Directory of Eco-villages in Europe - Kennedy Bibliothek

Sweden
Skare
existing
eco-village
Tuggelite
"village meetings" right from the beginning. We ask for suggestions
and ideas beforehand, and sometimes an individual or a group may
introduce a topic, but generally the proceedings are very democratic. -
Another very important factor in the social organisation of Tuggelite is
the work team. We decided that no one was to be employed to clean,
garden, cook, or indeed administrate. The adult residents are divided
up into five teams who are responsible, in rotation, for the communal
tasks. Since we have taken on joint responsibility for cleaning the community
centre which includes the laundry room, the kitchen, sauna and
the boiler room (the boiler room has to be dealt with every day) besides
the main room, there is quite a lot of work involved. Then there is the
outside area which we all own and look after together. "Work days" are
like mini-work camps when we all get together to do the jobs that have
to be done, like clearing up the communal areas outside, gardening,
snow-shovelling, etc. We arrange them as often as the need arises, mainly
in spring or autumn. Working together is an effective way of looking
after the social fabric. This is currently in good repair, to judge from
the composition of the community. Of the original sixteen households
fourteen were still in residence eight years later. Not a bad record for
an experimental community.
We are not all that different from everyone else, it is important not to
be too radical too quickly. For one thing children cannot cope easily
with being too different from everyone else. Our children go to ordinary
local schools and everyone knows where they live. Children do
not want to be labelled as "odd" all their school lives, but they can
begin to influence others gradually towards a more ecologically sound
way of life.
Contact:
Tuggelite
Helena Hultkrantz
Tuggelitevagen 15 A
65350 Karlstad
Sweden
Tel: +46 54 53 19 87
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