What question is every ecovillage asking?
Hello togather,
Every ecovillage begins with a question: how could we live better, together? Nobody answers it once, and nobody answers it quickly. Across our network, communities keep working it out through meetings that run long, gardens that are replanted, and members who keep showing up, even as war, displacement and loss weigh on so many.
Narara Ecovillage in Australia has been answering this question for over two decades, and this year earned the Hildur Jackson Award as an exemplary ecovillage. Their story opens this month’s newsletter, followed by courses to learn from, gatherings to travel toward, and a new ecovillage.org to explore and make your own.Thank you for joining us. Thank you for drawing from and giving to the well of inspiration that is our Global Ecovillage Network.
In community,
Eva Goldfarb on behalf of GEN-International
If you would like to listen to this newsletter rather than read it, click here.
Ecovillage Highlight: Narara Ecovillage
GEN is proud to celebrate Narara Ecovillage, which has earned the 2026 Hildur Jackson Award as an exemplary ecovillage and has been an active partner in GEN’s exploration of resilience in bioregions.
Narara thrives on 63 hectares of a former government horticultural research station on Australia’s Central Coast, north of Sydney. Now in its 23rd year since the search for land began, the community is balancing care for human and more-than-human systems. Its focus has shifted from building homes to deepening its social fabric and positioning Narara as a node in its bioregion, guided by sociocracy, Deep Ecology and learning from First Nations people.
Building on its 2024 NSW Banksia Sustainability Awards recognition as a Placemaker, Narara brought GEN’s Resilience Tracker and Companion Cards into local action, strengthened disaster preparedness, and made food resilience a central focus. Find Narara and other inspiring ecovillages at ecovillage.org/map.
Highlighted courses & workshops
What might change when we understand our communities as more than human?
This November, Kincentric Leadership is opening a new round of Cocreating with a Living, Intelligent Earth, a twelve-week online learning community exploring what happens when we take seriously that we live in a sacred, interdependent and animate world. The course offers an opportunity to go deeper into what it might mean to live, organise and create change in kinship with all life and how this kinship might reshape our projects, organizations and communities. Sliding scale pricing.
Wednesdays at 15:00 UTC from
18 November 2026– 3 February 2027
Creating Transformative Cultures, EDE Glarisegg is a five weeks experiential laboratory, intending to empower you on your life path and encourage you to ask the right questions to get you there. The course offers social tools and resources to deeply explore new possibilities for oneself as well as in community and the 'world'. It is a way to directly discover and begin to live 'the new more beautiful world we know is possible'.
Join us October 15 at 6h UTC for a live tour of the new ecovillage.org. Connect with the Global Ecovillage Network, ask your questions and receive live support updating your community or personal profile.
Join us on November 12 to celebrate
the new online home for the Global Ecovillage Movement with live music from Findhorn, a tour of the tools, feedback round and technical support.
Join the celebration
Join Ecovillage Tours
Costa Rica is calling!
Join Ecovillage Tours for an opportunity to experience ecovillages in the beautifully biodiverse Costa Rica. Meet founders and residents, learn about community governance, regenerative practices, and everyday life while connecting with fellow travelers who share your curiosity about a different way of living. Two journeys to choose from: January 16-24 and January 30-February 8, 2027. Save $200 with the code SAVE200 - Explore the tours here!
Regional Events & Courses
GENOA’s ecovillage talk series continues! Govardhan Ecovillage began in 2003 with five people on five acres. Today it welcomes about a million visitors a year and supports around 2,200 farmer families through its Seeds for Life project. In GENOA’s Ecovillage Talk Ep12, Mohan shares how trust came before buildings, why they committed to building nothing new inside it, and why will matters more than skill. Watch it now!
This September, CASA Perú gathered changemakers, communities and volunteers in the Amazonian cloud forest of Oxapampa, strengthening local alliances and preparing the ground for what comes next. From May 27 to June 3, 2027, the same territory will host ECCO, CASA Latina’s Continental Gathering of Communities. Save the date and join us to connect, learn, celebrate and co-create. See you at ECCO 2027!
Université Holistique JUA is launching a new approach to higher education in the Democratic Republic of Congo, connecting learning, action-research and territorial transformation. On November 15, 2026, its first Integrated Development Design certification, delivered with Gaia Education, begins in Kisantu, Kongo Central. Participants will learn alongside community leaders, entrepreneurs and practitioners. Learn more and join the EDE
GEN Europe’s GENESIS programme takes learning into the heart of ecovillage life, combining hands-on activity with practical training. After the first module in the Netherlands in early October, two more trainings are still open: Facilitation Training at Torri Superiore, Italy (January 7-14, 2027) and CLIPS Training at Arterra Bizimodu, Spain(March 9-16, 2027).
It's been a busy season of gatherings, for GENNA including the Turtle Island Bioregional Congress, the Conscious Growth Convergence, and the annual Communal Studies Associationconference (to be held next year at Lost Valley in Oregon; more info here). Read about the movement in Communities Magazine Issue #212(available by individual order and subscription from GEN-US.)
Our friends at FIC are working to bring equity to US intentional communities and beyond. Join them in this online course with Jahia de Rose and learn how to create a truly inclusive community by identifying and redistributing power through equity principles.
Register now! This course is starting on October 28, 2026 (pricing is sliding scale for inclusivity).
Community Land for Sale
Build a neighbourhood on just under 20 acresin North Sydney, minutes from the ferry, beaches, and Cabot Trail. A pristine location for ecovillage or co-housing interests, the property includes the possibility of a 2+ acre hobby farm, organic growing crops and walkability to stores and public transportation. Serviced and zoned UR2 for homes, townhouses, and small apartments.Read More!
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