PROVIDING LAND FOR ECOVILLAGE DEVELOPMENT IS A MUST
Author:
Pang, Yiu Kai (Hong
Kong) September 2014
Original text: Chinese
Rough Englist Translation: ChatGPT
Final English Editing: Pang, Yiu Kai
English Version Upload: November 2025.
作者：彭耀階 Pang, Yiu Kai (Hong Kong) 二０一四年九月
Only two hundred years plus of industrialization has put the Earth into
a state of emergency.
Since entering the industrial age, human interference and damage of the Earth
have escalated dramatically. In just over two hundred years, the planet has
reached a critical stage. On January 1, 2000, the renowned physicist Stephen
Hawking issued a warning to the mass media: If humanity does not reduce the use
of fossil fuels quick enough, such as coal and oil, global warming will be
unstoppable, and within a thousand years, the Earth will become a planet like
Venus, with surface temperatures reaching over 400 degrees Celsius. This warning
made headlines in newspapers around the world, and some people finally awakened
from their slumber to recognize the severity of the situation.
The destruction of the Earth by industrial civilization is not limited to the
large-scale burning of fossil fuels; global warming is merely one of the most
urgent environmental crises that needs to be addressed. Other environmental
issues explicitly caused by humanity that threaten the survival of the Earth's
life system include habitat loss, species extinction, air pollution, chemical
contamination, water pollution, waste pollution, and population explosion.
Additionally, significant environmental problems arising from the aforementioned
damages include deforestation, desertification, melting glaciers and ice caps,
expanding ocean dead zones, ocean acidification, climate extremization, and
rising sea levels inundating arable land.
These environmental issues are interrelated and affect one another, rather than
being independent. For example, global warming can lead to climate extremes and
the melting of glaciers and ice caps. The result of extremization is that many
organisms cannot adapt, which exacerbates habitat loss, species extinction,
deforestation, and desertification. The melting of glaciers and ice caps
increases the rate of warming and extreme weather events. Global warming also
causes many regions to experience reduced rainfall and a significant decrease in
surface water, but humanity’s polluting behavior of discharging waste into water
bodies does not diminish. As a result, the concentration of pollutants in the
water increases, worsening water pollution.
The industrial world has made the Earth and all living beings pay such a huge
price that it is easy to mistakenly believe that industrialization must have
brought great blessings to humanity, with little regard for sacrificing the
environment and the interests of all beings. However, the reality is quite
different. In the early stages of industrialization, it primarily equipped
expanding empires, igniting colonial wars everywhere. After enduring two World
Wars, the fighting finally subsided, but for nearly seventy years, industrial
countries have frequently faced economic turmoil and intense competition among
wage earners, with everyone living like ants in a hot pan. The emergence of
television and electronic games has not only failed to enhance people's
spiritual lives but has instead led to addiction to television and gaming that
flaunt pornography, violence, and sensory stimulation, resulting in the loss of
family life and healthy recreational activities.
The Crisis of the Environment and Humanity's Response:
As early as the early twentieth century, the thinker Heidegger proposed that
industrial civilization is incompatible with nature and would inevitably lead to
great chaos. The way for humanity is to live poetically within nature, as nature
itself is inherently romantic and poetic. At that time, environmental issues had
not yet emerged, and philosophical readers and students merely understood this
as a philosophical discourse without raising any social concern.
In 1962, Rachel Carson published "Silent Spring," discussing human interference
with nature, particularly the harm caused by the pesticide DDT to both nature
and humanity. This almost immediately stirred a significant wave of awareness,
and soon governments around the world established environmental protection
departments in an effort to address various environmental issues.
In 1969, the world's first eco-village, advocating for environmental and
industrial social issues, was established in the United States.
In 1980, the world's first wind farm was completed in the United States.
In 1988, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) in an attempt to address the global warming crisis.
In 1991, the first global summit to seek solutions to the global warming crisis
was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the same year, the world's first offshore
wind farm was completed in Denmark.
In 2000, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking issued a warning about global
warming to the mass media on New Year's Day, shocking the world.
In 2006, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore produced a documentary movie titled
"An Inconvenient Truth" discussing global warming, which became a global box
office success. Gore was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for this film.
The fight against global warming seems to have been ongoing with great
intensity, especially as renewable energy began to mature in the early
twenty-first century. We can see large-scale wind and solar power plants being
completed one after another in different regions around the world. However, the
actual data is not optimistic; the annual increasing curve of carbon dioxide
concentration in the atmosphere has not shown any signs of alleviation due to
these efforts, and it surpassed 400 parts per million in 2014.
The phenomenon of extreme climate also began to emerge shortly after entering
the twenty-first century. The agricultural regions in the central and western
United States started to experience structural droughts in the 2010s, leading to
rising global food prices. Increasingly frequent and intense tornadoes hit the
United States, while super typhoons in the western Pacific became the norm. The
polar jet stream extended to the central and southern United States during the
winter of 2013, making the winters in northern America equivalent to those in
polar regions.
Continuing to deteriorate, what is the cause?
Other environmental issues are also facing similar trends. Governments,
institutions, and individuals in industrialized countries have made more or less
efforts, yet the situation has worsened over the past few decades. Where does
the problem lie?
It is feared that the root of the problem lies fundamentally in the fact that
thousands of years of imperial authoritarian rule have degraded human character
to prioritize power, money, and the establishment, ignoring that individuals
must always think for the greater good for nature and humanity; otherwise their
activities will inevitably invite endless dreadful consequences. Once when
individuals acquire knowledge and capabilities to break free from
authoritarianism and regain their freedom, their degraded personalities lead
them to focus solely on making money. It can be said that human productivity has
been unleashed, but human character has not advanced in sync. Although the civic
awareness of citizens in representative democratic societies has somewhat
improved, the pace of this improvement is slow, resulting in the development of
free or laissez-faire market economy system that lacks environmental and
cultural direction, which also turns other non-representative democratic
countries' economic system into power control type of market economy.
