IPOEMA – Sunday June 12 – Monday June 13

IPOEMA – Sunday June 12 – Monday June 13

On the way to IPOEMA we stopped for dinner at a fast pizza place – it was the first meal for me in a while that was not picked from the nearest garden or farm…and it was GOOD!!! Haha. But I could definitely feel the difference; I didn’t feel as fresh and light afterwards, but instead I felt weighted down and greasy.

In the car ride I learned a lot about IPOEMA. IPOEMA is actually not an ecovillage, but instead it is much like IPEC and acts as a training center. They are an NGO and apply to governmental funds to pay for the courses and to put elementary schools through their environmental education program. They have three locations, all just outside of Brasilia. At these locations they teach PDC (permaculture design courses), agroforestry, bio-construction and hold their environmental education program. IPOEMA was started by a family that has four sons – all of which are now grown and run the organization.

IPOEMA is relatively new – they started to organize in the 1990s, but became an NGO in 2005. They are most definitely still in the building stages. The vision of the future for IPOEMA is to build a small ecovillage for the sons on one of the three locations. They also plan on building a guest house to hold all of the course participants during the ten day courses.

Here at IPOEMA I got to ask Luiza a ton of questions about how all the processes work. I learned how the compost toilets actually turn poop into soil and I learned which plant species are good for water filtration. Luiza and I hung out on the roof of the building I slept in – a green roof which is perfect for sunbathing, insulation, and rainwater collection! Luiza was SOO sweet with me and answered all my questions and took me and Jair on a tour of the site we were at. While walking around I got to see how creative they were with reusing plastic bottles – they used them for art/decoration, sprinklers, water proofing, and light blub covers. I just loved seeing all those uses for a recycled material!

From there, Leandro, one of Claudio’s brothers, drove me to the airport so I could catch a flight to Rio and he gave me a bunch of Brasiliero musica!

I had the most positive experience EVER at IPOEMA. Jair, Luiza, Claudio, and Leandro were all so accommodating and caring. They didn’t even know me, but they took time out of their Sunday/Monday just to teach me about what they were doing there. I was just overwhelmed with happiness to be spending time with such amazingly sweet Brazilians. I was sad that I couldn’t express in Portuguese how thankful I really was – only Luiza spoke English. I was sad to leave such wonderful company, but I pretty much saw all that I could at IPOEMA in one day and got all of my questions answered.

Off to Rio!!

Cool ways that IPOEMA reuses plastic bottles:

For Sprinklers -




Art flowers -



To water proof the light in the shower room -



To grow plants in -

Cowboy Festival! June 11-12

It’s time to fill in a few of the missing holes → I’m going to back track and tell you about the places I didn’t write about.

Saturday-Sunday June 11-12

Last weekend I was still at IPEC, but I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in Pirenopolis, the closest town. The walk into town is about a 45 minute walk through pastures and farms. Pirenopolis is not a “happenin” city and there isn’t really any reason for Brasilians to visit it. However, this weekend was the one weekend out of the whole entire year that Pirenopolis has a huge festival called Festas de Cavalhadas. This festival reenacts a battle fought between the Moors and the Christians a very long time ago. Each year, men from Pirenopolis get onto horses and dress themselves and their horses up in elaborate decorations. Then there is a jousting competition in a huge arena.

I went with the American university students at IPEC into town and on Saturday we just explored and did a little shopping. On Sunday we saw all the horsemen and attempted to watch the jousting, but the stadium was crowded and it was hot out. Then in the afternoon I said goodbye to the Americans and to beautiful IPEC and boarded a bus to Brasilia to head on to the next ecovila (called IPOEMA).

On Sunday night I arrived at the Brasilia bus station, which is even larger than the Tel Aviv bus station. Upon my arrival I called Luiza, a very nice woman who I made arrangements to meet up with. Luiza had graciously offered me a ride from the bus station to IPOEMA because she said public transportation is hard to get, especially at night time. She was also picking up an incoming work volunteer named Jair, and it was my job to meet up with Jair because he had a cell phone that Luiza could reach us on.

