The eco-village

Green, organic, recycle, bio-degradable and eco are all new-speak for good: disposable, packaging and synthetic are by extension new-speak for not so good any more.

One way of being environmentally friendly was the back drop to a highly successful British Sit-com of the seventies, “The Good Life”. A middle-aged couple turned their Surrey stock-broker belt house into an organic small-holding complete with pigs, chickens and herb garden. Everything was apparently being re-cycled to make gas for cooking, generate electricity for light and the need for water and drainage removed. The comedy came from the reactions of the upper-middle class neighbours juxtaposed with the stoicism and determination, one might almost say pig-headedness, of the “back to the land” couple.

Another way is to use technology and design. Apparently part of Britain’s M1 motorway is de-iced in winter from heat stored up from, wait for it, the previous summer. The system is called Inter-seasonal Heat Transfer or IHT for short. Solar panels for providing hot-water have been around for years, but advancements in solar-cells have led to a pleasure boat on London’s Serpentine being powered that way entirely. Add triple glazing and the clever use of courtyards and cloisters and you can begin to see how technology can be brought to bear to run a building without external energy input.

So I was very interested in our proposed trip to Lebanon’s eco-village http://www.ecoecovillage.com . Which would it be, looking toward the future or the past? Actually it combines both; a water-wheel in the local river generates electricity to power modern light bulbs. The cafeteria serves a variety of tasty dishes with all the vegetables organically grown on the eco-village’s land, which also supports free-range chickens and larger livestock. Re-cycling points are frequent and unobtrusive. And then there are swimming holes in the unpolluted, crystal waters of that local river, as well as the tree houses. There are a few small buildings, made of bamboo, which grows a-plenty, wood from local trees and walls made wattle and daub style using the clay rich earth. The organic cafeteria, by the way, is a very large tent, insulated with traditional rugs and in spite of the heat, there was a cooling flow of air which was both gentle and effective.

Only trouble is that to get to it, a long drive down a rutted road is needed that is really only practical on horseback (but I didn’t see any of them) or in an SUV (of which I saw a lot). That’s because it sits in a remote valley surrounded by tree clad mountains of the Chouf.

A model for future living, I’m afraid not; it’s a real back to the land approach and I’ll wait for the design and technology led solutions, thank you. As a demonstration of how to use land to produce additive free food with real taste, yes. And as a day out? Once you’re there it’s great.

I have doubts about the carbon footprint, but it’s certainly green, organic and with a focus on re-cycling. If left, the site would bio-degrade to nothing in months, so it can truly claim to have the right to use its “eco” appellate.