| Be the change you want to see in the world!
. -Mohandas Gandhi
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NATURE, PEACE, LOVE, LIFE, SHARING, ART, COOPERATION, HIPPIE, COMMUNITY, ABUNDANCE, SUSTAINABLE, HEALTH, FITNESS, SELF-SUFFICIENCY, NEW-AGE, LIFESTYLE, INDIGENOUS, BIOME, HABITAT, ECOLOGY, BALANCE, HARMONY, TREES, PLANTS, FLOWERS, FRUIT, LEAVES, GRASS, RIVERS, CREEKS, LAKES, PONDS, WATER, AIR, SKY, GREEN, TERRA, TROPICAL, MOUNTAINS, FORESTS, CAMPING, HIKING, SWIMMING, HERBS, MEDICINAL, HEALING, AROMAS, HOMEOPATHIC, RURAL, VEGETABLES, ORGANIC GARDENS, RAW, NATURAL, EARTH, SUN, STARS, ANIMALS, REPTILES, FISH, BIRDS, INSECTS, FARMING, FAMILY, MOTHER, NATIVE, SPIRIT, HOME, SHELTER, TRUTH, LIBERTY, JUSTICE, REALITY, FREEDOM, AUTHENTIC, HEDONISTIC, ABSOLUTE, PRESERVATION, LANDSCAPE, CONSERVATION, BUSHCRAFT, COOL, WARM, FRESH.
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The Ecology Outpost Camp Settlement Project is an explorer's outpost, ecotourism camp and intentional cooperative egalitarian community now in formation (seeking residents). If you can imagine an indigenous Amerindian village hybridized with a modern campground built using selected appropriate technologies and using alternative energy to produce abundant organic foods, enjoy modern showers, a spring fed swimming pond, retire to individual and group cabins, come together at a grand central complex where residents and visitors can gather in a central garden lodge, eat meals in a communal kitchen and involve themselves in community group projects while taking advantage of a modern field research station and study center with WiFi Internet access beside a public school facility for residents which doubles as a movie theater, workshop and meeting forum for residents and visitors in the evenings. If you can imagine such a scene then you will begin to envision the Ecology Outpost Camp.
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The camp is to be located on the eastern portion of the Guiana Highlands at an elevation of 2600 feet above sea level (800 meters) near the Mazaruni and Kamarang Rivers above Tumereng in the Merume Mountains of Guyana. It is to be located at a strategic location in an elevated creek valley. The sustainable colonization of the remote camp will occur following four preliminary backpacking expeditions where potential residents may become founders in the project. The expeditions during 2011 will be held on March 22nd, June 22nd, September 22nd and December 22.
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The outpost camp and field research station is unlike any other ecovillage found in the United States or elsewhere in the world because it is being designed using an indigenous village as its point of comparison, unlike other ecovillages that use a modern town as their basis for comparison.
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The community is being ideally established as a co-op, ecovillage, cohousing project and a familiar communal village under the ideology of a zero-impact ecologically sustainable intentional community.
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David Wright, founder of the Ecology Crossroads Cooperative Foundation (an environmental organization established in Berea, Kentucky in 1994) is behind the development and planning of this ecological wonderland in South America. He has worked throughout his career in environmental causes and has extensive experience in ecological resource planning, reforestation, wetlands re-establishment, and agroforestry. His organization Ecology Crossroads was responsible for the distribution of millions of trees in the United States and Canada from 1994-2000. He said that, "after distributing 10 million trees we did not reach our goal of saving the planet, so I want to focus my energy on the most important parts of the environment, and save at least part of the planet starting with the most important biodiversity areas and pristine ecosystems in the world." So he began networking on Facebook and has rounded up several backcountry explorers interested in the conservation ethic and the area they decided to focus on are the Guianas and Amazonia due to the unusually wide range of ecosystems found there.
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The Guiana Shield is a large stable land mass located in South America, it beholds the most primitive landscapes on the planet and is the most biologically diverse place on the planet according to some scientists and researchers. It is geographically situated near the Amazon rainforest (less than 300 kilometers to the north) it shares many animal and plant species but also possesses special and unique species that only occur naturally there. The outpost camp is nearby several national parks including Caniama in Venezuela, Mt. Roraima in Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, and the Iwokrama Forest Preserve.
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The outpost / camp settlement project is a remotely located ecologically integral camp and community open to eco-pilgrims and green pioneers. Our focus is the use of appropriate technology; sharing natural philosophies in a collective spirituality with mother earth, the universe, in an intentional cooperative community, simple-living, natural families, organic agrarian food under a primitive but sophisticated agrarian lifestyle.
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Only strong, physically fit adults that are capable of carrying their full backpack, travel by trail, river, and zip-line up to 60 kilometers in each direction are welcome to participate as one of the founders. There will be distinct advantages in the implementation of projects and ideals for those who participate in these expeditions being held throughout 2011 in becoming a founding member.
The eco-camp will be developed and designed to include all the elements and diversity possible so that resident members can grow and prosper together. As a non-profit cooperative and because of alliances and special relationships we are forging. Our project is very unique in that the residents will also be hosts to visiting student interns, doctoral candidates, research professors, scientists and ecotourists from around the world who shall be permitted to visit and stay with us while they are engaged in their work and while we share our special accomodations and natural surronding habitat.
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The outpost, camp and ecovillage settlement will eventually incorporate the following to become a full fledged purposeful intentional community that sustains us as residents and future generations. There is no point in trying to reinvent the wheel of life; so we looked at the basic elements of life and human development. In general we will need others to have knowledge, the passion to become would-be experts, and practical experiences that they can share with the community in general to create a genuine balance between residents, these participants will take lead roles in these areas and others in the community will assist in these developments.
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-Arts, Crafts & Culture
-Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture
-Community Business / Microenterprises
-Conflict Resolution / Mediation
-Consensus Decision Making / Facilitation
-Cuisine, Food Preservation & Nutrition
-Ecological Living Practices and Self-Sufficiency
-Ecosystem Protection, Conservation & Reforestation
-Ecotourism & Visitor Hospitality
-Ecovillage Development / Natural Building
-Health, Wellness, Fitness & Healing
-Permaculture Design
-Primary School Education of Children
-Organic Gardening / Farming
-Organizational Development or Fundraising
-Renewable Energy Technology Management
-Spiritual Practices and Group Dynamics
-Waste and Water Management
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More immediately though is developing our expeditions, establishing pioneer settlement team groups, and developing a fundraising program that includes financial sponsorships, foundation and academic institution grants, individual donations, and in-kind contributions from corporations and the private sector. | |
