Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Joined: Jun 15, 2007 Posts: 591 Location: St.Albert, AB
Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:17 pm Post subject: A World of Ecovillages
So, I officially leave to Quebec/Europe in just 1 day! I've been up prepping and packing...trying to figure out what stays and what goes. My 2 pound book on cob construction will be with me for sure. I have a small tent and a phone list of all my relatives to help reduce costs. I'll be visiting Quebec first, followed by Germany, then Switzerland, then Denmark, then Norway. I have 2 train passes for both mainland Europe as well as Scandinavia so I'm guaranteed to be gone for at least 4 months. I'll keep everyone posted as time goes on.
I'll be landing in Quebec City first. I'll stay for a few nights, hang out with some Quebecois friends then take the bus to Chicoutimi. From there I'll hitchhike about 150km south of La Baie. There's an ecovillage in the area that will let me stay for at least 2 weeks. I'll let everyone know what things are like and I'll post pictures.
From La Baie I'll hitchhike back to Chicoutimi and take the bus to Quebec City. From there I'll get picked up by hippies from Mont Radar and taken back to their ecovillage for a couple of days. From there I'll take the bus to Montreal, visit some friends, then fly to Munich towards the end of the month. Pictures and criticisms of each ecovillage will be provided :D
This will mostly be used by friends and family to keep watch and just see where I'm going. I'll post pictures of the ecovillages in the blogs but I'll talk about them more indepth on this forum. It would scare my relatives if I started talking about 'food stockpiles' or 'the possibility of cob construction' etc. so I'll leave that for this forum :D !
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:36 am Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
Best of luck Nicholai, I hope you find what you're looking for. _________________ April 2008 Global Population: 6.8 billion
April 2010 Global Population: 7 billion
April 2012 Global Population: 7.2 billion
Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:59 am Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
Best wishes on your travels and adventure! Hope to learn something new via your posts and travels. Hope the contacts and people you meet will add value to your plans. Of course, just the travel alone, new sights, etc. will be worth it.
Joined: Jun 15, 2007 Posts: 591 Location: St.Albert, AB
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:10 pm Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
So I just sat myself down in front of a computer at an Auberge here in Montreal. After an unmeasurable amount of alcohol last night I'm far to hung over to go around looking for dinner...I suppose I'll catch a poutine in a few minutes.
But here is how my last 2 weeks have gone:
Flew to Quebec City, spent 2 days in Quebec visiting a friend and watching the festivities of the city's 400th birthday (spectacular!). Then I took the bus on the 5th of September from Quebec City to a city in northern Quebec called Chicoutimi. From there I walked close to 20km with a 50 pound back pack since hitchhiking wasn't working inside the city. While I was leaving the city by foot, a manure truck decided to start up its engines just upwind from me. If you can imagine: I was hot, greasy, tired, frustrated (at the fact that hitchhiking wasn't quite working out) and a manure truck is shooting crap in my face....haha.....after a little while I was eventually picked up by an older fellow who translates books for a living. He took me roughly 15 kilometers where I was picked up by a middle aged nurse and then finally by another fellow who took me right in the middle of the Saguenay to L'Anse St.Jean. I didn't realize how far the ecovillage was from the actual town so I ended up walking another 6 km with my back pack (uphill). When I arrived, I found out that all the rooms were booked (meaning I had to sleep in my tent...in the rain) and that the only food available was at the local grocery store about another 2 km walk BACK down the hill....ugh.....
Anyways, after my first night I asked the Auberge owners if they needed any help...within about 30 minutes I was shovelling gravel into a cement mixer. By the 3rd night they had me bunking above the Auberge in their private home and eating/sleeping for free. During the day I would work doing a number of chores from unloading thousands of small square bails for the rancher next door to helping an older gentlemen in the ecovillage install a new floor in his basement.
For enjoyment I would usually go fly fishing with a fellow Auberge worker in the local river and we'd usually bring back a few river trout for dinner. We also tried for Canadian Geese and we ended up shooting a nice one in the middle of the Baie and brought it home for supper. In the evening we would usually go for beer at the local bar (there is only one) and they became, essentially, a second family for me within no time.
