Ecoescuela El Manzano, Chile

Location: Cabrero, Biobio, Chile
Project Start Date: August 2007
Expected Completion Date (i.e. when expected to become financially self-sufficient): 2012

Project Summary

Ecoescuela El Manzano is a non profit organisation based in the Biobio Region of Chile. The project encompasses a 120 hectare farm, small rural community, and a rural school in transition. Together we are creating a regional centre on 1 hectare of long term lease land with the farm, community and school as our living campus. El Manzano is a learning community, self-organising for resilience, practicing sustainable living, educating for sustainability, networking a bioregion, calling to a nation. We are part of an international community, a global network making a global difference, part of a national team communicating to a network of interested Chileno people, part of a bioregional organisation mobilising the process of transition. We are part of a local community organising ourselves for resilience, part of a family taking responsibility, a household trying to meet its own needs from as close to home as possible through economy that regenerates.

Project Concept

Our Vision – living consciously

El Manzano is a living university actively working for sustainability in the Biobío region of Chile, a thriving campus connected to a global network of demonstration and education centres, leading the way towards a prosperous and resilient future;

• A vibrant place firmly rooted in the local and regional economy, providing food, products and services to local markets.
• A highly accessible focal point for the region providing training courses in the practical skills needed to design and create resilient communities.
• A busy organised office providing information and advice throughout the district and region supporting others to self organise.

Our Mission – accelerating change

To cultivate learning communities, to create networks of highly capable teachers, advisors, mentors and consultants supporting people to develop and implement transition initiatives; steadily moving, step by step, fully engaged in a solution-based response to peak oil and climate change.

Detailed Project Description

Project Objectives – accelerating change

The main objectives of this pioneer project are;

(i) Demonstrating Excellence – walking the talk:

To demonstrate best practice in sustainable living, to put solutions into practice that people can see working, a school of living classrooms, researching and trialling, developing solutions that can be duplicated, establishing and supporting other projects that deliver tangible outcomes for local people. We will;

• Transform a 120 hectare property into a sustainable farm, that operates as a living university, producing an abundance of food fibre and energy resources to meet local needs.
• Transforming the local school into an experiential campus that give our children passionate experience in the head, heart hands and health of living consciously in our world.
• Transform our community into an ecovillage that produces food, energy and employs its people in right livlihood as a model for other communities in transition.
• Undertake Precision Permaculture research as a project with local Technical School with remote sensing to measure carbon sequestered, soil production, water storage etc.

(ii) Educating for Sustainability – talking the walk

To mobilise the collective genius of our people, raising awareness of problems and solutions, calling people to action, supporting people and communities to self-organise, equipping people with the language and tools for meeting their own needs. To support lifelong learning as we create world changing projects. We will offer;

• Eco School – educating our own and local children
• Site Tours – ½ day tours of the community, school and farm
• Practical Workshops – 2 day intensive practical training
• Volunteers – short term resident workers
• Internships – medium term resident workers
• Design Courses – 2 week intensive design courses
• Design Diploma – 2 year process into sustainable living projects
• Bachelor – 3 year apprentice training in the theory and practice
• Master – 2 year action based research in mastering a discipline
• Doctor – 1 year advanced education in ecosocial regeneration

(iii) Connecting Communities – empowering citizenship

To connect people and communities together in the great transition, support and develop local and regional trade, to share information freely and widely, and to report regularly telling Chile and the world about our progress. We will provide;

• Free information, advertising and promotion
• Website library and resources, online shop front for products
• Telephone, email, skype, social networking forums
• Newsletter, monthly reports – dissemination of learning
• Events, gatherings, parties
• Community facilitation in Chile
• Collaboration with other projects in Chile and around the world

Project Duration & Schedule

This is a long-term project of transition as we nurture a culture of sustainability, starting in our own community. We hope to be obsolete, or to have created as many local niches as possible for resilience so we can walk away.

In the short Term 2008-2009

At this point in time we are focused on building the foundations and getting our own houses in order. We are building a team with the ability to make our plans reality. We are leasing and redesigning the farm we live on as a living campus.

We are focusing on;

• The day to day management of a working organic farm that employs 12 local people.
• Redesigning food, water, energy systems self-reliance including intensive gardens, food forest, agroforestry, broadacre cropping and large animals, harvest forests and native forest.
• Developing a local team of teachers and designers with 4 local interns as we run 2 modular design courses with 35 students.
• Building collaborative networks with existing people, groups and organisations in the district, region and the whole country.

The other things we are working on right now;

• Mobilising our community to create a strategic action plan as Chiles first Transition Town.
• Working with our local school, local government and the ministry for the environment to gain certification as a sustainable school.
• Mentoring 10 permaculture diploma students as we create a diploma system in Chile.
• Developing the Instituto Chileno de Permacultura with 35 young professionals.

Medium Term 2009-2012

In 2008 we trained 60 design course students. In 2012 we want to have increased the number of participants to 150 as a core educational experience in sustainable living, a doorway into a lifelong learning pathway.

In 2010 we intend to open the doors as a fully fledged Gaia University campus with adequate facilities and staff to support 8 Master degree students and 1 Doctoral student. By 2012 we intend to provide support to;

• 5 Bachelor degree students
• 13 Diploma students
• 13 Master degree students
• 3 Doctoral degree students

Long Term 2012 and beyond

In the long term we intend to be a world class, leading edge facility offering education that accelerates global change by training, supporting and equipping students to apply solutions in their own communities. We will be a regional hub of an international learning community composed of students, apprentices, masters and mentors designing and creating sustainability on the ground.

Project Needs

We will be fully self-funding within the next three years through the provision of courses, products and services. In the meantime we are gathering the modest support from international, national and regional organisations to help us on our way.

Mostly we need the backup of the international permaculture and sustainability community, that international network of designers, educators and actionists that has been driving the design science revolution and mobilising the great turning. Scott Pitman, Ali Sharif, Geoff Lawton, Roe Morrow, Trish Allen, Starhawk, Rob Hopkins, David Holmgren, Lucy Leegan, Fritjof Capra, Vandana Shiva, Elisabeth Sahtouris, Joanna Macy, Ted Trainer, Bill Mollison, and the rest of you standing with us.