These free, laissez-faire, or power controlled market economy system places too
much emphasis on competition, forcing everyone to exert all their efforts to
making a living, leaving them breathless every day. Any spare time can only be
used to relieve stress, making it difficult not to be lured by various pervasive
commercial entertainment. There is simply no time or space to pay attention to
issues that they consider trivial or even irrelevant. Intense competition also
makes it difficult for producers and employees to properly arrange production to
minimize pollution, and cost reductions in production are often achieved through
means that are highly polluting. To maintain their business and avoid being
eliminated from the market, producers must resort to high-pollution production
methods. The fierce competition further compels everyone to exhaust their
resources and ideas to seek self-preservation and avoid being eliminated; this
process subtly socializes individuals to care only about things that are
immediately and directly related to their own interests, often giving mere lip
service to all non-personal matters.
In the free market, the primary value of each production firm is to maximize
profits, and continuous expansion is something that every production firm
strives to achieve. Therefore, while the average pollution per product may
decrease due to environmental measures, if the percentage decrease in pollution
does not keep pace with the percentage increase in total production across
society, the total amount of pollution will still increase. The total production
across society increases because of two main reasons: the increase in the per
capita consumption of materials and the population growth that arises from it.
The free market economy also encourages financial speculation, which involves
investing money in non-physical enterprises, such as stock trading, currency
speculation, futures trading, and real estate flipping. These speculative
activities can increase the money supply in society, resulting in paper wealth
for speculators. As a result, the circulation of money in society does not
increase due to the rise in production and sales of physical enterprises,
instead, it's due to speculations. Although this can boost physical enterprises
in the short term, it ultimately leads to inflation. This is because speculative
activities do not result in the production of physical or non-physical goods
that are really needed with the increased circulating money. However, the income
of non-speculators does not increase, while inflation reduces their purchasing
power. Consequently, this kind of speculation that stimulates the economy
essentially means that speculators are taking money out of the pockets of
non-speculators, only to lead to another financial crash. Thus, a significant
amount of housing construction is not for living purpose, but merely for
speculation, and many enterprises operate not because they can make money, but
because their stock prices can rise. Yet, every production has environmental
costs, meaning that from an environmental perspective, such investments actually
lead to enormous pollution and waste.
Another root of the problem is the political system. Logically, even if everyone
is not particularly concerned and enterprises tend to engage in suboptimal
production, as long as proper legislative regulations are in place, can't strict
environmental protection requirements still be achieved? The reality is that it
cannot. In representative democratic countries, politicians must propose plans
that are acceptable to the majority of voters to become lawmakers. Strict and
effective environmental regulations are often contrary to the immediate personal
interests of voters; therefore, it is hard to expect politicians to propose or
pass them. As for authoritarian countries, the operations of government
departments at all levels do not receive effective public oversight, and even if
the government enacts stricter environmental regulations, it is difficult to
implement them effectively. Furthermore, the values of such non-democratic
governments tend to prioritize national wealth and military strength, as well as
economic prosperity, making it hard to expect them to fundamentally change their
values to align with a more wholistic perspective.
The third factor is commercial culture. Business aims to tempt the masses into
buying their products, so it must be superficial, trendy, stimulating the
senses, and preferably include elements of sex and violence. In order to
maximize profits, business people employ various tricks to occupy every aspect
of customers' lives, from their hearts to their daily routines. Televisions,
smartphones, tablets... the innovations seem endless. Unawarable to the masses,
they have become prisoners of products without realizing it; their hearts only
respond to what is fashionable or what commercial media brag about in terms of
people, events, and things, while warnings like those from Hawking largely go
unheeded.
The fourth factor is the school education shaped by the aforementioned three
influences. Both the government and major capitalists do not want schools to
produce individuals rich in common sense, with strong independent thinking
abilities, a desire to learn about the world, an urge to fight for justice, and
a heart full of compassion. Therefore, in representative democratic countries,
funding and resources are used to mold schools into vocational training ladders
leading to higher positions, while elements that would cultivate conscientious
intellectuals are removed from the school curriculum.
In authoritarian countries, this process is even more pronounced.
Growing up under the "education" of these schools and in a commercial culture
environment, the vast majority of people believe that this is how schools are
supposed to be. They even resist their children learning elements that cultivate
conscientious intellectuals. They talk about love, but their understanding of
love has been distorted by unscrupulous individuals to mean caring for family,
friends, and pets, rather than striving for a free, loving, and egalitarian
society up to political power, or recognizing that becoming a conscientious
intellectual is the best expression of love. Consequently, they think all social
realities are inevitable, unchangeable, and that they can only adapt to them.
Under such a cultural structure, the entire human society has calcified into a
super production and consumption machine, making it difficult to make structural
adjustments to address the issues arising from the very design of this machine.
This holds true even when the problems are so severe that they threaten to
destroy the entire machine along with the global life-sustaining systems.
A Few Exceptions of Countries That Have Not Fallen into Decline:
Of course, not all countries are equally in decline. Bhutan does not produce
pollution and does not destroy forests, allowing it to stand proudly atop the
world’s roof. The five Nordic countries serve as a model for advanced industrial
nations, excelling in various aspects of politics, economy, culture, and
education, making them the most successful in overcoming environmental and human
challenges. Western European countries also perform well in environmental
protection, vigorously transitioning to renewable energy, with plans to
completely shift to renewable energy generation in about a decade. Conversely,
large and industrially advanced countries like the United States, Canada, and
Australia have displayed disappointing performances. Particularly in the United
States, the government has surprisingly aligned itself with multinational
corporations that extract fossil fuels. The situation is even worse in emerging
industrial nations in Asia, where the large population and severe agricultural
and industrial pollution have led both the government and civilians to turn a
blind eye to these catastrophic environmental crises, merely enacting some
superficial measures. If these irresponsible industrial countries do not change
their ways, they could bring about a collapse of the Earth's environment in the
not-so-distant future.
Food production is a typical example of this issue. Environmental scientists and
activists are well aware that the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is
destroying land productivity and harming biodiversity. For decades, there has
been advocacy for organic farming or sustainable agriculture, yet little
progress has been made. In fact, in recent years, the overuse of pesticides has
caused the bee population in Europe and North America to decline by more than
half, while both the government and the public continue as if the bee crisis
never occurred...
Oases in the Desert:
Fortunately, there are always oases in the desert, and even in lands that are in
decline, there are those who are awakened. In recent years, more and more people
have joined this movement of self-rescue and rescuing others. Some are
participating in various environmental events and protests, some are promoting
environmental policies, some are advocating for environmental legislation, some
are encouraging green consumption, and others are promoting a simple
lifestyle... the list goes on, showcasing a multitude of colorful efforts.
