Wanting to live in a green town, which has all the energy efficient features and homes with fresh air may not be a distant dream anymore. Perhaps you can take the lead and transform your community slowly and steadily into an enviable eco village. There are many advantages to living in a green village. Take a look at some of the essentials of an eco village development plan:
11 – Eco village development plan requirements
1. Find the location/town/village
To set up a self sustaining community, the first requirement is to find a place or location for it. It could be a town or village, the residents of which are looking for an eco-friendly lifestyle. The government or builders can have eco village development plan already and you can join the community. You could also put forward your green village idea to eco friendly builders, or you and a group of friends/likeminded people can get together to set up an eco village.
2. Raise the money
You would need the money to pay legal fees as well as marketing costs. In Canada, you could get funding from the Green Municipal Fund from Federation of Canadian Municipalities. If you are based in another country, you can try crowdfunding, and government grants to set up green energy resources such as solar panels and so on. Homes and street lights can be powered by renewable energy.
3. Attract investors and residents
You have to publicise your eco village development plan to everyone, including investors and residents. Build partnerships with environmental groups and the community, and keep the price low enough to attract people. A small-scale sustainable village model which shows all that you are envisioning will definitely create interest. Once people see with their own eyes, it’s easier to understand, and you will get as many people looking forward to living in your village as you want.
Your model should have solar panels, or geothermal or wind energy turbines, and if you can make your model function too, it would be great.
4. Plan for waste segregation
The world is facing a waste disposal crisis. Therefore, a green community must pay attention to the proper segregation of waste. There has to be recycling bins and maybe even a recycling plant in the village. There should be bins for dry and wet waste to separate organic and inorganic waste.
5. NO Plastic
Plastic is one of the scourges of modern civilization is plastic. It’s time to reduce and eliminate the use of plastic from our lives. If you are planning a self sustaining community with many sustainable features, one of them has to be banning plastic bag use. Cloth bags or other reusable bags should be available in your village easily, so that people don’t feel the need for plastic bags which are choking the environment elsewhere in the world.
6. Set rules which everyone has to follow
As part of your eco village development plan, the residents have to agree to certain community guidelines, which help them to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle. Residents have to build energy efficient homes, make compost, and plant organic gardens if they have space, install green energy sources, and so on.
7. Have screenings of interactive videos
Education is important in order to maintain your eco village. You and your fellow residents can get many new ideas on how to maintain and sustain your eco village. Interactive videos have been proven to be very successful to help people understand the correct methods of waste management, making eco pillows and bottle bricks from plastic waste (as it is impossible to eliminate plastic from our lives, the best way to dispose of it is to reuse it). Your community can also make plastic bricks which can be used to build homes, pave roads etc.
8. Educate your children
It’s not enough to create your village if it will fall into disuse after your generation. To avoid this, children, the next generation have to be taught from childhood the benefits of a green lifestyle. They would be watching and experiencing a green lifestyle which would help to inculcate the love of the environment as well as the ways to practice a green lifestyle.
The children in an eco village would learn to use natural materials, manage waste and each of them would grow up to be ambassadors of a green lifestyle. Even the school in your green village should be energy efficient with various eco features so that the eco-friendly lifestyle can continue in school too.
9. Waste surveys should be conducted regularly
One important part of waste management is to keep track of all the waste generated. This will help you to develop an effective plan and control the type and quantity of waste generated. Your eco village development plan has to have a waste plan which every household has to follow to make it a success.
10. Commit to eco friendly transport
Emissions are a major pollutant. If you want to keep the pollution levels low in your village, you have to commit to using green modes of transport. There can be buses which run on bio fuel. People can go around using their bicycles, and car pool as much as possible. Hybrid vehicles too are a good option, and you could invest in electric fuel automobiles. Walking is one of the best options as it will get from A to B and give you all the exercise you need.
11. Get expert help
There are many experts in different areas such as energy efficiency, waste management and so on, who can help you set up long term solutions for your community. You can’t do everything on your own, and the experts can explain the legalities to you also. Once they help you start off, you and your community members can sustain and maintain the good work.
Rome was not built in a day, so do not expect your community to be built in a short time too. It sometimes takes years to put things into place, and you have to have patience and persistence to make your eco village development plan a reality.