Please visit our growing library of tools and techniques now in the public domain. Your contributions welcome! Please View Our Guestbook Please Sign Our Guestbook

Now Sponsoring Culture Change, the Sail Transport Network and an international plastics ban protecting the Pacific Gyre while trying to outlaw BPA. donations welcome

Transition Initiatives We have shifted our efforts to the Transition Towns movement. Our county seat at Hohenwald, Tennessee is now the 25th Transition Town in the USA. We are working with county government, the business community, local charities, and the public to create a resilient and ecologically responsive economic fabric that will endure the turmoil and chaos of The Great Change now underway. Learn More

Where we are planting trees right now: at the Marda Permaculture Farm, Palestine providing water, food, fuel, peace and hope to the peoples of the Middle East from the peoples of the Middle East $20 from you plants 10 trees! One tree removes 55 pounds of carbon each year, equal to 1100 miles of car travel or 5500 miles in a commercial airliner (assuming 2 passengers out of 200 on the flight).

We continue our work in food science research, producing a widening variety of tasty, nutritious and dietetic new foods from enzymatic cultures retrieved from distant corners of the Earth. Coming to a store or soup kitchen near you soon may be some of our latest all-organic dairy- and meat- analogs from soy, hemp and other high protein sources. Look for our Ecovillage label.

Since 1994, we have been weaving together the emerging ecovillage movement, which we view as having the potential to bring about lasting change by seeking, as a central organizing principle, a harmonious balance between human habitat and the natural world.  Ecovillages are where the low- and medium-tech experiments of the past half-century merge into integrated human communities, at peace with their cultural and bioregional context, and proactively responsive to the profound agricultural, climatological and social challenges of the coming century. We offer instruction which includes both the technical transfer side of appropriate technology (how-to and hands-on) and the "invisible landscape" of community–the nuts and bolts of creating consensus and nurturing community social health and conviviality, distributing decisionmaking, and creating culturally-protective economic opportunities. We work in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, with further translation to indigenous languages as needed. Our primary goal is to train trainers who will carry on the work in our absence, and to empower these promoters with the tools they need to network with their peers. We support diverse cross-cultural networks of environmental interests.

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Donations to the Institute are tax-deductible. In FY 2006, the Institute raised and spent approximately $240,000. 
Its state and federal tax filings and a full disclosure of its financial records are available on line.

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Many of us choose to give to charity on a regular basis or to leave a bequest of money or property as a final gift. These kindnesses merge to create power for good in the world. If you would like to consider such a gifting, please examine a paragraph suitable to insert into your testimentary bequests.

 In the year ending December, 2008, we:


1. Expanded our support of Ecoaldea Gratitud, to include Casa Sanarte, an urban holistic health center, and launched a UN-sponsored urban gardens program in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
2. Expanded the Peace Though Permaculture movement in Palestine to provide aid in Gaza while continuing the Trees for Airmiles olive plantings following behind the bulldozers in the West Bank.
3. Began a series of biochar insertion trenches in the hardwood forest at the Ecovillage Training Center while experimenting with pyrolizing wood and cookstoves for greenhouses and hoophouses.
4. Completed work on our 2-year USDA-funded Rural Development program to transition our county to post-petroleum economic independence with the creation of a Financial Permaculture curriculum and week-long workshop attracting several hundred people. This will now become an annual event.
5. Continued our international apprenticeship program with UNITAR affiliation.
6. Attended and presented at conferences and events in Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, New Mexico, Belize, Mexico, and England.
7. Conducted Gaia University events and trainings.
8. Completed our fourteenth year as a site for the Kids to the Country summer program.
9. Provided a grant in support for ABRA 144 working on rainforest canopy ecotourism in the Amazon.
10. Consulted with Mantria Corporation on development of a carbon-negative bamboo-to-biochar housing development for VW workers near Chattanooga.
11. Provided venture capital to spinoff a new "superfood" business for soup kitchen staples, using the fermentation and flavoring processes on hemp, soy and cassava starch, recently developed in GVI's food science laboratory.
12. Continued advancements in our research program including solar biochar and oils from pond algae, bamboo and other fast-growing biomass, pyrolizing biochar in tube solar oven designs, solar dehydrators, solar water heaters, solar space heaters, and solar water distillers, solar greenhouses, four season edible landscapes, permaculture sciences, no-till organic, carbon farming, square foot and lasagna carbon gardening and more gourmet and medicinal fungi, algaes, and bacteria.