However, many of these awakened individuals are attempting to conduct a
"clean-up" within the framework of industrial civilization. How effective this
can be remains uncertain, as it is clear that the environment will inevitably
continue to deteriorate, leading to an increasing number of participants in the
movement. Some may even argue that the very structure and lifestyle of
mainstream industrial society are inherently unsustainable, characterized by
high energy consumption and excessive pollution, thrusting individuals into a
cycle of production and consumption, making them unwitting voluntary slaves to
this system. For instance, the society deliberately creates an atmosphere where
your success in life hinges on whether you own a house. To own a house, you must
save for over a decade to afford the down payment and then commit to twenty
years of mortgage payments. Over these long thirty-plus years, the savings and
repayments consume nearly half of your income, necessitating that most people
take on side jobs to keep up. By the time the property officially belongs to
you, you are nearing retirement age, culminating in a lifetime of hard work
devoted to obtaining this residence. On the other hand, they also observe the
hopelessness of rural areas. Cities, roads, human establishments, farmlands,
pastures, orchards, and economic forests occupy nearly one falf of the earth's
land that is not covered by ice and snow, leading to severe habitat loss.
Numerous wildlife species have lost their homes and foraging grounds, resulting
in countless species being endangered or even extinct. Furthermore, these vast
lands are continuously sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, and other toxic
chemicals, and heavily imbalanced fertilizers are applied, causing a continuous
decline in land productivity and its capacity to support diverse forms of life.
This is indeed a grave environmental and ecological crisis. Strangely, nearly no
government has enacted sweeping reforms in decades; the changes made have been
limited to banning a few highly toxic or non-biodegradable pesticides and
herbicides.
Thus, these awakened individuals have come to understand that breaking free from
the maze of the mainstream society's production and consumption, returning to
nature, living and producing in ways that do not harm the natural
world—replacing competition, exploitation among people, also between people and
nature with harmonious cooperation—offers a comprehensive solution to the
social, personal, and environmental dilemmas individuals face. If this solution
can be widely applied in rural areas, the aforementioned rural issues could be
effectively resolved.
Ecological villages are a basket of solutions to multiple crises of our
time, yet they are difficult to establish:
However, even though the number of aware individuals in the society is gradually
increasing, the progress of ecological villages has been notably slow. The main
reason for this is that most other environmental projects are funded by the
government, while ecological villages primarily rely on participants to pay out
of their own pockets. The costs associated with establishing these villages are
significant, leaving many aspiring individuals only able to gaze longingly at
the prospect of such communities.
However, as long as motivated individuals can obtain the necessary land for the
ecovillage, the situation can change dramatically. The funding for village
construction can become very flexible, allowing many aspiring individuals to
transform their dreams into reality. This is because aside from the village
land, the largest expenses are for housing and associated ecological facilities.
Fortunately, both of these have great flexibility; if funds are limited, one can
opt to build smaller and simpler homes. If renewable energy fund is
insufficient, one can gather firewood and fallen leaves.
Therefore, as long as determined individuals can find ways to obtain village
land for free, the development of ecological villages can be significantly
accelerated. How can this challenge be addressed? We should first reassess our
concepts of environmental conservation.
Arable land and rural areas are left to destruction with inadequate
conservation measures:
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations also issued a
warning in its 2011 Global Land Resources Assessment: one-quarter of the world’s
arable land has already been significantly degraded, and urgent remedial actions
must be sought. However, countries tend to focus their conservation efforts only
on especially precious and ecologically valuable uninhabited areas, while vast
rural areas are merely subject to land use planning. This allows agricultural
investors and farmers to freely spray pesticides, herbicides, and other toxins,
recklessly apply fertilizers that imbalance soil nutrients, and convert
expansive farmland into monoculture to extract more and more money, all at the
cost of degrading the land’s productivity and harming the surrounding natural
environment. In fact, the ecological degradation of vast rural areas and
farmlands cannot be overlooked and should be prioritized for conservation. The
issue is that legislative regulations or fallowing laws directly conflict with
the incomes and profits of agricultural investors, practitioners, and farmers.
If any politician dares to propose such legislation or advocate for its
implementation, it would be akin to political suicide.
Filling the Significant Gap in Conservation with Ecological Villages:
However, does conservation necessarily have to adopt this model? It shouldn't
have to. Converting mainstream rural areas into ecological villages can also
address the issues at hand. But we must recognize that farms, rural communities,
and farmlands are all products of a free market economy, driven by profit
maximization and market mechanisms. Expecting them to automatically transform
into ecological villages is akin to seeking fish from a tree.
Fortunately, with the rise of green culture today and the growing desire to
return to nature, more and more people are joining ecological villages, and they
are precisely the seeds for the future of rural conservation. A government can
draft a blueprint that allows these individuals to apply to relevant departments
for land to establish ecovillages. Once suitable land is found, the government
can explore whether it can be allocated, allowing the village builders to hold
permanent usage rights to this land for free but under certain conditions. These
conditions would require the village's operations to align with the principles
of ecological villages; otherwise, if verified through investigation and court
proceedings, the original villagers must return the village to the government
for use by other aspiring individuals.
Each new ecological village reduces a piece of land that is subjected to
degradation and lessens the number of people led by commodities and trendy
affairs. The significance of this for the environment, society, and individuals
is immense. However, the challenge is not simply establishing dozens of such
ecological villages to address the aforementioned rural conservation and social
optimization issues, but rather achieving a scale that can be widely implemented
in rural areas. This brings us to the question of how to accelerate the
development of ecological villages.
Using ecological villages as conservation measures for rural and suburban areas,
by providing free land for aspiring greenies to establish villages, is a crucial
method to speed up the development of ecological villages. Additionally, newly
established ecological villages will primarily face challenges in establishing
environmentally friendly livelihood operations. If this step is successful,
there will be many real-life examples for the public to see, experience, and
understand, which can attract an even larger number of people aspiring to join
and propel the ecological village into its next stage of development.
