Bergen Ecovillage

Bergen Økologiske Landsby

BØL

Talk held 25th September during the visit by representatives from Eco Info Centrum Ostrava, Czech Republic

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage
• Today: A (small) community, gathering
regularly to do things related to
sustainable development

• Tomorrow: A (large, human-scale)

community living together in an ecovillage
near Bergen

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage

• Founded 1. March 2005

• Mission: To build the first ecovillage in the

Bergen-region

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage: Highlights
• Start: Early 2004
• Summer 2004: Trip (excursion) to Denmark, visiting ecovillages and almost-
ecovillages
• Autumn 2004: A first draft of a project description
• March 2005: Foundation
• March 2005: Kick-off seminar (with designers and architects antd others)
• Spring 2006: BØL organizes certifying course in permaculture
• 2006/2007: Organic farming at Bolstad (east of Bergen): vegetables,
potatoes, herb-spiral
• 2006/2007: Farmers marked, once a month: Selling own-made flat-bread,
vegetables etc., information activity
• Spring 2007: BØL organizes the annual national permaculture gathering (1
week-end)
• 2007: People Care: adopted by BØL as a useful concept
• 2008: A decent web-page is up and going
• 2008: A strategy for how to escalate activity on all sectors - in the making

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage: ”Experiences”
• 2004: Meetings. The need for an explicit structure (
Foundation)
• 2005: Assessment of the Hovland gård estate (200 daa,
30 km south of Bergen)
• 2005: Assessment of the Løvås estate (40 daa, 6 km
south of Bergen)
• 2006: Assessment of the Olav Bjordalsv. 20 estate
(house, 1000 sqm), 25 km north of Bergen
• 2007: Assessment of a smaller farm (some 100 daa, n.
of Bergen)
• Ongoing: Assessment of a large farm 25 km n of Bergen,
400 daa

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 What is an ecovillage?
human-scale
100-1000 people: all able to know each other + influence

full-featured settlement
residence, food provision, manufacture, leisure, social life, commerce

human activities harmlessly integrated into the natural

world
all cyclic (energy, food, “waste”), ban on toxic materials

in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and

can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.
physical, emotional, mental, spiritual; also at community level.
Network with other ecovillages

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage: Status
• About 100 sympathizers: occasional supporters/ future
eco-villagers
• About 4 co-ordinators organizing activities for members
and non-members
• Competence in design, lobbying and community building
• A high standing on the local political stage and in the
Permaculture community in Norway (1 board member)
• A web page, fairly useful for internal communication and
information to the outside
• A good network with architects and some other
specialists
• Several activities going on, attracting various people

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 The Ecovillage: Challenges
• The bio-system challenge (preserve natural habitats on the village land, produce food, wood, and other bio-resources on site)
•
The built-environment challenge (use renewable energy sources, have a minimal need for motorized transport)
•
The economic system challenge
• What are our resources (human, material, skills, economic) and to what time?
• What are sustainable economic activities?
Common vs. private ownership? Buildings vs. land
• How to reduce both expenses and environmental impact?
Business organization and alternatives and/or supplements to the money economy
•
The governance challenge
• Conflict resolution and decision making. Decision enforcement.
• Leader-ship

• Relation to the outside?

•
The "glue" challenge
• Common values, behaviors, or practices. Do we have a vision? How do we evolve it?
• Interpersonal closenes and its development. Relation to others /”strangers”.
•
The whole-system challenge
• To grasp the need for change in all areas of life, and the time needed for that process.
• How to avoid too big stress on financial resources, emotional resources, and interpersonal relationships.
• to get an honest sense of the scope of the undertaking
• allowing the community to develop at a sustainable pace.
  Sustainability is not just a characteristic of the "completed" community; it needs to be part of the thinking and
the habits of the group from the very beginning.

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

 Bergen Ecovillage: Plans, near-term
• Phase 1: Investigation and design
– Become 5-7 co-ordinators
– Learn more on community building
– Make a more detailed project plan: Emphasize organization,
housing design, financiation
– Make new brochure and fine-tuning of the web-page
– Stay informed and prepared wrt. localization opportunities in
Bergen
– Keep up skill attaining activities, also to attract new people
• Phase 2: Implementation
– Active promotion: become a community of committed villagers
– Fund raising
– Preliminar presentable plans
– Preliminar lobbying; extend our network

• At the moment (Oct 2008) we are in phase 1

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008

18.05.20 Bergen Økologiske Landsby 2008