“Compared to the year 2000, the greatest change is that after the disaster of the Lehman Brothers the world has understood: we all live on the same planet, all the countries are interdependent. A new kind of solidarity has already developed, he emphasizes. In case of famine, the world acts quite quickly nowadays as there are financial resources put aside for exigency.“

Da Silva believes one of the unique positive effects of increasing food prices is that it has become worldwide known how important food is. “Hunger has become the number one priority. We have to take advantage of this situation in a way that we build up a global strategy to secure food supplies”, he emphasizes.

Fine words that according to da Silva, will be followed by actions as well.

Source and more on the topic: portfolio.hu

September 25^th, 2009

August 21^st, 2010

September 17^th, 2011

This year and in the last two years these were the exact days, when humanity overstepped the boundaries of its annual consumption rate. It is highly advisable that in the era of debt crises everyone becomes aware of the fact that not only firms, banks and countries, but also the entire mankind have exceeded their share of the credit margin.

There is solely one solution to resolve this problem. Reduce overconsumption and decrease unnecessary overproduction and accumulation.

Besides stopping prodigality, however, one cannot escape paying the debt we have taken up as a credit from the biosphere as well. The idea is to reconsider economic methods in use, develop ecosystems in a conscious way, afforest vast areas, manage landscape correctly and in this way run our economy truly wisely.

I do not know if you have noticed that in 2011 the Ecological Overshoot Day is a bit postponed, which I have first acknowledged quite joyfully also. Nonetheless, here is the naked truth behind this fact. The reason for it is nothing but change in the method of calculation (Check this out here!). Unfortunately, according to the earlier method of calculation the situation is much worse than last year or the year before. I reckon, none of us can get away without thinking over our approach, our individual stance to this and reconsider how we can contribute to improve nature’s, the environment’s state – either to improve or live our lifestyle in a much greener way, or at least to live more economically.

If consumers ate less meat products, they would considerably take active part in decreasing environment pollution, which are caused by manuring, petrol and water consumption as well as pesticide use and not to mention poisonous materials used during production or that arise from the production, says Kari Hamerschlag, senior analyst at EWG (Environmental Working Group) and conductor of the survey.

Mario Batali, the renowned chef states that it is a fact that Americans eat much more meat than it is good for them or the planet. However, it is quite unlikely that everyone is going to follow vegetarian diet and even less likely to become vegan. It is unrealistic to ask this from anyone; nonetheless, people should be more considerate to eat a lot more vegetables and fruits and support such farmers, who keep their animals in a humane and environment conscious way. “That is the reason I believe in the importance of Meat Free Mondays’ campaign and Environmental Working Group’s guides.”, says Batali.

The survey also points out that consuming great quantity of beef and pre-prepared meat (cured and seasoned) increases the amount of toxic materials in our body and escalates the risk of such problems like obesity, cancer and heart diseases. EWG has asked CleanMetrics specializing on environmental studies to conduct a survey together on 20 different kinds of animals from their cradle to the grave that were raised in a non-organic environment or which were not fed in a good pasture or grazing ground . They observed the course of life of fish, dairy produces and vegetables as well and thus counted their ecological footprint.

Source: 168ora.hu

In a number of various kinds of works, which beforehand they conducted by tractors, now farmers work with oxen. However, not only the continuously rising petrol prices have a beneficial effect on the advancement of this trend. A few decades ago, farmers who worked with animals have been considered old-fashioned, obstinate and blockhead people. Children born in these families were ashamed of their kin, when they met with fellow kids whose parents ran their farm with modernized equipment. Then again, the spread of industrial revolution and consumerist society has slowly, but gradually led the world to an ecologic disaster. As a consequence of recognizing the above-mentioned phenomena and the positive social feedback to it, traditional agricultural methods are not considered old-fashioned anymore, but just on the contrary, they are reflected on as progressional. As a matter of fact, this approach gives inspiration, strength and self-esteem to all those farmers, who willingly turn back to the farming tradition of their great parents and elders.

The Eco Valley Foundation is organizing a workshop in the field of sustainability, which is supported by the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme: Grundtvig for Adult Education Project.