To assist new ecological villages in developing ecological agriculture and other
operations, the government, media, and relevant voluntary organizations can play
a significant role. One method is to promote the significance and benefits of
ecological villages: first, the conservation value of farmland and rural areas;
second, that the villagers are food producers willing to forsake the pursuit of
wealth and status for love of nature and all beings, making them undoubtedly
conscientious food producers. As long as the public understands these two
points, they will eagerly purchase food from ecological villages and visit these
villages to experience life returning to nature. Thus, the environmentally
friendly livelihood operations of all ecological villages can be assured a
stable future.
The Ecological Village Land Plan:
We can refer to the entire implementation of this concept as the "Ecological
Village Land Plan."
Since ecological villages do not operate based on free market mechanisms — they
neither pursue profit maximization nor only aim to produce at the lowest cost,
but rather strive to produce at a low cost while minimizing conflicts with
sentient beings and cultural interests — it is not suitable for government
departments to handle land allocation and supervision. The ideal structure
should be an independently operating committee, funded by the government.
Officials can be appointed to this committee, but their proportion should not
exceed one-fifth to avoid it reverting to a government department. The role of
the officials would mainly involve exploring the feasibility of delineating a
specific piece of land and addressing any legal issues, as well as ensuring that
the committee operates according to its principles and regulations.
To avoid empty or impractical regulations, the committee should include
representatives from successful ecological villages; however, successful
practitioners may not be well-versed in the underlying principles. Therefore, it
is also necessary to recruit experts in ecological village theory, with these
experts being brought on board promptly. They will assist in assessing the
operational viability of the successful ecological villages they wish to
recruit. Additionally, experts in renewable energy, ecological environments,
natural building, organic farming, low-interference agriculture, and other
related fields should also be included.
The ecological village committee composed of these professionals will be able to
objectively and fairly review each application, supervise the operations of each
ecological village, and provide technical support to various villages.
Another challenge in establishing an ecological village is the concern about
whether it will successfully operate in the future. Without the Ecological
Village Land Planning, should the ecovillage fail after its creation, it would
mean having to return to mainstream society, resulting in a waste of all the
invested funds and efforts, which is quite regrettable. As a result, those who
are apprehensive can only lament the situation! However, under the Ecological
Village Land Planning, even if the ecovillage fails after being built and cannot
continue to operate, the ecological village committee will arrange for another
group of aspiring individuals to take over. Those who are relocating can
transfer the facilities they have built to the newcomers, and some who do not
wish to leave can even choose to join the new group of aspirants moving in.
For those who choose to leave, although they may not be able to recover all the
funds invested in building the housing facilities, and certainly cannot reclaim
the time and effort spent, as long as they know there will be others to carry
on, they will not feel it is a loss and will not need to lament before even
starting.
The ecological village committee can even accept individual applications and
then connect these individual applicants to form a village, thus facilitating
the development of ecological villages a little further.
Ecological Village administrative structure:
Ecological villages cannot adopt a structure for private profit-making
organizations because such villages utilize public resources, and all members
must have equal rights to access these resources. Therefore, the highest
authority organization of the village must be one in which every villager has
the right to participate, engage in discussions, vote, and elect members into
the village's administrative committee for the villagers' assembly. The
villagers' assemblies are categorized into annual, quarterly, monthly, and
special meetings. The annual villagers' assembly may be held once every one or
two years, the quarterly assembly is convened once every season, and the monthly
assembly takes place once a month. Special villagers' assemblies can be convened
by the administrative committee or immediately at the request of several
villagers.
Members of the administrative committee are elected during the annual villagers'
assembly to represent the villagers and handle daily or routine affairs, as well
as urgent matters that require immediate attention. Decision-making matters are
still left to the villagers' assembly.
Variations in treatment among villagers can be based either on uniformity for
everyone or divided according to years of service and/or hours worked, but not
based on educational qualifications or skills. Children born as a result of
plans made by the villagers' assembly can immediately receive a portion of
standard salary monthly after birth. Otherwise, the costs of raising the next
generation are to be borne by the parents. This arrangement allows the birth
rate in the village to increase or decrease according to the natural and
cultural environment of the outside world. Certain jobs may require specific
expertise that only a few possess, necessitating longer working hours for those
individuals; if their pay is the same as others, it would be unfair to them.
Therefore, adjusting compensation by hours worked is also necessary. If the
salary of newcomers in the village is the same as that of those who have worked
for over ten years, there could be a perception that newcomers are taking
advantage of the senior members. Thus, unless senior members feel indifferent,
having some disparities in treatment can be beneficial, but it should not be
excessive. It is sufficient for the most senior member to earn double that of a
newcomer, with new villagers' salaries increasing gradually over ten years to
match that of the most senior member. Knowledge, intellect, and skills used for
the public, benefit all beings, but when used for personal gain, it can harm
others; thus, treatment should not be differentiated based on these factors. The
ecological village should also cultivate a culture in which the pursuit of
knowledge and skills serves only to satisfy interests and contributes to
society, the ecological village, and all beings.
An ecovillager's contribution to the ecovillage primarily depends on the amount
of investment made upon entering the village and the duration of service.
Therefore, in the event that an ecovillager wishes to leave, both of these
aspects need to be taken into account for refunding the departing individual.
The ecovillage should establish regulations clearly outlining the calculation
and refund methods, such as whether depreciation should be considered.
Additionally, if the ecovillage has used the profits to purchase many buildings
and facilities, should the amount refunded to the departing individual be
calculated based on their percentage of the total investment in relation to a
portion of the value of the new buildings and facilities? Whether the refund is
given in one lump sum or in installments over several years should also be
clearly explained in the ecovillage's regulations when any individual enters the
ecovillage.
The ecological village should also provide retirement services for villagers.
When villagers enter the village, they are already prepared to accept a low
income, and by the time they grow older, their retirement savings should be
minimal. If the village does not provide for their old age, how will
ecovillagers live in their later years? The ecovillage's retirement scheme can
be more flexible, allowing for reduced working hours when reaching a certain
age, and then further reducing them to a quarter at an older age, eventually
leading to complete retirement. Even after retiring, the village should continue
to supply food, and a portion of the salary could be paid, for example,
one-quarter of the income from their previous full-time work.
