Model illustration of a self-sustaining community. Photo: RegenVillages
Humans are pests. Convenience and ignorance are bleeding this planet dry, and the atrocities committed against it are nothing short of criminal. But among the species of cynics who exploit and undermine the very thing they depend on exists a growing number of individuals and organizations who are fighting too see that Earth doesn’t go to hell in a hand basket.
RegenVillages, a tech-integrated residential real estate development company, has embarked on a mission to build communities that produce all their own food and energy. It will provide a “closed-loop” waste-to-resource system and weaken a wide spectrum of issues, from the food and water crises to the rise of CO2 emissions. In doing so, it addresses the issue of the coming population boom, which is estimated to reach 10 billion people by 2050, according to a report by the United Nations.
Photo: RegenVillages
According to the RegenVillage’s website, the communities will provide “desirable off-grid capable neighborhoods comprised of power positive homes, renewable energy, water management, and waste-to-resource systems that are based upon on-going resiliency research for thriving families and reduced burdens on local and national governments.”
James Ehrlich, CEO of RegenVillages, explained, “We’re really looking at a global scale. We are redefining residential real-estate development by creating these regenerative neighborhoods, looking at first these greenfield pieces of farmland where we can produce more organic food, more clean water, more clean energy, and mitigate more waste than if we just left that land to grow organic food or do permaculture there.”
From global warming to the volatility of finite resources, it seems as though Earth is reaching a tipping point. Fortunately, good folks like RegenVillages are tackling the issue head-on. The potential costs for a home in one of these eco-villages is still unclear, but I’m assuming it will be rather expensive in comparison to conventional housing arrangements. The design will first be integrated by the implementation of 25 pilot homes in Almere, Netherlands in summer of 2016. If successful, RegenVilllages could materialize on a global scale.
