One of my favourite Eco-Magazines: The Earth Online Newsletter
-Tuesday 14th December 2010

Eco news, Communities Established or forming, Green Art, Music and Poetry- A Great Eco-Newsletter full of great information and resources

Click here to visit now
http://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/ringing-cedars/happy-holidays.html

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Easy and Fun ways to Transition to an Eco-Village or Happy Eco-friendly lifestyle
-Thursday 2nd December 2010

As I see it, much of the problem with today’s world is that the majority are not presented with any other option on how to live or what type of lifestyle to choose, except for what serves the powers that be, and is constantly promoted and pushed through the media, television, culture, peers, family and society.

Now unless you have been living in a cave somewhere, I am sure you can realize the very large problems facing the world today, and perhaps desire to do something positive towards this, or at least make your life happy and prosperous in the face of these calamities

One of the most fun and easy ways I can think of to do this, is transitioning to a happy Eco-friendly, lifestyle-focused way of living. The conventional ways of lifestyle presented as ‘normal’ are some of the most destructive, wasteful and unnecessary, and in this article I will explain why

1. Camper-van or Recreational Vehicle

This would have to be my favorite choice for several reasons. In most countries, nearly everyone can afford a van and convert this or use this as a temporary or full-time home. It reduces bills and consumption of resources dramatically. It automatically gets one out of the rat race housing trap. It can put the occupant into a fun ‘holiday’ mindset. It keeps you moving and growing and going to new places. It can be done for a few thousand dollars. If you have done a road trip of your country in a van, I highly highly recommend it, fun and adventures galore!

A camper-van or RV also:
-Allows city dwellers to spend more time outdoors and reconnect to nature and to reflect on life
-Allows us to disconnect from the hustle and bustle and do what we love to do on a modest budget
-Can be a great way to travel, explore and enjoy the country we are in, and learn about where we fit into the ‘permacultural’ scheme of things
-Going off-grid is pretty much necessary
-Denies the Banksters and other military industrialists your revenue and energy
-Can allow you to grow and create ‘guerilla’ or ‘survival’ gardens
-Can help to network or visit eco-minded people or communities
-Can free one up to volunteer or work on farms, woofing or other permaculture projects
-Frees one up mentally and emotionally to find ‘that slice of paradise’ to call your own

We all know that nowadays life is full of bus-i-ness and distraction, so why not step out of the frustrations, traps and struggles of day to day ‘pays-the-bills’ mode and start to ask ourselves what sort of lifestyle and way of life will give us and our families true and profound satisfaction and happiness? Our ancestors are calling from the stars, to return to our home, our natural birthplace and create our homes anew, mother nature and her bounty awaits

2. Move onto the water

I have seen it, touched it and experienced it first hand. A $140,000 44 foot long yacht can give someone the same or better lifestyle, freedom and excitement than a $1,000,000 house by the ocean

My friend has this lovely yacht in a pen at a local boat marina, pays $6,000 per year with water and electricity included, and has a lifestyle comparable to a very wealthy man, yet still being in his twenties

Now in comparison with elsewhere boats in Australia can be expensive, but even with our prices I’ve seen 30 ft yachts selling here for $30,000 with a pen included.

The advantage of course with a boat is that incorporating self-sufficiency into it becomes necessary with any type of extended travels, such as with solar panels, wind power and so on, and of course the resources required to build a boat compared to a house are much smaller.

The floating neutrinos case study are a brilliant example of using recycled materials to build a cheap, sturdy and comfortable raft capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean!

3. Live it in your heart and mind

Probably most important, and if someone is tied up in the whole illusions and deceptions of the modern day technocratic world of commerce, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees, and we can run in the same wheel all our lives, chasing a goal or a dream that isn’t really ours, but we have inherited anyway. A dream that at its core is hollow and rotten, and appeals to the superficial emotions. This is what ‘keeping up with the Jones’ is about.

I know there are well-meaning people out there that choose to follow the conventional plan all their lives, but we are living in a time of such rapid and profound and massive change, that putting our heads in the sand really isn’t going to provide us happiness or genuine satisfaction, but most definitely suffering, regret and angst. Living a life or having been so busy all our lives, without reflecting if we were truly on the right path is most surely the path to suffering.

We have all felt the compelling and very seductive power of social proof and what our neighbor/friend/workmate is doing and trying to be better, but I can tell you with certainty this is being used to extract the maximum amount of tax revenue and energy out of you, to your detriment. The television is one of your worst enemies and is literally hypnotizing us all towards a very false, shallow and destructive reality.