The workshop entitled The Pillars of Sustainability – Developing Small Communities Aiming at Self-sustainability in Europe registered under number GR-WOR-2011-21 will take place between 9th and 16th October, 2011 in Somogyvámos, Hungary.
Read details below…

The title (and topic) of the workshop:

The Pillars of Sustainability – Developing Small Communities Aiming at Self-sustainability in Europe.

Target group:

The workshop is going to be organized by the Eco Valley Foundation and the target groups of it are such existing or to-be formed communities or individuals aiming at self-sustainability, which wish to apply the fundamental idea of the workshop in their everyday life. According to the plans the number of participants will be 30 people, 20 of whom will come from abroad and 10 will be from our country, Hungary. During major activities participants are going to attend lectures, seminars, take part in interactive field-surveys, fieldwork as well as joint workshops, all of which are meant to transmit theoretical and practical knowledge in connection with self-sufficiency and sustainability. The workshop is going to be organized between 9th and 16th October, 2011 in Somogyvámos, Hungary in the well-known village of Krishna Valley that is situated in the vicinity of Somogyvámos. Krishna Valley is a rural community, which was formed 18 years ago and is considered one of the most successful communities in the field of sustainability and self-sufficiency; therefore, it is the prime model community of Eco Valley Foundation.

Activities/Program:

The program of the workshop is going to cover 4 main topics. These are the following: Society and Sustainable Development, Managing Self-sustaining Communities, Organic Farming and Social Security. Learners can attend lectures in these particular fields as well as participate in the workshops, field-surveys and fieldworks, too. The speakers of the workshop will be internationally renowned authorities and leaders of the successful project of Krishna Valley. The detailed programme will be sent out to selected candidates later.

Anticipated Impact:

In accordance with the expectations of the Eco Valley Foundation all the learners participating in the workshop will gain inspiration and will commit themselves more to establishing small sustainable communities. Concerning results of the project the participants are most likely going to develop systematic understanding of social, economic, and environmental correlation and a skill for systematic approach. Besides this learners’ skills for recognizing and problem-solving abilities are also going to develop. All the above-mentioned are going to collectively help the application of accumulated knowledge and its adaptation in various circumstances.

Practical Information:

Regarding practical information all applicants must fill in an entry-form (find attached to the letter) in order to apply for the workshop and send it back via email – filled in, signed and scanned (Email address: kirsgyu@gmail.com) or post – filled in and signed (Address: Eco Valley Foundation, 8699 Somogyvámos, Fő utca 38., Hungary). After receiving and evaluating the form our foundation will inform the selected applicants about the detailed program.
The host, the Eco Valley Foundation, covers all costs of the workshop including international travel expenses.
However, participants have to be aware of the fact that they have to organize their transportation no matter whether they travel to the venue of the workshop individually or in a group. The organizer can only take share in the organization of inland transportation of foreign participants. This kind of need of the participants must be indicated to the organizers in advance. Refunding of participants’ travel expenses is going to take place at the time of registration against a receipt of travelling ticket, boarding card or invoice indicating petrol expenses. Booking accommodation is also going to be done by the organizer, who is going to meet the different needs of participants based on preliminary discussions. Accommodation booking is to be done by the involvement of subcontractors, which as indicated, also implies the covering of costs. Catering, which includes three vegetarian meals daily, is provided by the organizer as well.

Ms. Graczka emphasizes that there are bags made of natural components like that of potato or maize starch, which theoretically can totally disintegrate. However, 99.9% of so-called organic bags available in Hungary are not like the above mentioned. According to her the latter mentioned bags all have the eco-friendly trademark printed on them, but they often contain such catalysts that include heavy metals, which accelerate the splitting of plastic chains, and thereby the decomposing of such a bag.

We speak of the same sort of bags, says the communication manager of Humusz, but they contain extra ingredients, too. These ingredients apart from the fact that they are harmful to health also negatively affect selective waste management. Recyclers complain that they cannot handle these bags the same way they manage ordinary nylon bags. (One can throw away such bags in a container together with the PET flasks at a selective refuse dump.)

As she pointed out they have had a home-experiment to see whether the biodegradable bags, supposedly ought to disintegrate in 90 days, indeed fall apart or not. Ms Graczka underlined that bags do not degrade at all, and even if after some time they fall apart, the remnants of these bags will be nothing else but plastic fallen into little pieces.

