{"id":1139,"date":"2013-12-05T03:45:29","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T02:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forum-via.org\/?page_id=1139"},"modified":"2014-04-19T18:58:17","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T16:58:17","slug":"third-challenge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forum-via.org\/de\/third-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"THIRD CHALLENGE!"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOR THE SOLUTION VIDEO TO THE THIRD CHALLENGE AS WELL AS AN INTERVIEW WITH ERIC AND ANTONIO FROM THE MESOAMERICAN INSTITUTE OF PERMACULTURE (IMAP), PLEASE SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE!<\/strong>
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Title of the third Challenge<\/strong>
\nLake Atitl\u00e1n, Guatemala – Eco-Village Adventure<\/p>\n

Related topic(s)<\/strong>
\nSustainability, Social, Governance<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong>
\nLake Atitl\u00e1n is a large lake in the highlands of Guatemala, bordered on its southern edge by three volcanoes. The lake, commonly considered to be the deepest in Central America, is also home to many Mayan communities.<\/p>\n

As we travel from Mexico south towards Nicaragua for the Christmas holidays, we’ll be passing through Guatemala and want to stop and see some of this beautiful country. Considering the uniqueness of Lake\u00a0Atitl\u00e1n, we have decided that we have to stop there, but where should we stay?<\/p>\n

In Mazunte we met a few people from Argentina who are traveling around and visiting „eco-aldeas“ (or eco-villages) throughout Latin America. Ever since Valentina started doing some research on similar communities, we’ve been interested and curious to visit an eco-village and see how they are pushing the boundary of what is possible to advance sustainability and inspire others. And guess what, as there are three volcanoes at the lake, we’ve also found three eco-villages around Lake Atitl\u00e1n that we’d like to contact about visiting and staying with them for a few days!<\/p>\n

By now you’re probably wondering what an eco-village is, right?<\/p>\n

As Robert Gilman described it in 1991 in „The Eco-Village Challenge“, an ecovillage is a\u00a0„human-scale\u00a0full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.“<\/p>\n

But you can also read more about them on the website of the Global Ecovillage Network<\/a>, a growing network of thousands of sustainable communities worldwide, or watch the following short video that introduces you to Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village in Missouri.<\/p>\n