Furthermore, the ecological village should provide education for the children
based on the ecovillage's values and the principles of nature. Those who enjoy
living in the ecological village possess a completely different set of values
compared to those in mainstream society. They tend to place less importance on
money, status, and material possessions while cherishing compassion and nature,
and they have a rich sense of compassion for all living beings. It is precisely
because of their way of life that the ecological village can play a role in
conservation in rural areas. Schools in mainstream society, even those in rural
areas, often unconsciously instill the values of mainstream society in students.
Therefore, it is not suitable for the children of the ecological village to
attend mainstream schools; instead, the ecovillage should implement its own
educational methods. A small ecological village with dozens of residents surely
has enough collective knowledge to provide comprehensive education for children
up to the university-preparatory level, and even introductory courses for higher
education. The educational ideas can be developed collaboratively, with teaching
and learning taking place together. Moreover, suitable educational methods and
philosophies for the ecological village have already been proposed and practiced
for many years, such as community-based education, nature-based principles,
wholistic education, value education, and self-directed learning exploration.
Template for Ecological Village Constitution
(If you think that any unclear statements in the constitution are precisely
where I can unscrupulously reap my own benefits, then even the most detailed
constitution are of no use. Likewise, if you believe that as long as everyone is
committed to the common good, there is no need for any written constitution,
then even the best people would find it difficult to come together.)
This template for the ecological village constitution has two categories of
ecovillagers: One of them is sponsors and guest villagers. Due to the common
challenges of insufficient funds for ecovillage construction and tight initial
income after establishment, finding enough sponsoring villagers and guest
villagers would make these challenges much easier to resolve. Sponsoring
ecovillagers may come and go from the ecovillage intermittently, which could
slightly increase the environmental impact, but their contributions to the
ecovillage should more than compensate for this additional environmental cost.
Guest villagers are self-funded villagers; they regard the ecological village as
their home, but the ecovillage does not provide them with work or free food and
lodging. They may choose this option because they already have reasonably good
jobs or they have exceeded the maximum permitted age to enter the village, but
they strongly identify with the ideals of the ecological village and thus wish
to enjoy life in the village in this way.
Constitution of An Ecological Village:*
Chapter 1: General Stipulations
**Article 1:**
This ecological village is named “So And So Ecological Village” (hereinafter
referred to as "the village").
**Article 2:**
The address of the village is: XX Province, XX County, XX Town, XX Township, XX
Village.
**Article 3: Objects of the village**
To achieve a lifestyle where activities related to living, economy, leisure, and
culture can be accomplished with minimal impact to nature, while allowing for
harmonious cooperation instead of competitive exploitation, thus one can work
for benefiting others, all beings, and oneself as much as possible.
**Article 4:**
The villagers' general assembly of this village has the final interpretation
rights over any unclear meanings in this constitution.
**Article 5:**
The official language of this village is so and so.
Chapter 2: Village Membership
**Article 6:**
The members of this village are divided into four categories: basic villagers,
sponsoring villagers, guest villagers, and employed villagers.
**Article 7: Qualification and Application Procedure for Basic
Villagers:**
1. Must have a love for nature, consider the well being of others and all living
beings, Abide by the objects of the So And So Ecovillage, possess a easy going
personality, and exhibit agreeable behavior.
2. Must be under the age of forty-five (excluding founding villagers).
3. Must be willing to comply with the constitution of the village.
4. Must submit an application form to join the village.
5. Must pay an entrance fee of ...... dollars .
Alternatively, payment can be made through monthly installments after joining
the village.
Or it can be deducted from monthly salaries over a period of five to ten
years.
6. Must be approved by ninety percent of the votes in a village general
assembly.
**Article 8: Rights of Basic Villagers:**
1. Enjoy livelihood, food and lodging, childcare and education for children,
comprehensive healthcare-style medical services, and other benefits such as
sickness, loss of work capability, and pension support from the efforts of all
villagers. Other facilities and activities for villagers will also be provided
without question.
2. XX percent of the net income of the village, after deducting operational
expenses and salaries for employed villagers, will be distributed monthly to all
basic villagers as monthly salaries based on each person's percentage share of
the total salary. During times of poor income, this percentage may be raised
from XX percent to as high as ninety percent of the net income. However, if
there is an unexpected surplus beyond the ideal income, the highest monthly
salary cannot exceed XX dollars. Any excess should be used to increase the
number of basic villagers or allocate to the fund for building another new
ecological village.
3. The required working hours each week shall not exceed forty hours and may be
reduced to twenty hours per week when circumstances permit.
4. The required working days each week shall not exceed five days and may be
progressively reduced to four days per week when circumstances allow.
5. In case of accidental loss of work or capability due to illness or injury,
villagers may continue to receive food and lodging from the village and will
still obtain one-quarter of their original salary monthly.
6. Due to aging and gradual loss of work capability, working days and/or hours
may be reduced as needed until full retirement. If weekly working hours are
reduced by half, the salary will correspondingly decrease by two-fifths, and so
on. Upon full retirement, villagers may continue to receive one-fifth of their
original monthly salary and still receive food and lodging and other welfare
benefits from the village. Should they be unable to take care of their daily
living, they will receive care provided by the village.
7. The first two children born, with prior consent from the villagers' general
assembly, will automatically become basic villagers and receive food provided by
the village and one-fifth of the basic villagers' salary monthly after birth.
8. All children can receive education provided by the village until the age of
eighteen. However, if children choose not to live in the village or receive
education outside the village (excluding universities, colleges, vocational
training, or other non-primary and non-secondary education programs), the rights
stated in Article 7 will be automatically forfeited.
9. Have one residential unit in the village, categorized into single, couple,
and family types.
10. Attend villagers' general and special assemblies and have the right to
speak, vote, and run for office.
11. Can become a member of the executive committee either by being elected or
appointed by the villagers' general assembly.
12. Any matter related to the material or financial interests of basic villagers
must be implemented only after obtaining approval through voting by all basic
villagers in the villagers' general assembly or a villagers' special assembly,
with a significant majority of votes in favor.
13. Unless any of the basic villagers has violated this constitution and is
verified by the villagers' general assembly, and if they disagree with the
ruling, they may file a civil lawsuit with the local court. If the ruling is not
verified, their status as basic villagers cannot be revoked under any
circumstances.
