by Evie Adler Polesny
I read about this place some years ago and have never been able to get it out of my mind. I would love to know if it's still going the way it was, if things have changed, if we can build something like that in other "uninhabitable" places. Pasting info about it below.
I also wonder if you can do a story on a place that isn't really a place -- the foster care system. To see how so many kids in this country actually have to live, especially the foster kids in difficult environments like the South Bronx, where many families foster children for the extra income.
Gaviotas -- Gaviotas is a village in Colombia, South America. For four decades, Gaviotans have struggled to build an oasis of imagination and sustainability in the remote, barren savannas of eastern Colombia, an area ravaged by political instability. They have planted millions of trees, thus regenerating an indigenous rainforest. They farm organically and use wind and solar power. Every family enjoys free housing, community meals, and schooling. There are no weapons, no police, no jail. There is no mayor.
The United Nations named the village a model of sustainable development. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called founder Paolo Lugari the "inventor of the world."
Thanks for the amazing video -- didn't know about you guys but saw your earthship video and I am planning to get the teachers I train to use it in class. I love your interview style -- you speak with so much open kindness and curiosity, it's really beautiful to watch.