From Ecovillages
By Lex Veelo
Using scale models to plan a series of hexagonal “kinsdomains” — family homesites recommended in Megre’s books.
My colleagues and I intend to found an ecovillage,
Anastasia Village, following the dreams of Vladimir Megre’s books. (As your readers may know, Megre’s books, which have sold millions of copies and been translated into many languages, focus on the remarkable life and philosophy of
Anastasia, a woman in Siberia who recommends living in eco-communities.)
Last year I took the initiative to set up an ecovillage because our Ministry of Defense was planning to give back to the Dutch people 53 military areas in the Netherlands that were occupied during the cold war in the seventies. Civilians were invited to submit their plans for new future uses of these areas, so I proposed to develop an Anastasia Village in one of the big training fields in the province of Drenthe.
Anastasia Village has been granted property formerly held by the Dutch military in the Dutch province of Drenthe.
We are now in the process of talking with provincial government officials, and are starting to talk with the Municipality of Borger-Odoorn in the Hunze area of Drenthe, in which we plan to situate our Anastasia Village. We have some 150 people who showed interest via our website, and it’s our mission to establish one or more Anastasia Villages in the Netherlands. We have affiliated with other similar villages in Europe, including one in Southern France, and
Rivendell Village in Belgium. There are also Anastasia village initiatives in Germany: one
German project is already four years on the road.
We now feel the time is ready for this type of initiative. Officials like the idea of sustainable ecovillages and we will be unique because of the large land area we intend to claim.
Anastasia Village members in Holland are among hundreds of groups in Europe planning communities based on Megre’s books.
After a year we now have a central group, “The First Circle,” of five people who meet weekly, of which I'm the secretary. Once every six weeks we come together with “The Second Circle” of three other people to talk about the larger issues. We intend to found an informal association without Articles of Association but with positive features describing our intended future life in Anastasia Village, which people who join us will have to subscribe to.
We still don't have real ecovillages in Holland. There is an Eco Village Association that has been active for many years but so far has not founded an ecovillage — however they did help found several co-housing projects in city districts. Some nice examples of eco-districts in Holland are EVA-Lanxmeer in Culemborg and De Kersentuin in Utrecht.
And there is a district of sustainable houses in Boxtel, our most sustainable city, with research institutes like De Kleine Aarde and De twaalf Ambachten.
Deventer is now planning a district of 40 Earthships.
So we are on the move!
Lex Veelo is secretary of the Work Group Anastasia Village in the Netherlands.
Related Articles:
- Eco-Heroes in Japan — May '08
Coming in Future Issues:
- Anastasia Ecovillages in Russia (Andrew Jones)
- Konohana Family Farm in Japan (Hildur Jackson)
- First Philippines Ecovillage Design Education Course (Diana Leafe Christian)
- Pintig Ecovillage Partners with a Local Green Business (Diana Leafe Christian)
- Our Whirlwind Aussie Road Trip, Part II (Russell Austerberry)
- Svanholm in Denmark Becomes Carbon Neutral (Christina Adler Jensen)
- Ecovillage Conference Tokyo 2009 (Hildur Jackson)
- ‘Glue’ or ‘Shrapnel’ in Your Ecovillage (Diana Leafe Christian)