I did not see him at my entry area (where I was told he would be waiting) so I went and bought a local phone card and gave him a call. Turns out he didn’t speak any English, haha, so I communicated to him as best I could that I was American (de los esatod unidos), wearing a large backpacking backpack (mochila grande) and I would wait for him at the “desembarcar” area. I proceeded to the disembark sign and walked around looking for someone who might be looking for me. I received no welcoming stares, not even from the person who I hesitatingly asked “Jair?”… So I took out my ipod and plopped down and sat on the ground right smack in front of the desembarcar sign. A few moments later a man came and knelt down next to me and asked, “Nina?” Haha, yay! He found me! I was so happy! Jair and I communicated pretty dang well with a mix of Spanish and Portuguese. There were definitely parts of the conversation where I repeated, ‘no en-ten-gee’ (I don’t understand) but Jair was nice and accommodating with my comprehension level.

By a few waves of a hand and a description of our location and appearance, Luiza found us in the middle of the bus station. We headed outside and got into the car with Claudio (one of the founders of IPOEMA). I was so happy to have found my group and I was excited to see what IPOEMA was all about.

Moonlit Rio

For some reason I have been very in touch with my feminine energy here in Brazil. I don’t mean anything about feminism or my sexuality; this is just the first time that I’m really happy that I’m a woman - truly strong in my female identity.

Maybe it’s because the full moon is coming up, but I’ve felt very connected to her energy lately. As I was traveling alone by bus from Pirinopolis to Brasilia, with the hopes of meeting up with someone from the next ecovillage at the bus station, I felt nervous that the person would not show up, or that at the huge bus station I would not be able to find her. But then I peered out the bus window and saw mama moon shining down on me, telling me that she would look after me, and I felt OK. “tranquilidaje.”

I feel like the moon picked me up, rocked me in her arms, and then dropped me back down to earth, knowing I would somehow land feet first. And I have – the “unplanned-ness” about my whole Brazil has trip turned out unbelievably well. I smoothly glide from one experience to the next, indulging in advice presented by wonderfully friendly eco-strangers.

I am now in Rio and could not be happier. There are two institutes that I will try to visit that teach bio-construction and permaculture, etc, but they are 2 and 3 hours north/east of the city center, so tomorrow I will figure out if I’ll really make it to them or not.

Tonight I had dinner with two Israelis that are staying at my hostel. I arrived at Vila Carioca (a hostel recommended by an ecovillage friend) in the late evening and decided to research what to do tomorrow. I was on my computer in the lobby (free wifi! – que massa!), and Chai came up to me and invited me to eat with him and his wife (they are a young couple on their honey moon). They showed me their favorite soup spot – this friendly woman that makes soup on a street corner and there are lots of stools to sit around on. Not only was it nice to meet friendly people in a new large city, but Israelis! Haha, I bet Chai saw my Jewish Star or something ☺

Anyway, I am excited for the next few days of freedom in a city that I can explore and make my own. Idealistically I will start writing my research paper at some inspiring café that I happen upon, but in reality I see myself waiting until I get home and writing it over the course of the summer.

Portuguese lesson:
Bom Dia (“Bon-Jia”) – good morning
Boa noite (“Boa-Noiche”) – good night
Tchau (“Chaow”) - bye
Legal (“Le-GAOW”) – slang for cool
Que massa (“Que maza”) – more slang, for hella cool





Yum! Acai! (seriously, SOO good and SOO filling!):


This is pao de queijo (pronounced "poum-de-kay-ja") and is a traditional breakfast food in Goias (the state that I was in up until today). It tastes like a small, soft sourdough bread piece with some cheese in it, kind of.:


Some "IPEC-ians":

Tour of IPEC

Environmental Education

Friday June 10, 2011

After interviewing a pair of the American students here at IPEC, a number of us got into a conversation about environmentalism in America. It was so exhilarating to be around youth that, like me, not only see environmental issues as extremely pressing, but that also have the drive to DO something about it. We of course spoke of the ideal society that would incorporate ecovillage lifestyles into mainstream culture. We questioned when and if this would really happen and I posed the question of what would come first – if the people would change, or if the creation of laws would force the people to change. While most of the students I spoke with believed that environmentalism will only catch on in a grass roots, bottom-to-top, fashion, few of us believed that laws would play a large role. Although I do believe that the individuals must care about the issues themselves, I believe that enough restriction and enforcement can change any culture. The only problem is actually getting legislation passed, which takes years and years...

