October 15th is was choosen "Blogging Action Day" and 2009 theme is Climate Change. This post is my contribution for BAD and the post subject couldn´t be better: a visit in a sustainable ecovillage in Danmark.


September 22nd was a cloudy morning in Copenhagen. After Soren Hermansen speech on the launch of Th!nk About competition, all bloggers were curious about Dyssekilde. The visit was the chance to see all sustainability concepts in practice. Then, the 81 bloggers made a bus trip that last only 40 minutes, to cover the 50 km between Copenhagen and Dyssekilde and we got some rain in the way.

The feeling when you arrive in the village is impressive. Planned 25 years ago, Dyssekilde is the "Neverland of sustainability". Impressive because the energy needs are supplied with one wind turbine that can supply 250 houses - there are only a hundred of them; and solar energy - that also heats the water used by local habitants. The energy structure is supported by the architecture.Made of many different materials, houses in Dyssekilde are a plenty for the eyes.

 
Water used in laundry came from rainfalls. And the waste water (e.g: laundry, toillets, etc) is cleansed there in the village. The dirty water goes to a tank and solid parts go to the bottom of the tank. The liquid, then, passes through pipesysytem and get to a willow plantation. The willows remove toxins and finally the water is clean again.

Local solutions for energy, water, laundry and even jobs makes Dyssekilde less dependent of usuals transportation schemes. Only 30 of 116 adults work outside the community. It´s a very unusual productive arrangement. CO2 emissions provenient of cars are almost zero: they have only two cars, used in a rotation system by all habitants - seems like Socialism?

Photo: Dyssekilde site

It´s a diferent vision of life. Perambulating in the village, I found Dyssekilde kindergarten. For my surprise, Miguel, the teacher is a Spaniard. He moved there after marry a Danish and since then give classes to children of 6 to 10 years. "In a first sight, this education system shocks the mind. Children are taught to think in other ways, with a sustainable perception of environment that rounds them".

Also shocking to someone that lives in a Brazilian big city is the statement made by Jakob, our guide during the tour: "I live here since 2004 and I never locked my door. All this time, I never heard about robbery or any other kind of crime.

Walking through Dyssekilde, my mind had a strangement sensation. Back to Copenhagen, one question remains: it is possible to apply this model, this lifestyle over the world? My first comparison is with Brazil urbanization model: 90% of people lives in a range of 600 km from the coast. And 15% lives only in two cities: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

To finish, as a provocation, a tease, let´s discuss urbanization based on Steven Johnson´s book Ghost Map.One of Johnson´s ideas is that urbanization can save the planet, as it had helped against the cholera epidemy in 19th century.

By 2020, for the first time in human history, urban population will be greater than rural one. According to Mr. Johnson, this fact brings two benefits: it is cheaper to build infrastructure to a 100 thousand inhabitants city than for two cities of 50 thousand. Second, if you amount people in cities, you have more chances to preserve the environment. Very interesting ideas. But it is necessary to implement all logistics to promote the scheme idealized by Johnson in a sustainable way.

Photo: Skyscrapecity.com