Editing Ecovillage (section)

==History==
The modern-day desire for community was notably characterized by the communal "back to the land" movement of the 1960s and 1970s through communities such as the earliest example that still survives, the [[Miccosukee Land Co-op]] co-founded in May 1973 by James Clement van Pelt in Tallahassee, Florida. In the same decades, the imperative for alternatives to radically inefficient energy-use patterns, in particular automobile-enabled [[suburban sprawl]], was brought into focus by recurrent energy crises. The term "eco-village" was introduced by Georgia Tech Professor George Ramsey in a 1978 address, "Passive Energy Applications for the Built Environment", to the First World Energy Conference of the Association of Energy Engineers,<ref>George Ramsey, "Passive Energy Applications for the Built Environment", First World Energy Conference, Association of Energy Engineers, published in ''Energy Engineering Technology: Proceedings of the First World Energy Engineering Congress'', October 31-November 2, 1978 in Atlanta, Ga. (Fairmont Press, 1979), pp. 220–242. For the term "eco-village" itself, see pp. 229 and 239. http://www.villagehabitat.com/resources/papers/passive_energy.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219012822/http://www.villagehabitat.com/resources/papers/passive_energy.pdf |date=2013-12-19}}</ref> to describe small-scale, car-free, close-in developments, including suburban infill, arguing that "the great energy waste in the United States is not in its technology; it is in its lifestyle and concept of living."<ref>"Passive Energy Applications for the Built Environment", p. 230.</ref> Ramsey's article includes a sketch for a "self-sufficient pedestrian solar village" by one of his students that looks very similar to eco-villages today.

The movement became more focused and organized in the [[cohousing]] and related alternative-community movements of the mid-1980s. Then, in 1991, [[Robert Gilman]] and [[Diane Gilman (environmentalist)|Diane Gilman]] co-authored a germinal study called "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities" for Gaia Trust, in which the ecological and communitarian themes were brought together.

The first Eco-Village in North America began its first stages in 1990. Earthaven Eco-Village in Black Mountain, NC was the first community called an Eco-Village and was designed using permaculture (holistic) principles. The first residents moved onto the vacant land in 1993. As of 2019 Earthaven Eco-Village has over 70 families living off the grid on 368 acres of land.

The ecovillage movement began to coalesce at the annual autumn conference of [[Findhorn Ecovillage|Findhorn]], in Scotland, in 1995. The conference was called: "Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities", and conference organizers turned away hundreds of applicants. According to [[Ross Jackson]], "somehow they had struck a chord that resonated far and wide. The word 'ecovillage'... thus became part of the language of the [[Cultural Creatives]]."<ref name=Movement>Jackson, Ross (Summer, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120330153156/http://www.ross-jackson.com/rj/21987/41762/ "The Ecovillage Movement."] ''Permaculture Magazine'' '''40'''. Retrieved on: 2011-08-11.</ref> After that conference, many intentional communities, including Findhorn, began calling themselves "ecovillages", giving birth to a new movement. The [[Global Ecovillage Network]], formed by a group of about 25 people from various countries who had attended the Findhorn conference, crystallized the event by linking hundreds of small projects from around the world, that had similar goals but had formerly operated without knowledge of each other. Gaia Trust of Denmark agreed to fund the network for its first five years.<ref name = Movement/>

Since the 1995 conference, a number of the early members of the Global Ecovillage Network have tried other approaches to ecovillage building in an attempt to build settlements that would be attractive to mainstream culture in order to make sustainable development more generally accepted. One of these with some degree of success is [[Living Villages]] and The Wintles where eco-houses are arranged so that social connectivity is maximized and residents have shared food growing areas, woodlands, and [[animal husbandry]] for greater sustainability.

The most recent worldwide update emerges from the 2022 Annual Report of GEN International, detailing the mapping of 1,043 ecovillage communities on GEN's interactive ecovillage map.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ecovillages Archive |url=https://ecovillage.org/projects/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Global Ecovillage Network |language=en}}</ref> GEN collaborated closely with a diverse array of researchers and ecovillage communities spanning the globe to develop the Ecovillage Impact Assessment. Their innovative tool serves as a means for communities, groups, and individuals to accurately report, chart, evaluate, and present their efforts toward fostering participatory cultural, social, ecological, and economic regeneration. Over the course of three years, from February 2021 to April 2024, data from 140 surveys conducted within 75 ecovillages formed the basis of the comprehensive results. Through this assessment ecovillages are empowered to understand their impact and influence their community has had.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ecovillage Impact Assessment |url=https://ecovillage.org/impact/ |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Global Ecovillage Network |language=en-US}}</ref>