And again, like it always seems to, the conversation about environmentalism boils down to education and knowledge. If only people really knew the implications, the details, etc, THEN they would care and THEN they would do something about it… And so environmental education continues to be, in my opinion, one of the main solutions to our earth’s problems.

Brazil passed a law about three years ago requiring all youth to get some type of environmental education. Wow, yes yes, you go Brazil! But why hasn’t California, one of the most progressive states in America, done something similar? We need to require that all public elementary/middle/high schools provide some type of (in my opinion extensive) environmental education programme. How can I help make that happen?! And who wants to help me?!

Santa Branca Ecotourism center

I made this little video just so you guys could see what Santa Branca was like. It's a very rural, large piece of beautiful land. The video shows you just their ecotourism center, which is open to the public for recreational use and is located about a quarter of a mile from the ecovillage itself.

IPEC

Thursday June 9, 2011
IPEC
I arrived and asked “hablas espanol o ingles?” and the woman responded “yes.” The receptionist, Lyla, is an Australian born Brazilian that grew up mostly on the IPEC ecovillage. She is probably my age, if not younger, and her mother runs the ecovillage. She was homeschooled here by her mom and now works with her mom to help IPEC operate.

IPEC is not technically an ecovillage – instead, it’s labeled as an eco-training center. IPEC holds courses for students, professionals, and people that are just curious about living sustainably. Most of the courses have the umbrella theme of Permaculture (designing your life to function in harmony with the environment). Some courses are more focused on specific topics like Bio-construction (or green architecture), natural water filtration, or natural waste management systems. There is a group of about 15 American university students on a summer program taking a 3 week permaculture class. The program is through an organization called Living Roots that I have heard about because Kibbutz Lotan in the Negev in Israel also has a Living Roots program.

It was so nice to find a group of young, enthusiastic Americans that share the same passion as me. Although I cannot participate in their courses during the day (since I am not paying for their program), I see them at meal times and enjoy see them just walking around the ecovillage. I hope they can give me a two day concentrated lesson about all they’ve learned so far while I am here!

IPEC is much more of a typical ecovillage set up than Santa Branca was. Santa Branca was spread out and new and modern. IPEC is like a small campground with a junkyard to use recycled materials for projects, earth domes to sleep in, an organic garden, compost toilets, and lots of benches made from clay and adobe. It reminds me of the Adam and Eve Ecological Farm in Modi’in in Israel, with a few things from the LA Ecovillage incorporated.

It’s a bummer that IPEC is mostly just a training center. I think this would be a lovely ecovillage where people could permanently reside and make a living off of the training programs. I will do some interviews tomorrow, Friday, and hopefully find out the visions of IPEC for the future.

In the mean time, I will walk around and try to comprehend the Portuguese written explanations of the compost toilet, water filtration systems, etc, and just relax and read my book!

Check out more photos here!

a wonderful turning point

Read my post and then this video might make more sense....




Wednesday June 8, 2011

Today was such a lovely turning point in my trip. Instead of feeling alone and foreign in such a large country, I now feel excited to explore and get out there.

The day started as I left Pat’s peaceful home on the farm and headed to the Santa Branca Ecotourism centre. I said my gracious gracious thank yous to Pat for hosting me and feeding me for four days and letting me enjoy her wonderful natural lifestyle. Everything I ate was fresh off the stove or picked from the garden in the backyard. Pat taught me that energy in food is directly transferred to us, so the fresher the better.

As sad as I was to leave a free place to stay and free food and have someone communicate for me in Portuguese, I was excited to get out and really experience Brazil.

I met up with a man named Marcelo at the ecotourism center. Marcelo works for the Ecovillage tourism center leading hikes and taking care of the land. From 9am-noon we explored the trails, ate grapes off the vine, and had lots of laughs. Marcelo speaks no English, but my Spanish as well as lots of miming and repetition served as a wonderful way to get along. In just those few hours I more than doubled my Portuguese vocabulary. I loved seeing the jungle and learning about the different plant species.