We can be truly happy, abundant and prosperous, if we start to live in harmony with nature and the community. If we keep participating in this competitive game of materialism and class-advancement via the annihilation of the planet, we are playing the most competitive, destructive and unsatisfying game imaginable. There is another game, the game of living in harmony with nature and our community through Intentional Community and Eco-friendly way of life, where we stop perpetuating the continual harm, and start to live a life where we are doing no harm, and creating abundance, prosperity and true wealth around us. It is a glorious game, not competitive and can provide for real happiness and satisfaction that any amount of money cannot buy. Look at the lavish lifestyles of actors, and you will see a world full of drug addiction, a fake world or shallowness and artifice. Even millionaires today, are they seperate from the rest of the world as it collapses around them? I do not think so we are all in this together, and what better way to have an ecologically and happy existence and lifestyle than to make lifestyle changes towards an eco-friendly way of life?

No amount of manipulation, control or suffering inflicted upon mankind can extinguish or remove the inherent connection we all have to land, our tribe, and our communities. Mother earth and all our ancestors are calling out to us through spirit to awaken us to this fact, and I feel that great suffering and painful awakening is coming for those who do not heed the call

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Breaking news:
15th of November 2010

A wonderful opportunity for a thriving eco-village has opened up in Northern NSW. This farm is seen as an extension of the Permaculture Research Institute’s main farm, and is a wonderful opportunity for a thriving and affordable eco-community, as well as being a base for further innovations in permaculture, including eco housing and green building techniques, green energy development and environmentally friendly sustainable planning methods. It would be such a huge bonus to have a close working relationship with the Pioneers of Permaculture Bill mollison and Geoff Lawton. With 10 participants, the total investment could be as low as $75,000 each. With 20 participants, the investment as low as $38,000 each! Contact urgently right away

Permaculture Farm For Sale, Northern NSW, Australia

For Sale — by Joel Bruce November 3, 2010

Offers over $700,000(AUD). Situated in a sub tropical permaculture-rich valley in Northern New South Wales, Australia, a unique, elevated, 92-acre property surrounded by Border Ranges National Park, Mt Warning and the Nightcap Range. Under 60 minutes drive to the Gold Coast, Queensland. Bitumen road frontage, and just a few minutes drive to a public school or Steiner school, store and Post Office.

Permaculture designed with consultation from Geoff Lawton. Regularly visited by Geoff Lawton’s Permaculture Interns as an example of a broad scale Permaculture Farm.

Northerly aspect, frost free, with fertile basalt soils, high rainfall, abundant water from ten dams — one spring fed — four stocked with Bass and Silver Perch. Windmill pumps to 34000L dam water header tank to gravity feed irrigation to all plantations. Permanent creek. Gravity feed dam water to many potential house sites.

Fully renovated home with 3 spacious bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, polished hardwood timber floors and fire place, magnificent views of Mount Warning and Hanging Rock. 34,000 litre rainwater tank. Very large 20×12m colourbond shed with 2 large roller doors. There are also other excellent flat, elevated house sites with easy access to power, phone, broadband, and separate entry from the road and enjoying great views over the farm to the Border Ranges, Hanging Rock, Mt Warning and Sphinx Rock.

Possibility for a unique rural land sharing community with ten shares and ten house entitlements. Possibility for Farm Stay Cabins with a carpark from a separate road entrance already established beside an excellent elevated level site for cabins.

Established food forest with 1.4 km of water harvesting swales planted with 300 tropical and sub tropical fruit trees of all varieties from sapotes and mangoes to citrus and macadamias, legumes, root crops and ground covers.

Opportunity for commercial market garden with fertile soils on gentle slopes and gravity feed dam water. DPI approved hardwood timber plantation. Timber management plan for up to 75% of the property.

50 acres of grazing pasture fenced into 4 paddocks. Brand new Tallowood split post 5 strand barb boundary fences.

500 old hammii bamboo planted as a living fence along the road frontage and wind and visual breaks within the property.

1.5 km of internal gravel roads. All weather 2wd access to house sites. Power and high speed Internet.

To view photos of the farm please visit www.permaculturefarm.org.

Permaculture design consultancy by Geoff Lawton will be offered to any purchaser.

For more information and to arrange an inspection of the property please visit permaculturefarm.org