Gaia: eco adventure villages & zevolution - existing eco adventure +++ retreats worth visiting

Re: Here's a couple of super cool places for your next vacation..

http://roderick.gaia.com — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:24:06 GMT

Three places in my 'back yard' worth visiting:

Nihiwatu - one of the top 5 eco resorts of the world, and one of the world's best 100 hotels as voted by Tatler. Winner of numerous rewards and a personal favorite in terms of their astounding style, gorgeous location, and serious commitment towards improving regional quality of life. Wow. A true inspiration and a gorgeous website.

Bali Eco Lodge - also one of Indonesia's premier eco resorts, this place is much more affordable, and truly is committed to sustainability, conservation, and living in harmony with nature. Up in the mountainous regions of Bali, this is simply an incredible destination worth spending a few days or weeks at.

Tiger Islands Village & Eco Resort - this is my humble little resort, a seedling of the trees above and my own vision on how to make the world a better place. It was recently voted by Travel and Leisure as one of 12 best affordable private island resorts in the world - which is hard for me to imagine. Nonetheless, it's super laid back, features gorgeous coral reefs, has a range of eco technologies for sustainable living, and is in the process of a regional community development initiative focused on education and conservation.

Please, if you know of any amazing eco retreats or other eco villages that you feel are worth visiting, please share :~)

Other ecotravels, the cheap down and dirty way

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:46:17 GMT

WWOOF'ing is a great way to visit eco-oriented communities and not have to pay too much in the process. You can check out the wwoof wesbite, also www.organicvolunteers.org is a good one - less expensive to join. It involves working for food and shelter usually, but hey work is good for the soul.

Re: Here's a couple of super cool places for your next vacation..

http://roderick.gaia.com — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:29:11 GMT

One of the most profound eco-adventure-inspirational villages is at Findhorn in Scotland, and has been running for the past 44 years...

It would be a great place to go to learn more about eco villages and a version of an 'advanced' community and way of life....

check it out at www.findhorn.org

Visit My Eco Island on your own Computer!

http://roderick.gaia.com — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 21:12:13 GMT

So, I'm still working on the website (yeah, we Indonesians have this concept called rubber time - it was planned for completion at end October),

BUT,

In the meantime I've designed a cool 3-D model. You can too, of anything really...

Just go to www.google.com and find Sketchup. Once you download it, let me know (contact me at unitedadventures@yahoo.com or evolutionaryjedi@gmail.com), and I'll send you the file.

cheers. to technology, that is :~)

Re: Eco? Yes! But more than that

http://roderick.gaia.com — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:17:10 GMT

One hyperlink, one conversation, one travelling and adventure experience, and one idea at a time. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." And there's so much potential that I can see with what Sami is doing, what many of us here on this pod are doing, to really make significant changes in the way we live and evolve.

There are 25,000 of us Zaadzters now, and hundreds of thousands more out there who have been searching. Who are searching. Searching for solutions to how we live. Those of us here are privileged enough to not have to worry about starvation, about war, about avoidable diseases. But we still search for the means to good living. And Sami believes in helping others make a living from creating B&B's - which is awesome. Thank you Sami for joining this pod, and I hope you don't mind if I share the inspirational passages that you wrote to me recently...

Re: Welcome welcome welcome...

Drigo - so MUCH to say to you, with you.

Yesterday I again hosted one of my Sunday morning breakfast conversations. As usual, gathered around the table with me were some of the planet's richest people. Each had a home, running water, a university education, a passport - which enables them to move about from one culture, one religion, one way of life to another. They, we, are the privileged people of the world.

If anyone is going to “save the world” it is not the homeless, the sick, the refugees, those without identification to even prove who they are, much less their entitlement to leaving one country and seeking another.

It's going to be us.

We who can travel, can see one lifestyle, one environment, one bioregion, one society, and compare it to another. To learn and to choose and to contribute. To appreciate and to empathize and to befriend. To humbly learn and to spread the insights through our service, (aka play, calling, our careers, our ministries.)

How lucky we are! What an enormous amount we have to give!
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Part of the point of this pod is to explore the idea of making a living creating these little paradise homes - whether they be eco villages, inspirational resorts set in nature, or bed & breakfasts in a charming part of the town or city you live in. Places where people from different cultures come together and share stories. Places where people make friends, and consider the issues facing our world today. Places where people are comfortable to be themselves. Where the environment is cozy, and where nature is loved and respected. Where things are done slightly differently than in the average hotel room.