After a lunch/snack, Marcelo took me into town on his motorbike, with my backpacking backpacking on my back and my day pack on my front. Marcelo treated me very well – demanding I wear a helmet, and asking a man on the bus to carry my backpack for me. I didn’t need to speak Portuguese to understand Marcelo’s kind heart and cheerful spirit.

There I caught a free bus to Anapolis as I started my journey to the next ecovillage, IPEC. The guy that carried my backpacking backpack for me was very friendly and I spoke with him in Spanish/Portuguese about my name and where I came from and what I was doing, etc. Once we arrived at the Anapolis bus station he was sweet enough to carry my bag for me again and escorted me to my next bus stop, so Pirinopolis.

I love riding public transportation in foreign countries. Specifically on buses, I love looking out the window to see the scenery and listen to the language spoken around me. After a while I turned on my i-pod and played some wonderfully calming music as I anticipated what was to come at IPEC.

I would be arriving unannounced, with no idea if there would be an available room to stay in, or how far away it is from civilization in case I needed a plan B. I arrived in Pirinopolis with plenty of daylight to spare, so I decided to venture to IPEC today, and knew I would have daylight lef to figure out housing elsewhere if it didn’t work out.

I didn’t have to say much for the Taxi driver to know where I wanted to go. Apparently IPEC is a training center that takes in lots of foreigners who want to learn about permaculture.

IPEC is an oasis of trees, green, and “bio-construction” in the middle of lots of pastureland a few kilometers outside of Pirinopolis. I arrived with a big smile, finally having experienced Brazil on my own and having not only survived, but really enjoyed the journey. I am so excited for the next week, especially to be here at IPEC, and I am already afraid the time will pass too quickly!

More to come about IPEC soon!

shout outs

big happy blog post to come tomorrow, but here is something short and sweet for now:

First I want to give my parents major props for naming me Nina because it's been easy to make friends with foreigners with a name that is so translatable. Everywhere I go people can pronounce it just fine!

This video goes out to my dad, who just got back from the French Open, but also shout out to Catherine and Lily!

monday june 6

ahhh haha. I laugh at myself for not being ready for brazilian style business. much like in india, a meeting may not happen when you thought you set it up for, and much like i did in india i need to chill out and just let life happen. i am trying to plan everything and schedule everything but that is not how things work here. i am surprised with how difficult i am finding it to slow down my life. i often feel unproductive and restless, but i know i should just be relaxing and taking it all in.

i am in the midst of making arrangements to visit IPEC - Instituto de Permaculturea e Ecovilas de Cerrado. they are a training center to teach people about how to live sustainably and are huge advocates for ecovillages. IPEC is not an ecovillage itself, but it trains people to start their own ecovillages. i learned that there is a group of american university students there right now and oh man oh man how i'd love to converse with them and network so that i can have eco-friends back home.

i am also in the midst of buying a plane ticket from brasilia to rio de janeiro for next monday and i'm finding it quite difficult. the cheapest flights are only listed on the website that are only in portuguese. also my credit card was not accepted even though my mom was sweet enough to go to WaMu today to make sure it's approved in brazil. pooooooop. this is complicated. i will have to try again to purchase the flight tomorrow, but it will be more difficult because i can't call the airline company on the phone (today i borrowed the ecovillage's phone but i feel bad asking again).

and so i watched Shakespeare in Love on my computer tonight to relieve me of the stress of not knowing when and where i will be for the next few days and if i will make it to Rio (well i know i'll make it to rio, its just a matter of how much $$ i'll spend on the ticket).
oh what a hollywood film can do for you. everything always works out in the end. :)

boa noiche
ninita

day 2 - santa branca ecovillage

put your volume all the way up when you listen to this one.


Sunday June 5, 2011

My access to internet has been much greater than expected, which is awesome cuz I can share more with you guys (and feel more connected to home)! Pat lets me use her internet whenever we’re at home and she isn’t using it – and we are home quite a lot.