 In the year ending December, 2007, we:


1. Continued our support of Ecoaldea Gratitud, a climate-change-mitigation broadly based ecovillage and nature sanctuary program in Mexico.
2. Completed registration as an NGO in Israel, and renewed our  support of Peace Though Permaculture in Palestine.
3. Purchased three more vehicles for conversion to experimental biofuels.
4. Began work on a 2-year USDA-funded Rural Development program to transition our county to post-petroleum economic independence. This effort was to coordinate and fund a collaboration with the Center for Holistic Ecology, Leadership Lewis, Solari Investment Advisory Services, Gaia University, Sonnenschein Green Business Summit and many other public and private organizations working towards sustainable and graceful energy descent.
5. Continued our international apprenticeship program with UNITAR affiliation, extending it to include time spent in GVI projects in the Middle East and South and Central America.
6. Attended and presented at conferences and events in Nashville, Bolinas, San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Sao Paolo and Pirenopolis Brazil, Haute des Alpes France, Damanhur Italy, Punta Morelos Mexico, Dublin, Cork, Bantry, Kinsale Ireland, Kirtland Ohio, New Haven, Cooperstown, NYC, Binghamton, Milford, New York City, Philadelphia, Houston and Kerrville Texas.
7. Conducted Gaia University events and trainings.
8. Completed our thirteenth year as a site for the Kids to the Country summer program.

 In the year ending December, 2006, we:

Became a founding sponsor of the Sail Transport Network.
Became a fiscal sponsor for Culture Change, host of the Petrocollapse conference series.
Presented "The End of Suburbia" at the UN Committee on Sustainable Development 14th annual meeting.
Brought participants from Mexico, Brazil, Ghana, Venezuela, Palestine, England, Iceland, Costa Rica, Wales, Japan, Australia, India, Nepal, Colombia, and Canada to the USA for training under the auspices of the UNITAR program.
Attended and presented at Peak Oil conferences in Washington DC, Boston, Berea College, Kentucky, Yellow Springs, Ohio and New York City.

Conducted Gaia University events and trainings in the USA, Germany, Netherlands and Italy.
Published a training manual on post-petroleum living.
Inaugurated the Sonnenshein green power Festival in Hohenwald, Tennessee.
Attended the European Permaculture Conference.
Completed our twelfth year as a site for the Kids to the Country summer program.
Launched our Community Subscription Energy cooperative initiative.
Converted four late-model vehicles to run on biofuels.

 In the year ending December, 2005, we:
1. Became a founding sponsor of Ecoaldea Gratitud, a climate-change-mitigation broadly based ecovillage and nature sanctuary program in Mexico.
2. Brought participants from Belize, Brazil, Cameroon, Palestine, England, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Colombia, and Canada to the USA for training under the auspices of the UNITAR program.
3. Presented on ecovillages at the UN Committee on Sustainable Development 13th annual meeting in New York and also for Sustainable Hudson Valley.
4. Attended and presented at Peak Oil conferences in Lisbon, Portugal, Yellow Springs, Ohio and New York City.
5. Attended the North American Bioregional Convergence at Earthaven in North Carolina and the South American Convergence in Brazil.
6. Made multiple trips to China to work on ecovillage standard development.
7. Chartered Gaia University and established its first working campus.
8. Attended a tour of eco-development programs in Provence, France
9. Presented on Peak Oil and ecovillages at numerous university and community venues in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
10. Attended the 75th Anniversary Celebration of Solheimer Ecovillage in Iceland and met with the President of Iceland and numerous Ministers and MPs.
11. Hosted the National Vegan Conference.
12. Participated in the 7th International Permaculture Convergence in Slovenia and the 2nd International Ecovillage Conference in Scotland.
13. Attended the Communal Studies Association meeting in Pennsylvania.
14. Completed our eleventh year as a site for the Kids to the Country summer program.
15. Invented a new process for making cheese-like fermented soyfoods that melt on pizzas and pack a lot of flavor.
16. Erected a new strawbale hipitat on our Tennessee campus.