14. In the event that a basic villager's status is revoked by the villagers'
general assembly for the reasons stated in the previous Clause 13, the entrance
fee they paid will be calculated based on a depreciation rate of X percent per
year, plus X percent of the total salary they have received in the past,
refunded to the expelled individual in five annual installments starting from
the date of expulsion. The amount and method of refund for those who voluntarily
withdraw will be the same as that of the expelled individuals.
**Article 9: Obligations of Basic Villagers**
1. Accept the arrangements of the villagers' general assembly to participate in
various operational and developmental work of the ecological village, and strive
to execute them.
2. Comply with the village constitution and the resolutions of the villagers'
general assembly.
3. Abide by all codes and guidelines established by the village related to
culture, behavior, and the environment.
**Article 10: Definition of Sponsoring Villagers**
Individuals who recognize and promote the objects of this village through
sponsorship, purchase a village house unit for holiday/recreational use, and are
capable of sponsoring the village with monthly fee of XXXX dollars.
**Article 11: Eligibility and application Procedures for Sponsoring
Villagers:**
1. Love nature, think of others and all living beings, identify with the objects
of the village community, and have a pleasant personality.
2. Willingness to comply with the village community’s regulations.
3. Submit an application form for becoming a sponsoring villager of the village.
4. Pay a certain amount for the construction of a natural village house and the
first month's sponsorship fee of XXXX dollars.
5. Obtain approval by a simple majority vote in the villagers' general assembly.
**Article 12: Rights of Sponsoring Villagers**
1. Just like basic villagers, receive one assigned village house unit.
2. May come at any time to enjoy holiday and recreational life in the village.
3. Can be appointed as a member of the executive committee through the
villagers' general assembly.
4. Will be invited as guests to all activities and events organized by the
village.
5. Have the right to attend the villagers' general assembly and make speech but
do not have voting or election rights.
6. Unless basic villagers violate this chapter and it is verified by the
villagers' general assembly, if they disagree with the ruling, they may file a
civil lawsuit with the local court. Unless the ruling is verified, their
qualification as sponsoring villagers cannot be revoked under any circumstances.
**Article 13: Obligations of Sponsoring Villagers**
1. Comply with the village constitution and the resolutions of the villagers'
general assembly.
2. Abide by all codes and guidelines established by the village related to
culture, behavior, and the environment.
3. Pay the sponsorship fees monthly.
4. Assist in promoting the ideas of the ecological village.
5. If expelled from village membership due to the reasons stated in Article 12,
Clause 6, any entry fees and sponsorship fees previously paid will not be
refunded.
**Article 14: Definition of Guest Villagers**
Guest villagers are self-funded villagers who, like basic villagers, consider
the ecological village as their home, but the village does not provide them with
work or free accommodation and meals. They may have made this choice because
they already have a decent job or have surpassed the maximum allowable age for
entry into the village, yet they strongly identify with the philosophy of the
ecological village and wish to enjoy life in the village in this way.
**Article 15: Eligibility and Application Procedures for Guest
Villagers:**
1. Love nature, think of others and all living beings, identify with the
objectives of the village, and have a pleasant personality.
2. Willingness to comply with the village's regulations.
3. Submit an application form for becoming a guest villager in the village.
4. Pay a certain amount for the construction of a natural village house and the
entry fee of XXXX dollars.
5. Obtain approval by an overwhelming majority (80%) vote from the villagers'
assembly.
**Article 16: Rights of Guest Villagers**
1. Just like basic villagers, receive one assigned village house unit.
2. May reside long-term and enter or exit the village freely.
3. Can be appointed as a member of the executive committee through the
villagers' general assembly.
4. Enjoy a simple life provided by the village that returns to nature and
minimizes disturbance to the environment.
5. Enjoy paid accommodation and meals provided by the village, comprehensive
holistic healthcare, and free access to information, cultural activities,
recreational, and sports facilities and/or events.
6. Will be invited as guests to all activities and events organized by the
village.
7. May attend village assemblies and have the right to speak but do not have
voting or election rights.
8. Unless the guest villager violates this chapter and it is verified by the
villagers' general assembly, if they disagree with the ruling, they may file a
civil lawsuit with the local court. Following further examination, unless
verified, the qualification of the guest villager cannot be revoked under any
circumstances.
**Article 17: Obligations of Guest Villagers**
1. Comply with the village regulations and the resolutions of the villagers'
general assembly and executive committee.
2. Abide by all codes and guidelines established by the village related to
culture, behavior, and the environment.
3. Pay the fees specified in Clause 4 of Article 15 on a monthly basis.
4. Assist in promoting the concept of the ecological village.
5. If expelled from village membership due to the reasons stated in Clause 5 of
Article 8, the previously paid building fees for the village house and the entry
fees will be refunded to the expelled person at a depreciation rate of ten
percent per year, and will be repaid over a period of five years starting from
the date of expulsion.
**Article 18: Definition of Employed Villagers**
If the village encounters a shortage of labor, or if there are certain tasks
within the village that no one knows how to perform, the village may hire
employees from outside through mainstream private organizations to become
villagers. These individuals are referred to as employed villagers.
**Article 19:**
The number of employed villagers cannot exceed fifteen percent of the total
number of basic and guest villagers, in order to prevent the influence of
mainstream culture from flowing back into the ecological village and to avoid
issues of reverse socialization.
**Article 20: Rights and Obligations of Employed Villagers**
Depending on the individual circumstances, the village shall negotiate jointly
with the employees when establishing the employment contract.
**Chapter 3: Organizational Structure**
**Article 21:**
The village general assembly is the highest authority of the village, which is
divided into the annual village general assembly, monthly village general
assembly, and special village assembly. The annual village general assembly is
held once every two years, the monthly village general assembly is held once a
month, and the special village assembly has no regular meeting schedule and can
be convened when necessary by the village executive committee or upon the
request of more than one-third of the villagers.
**Article 22: Village Executive Committee**
The village executive committee is composed of a village chief, a secretary, a
treasurer, and an administrator along with one officer each for ecology,
farming, energy, and sustainable food, totaling eight to eleven members with
three appointed additional officers. Appointed officers can, when necessary, be
appointed from among all sorts of villagers during the annual or monthly village
general assembly, while the remaining ones are directly elected from among the
basic villagers during each annual village general assembly.
**Article 23: Working Groups and Working Committees**
Members of the executive committee may apply to the village general assembly to
establish working groups or committees as needed. Working groups and committees
may invite individuals from outside the village to participate.
