PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—I got wind of the ideal of living in an ecovillage after one of my interviewees, Sarah Queblatin, told me that she spent three years living—on and off—in an ecovillage in Palawan.
It was here, Sarah said, that she learned to live in harmony with nature, and did some inner work following the death of her mother in 2013. Living here also gave her time to meditate more on her life’s mission: to learn and work with transitional communities into designing better systems.
A few years later, Sarah would live out her life’s mission by establishing Green Releaf Initiative, a non-governmental organization that uses holistic systems like permaculture and ecovillage design to help local communities that are in transition from radical changes like natural disasters or conflict. She is also a consultant and volunteer for the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN); a registered charity, which has consultative status in the United Nations-Economic and Social Council.
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According to GEN, an ecovillage is a community that is designed by its members based on four dimensions of sustainability—social, culture, ecology and economy—to regenerate social and natural environments.
Contrary to my initial impression that living in an ecovillage means living in some remote mountain community far away from modern civilization, an ecovillage can, in fact, exist in a city.
There’s such a thing as “urban” ecovillage, and GEN said this can be achieved if the community members decided to build a city that is more sustainable, collaborative and participatory.
There are other types of ecovillages, too. The “traditional” ecovillage is a rural village and community while an “intentional” ecovillage is created by people who come together afresh with a shared purpose or vision.
But whether one lives in an urban or traditional ecovillage, what defines an ecovillage is adhering to the concept of social, cultural, ecological and economic sustainability.
Social sustainability is about diversity, community building, more participatory governance and sharing common goals and trust. Cultural sustainability honors cultural traditions that supports human dignity, nurtures mindfulness and celebrates creativity.
Ecovillagers practice ecological sustainability by producing food, shelter, water and energy that respect the cycles of nature. This can be done by using renewable-energy sources, growing crops organically, adapting green building technologies and waste management.
An economically sustainable ecovillage promotes equitable land ownership, social entrepreneurship, fair trade, local community empowerment and economic justice.
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The idea of going on a career sabbatical to meditate on one’s life path, do inner work and live with nature intrigued me, so I decided in the end to visit the nearest ecovillage that I could find. Which was why I found myself one Friday afternoon in a jeep of group of yoginis as we drove through the hills of central Palawan to go to Maia Earth Village.
Just about an hour away from Puerto Princesa city, this ecovillage was established by the same community behind Bahay Kalipay—the renowned yoga, meditation and detox center in Palawan.
According to Bahay Kalipay’s web site, Maia Earth Village is founded on the same principles that guide Bahay Kalipay—a return to simplicity and essential living.
After exploring Maia Earth Village, I could understand why some people go here to meditate and make art work. Although it’s beside a paved road, the ecovillage is still in a forested area, surrounded by Palawan’s mountains.
It’s distraction-free—there’s no cell-phone signal there, much less a Wi-fi connection. There are books, though, but in the end it’s just about you and not about other people.
Although, if one really needs to contact someone, you have to go to one of the mud houses on top of a hill in order to get a connection. The pathway has been cleared, so even a klutz like me can go up this place.
One of the mud houses there has an outlet where one can recharge a cell phone or a laptop. But, apart from that, there are no other electrical devices. No ref, no stove as, like Bahay Kalipay, this community lives on a raw-food diet.
People come in and out of the several mud houses that were built by the community villagers using clay, sand, rice straw and recycled glass bottles. For food, one has to literally scrounge around for bananas and coconuts.
Can I live here, then? Honestly no, as the silence, isolation and living on a mono diet of coconuts would probably drive me nuts. However, I did get some ideas on how to live more sustainably, and this was something that I can incorporate in my city-based lifestyle. But if I can’t live here, can I then stay here, sit for a while and meditate? Yes, of course, which was what we did after marveling the view from a mud house on top of a hill.
Errata: In my story, “A permaculture garden is not just about organic farming” published on March 15, I wrote that Green Releaf’s Sarah Queblatin was talking with the administrators of Mindanao State University in in Iligan to build an ecovillage and permaculture learning site in the university. That should have been MSU-Marawi and not MSU-Iligan. The error is regretted, and I apologize for whatever inconvenience it might have caused.