The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a good place to search for information and links to world-wide ‘communities’. Lots of articles providing food for thought.
GEN-Europe promotes the development of sustainable settlements in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
“We realised that we wanted to inspire people to seek out enriching experiences that would stay with them for life. We realised that when travellers visit a destination in a responsible way, not only are they helping that destination but that destination is also helping them in return.
And so a new meaning and a new mission was born for globalhelpswap.
We’d love it if you joined our tribe of responsible travellers and shared this journey with us. Will you?”
It is an alternative to WWooFing for both hosts and volunteers. The ‘work’ is more varied too. But the internet shows that there is a diverse range of experiences that have come from the scheme, not always entirely positive.
Like other similar schemes, it is essentially a database, for both hosts and volunteers.
Jonathan Downes is the editor of Gonzo Weekly – a UK (free) online alternative music magazine. Mostly retro stuff – for instance, a lot of Hawkwind-related material.
Jon is also the co-ordinator of the Centre for Fortean Zoology. That website is dedicated to the search for hitherto ‘unknown animals’. They play host to the annual ‘Weird Weekend’.
The Green Gathering was formerly known as the Big Green Gathering in the UK . It has an environmental and social justice focus. It includes talks and workshops on permaculture, politics, ecology and crafts, as well as music, spoken word and art. The first Big Green Gathering was held in 1994 and the festival is currently held in Chepstow in Monmouthshire.
Greenpeace International is a campaigning and activist organisation to give “the Earth a voice”.
Senegalese eco-village in Africa. An agricultural commune founded in 1933 by a group of French people.
Still actively working for social and environmental change.
Since 2009 it has been a commune. To find out more, check out their website.
Links to a couple of guerrilla gardening sites. The idea is to radicalise and ‘re-wild’ community spaces – public or private. More than a mix of seed bomb tactics and the arcane knowledge of William Robinson’s Wild Gardening.
German police have been evicting treehouse activists after a six-year standoff to protect a 12,000 year old forest from being turned into an open cast coal mine
Link to the website of, and a film about, La’Akea Permaculture Farm on Big Island, Hawaii. They host permaculture courses and conferences in an amazing setting of lush forests and volcanoes.
It’s a small community group with equal co-ownership of the land.
Links to their website and a short video.