A COMMUNITY GETTING ORGANISED IN THE VALLEY OF LIFE

Last friday Ecoescuela attended the second event of social organisations for sustainability in Valley Nonguen. We set up our stand in a small abandoned school in the valley of life, a beautiful setting, buzzing with energy. On a beautiful friday morning in the warm spring sun we laid out our books on the soil, covered our prescious herbs and tomato plants with shade, and made ourselves comfortable to sit and talk permaculture with interested people.  

The event was well attended by people from all over the Biobio region in various stands offering plants, seeds and appropriate technology. Bus loads of children arrived from local schools and were given an introduction to the valley that inspired us all. We met many familiar faces, and made new friends...were interviewed and questioned and provoked into conversation about the value of our courses and our role in the region. We received various offers from volunteers to translate books from english to spanish, and even sold a few plants.

We had the opportunity to meet briefly with Manzana Verde a group of young aspiring permacultors from Concepción doing excellent work with local people in the city. We also spent some time with Alexis Torres Peña from ecoaldea Millawapi in Villarica, and listened to him give a talk about permaculture in a small packed room. We found many people who have heard about permaculture and want to know more. 41 people signed up to our network and expressed an interest in joining our courses and events. 

We realise that we need to create a presence in Concepción and to participate in the growing network of people and organisations seeking simple sustainable living. We realise that a community of empowered and capable people is emerging here, slow and steady building the foundations of a movement based in action rather than words.

This little school in the valley of life on the outskirts of Concepción will be a living place of learning where people come to find solutions. We hope we can play a role and support this initiative with mutual exchange of tools and techniques. We have been invited by Juan to do a trade of community training; we visit Nonguen with our community from El Manzano and teach the community there about growing our own healthy food, and they teach us about natural ecology and living diverse systems.

If you want to know more about this Valle Nonguen project you can watch a video here on CNN about the valle and the project in this place of learning, the biggest natural reserve in the city of Concepción Biobio. 

And here you can see a slideshow about another related project in Concepción that would do well to follow the lead of Nonguen and put the pathway towards sustainability in the hands of the people who live here. If we really intend to create a genuine movement to make Concpción a sustainable city, it will not be measured in terms of transport initiatives, or regulations for building construction and other light green solutions, but in real and meaningful investment in the seven pillars of urban sustainability. If we are serious, then it means mobilising our people to particpate, to engender a sense of transition, and to build lasting comittment to long term vision founded in practical daily action.