Today was really interesting – we visited the Santa Branca ecovillage, which is about a 20 minute drive from Pat’s house on a dirt road. The ecovillage is an enclosed area of about 70 acres – it’s a huge area of land, but not all of it is used. Today I got to see the recreation area for the ecovillagers (tennis court, sitting area), one ecovillager’s home, and the ecotourism center. The ecotourism area reminded me of a recreation center at a public park in America – a lake to swim in, paddle boats, horses to ride, etc. The ecovillage itself along with the tourism site was all so beautiful. Instead of cars and planes, you hear crickets and wind. And instead of buildings and smog you see trees and birds.

I interviewed two people today, one of which spoke English and that was a great interview. His name is Antonio and he had some really strong points about how the ecovillage movement can grow and be strengthened. He mentioned that one of the main problems with the ecovillage movement is the stigma about the movement’s spirituality and association with hippies. For those of you that don’t know, ecovillages are often based not only on communal living and environmentalism, but also on some type of spirituality. For example, an ecovillage in Scotland believes that meditating in the same room as one’s plant’s will allow him or her to communicate with the plants and know if they need more sunlight/water, etc. This ideology is common among the members and provides for a commonality between the people.

Antonio believes that ecovillages need to be marketed as communal living styles, and less focused on the spirituality. He made the analogy that the spiritual side of an ecovillage is a filter that turns away many people from even considering living there.

This is true, and although I do agree with Antonio that spiritualism can be a turn-off, I also see how spirituality can closely bring a group of people together, which can only strengthen the community aspects of the village. Additionally, if spirituality is present at an ecovillage’s core, that spirituality needs to be communicated to prospective members in order for them to fully understand what they will be getting involved with. Therefore, I think spiritual ecovillages need to be transparent with their ideologies, but I also believe that it is important for other ecovillages (based solely on community and sustainability) to up-play that they are NOT spiritual, or at least intentionally include no mention spirituality in their marketing communications. Non-spiritual ecovillages will be a strong point in spreading sustainable lifestyles to the general public.

After a tour of Antonio’s green home, Pat and I headed home for her afternoon nap.

Fun facts about Brazil/Santa Branca:
- EVERYONE has at least two hammocks outside their house (great for falling asleep in)
- No one puts toilet paper in the toilet. The plumbing isn’t hardy enough, so instead toilet paper goes in the trash next to the toilet.
- They drink a lot of coffee but instead of one large mug in the morning and one large mug in the afternoon, its tiny shots of coffee all day long.

I am happy that I’ve written two research papers on ecovillages; I feel much more prepared to discuss ecovillages with the ecovillagers and I can better relate to their lifestyles.

Tomorrow I am going to interview the founder of Santa Branca Ecovillage – Jeremias. He speaks English, so it should go pretty well!

Boa noiche,
Ninita

videos = no go for now

so i've tried uploading some flip cam vids but they are way too large to upload on this internet connection. i'll try shrinking them on my computer and then uploading them after... videos are the best!

day 1

Saturday June 4, 2011
Day one:
So I’ve never traveled this alone before… The traveling part is fine – I sleep easily on planes and I love people watching during layovers, and boy does my i-pod keep me sane. But to be by myself when I arrive at my destination is something different. In Israel I’ve done that, but I speak the language and am familiar with where I would want to go.

This isn’t the type of alone like how it was to be an RA and have my own room, bathroom, free time etc. This is the type of alone where I’m currently staying on a farm-like piece of land right next to a vast jungle and the only other person I’m with is an older woman whom I just met this morning – granted there are some monkeys, a bunch of birds, and some wild night time creatures… I think I will really grow into myself during the next two weeks.

I don’t mean to sound so sad! The place where I am staying is absolutely gorgeous. Pat has a large property with a nice home and a huge garden in which she grows vegetables and has fruit trees. I can’t get over the fact that she has monkey’s in her backyard! Wow. I LOVE monkeys if you didn’t know :) Pat does not live on the Ecovillage, but she lives just outside and we will venture there tomorrow.