This post is just describing the basic life, the next will be about the ecovillage itself.
Joined: Jun 15, 2007 Posts: 591 Location: St.Albert, AB
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
The ecovillage itself was really quite simple. I've spent the last little while reading about the intrinsic structure of Danish ecovillages while somewhat overestimating our own here in Canada. The ecovillage here was roughly 1000 acres in size although a vast majority is covered by trees. It is hilly and has a similar climate to that of Edmonton (Type 2 growing season, long winters). There are about 30 residents living within the land which is owned by 'The Corporation' which is made up by several individuals within the town who vote to determine things such as: rules for living within the town, land distribution, taxation etc.
The residents themselves live fairly private lives; they have a few community gardens but for the most part they eat and sleep alone. I don't see this as a bad thing (since 30 people living together is bound to bring about problems) but I began to understand that the people within the ecovillage were pushing to become more individualistic. They had babies to feed and bills to pay and a seasonally based job market to juggle with so most people in the ecovillage were less worried about growing a bigger garden and more worried about personal issues. That's not to say that everyone in the ecovillage wants to live basically like those in the local town, there are a few within the village who want it to go back to its roots (big gardens, more community activity etc) but the debate will go on for quite some time.
The ecovillage does have electricity which means that people do still use electric stoves and radios, but if the electricity shut off it wouldn't be the end of the world. The big issue would be transportation. One fellow does have a number of horses on the property but those are used for tours and not as transportation. In the winter, they travel by skiidoo or snow shoe. Everyone has their own personal garden and lives on a fairly basic salary....most of them live in somewhat dirty conditions but everyone is content with what they have. Overall I was confident that this ecovillage would do quite well but it's relationship with the local town is very important to consider.....the average person in L'Anse St.Jean has enough firewood to last a winter but in the event of a food shortage (there is only one grocery store) there would be a thousand people with nothing to eat.
I'll write some more in a bit later but I gotta get something to eat.
Joined: Jun 15, 2007 Posts: 591 Location: St.Albert, AB
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:34 am Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
Overall I'd say that I felt fairly confident in the ecovillage but I did find several major drawbacks:
1) Food production - a type 2 growing season with a limited amount of fertile soil means that realiance on the local grocery store still persists. They could choose to grow more food but the types of food available are fairly limited. Bigger gardens, limited variety, fairly bland diet if forced to eat ONLY food available in the ecovillage.
2) Income - the job market in the area is VERY seasonal. Without tourism, unemployment cheques would be the only source of income. If you stay in the ecovillage for a year, buy a piece of land, build your house and still retain a debt, the chances of getting a steady job to pay off that mortgage is very small. If you're reading this, you're probably English (English speaking) and therefore would find northern Quebec to be slightly unfriendly to English workers.
3) A push towards individualism - Unlike Danish ecovillages which hold a strong push toward a more communal and communistic lifestyle, this particular ecovillage has been moving in the other direction. In a crisis, it will be hard to predict if people will stay or go...
Some bennifits:
1) A young group of ecovillage go'ers who are eager to bring the ecovillage back to 'its roots' will soon be holding greater influence.
2) Low population density
3) Enormous hunting and fishing opportunities in the area.
It was a great experience overall. I learned everything from how to gut a Canadian Goose to how to fish for river trout. They were surprised to see a 19 year old English kid from Alberta coming all the way there just to see how things worked. They've invited me to come back and they say I could run the Auberge next summer if I wanted to. We'll wait and see, I'm eager to visit some others in Denmark and Norway.
Any questions, comments, concerns just send them my way :D
Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5709 Location: Body in OK, Heart in TX
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:43 am Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
Thanks for the report; I was wondering how you were doing earlier this week. It sounds like you are having some very interesting and valuable experiences. When are you off to Europe? _________________ "Every junkie's like a setting sun..." - Neil Young
Joined: Jun 15, 2007 Posts: 591 Location: St.Albert, AB
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 4:26 am Post subject: Re: A World of Ecovillages
Just wondering about uploading pictures from a folder. Any explanations? The computer isn't processing the graphics above that offer email links, photo links etc. AND the computer is in German so it is just a bit difficult.
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