Silvergreen Calendar
First Meeting
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Where
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Shaun's place 4/105 Waverley Street Annerley, QLD 4103 |
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When
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2pm, Sunday, 19 August 2007 |
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Purpose
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This is our first meeting, so the main purpose will be to get to know each other, to listen to each others' ideas about what the ecovillage is or should be, and to prepare for the next step - creating the vision documents. |
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Contact Information
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Shaun Moss: 0405 478912 shaun@astromultimedia.com |
Results
The meeting was attended by 8 people: Shaun, Russell & wife Gabrielle, Mike and his cousin Tom, Ewen, Neisha and Helen.
This was a great cross-section of people, which held very positive and interesting overtones for the future of the community. Russell and Gabrielle have the most experience in ecovillage creation, being involved in an earlier project known as the Brisbane Ecovillage. Russell is also a founding member of ECNA (the Ecovillage and Cohousing Network of Australia), which links us from an early stage with this organisation, and therefore the Global Ecovillage Network of which it is a component. Among the attendees were elements of spirituality, engineering, science, IT, organisational and people management skills, and experience with villages and co-housing communities.
This worksheet was used as a very basic tool for learning people's ideas and desires with regard to being part of an ecovillage. The results from the worksheet are as follows:
What would interest you about an ecovillage?
This is a very important question because it links to our principles and vision, which are the next steps in our process.
Everyone agreed on "reducing ecological footprint", so there is a clear environmentalist streak in our group. The second most popular reason was "to be part of a community", followed by "survival".
Being "close to nature" and "health benefits" ranked equal as the 4th and 5th main reasons. "Reduced cost of living" and "building own sustainable house" ranked equal 6th and 7th.
"Good investment" was by far the least important reason.
Reduce ecological footprint: 7
To be part of a community: 6.5
Survival: 6
Close to nature: 5.5
Health benefits:
5.5
Reduce cost of living: 5
Build own sustainable house: 5
To participate in
conservation: 4.5
Security: 4.5
Access to community centre: 4.5
Good investment: 2
Home Design
The most popular preferences were for a 2-3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house, on 2 levels, with a steel frame.
Home Features
Rain
water harvesting: 7
Water purification systems: 7
Energy-efficient appliances: 7
Water-efficient appliances: 7
Wireless networking: 7
Permaculture garden: 6
Built-in
computer: 6
Solar panels: 5
Smart-house tech: 4
Heat pump HWS: 3
Fenced area for
pets: 2
Home theatre: 2
Community Centre
Commercial kitchen: 7
Dining hall: 7
Games room: 6.5
Mini-cinema: 6.5
F ire-pit: 6.5
Gym: 6.5
Large
cold-room/pantry: 6
Meeting room: 6
Library/readng room: 6
Swimming pool: 6
Shared
office: 5
Yoga/aerobics room: 4.5
General indifference about sporting areas; suggestions about creating multi-functional spaces for this purpose.
Ecovillage Features
Location:
Samford Valley: 3
Beechmont: 2
Generally it seemed that people didn't mind where the ecovillage was located as long as it was reasonably close to Brisbane (eg. "Within 30km Brisbane CBD", "Within 1hr Brisbane CBD", "Within 50km Brisbane CBD", "Close to city").
Number of homes: ranged from 30-300, average about 150
Amount of land: widely varied, up to about 100 hectares
Land allocation (averages)
| Native flora/fauna, land rehabilitation: | 40% |
| Roads, community spaces, farmland: | 35% |
| Homes: | 25% |
Animals
Aquaculture tanks: 5
Chickens (for eggs): 5
Horses: 3.5
Dogs and cats: 2.5
Meat animals: 2.5