Driving from the airport to Pat’s house reminded me so much of India. The dirt is that orangey brown clay, and there are plots of land along busy streets that are undeveloped. The darker skinned Brazilians work away in the hot sun and their clothes are stained the color of the clay. There is dirt in the air and graffiti on the walls and India rushes back into my body and soul. The two biggest differences are that here, it’s hot, but not too hot (plus I can wear shorts), and tropical green plants overpopulate the sides of the streets (in India the city I lived in had sparse trees and hardly any grass). It’s crazy how different Teresopolis/Goiania are from Rio, where I was last year. This type of living is so serene and most surrounding people are poor. Rio felt a little like a tropical European city, with nice restaurants and cobblestone sidewalks.

I’ve already learned so much from Pat about environmental living and the hardships that ecovillages face. For example, a bank will not give a loan to an alternative building project, so it’s very hard for their ecovillage to fund their new buildings/residencies. I also learned that in this particular state, it’s mandatory to teach environmental education to children! That is wayyy awesome and something that I’ve advocated for in a few papers I’ve written at USC.

Ok it’s 9:45pm and I’m going to get ready for bed!
Much love,
Ninita

on sunday we are going to the santa branca ecovillage! yay! i can't wait!

Brazil, here I come! woo woooo

Friday June 3, 2011 The time has come for me to set out into the world again!

A serious long-term threat facing the world is the danger that human actions are producing irreversible, harmful changes to the environmental conditions that support life on Earth. I want to solve this problem and am devoted to learning how people can change their lifestyles to do so.

I am off to Brazil, supported by a USC SURF grant (http://dornsife.usc.edu/surf)to do research for two weeks. I have two research initiatives:
• To learn about the lifestyle practices that ecovillages exhibit in order to live in a more environmentally sustainable way
• To assess the role that Brazilian ecovillages play in greater Brazilian environmentalism I will explore the first initiative in order to better understand each ecovillage and be able to evaluate which practies are most effective and can be adapted for life outside the ecovillage.

When I return home, I will be an agent of change and will bring these lifestyles practices back to USC with me. Over the summer, I plan on making a short video about ways that the ordinary individual can transform his or her life to be more environmentally sustainable.

The second initiative will be a bit more challenging to rightly assess, especially in the given time frame of two weeks. I will interview ecovillagers, as well as city dwellers to find out what role ecovillages play in national environmentalism. In a world approaching peak oil, global warming, and possible water shortages, Ecovillages provide the perfect model to be emulated world wide.
Can these ecovillages be agents of change for Brazil’s devastating environmental state? In what ways can ecovillages maximize their impact in the environmental movement?

Over the summer, I will write a short paper on my findings and turn it in to the SURF grant foundation in September.

So why did I choose Brazil, you might ask? For a few reasons – I went to Brazil in March 2010 just for ten days and I fell in love with the culture, the people, the lifestyle, the language, everything. So I’ve since had a yearning to return…

More importantly, Brazil has a very unique and wonderful position in terms of environmentalism. Unlike other developing nations, Brazil has enough money and has the desire to invest in environmental initiatives. Sustainable development is not common for developing countries because of the large upfront costs that it requires. Brazil, however, is home to one of the greenest cities in the world (Curitiba) and has made valiant strides towards ending the accelerated deforestation of the Amazon. These, among other efforts (such as ecovillages), show that Brazil is prioritizing saving the natural world when the incentive is strictly environmental and not monetary.

As environmental issues world wide intensify, Brazil has the ability to set a model for other developing nations to follow – what if all developing nations were to start incorporating environmentalism into their development in small ways? The future would look much greener :)

And so Brazil it is! I arrive tomorrow and have no idea what my internet situation will be, but I will do my best to keep you guys updated on what I find. I love you and miss you all!
Chao,
Ninita

Maitri

Metta (Pali - pictured above) or Maitri (Sanskrit- pictured below) means unconditional and unattached loving kindness. What a wonderful outlook with which to approach the people in your life. Thank you Buddhism for keeping me in line with what is good in life.

Open Mind, Open Heart

College is a time for trying new things. As a friend told me - it's like ripping a band aid off - Just get out there and do it. If not now, when?