Alan Weisman, "Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World"

"I want Gaviotas to be real. I'm tired of reading about all these places that sound so perfect but never get lifted off the page into reality. Just for once, I'd like to see humans go from fantasy to fact. From utopia to topia." -Paolo Lugari


"Gaviotas" is a story, written by journalist and inspired visitor Alan Weisman, of utopian idealism made reality because of the vision and hard work of Paolo Lugari and a host of other individuals seeking to create something new. The product was Gaviotas, a village founded in the llanos, or Columbian savanna, where no roads led and nothing much grew. It was in this harshest of places that a diverse group of people, from engineers to artists, created a community that was self-sustaining and functional without adding to the pollution and distruction of an already overtaxed planet. Because what was being done was new, the community of llaneros needed to be creative an inventive. Based on their inventive use of recycled and readily available materials, rather than importing first world technologies with first world problems, came systems of solar power to sterilize water, heat showers and power kitchens. One of the best examples of their creativity was the invention of a highly efficient water pump for underground water that worked off of children at play on seesaws. Perhaps the most inspiring aspects of this story is that through research, they introduced the Carribean pine, a tree that they figured would respond well to the acidic soil of the llanos, which flourished over the years and provided them with lumber and an extremly useful resin that they farmed from the trees. What is truly astonishing is that by introducing these trees, other species of trees are sprouting that have not ever been recorded in the area, growing under the protection of the pines and revitalizing a long lost ecosystem. Gaviotas is an inspiration to a world in need of it.

Links:
Friends of Gaviotas

Citation Information:
Weisman, A. (1998). Gaviotas: A village to reinvent the world. White River Junction, Vt: Chelsea Green Pub.