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Ecotopia
Ecotopia history
The first idea of Ecotopia was born during a camp organised by Eyfa in Friburg in 1988, and the first Ecotopia gathering took place in Cologne (Germany), in 1989. The initial idea was to create a permanent sustainable camp but Ecotopia soon became an annual summer gathering where environmental activists and young people from all around Europe would meet for two weeks to experiment and learn about different alternatives to develop a more responsible, supportive and environmentally friendly lifestyle.
This objective required to minimise the energy and resource consumption as much as possible, to use renewable forms of energy, make compost with garbage and waste, and eat vegetarian, organic food -when possible-. But it also comprised lots of creativity in living together and enjoying a big diversity of perspectives, cultural and ideological backgrounds.
Ecotopia has travelled since 1989, moving from one country to another from Western/Southern to Central/Eastern Europe. Around 400-600 people have participated every year.
In 2003, Ecotopia took place for the second time in an ex-Soviet Union country (the first time was in Estonia in 1991), which meant that more people from Eastern Europe, who are normally excluded from many European international processes due to economic and visa problems, were able to attend. This summer, Ecotopia 2004 has taken place in The Netherlands, where around 450 people registered and a special effort was made to guarantee the participation of people from non EU and Caucassian countries.
Eyfa tries to alternate every Ecotopia's location between Western/Southern to Eastern Europe
What is Ecotopia
Ecotopia is not just a holiday camp or a mere non-formal education event. Everybody who joins Ecotopia is expected to put some effort into the organisation and effective running of the gathering. It means that everybody has to actively take part in one of the daily working groups so that the teams can rotate and everybody is equally able to work, attend to the workshops and rest at Ecotopia.
Moreover, Ecotopia is horizontally self-organised and during the gathering all decisions are taken by consensus in the daily morning circles. All participants are fully responsible for building the camp, solving the problems and developing the everyday tasks.
Another issue that makes a difference between Ecotopia and other activists meetings is that it is not necessary to be involved in any organisation, social movement or campaign to attend. Ecotopia is an extraordinary open event which offers opportunities for active cooperation to every person with an environmental and social sensitivity.
Every Ecotopia is different
As you might know, Ecotopia has been criticised sometimes as a 'hippy festival' with no political relevance. With regards to this, we have to take into account that the results of every gathering are highly dependent on the particular circumstances of the context in which it takes place and the contribution of the people participating every year. Sometimes there has been an action organised, other times there has been a music festival... It is up to us to make it what we want it to be, to link this international gathering to a particular local environmental struggle, to organise local actions, to create environmental structures that will remain in the venue, etc.
All criticism we make of the mainstream lifestyles of energy hyperconsumption, resources pillage and destruction of biodiversity is useless if we are not able to make visible and put into practice our alternative. And there is not only one alternative, but many. In Ecotopia, the main aim is to explore and give shape to these alternatives in order to come back with more passion and some practical knowledge to the whirl of our everyday struggles. From this starting point, we hope every Ecotopia will transform us and will change the idea we had in our minds before starting.
Even though every Ecotopia is different there is some EcotopiaPrinciples. Some of them always apply, some others change, when the location changes.
EcotopiaUkraine: In summer 2003, the Ecotopia gathering took place for the second time in an ex-Soviet Union country (the first time was in Estonia in 1991), which meant that more people from Eastern Europe, who are normally excluded from many European international processes due to economical and visa problems, were able to attend. The main topic in Ecotopia Ukraine was 'Cultural perspectives on Human Rights'. It was organised by Green Dossier and SVIT as host organisations.
EcotopiaNetherlands2004: the 16th edition of Ecotopia is coming by the first time to the Netherlands. Five Dutch youth organisations were hosting it (LHUMP, VIA, ASEED, JMA, IVN-Jong) and it took place from 9 - 23 August 2004 in a nature reserve at the cross point of two rivers Waal and Maas. The main topic was 'Water and Bread', even though the inoffial running gag became CloseTheLid...
EcotopiaMoldova2005: According to the Ecotopia history, this environmental gathering moves from one country to another, changing from Western Europe to Eastern Europea every year. There was some proposals to host Ecotopia 2005 (ProposalsEcotopia2005) and in the end Ecotopia 2005 is going to take place in Moldova.
- //EcotopiaPortugal2007//
Ecotopia toolbox
If you want to organise Ecotopia, there is some useful information here you might want to look through...