Letters from Costa Rica: the Ecovillage Fueled by Music and Homegrown Food
Eco-Villages, People Systems, Village Development — by Juliana Birnbaum Fox May 1, 2010
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox, fellow collaborator with Craig Mackintosh on the Sustainable (R)evolution Book Project.
Editor’s Note: This is Part IV of a series. Click to read Part I, Part II and Part III.
 Our daughters in the dipping pool outside our casita |
Life here at Tacotal ecovillage—also affectionately known as the “jungle work farm,” reached a natural peak recently as our population grew from 15 to about 40 during our annual members’ meeting. Then to follow that up, we welcomed about 250 guests to a grand wedding celebration for community members, Stephen Brooks and Sarah Wu, on the adjoining farm, Ecovilla Kopali. In addition to all the meetings and celebrations, we traveled to several inspiring permaculture projects: Punta Mona, on the Carribean side of Costa Rica, and Qachuu Aloom in the remote mountains of Guatemala (I’ll write about Guatemala in a separate article ).
Comments (2)Letters from Costa Rica, Part III – Happiness Is….
Community Projects, Consumerism, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, Energy Systems, People Systems, Society, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling — by Juliana Birnbaum Fox March 18, 2010
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox, fellow collaborator with Craig Mackintosh on the Sustainable (R)evolution Book Project.
Editor’s Note: This is Part III of a series. Read Part I here, and Part II here.
Does Costa Rica hold the secret to happiness? According to a number of different studies, Costa Ricans are the happiest people on the planet, with a longer life expectancy than Americans. Over the past weeks, major news outlets such as the New York Times and the BBC have reported on these results. One figure, called “happy life years,” results from merging average self-reported happiness (where subjects rate their happiness on a ten-point scale) with longevity. Using this system, Costa Rica ranks first, the United States is 19th, and Zimbabwe comes in last.
Comments (2)Letters from Costa Rica, Part II – Parenting in the Jungle
Community Projects, Compost, Demonstration Sites, Eco-Villages, People Systems, Society, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling — by Juliana Birnbaum Fox March 16, 2010
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox, fellow collaborator with Craig Mackintosh on the Sustainable (R)evolution Book Project.
Editor’s Note: This is part two of a series. Read Part I here.
 Yoga on the deck which will become our temporary bedroom |
We’ve been here a month now, and I’m actually writing from a hammock with my laptop powered by the sun, underneath a pair of orange trees. This is our new “living room” in this experiment in outdoor living, outfitted with a log bench, a couple of rocking chairs woven with cord in the local style, outdoor kitchen and shower and a repurposed buoy that serves as a swing. A few steps away are kitchen and shower, cross a little bridge to the bathtub/dipping pool, and another few meters is our newly finished wooden platform where soon we’ll be sleeping. For now it makes a great yoga deck and has a sweet view across the Machuca River valley to a steep hillside dotted with grazing white cows.
Comments (4)Letters from Costa Rica – Part I
Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Society — by Juliana Birnbaum Fox March 12, 2010
by Juliana Birnbaum Fox, fellow collaborator with Craig Mackintosh on the Sustainable (R)evolution Book Project.
 The family in front of our jungle kitchen |
Up until now, we’ve collected stories from around the world on this Culture of Permaculture blog – reports back from inspiring sites that we feel are in some way demonstrating solutions to the serious social and environmental crises our generation faces. The posts have included profiles of places that my family and like-minded collaborators have visited and conversations we’ve had on topics such as community, ecological design, and living in balance with natural systems.
Our goal is to publish a tabletop-style book (read more about the Sustainable [R]evolution book project here) that showcases these design solutions in practice around the world, from urban community gardens to indigenous villages to permaculture centers. As an anthropologist, I’ve been writing and editing the manuscript from an ethnographic perspective, looking at these places as evidence of an emerging, international culture of sustainable living.
This entry marks the beginning of a new era of this research. Instead of simply visiting these sites, we have the incredible opportunity to create one. About two years ago, my family decided to join a group of people who formed a collective to buy 55 acres of land in Costa Rica. Many of the members of the group knew each other from an annual Burning Man camp they were part of; some, like us, were connected through Stephen Brooks. Stephen is the ever-optimistic and energetic creative force behind Punta Mona, a permaculture center on the Carribean side of Costa Rica, and Kopali Organics, a natural and fair trade food company. His unmatched networking abilities and experience living and working in Costa Rica made it possible for 33 people – American, Costa Rican and Mexican – to come together and ante up to be part of the community we named Tacotal.
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