I gave up an old everything for a new everything, and sometimes a shadow of doubt creeps up on me and whispers to go back to the old corporate jobs. To go make oodles of money by working on a big project. To work for a prestigious organization. And the whisper gets uncomfortably loud when I have to pay bills late because a group of guests decided they couldn't make it. I'm sure Sami and others here can identify, and I have so much more to go through, but for sure it's not easy. But in the little time that I've dedicated to this, I can tell you something else - it sure is satisfying. It's an awesome path, and 93% of the time, I don't look for greener pastures. 7% of the time, I munch on a greener pasture because mine can be dry at times :~)

Sami, may I ask you, have you found it difficult to make a comfortable living? How do you get through those times?

Eco? Yes! But more than that

http://sami.gaia.com — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:53:26 GMT

I envision locally owned and operated small hotels, b&bs and cafes which can connect visitors with local culture, projects, architecture, schools, you name it. Places where peace-making travelers can connect and contribute. And their dollars go, not to corporate hotel headquarters, but the local society or bioregion. First world B&bs (US, Canada, Europe, Australia, etc,) can be connection points for a global network so MUCH more than they are now. They can play a big role in peace-building.

They can also help 3rd world people to own and operate b&bs in the developing countries, providing them self employment. They can be greatly assisted by encouraging local architectural traditions combined with ecological use of local materials.

Want to be on the team? You are invited to send me ideas of how you can help create Peaceful World Travel Club.

Sami Sunchild
www.peacefulworldtravel.com

Eco-living article - in my blog

http://marketing-muntz.gaia.com — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 03:17:07 GMT

You can now view the article I talked about a few weeks ago in my blog. Hope you can read it ! (it's a jpg file)

muntz

Re: The Federation of Egalitarian Communities

http://telesterion.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:52:59 GMT

http://thefec.org/

The Federation of Egalitarian Communities

http://telesterion.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:51:55 GMT

Here's a link I'd seen before, thought it was interesting enough to post, because it includes the most famous names in long term communities here in the states. I refound it doing a bit of a search on the NY Ganas commune which has been in the news because of a shooting...

The Federation of Egalitarian Communities is a network of communal groups spread across North America. We range in size and emphasis from small agricultural homesteads to village-like communities to urban group houses. We share a set of core principles including nonviolence, egalitarianism, and participatory decision-making.

http://thefec.org/

Re: Article: Eco Tourism - RACV magazine June 2006

http://roderick.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:56:45 GMT

Hi Muntz!! Hmmm... I think they're working on that :~) Anyway you could convert it to a jpg or picture file? then you could post it as one of your pictures and put in a link directing us there.Looking forward to reading it! You can always ask Matthew for technical advice.

By the way, just had my first session with my visionary coach here at Zaadz last night. That was cool. She called me from Canada and we spent an hour talking about the vision and how to manifest it. She picked up on the fact that I was hiring an old friend and someone who had lead a tour for me to Borneo a couple years ago. Exciting stuff. Where Zaadz becomes real...

We got our first solar panel on the island last weekend, installed and operating :~) We've only attached 3 lights to it. It generates 200 watt-hours per day. It's on a trial basis. I'm heading out again tomorrow with a small group of about 8 people, and I'm bringing four big sacks of organic dirt from my Californian buddie's organic farm, along with some tomato and chilli seeds :~) Also just secured verbal agreement to extend the contract on the island indefinitely with the owner yesterday.

Which all inspires me to post a new discussion thread on progress. It's called Zaadz Eco Villages ~ Projects in Action. I'll be using it to post progress on my project. Just got the name of my company officially registered - United Adventures (like it?) - and so will post a new topic there as United Adventures ~ on the move. I'd like to encourage anyone else involved here in a similar project to post their own progress in a new topic...

And by the way, if you haven't seen the new Zaadz Ad, check it out. It's awesome.

Article: Eco Tourism - RACV magazine June 2006

http://marketing-muntz.gaia.com — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:29:43 GMT

Hi there

I was sitting eating my porridge this morning before work and found an article in an RACV (Royal Automotive Club of Victoria) magazine. Straight away I thought of Drigo and this pod. I have scanned it for you all to read. Enjoy !

muntz

p.s does anyone know how to attach a pdf file here??

Here's a couple of super cool places for your next vacation...

http://roderick.gaia.com — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:52:44 GMT

Here's one in australia - called Crystal Waters

Here's one in new zealand - called Shambala

These would be great places to visit to learn more about this concept. The one in new zealand is founded by a guy who shares my vision of spreading this concept around the world... and has affiliations with neale donald walsch, the guy who wrote conversations with god.