The motive of supermarkets behind the whole thing using so-called organic or biodegradable bags is a simple technique concerning taxation. Since the law regarding product taxation disposes that if one fourth of the bags are biodegradable bags, then the enterprise does not have to pay a product fee for the remaining three-quarters of bags either.

The viewpoint of Humusz is that there is no need for plastic bags at all whether they are degradable, or non-degradable ones. We suggest people to use bags made of cloth and similar, durable carrier and shopping bags. At the time when the government of Ireland introduced bag taxation, the use of plastic bags dropped by 94 percent. This clearly indicates that there is no need for them, claimed Sylvia Graczka.

Source: Greenfo

The aim of this programme is to share experience and practical knowledge as well as ideas of beneficial projects. This year the Bhaktivedanta Manor, a place about 30 kilometres from London gave home to the program. It is a very special estate as George Harrison, the famous Beatles guitarist donated it to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1973, almost 40 years ago.

The houses are under protection of historic buildings and they are surrounded by a magnificent park filled with tame wild animals like mallards, Bernacle geese, hares, squirrels, etc. However, the dairy farm has been rebuilt in recent years. There are new buildings for the cows and the milk processing, plus there are closed and semi-open cowsheds, enormous bale storehouses, a granary and a workshop.

In my view, it is a really clever idea and architectural design to have huge windows in the milk-processing unit, so in this way tourists can observe everything without disturbing the work procedure.

One of the main principles of animal husbandry (similarly like in Krishna Valley) is that they respect both the cows, which give milk and the oxen, which work in agriculture. Milk as well as grains play a major role in the lacto-vegetarian diet. One of the features of respect is that the animals that live here are never slaughtered. When cattle grow old, they spend their so-called pensioner years happily and peacefully. My Hungarian travelling companions, who are experts in herding, had even found some innovations in the technique of hand-milking, whereas I took notice of other similarities and differences.

Next to the building set up for milking cows, there is a creamery. Fresh milk is cooled down and afterwards they make cream, skim milk, cheese and other diary produces. In the kitchen of Bhaktivedanta Manor locals cook three times a day, usually quite a large amount of food; therefore, anyone can have a free plate. It is no wonder that the kitchen purchases all the milk products of the dairy farm. So, as far as dairy produce is considered, the farm is self-sufficient in this respect.

Even though residents use electricity on the farm (e.g. during the milk processing), they try to substitute diesel engine machinery with ox power. We participated in a workshop where we had the chance to use the plough with oxen. One of the ploughs is structured in a way that the ploughman can actually sit on it, while the other one has to be pushed from behind as you may see on the photos below.

Yoke is a necessary tool when working with oxen (it is put on their neck in order to control them) and it is available in a few places in Europe, however, it was good to see that residents are able to manufacture them locally.

A tread-wheel or capstan is under construction that is based on the same principle, which was used when constructing old Hungarian treadmills. It is quite interesting that regarding technology they have learned a lot from the Amish.

It seems that slaughter-free milk production gives inspiration to other enterprises in England as well. Leaders in the Bhaktivedanta Manor have begun to develop a commercial network, which welcomes any small or large-scale dairy farm that is willing to maintain a few cows (or even more) according to the principles of cow-protection centres. In this way English consumers are able to get more and more non-violent milk, which is much more better than organic or bio milk, as it is not only without any chemicals, but karma free as well.

The international meeting of civil activists and spiritual and religious leaders to which Radha Krishna Dasa, as director of the Eco-Valley Foundation, was invited, was held parallel to the big climate summit, aiming to influence and offer “windows of hope” to the political leaders. In fact, the decision-makers gathered in Copenhagen frequently attended the Bottom Meeting’s events, lectures, exhibitions and films where they learned about a number of sustainable cities and eco-village initiatives, as well as other fresh ideas to overcome the world’s ecological, social, spiritual and economic challenges. Many of them heard Radha Krishna’s presentation about the Eco-Valley farm community in Hungary, an internationally known and appreciated eco-village project that is based on the spiritual principles of sustainability established by the ancient Indian scriptures, the Vedas.

