bacteria complements. How does digging a hole in the ground and shovelling semi-composted human waste into it meet these requirements?
ecotopia was an attempt to build an environmentally sustainable community, none of us claimed that is was perfect but it was a very good attempt.
i find it really sad that someone actually believes that we need expert research to know what to do about our own waste. can we not even figure that out for ourselves?
i'd like to respond to carnivores comments also.
the reason we export so much meat out of ireland is because we produce so much of it and not because we are not eating enough of it. we may not have factory farming on a huge scale here but i wouldn't say it will be too long before we catch up with the other big agricultural countries.
i know that most vegetable and grain growers use chemicals, thats why i bought organic food from local growers for ecotopia.
i never said anything about natives eating meat. i don't morally disagree with eating meat, its the industry i disagree with.
i don't think we should forget about macdonalds, they are still doing all the same stuff we disagree with. i know there are plenty of other unethical companies, but macdonalds are the perfect example of a company who abuses human, environmental and animal rights and so i used them in my argument.
your quite wrong to say that ecotopia was a hippy or lefty gathering. as well as all the usual activists and hippys, alot of local people attended. the majority of people had never been to a gathering and were certainly not vegan or vegetarian so i was quite shocked that no one was looking for meat. there was actually talk of eating chicken legs one night but no one bothered.
maybe you should have come to ecotopia and you could have seen it for yourself. it was inspiring to see so many people taking responsibilty for the camp and it was a fantastic oppurtunity to meet so many irish and european people.
the next one is in the ukraine....
What people knocking Ecotopia seem to be forgetting is that Ecotopia was a two week gathering, we did the very best we possibly could to be as sustainable as possible we never claimed to be perfect in this just that we would try to be.
All our structures were temporary designed to leave the least footprint on the earth. The toilets were drop toilets which have been covered over and will be left to decompose. The land owner will plant trees on the sites of the toilets in a year or so time thereby using the nutrients to feed the trees.
Tracey,
I'm not sure exactly what you're arguing when you say that:
>>i find it really sad that someone actually believes that we need expert research to know what to do about our own waste. can we not even figure that out for ourselves?<<
If you are arguing that we ourselves ought to be involved in research into how to dispose of human waste (taking responsibility for disposing of our own waste) then I agree. However some of us don't have the time or training to be scientists.
If you're arguing that there's no need for scientific investigation then you're arguinng for irresponsibility and are not serious about sustainability or the environment. That position would be welcomed with open arms by British Nuclear Fuel, the road-lobby, McDonalds and all the yuppies building holiday homes with septic tanks all over the country.
If Ecotopia wants to be something more than a bunch of people crapping in the woods then it's got to practice what it preaches. Otherwise it gives the lie to the ideals of sustainability and environmentalism.
Joe,
what is a "drop toilet"? Was the location of the drop toilets one in which there will be run-off of faecal bacteria into the local groundwater?
Is Ecotopia just another bunch of people bent on exploiting the environment for their own gain at the expense of others?
Is someone swimming in the lake going to be ingesting your faecal coliforms?
Do you know the answer to any of these questions or are you just playing at being environmentalist?