Chapter 4: Structure, Power and Function
**Article 24: The Structure, Power and Function of the Village General
Assembly, including the Annual Village General Assembly, Monthly Village General
Assembly, and Village Special Assembly.**
1. To convene the village general or special assembly, all villagers must be
invited, including basic, sponsoring, guest, and employed villagers, as well as
non-villager appointed officials and non-villager members of working groups and
committees.
2. Basic villagers have the right to speak, vote, and be elected. Non-basic
villagers have the right to speak but do not have voting rights or the right to
be elected.
3. The village general assembly must be convened four weeks before the meeting
date through any effective means.
4. The legal quorum requires at least 70% of the total number of basic villagers
present. If the number of attendees does not meet the legal quorum, the
chairperson must declare the meeting adjourned and reconvene it within twenty
days using the same method and procedure. The legal quorum for the reconvened
assembly is 50% of the total number of basic villagers present. If the number of
attendees still does not meet the legal quorum, the chairperson must again
declare the meeting adjourned and reconvene it within twenty days using the same
method and procedure; the then reconvened assembly may be considered to have met
the legal quorum.
5. Proposals to amend this constitution must be approved by a three-quarters
majority vote, while other proposals can be passed by a simple majority vote.
**Article 25: The Structure, Power and Function of the Annual Village
General Assembly**
1. The general assembly chairperson for the current meeting is elected from the
previous year's annual village general assembly.
2. Review the shortcomings and inadequacies of operations over the past X years
and formulate development guidelines for the future.
3. Elect a new village executive committee and the chairperson for the next
annual village general assembly.
4. Approve the appointment of officers and/or employed villagers.
5. Review and approve the annual financial report.
6. Amend the village regulations and constitution.
**Article 26: The Structure, Power, and Functions of the Monthly Village
General Assembly**
1. The meeting is chaired by the village head, i.e., the chairperson of the
village's executive committee.
2. Discuss urgent decisions that need to be made quickly.
3. Review routine work.
4. Review and approve the financial report at the end of the year.
5. Approve the appointment or dismissal of appointed officers and/or employed
villagers.
6. Amend the village regulations.
**Article 27: The Structure, Power, and Functions of the Village's
Special Assembly**
1. The meeting is chaired by the village head.
2. Convened when the executive committee or villagers feel there is an urgent
need.
3. Any matters that do not fall within the executive committee's authority and
cannot be resolved in the monthly village general assembly.
4. Except for clauses 3 and 5 of Article 26, it operates similarly to the
monthly village general assembly.
**Article 28: The Structure, Power, and Functions of the Village's
Executive Committee**
1. The main discussion is chaired by the village head, i.e., the chairperson of
the village's executive committee.
2. Implement the resolutions of the annual village general assembly, monthly
village general assembly, and village special assembly.
3. Accountable to the village's general assembly.
4. Holders of official letters are the highest responsible persons for their
respective duties and are directly accountable to the executive committee,
excluding the village head and the treasurer.
5. The village head and the treasurer must report directly to the village
general assembly and are responsible to it.
6. If holders of official letters have working groups under them, they are the
highest responsible persons and final decision-makers for those working groups.
7. If holders of official letters have working committees under them, they serve
as the conveners, chairs, and representatives of those committees but are not
the final decision-makers; decisions are made by the working committee.
8. Manage routine and non-decisional matters.
**Article 29: The Power and Functions of the Village Head**
1. The village head is the convener, chair, and representative of the executive
committee, but is not the final decision-maker; decisions are made through
discussions within the executive committee.
2. Acts as the representative of the village in external matters.
3. Presides over the monthly and special village assemblies.
**Article 30: Responsibilities of the Treasurer**
1. Manages the village's financial status and accounts of income and
expenditure, overseeing the village's movable and immovable properties.
2. Drafts the village's annual financial report.
3. Handles other general treasury matters.
4. Directly accountable to the village assembly, not the executive committee.
5. Ensures that there are no occurrences of misappropriation of public funds
within the village.
**Chapter Four: Executive Committee Elections**
**Article 31:**
The term of the executive committee is two years, with the new committee elected
during the annual village general assembly. The election is not organized by the
executive committee, instead, two non-executive committee member villagers will
be elected at the monthly village general assembly three months prior to the
election to form an election committee to be responsible for coordinating the
election.
**Article 32:**
Voting must be conducted through a secret ballot. All basic villagers
automatically become candidates, and the one with the highest number of votes
will be elected. With the exception of the village head and treasurer, all other
positions are eligible for re-election without a limit on the number of terms.
The village head and treasurer may not serve more than two consecutive terms;
after completing three terms, they must step down. If they are re-elected in the
next term, they may resume their position, and this pattern continues.
**Article 33:**
After the new executive committee is formed, the outgoing executive committee
members must, under the arrangement of the election committee, transfer all
documents, files, seals, affairs, personnel-related matters, and similar items
within one week. Both the outgoing and incoming parties must sign the transfer
documentation.
Chapter Five: Finances
**Article 34:**
To open a bank account for the village, it must be co-signed by the village
head, the treasurer, and another member of the executive committee. The accounts
for savings and transactions, as well as checks and withdrawals, will require
the signatures of any two of these individuals to be deemed valid.
**Article 35:**
The treasurer must submit a clear financial report annually at the yearly or
monthly village general assembly. Daily income and expenditure accounts must be
clearly listed for basic villagers to review at any time.
**Article 36:**
The village may seek external funding for ecological conservation projects.
**Article 37:**
In the event that the village needs to repay debts and/or make compensations, if
there is no available cash and borrowing at low interest is not feasible, the
villagers must collectively bear the responsibility. In such cases, the debts
and/or compensations will only be shared by all basic villagers, excluding
sponsors, guests, or hired villagers. The amount each basic villager is required
to bear does not necessarily have to be evenly distributed but will be
apportioned based on the total salary each basic villager has received since
joining the village.
**Article 38:**
The village should be registered as a limited company to minimize financial
risks for basic villagers.
**Article 39:**
If borrowing is necessary, only low-interest loans from nationally recognized
lending institutions may be sought.