Following the instructions of Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Eco-Valley (or Krishna-valley) was established in 1993 by ISKCON leader Sivarama Swami and a handful of dedicated devotees. Their aim was to create a community where members of each household can lead a sustainable, environment-friendly and God-centered life. Sixteen years later, there are 150 devotees living on 550 acres of beautifully cultivated land. They have built sixty-three buildings including a new temple, family homes, cow stables, a school, an art studio, a bakery, a guesthouse and several new roads. They grow their own grain, fruits, herbs and vegetables, and have planted 250,000 trees, which give shade to tens of thousand of tourists visiting and learning from them each year. The Eco-Valley community is 100% self-sufficient when it comes to food, producing ten times more grain and seven times more honey than its residents actually need. Their biggest challenge for the next couple of years will be to increase their energy sufficiency by planting more windmills and solar panels and taking advantage of the geothermic energy sources.

Although the Hungarian Eco-Valley project is considered to be one of the world’s most successful self-sustaining communities, Radha Krishna Dasa says that there are many similar eco-villages around the globe. ISKCON itself has several dozen, but unfortunately, it appears, there is not enough communication and cooperation between them.

“The Copenhagen Climate Conference was a great venue to meet similar-minded, dedicated people,” Radha Krishna says. “It inspired me even more to reach out and exchange ideas with all those who are willing to work together for a better future.”

Then, the question naturally arises: with all the good intentions, valuable presentations, yearlong negotiations and enormous efforts by thousands of people from all over the world, why did the Copenhagen Climate Summit ultimately fail?

Radha Krishna Dasa explains that as long as the main considerations of the politicians remain closely connected to economic gain or loss, there will be no breakthroughs in solving the critical environmental problems. “Unfortunately, the leaders of society are very reluctant to inspire people to change their habits and live more responsibly, get out of their cars and consume less. What to speak of asking them to become vegetarians and shutting down the slaughterhouses, which are responsible for 51% of the world’s greenhouse gas emission, and are even more polluting than cars.”

According to Radha Krishna, there are no shortcuts or easy ways out. The only solution is a substantial change of consciousness on the individual level: each and every person`s commitment resulting in actions towards a more sustainable life. “We should all pull our heads out of the sand, for one is not only responsible for what he does, but for what he does not do.”

By Krishna-lila devi dasi (Krisztina Danka, PhD.)

Source: ISKCON News

At the beginning representatives of each ecovillages gave an introductory presentation and told a bit about the happenings of the last period. They also described the method of joining.
Delegates of Krishna-valley expressed that everybody who is interested in getting involved in life of Krishna-valley for shorter or longer period are most welcomed, though only Krishna believers are aloud to settle down in the Valley. In the other hand anyone can settle down in the neighbouring Somogyvámos. If you are longing for village life, garden, clear are, dynamic and creative community you can find it there and you can participate in this Europe-wide unique eco-program as well.
The delegates told the following too: “We would like other parts of Somogyvámos to be turned into an ecological attitude, cultural and folk handwork centre – a model village. This previously aging, dead-end village has already developed a lot in the last decade. Thanks to Krishna-valley the elementary school and the post office could be kept and 30 000 tourists visit the village per year. In the last couple of years more and more people by houses in Somogyvámos.”
In between the presentations village tours were organized in the Biofalu part of Máriahalom. On these tours guests were invited to enter those houses which have special stoves built in. These stoves called “finish stoves” or mass stoves. All of them are hand built and have a different shape, but thanks to their special structure they burn wood perfectly as they gasify it and they radiate heat effectively inside the building with the lowest level of lose through the chimney. These special stoves will be tested in the next four new built houses in Krishna-valley as well.

Thanks to the great work of the staff of Natural Lifestyle Foundation Agostyán (http://tea.uw.hu) – the organizer of the event – and Biofalu (ecovillage initiative at Máriahalom http://www.biofalu.hu) – the host of the event the all program went very well even with the unexpectedly high number of guests. And special thanks for GEN-Europe (www.gen-europe.org) for financial support of the event.

Next ecovillage meeting in Hungary will be at summer. Until than, we wish all the best for existing ecovillages, for new initiatives and for enthusiastic community seekers too.

Szilvia Rév, Pártha dász, Gábor Tóth