 In the year ending December, 2004, we:
1. Again brought participants from Israel, Palestine, Italy, Colombia, India, Japan, Taiwan. Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Ecuador, Ghana, Norway, S. Africa and S. Korea to the USA for training under the auspices of the UNITAR program.
2. Presented on ecovillages at the Peak Oil conference in Yellow Springs, Ohio and Permaculture Convergence at Earthaven in North Carolina.
3. Sponsored the first North American Conference on Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities in Cortes Island, British Columbia.
4. Hosted a Communities Activist Summit at The Farm in Tennessee.
5. Presented on Peak Oil at numerous university and community venues in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
6. Developed a Spanish language powerpoint on ecovillage design and debuted it in Solferino, Quintana Roo.
10. Provided six-month fellowships at ETC to visiting scholars from China and Japan.
11. Sponsored participation by GVI board members at the Annual Conference on Sustainable Villages in Boulder, Colorado.
12. Sponsored participation by ecovillage representatives from Germany, Norway, Australia, and Japan at the International Communal Studies Association meeting in Iowa.
13. Completed our tenth year as a site for the Kids to the Country summer program.
14. Were awarded the National Gardening Association award for design of Children’s Learning Gardens.

In the year ending December, 2003, we:
1. Through GEN, joined the Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP), part of the UNDP/World Bank ESMAP Program.
2. Hosted participants from Israel, Palestine, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Hungary, Ghana, S. Korea and the USA for training under the auspices of the UNITAR program.
3. Facilitated the visa application process for the fledgling ecovillage movement in rural China, enabling China to send a delegation to CSD-11 in NY and to host a side-event there. We sent 4 representatives to the CSD and hosted our own side-event.
4. Sent GVI board members to Rome to begin an ongoing consultative process with the FAO SARD IFAD/NGO Extended Cooperation Program (ECP). GVI provided updated information on the Major Group focal points to be included in SARD’s powerpoint and multi-media presentations during the International Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development.
5. With two GVI board members represented GEN in the 56th Annual DPI/NGO Conference at the UN.
6. Assisted the U.S. Department of Energy in developing a CD-Rom on alternative energy and natural building.
7. Guest edited Communities: Journal of Cooperative Living issue devoted to the topic of ecovillages, wrote a guest editorial for a 2003 issue of The Permaculture Activist, and assisted Dan Chiras in developing the theme article for Mother Earth News on ecovillages and the movement, which later became a book by the same author.
8. Hosted a J-term class from Berea for a month-long training including workshops in Ecovillage Design (in cooperation with Village Habitat Associates) and Conflict Transformation.
9. Hosted a North American Communities Conference May 23-25 at The Farm, in conjunction with the Fellowship for Intentional Community.
10. Financially underwrote the international ecovillage gathering, “Call of the Condor” in Peru, an equinox ceremony at Machu Picchu and provided presentations in Cuzco, Olantaytambo, and Aguacalientes in conjunction with these events.
11. Hosted the University of Michigan’s Project SERVE Alternative Spring Break Program.
12. Assisted with natural building seminars in Mexico for the Zopilote Association and installed a multimedia display capacity for the Alfonso Cervantes Gomez  primary school in Tlaxco.
13. Developed a natural building powerpoint in Spanish and debuted it in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. 

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Contact: 
Institute for Appropriate Technology
PO Box 90
Summertown TN 38483
931-964-4474
email: ecovillage at thefarm.org