Chapter Six: Others
**Article 40: Discipline**
Any villager who violates any of the following disciplinary rules, and after
being investigated by the village general assembly, is found to be in violation,
or who does not accept the decision of the village general assembly, may appeal
to the local court in a civil manner. If found to be true upon investigation,
they will be expelled from the village.
1. Breaching the village constitution and repeatedly offending despite multiple
warnings.
2. Misusing the name of the village.
3. Defaulting on payable amounts.
**Article 41: Benefits Arrangement for Those Leaving the Village**
Individuals who voluntarily leave the village or are expelled may retrieve their
entitled benefits in accordance with the rights clauses for various categories
of villagers specified in Chapter Two of this constitution.
**Article 42: Dissolution**
In the event that the village cannot continue to operate and needs to be
dissolved, the village can only be transferred to another group that sincerely
intends to operate an ecological village, and cannot be transferred to private
individuals, companies, or institutions. The proceeds from the transfer of the
village will be calculated based on the total amount invested by each basic
villager, according to an annual depreciation rate of X percent, plus a
proportionate share of the total wages previously received from the village.
Creating
an Ecological Village: How to Get Started?
This is merely a specific action plan for everyone's reference. Many people may
have better ideas, but if you want to embark on the journey of creating an
ecological village and don't know where to start, you might consider following
the twelve suggested steps below.
The first step,
needless to say, is to talk with your friends. If the people you know are mostly
typical city dwellers or do not understand your vision, what can you do? You
will need to reach out to the related community, such as joining environmental
volunteer groups or green organizations, and get to know like-minded
individuals. If there are no people familiar with the concept of an ecological
village among them, invite them out and specifically raise this topic. With
persistence and determination over time, you will surely gather a small group of
individuals who resonate with the concept of an ecological village.
Once you have a small group of ecological village advocates,
the second step
is to develop knowledge about both theory and practice among these advocates.
This can include regular reading groups, sharing book reports, and visiting
existing successful ecological villages.
As the relevant knowledge of this group matures,
the third step
is to promote it to a wider audience. You can formalize this group into an
ecological village awareness promotion team and organize activities aimed at the
public, organizations, or schools to inspire more advocates to join the group,
allowing it to grow larger.
Once the group has several core enthusiasts,
the fourth step
can be undertaken: to form an organization for the establishment of the
ecological village. Since establishing the organization involves significant
financial contributions, it must meet the following conditions; otherwise, it
will not succeed.
1. It must have clear and explicit rules.
2. The organizational structure must be equitable and transparent.
3. There must be at least two treasurers, elected annually from the members'
general assembly. The financial accounts should be updated monthly and made
available online for members or donors to access at any time.
4. The treasurers must be individuals with a stable and decent income who do not
engage in financial speculation.
5. A bank account must be opened in the name of the organizing committee, and it
should be co-signed by the president and two treasurers, or by three or four
individuals, for withdrawals or issuing checks to be valid, any two of whom must
sign.
The organizing committee should also include the following study and research
groups: ecological economy, crowdfunding, external support, natural building,
organic farming, permaculture, zero-impact farming, renewable energy, wastewater
and waste management, geographical and geological ecology, and site selection
for the village.
When the organizing committee is functioning well, has raised a certain amount
of funds, and the various groups have a basic understanding of their respective
fields,
the fifth step
can be undertaken: site selection for the village. Everyone can first list the
conditions that must be met, such as being located in a valley with mountains on
either side at least a kilometer higher, avoiding risks of flooding or natural
disasters, being within a certain driving distance from a transportation hub or
city; the water source should be from a closed basin not exceeding a certain
number of square kilometers above the valley… After the requirements are
established, potential locations can be identified first on paper and via Google
Earth, followed by on-site visits.
Once all potential sites listed on paper have been thoroughly assessed on-site,
you can proceed to
step six:
finalizing the village location. In this regard, beyond understanding the local
geography, geology, and ecological conditions in detail, it is also essential to
be familiar with the local laws, customs, and social conditions. It is best to
first meet several local farmers to learn about the conditions of various
farmlands. Gather information and inquire extensively before making the final
decision. Unless absolutely necessary, you should definitely purchase land
rather than rent it. The ecological village is intended to be a long-term
project spanning hundreds of years; it should not be subjected to significant
rent increases after a decade, nor should it risk the land being reclaimed after
a ten-year lease expires.
After purchasing the land, you can move on to
step seven:
drafting the regulations for the ecological village. The most important aspects
include the organizational structure and the rights and responsibilities of
various villagers.
Once the regulations have been approved within the organizing committee, you can
proceed to
step eight:
planning the village's operations and ecological economy. What will be the main
sources of income for the village? Once decided, you will base your village
planning on this. The next is farmland planning—where there will be areas for
returning farmland to natural forest, where there will be mixed forest belts
with native trees, fruit trees, and economic trees, where there will be fish
ponds, where there will be purification ponds, etc. Once the planning is
completed, the trees should be planted first, which can be done by hiring local
farmers to assist.
Once the planning is completed and the trees are planted, you can proceed to
step nine.
At this time, the village site should wait for the trees to grow taller before
taking further action. Therefore, it is better to focus on strengthening the
work of the organizing committee, using the planning blueprint to attract more
donations, individuals committed to living in the village, and those who can
provide support from outside the village.
When the number of committed individuals reaches a certain level, you can then
move on to
step ten:
selecting the advance team from among those committed individuals, which refers
to the first batch of villagers. Moving into the village is a very difficult
life choice. You must give up the way of life you have long adapted to, as well
as any so-called career prospects, to become a villager. On the other hand, the
biggest challenge faced by the newly established ecological village is the issue
of livelihood. Will the crops you plant grow well? Can you sell them? Will other
sources of income be established? Therefore, it is best if not everyone moves
into the village at once. Instead, a portion of people should form an advance
team to enter the village first, while the remaining individuals can go on to
help at weekends and holidays, establish marketing efforts from outside, and
even provide financial support if necessary. Once the village becomes
economically self-sufficient, the second batch of villagers can then be added.
After the advance team has been settled successfully in the village, you can
proceed to
step eleven:
the construction of the initial natural farm houses, farmland, and ecological
facilities.
Once the first phase of farm houses and facilities is completed, and a support
team has been established outside to assist in various aspects, you can move on
to
step twelve:
the first batch of villagers can move in, and the ecological village will
officially be inaugurated.
