Date: January 19th 2009

Hallo friends,

Do not be angry, I hope to keep the amount of mailing and emails to
the minimum, but now in the beginning of starting a "new" project in
may be necessary to clear some things and therefor some "extra" mail
maybe is needed... hopefully we know and trust eachother so much that
we do not have to discuss every thema to the hilt.

Anyway most of us know Ecotopia, we have been there, organised it or
heard of it, nevertheless it may be unbelievable but there are still
out there a lot of people not knowing what Ecotopia was and Ecotopia?
may will be. And therefor we need fast a general text explaining the
rough outlines of Ecotopia?.... with other words here a first draft of
such a, what you main call, our mission statement :-)

Please do not hesitate an use all your fantasy to improve, totally
change or whatever this text, it is just a first draft as said, to
have something to start with, but remember it would be nice if the
general text is more or less useable in a month from now at the latest
:-), around April a lot of bigger international political action
gatherings take place in Europe (anti-nato action, youth for food
congress, 30th year TAZ, etc.) where this idea already can be
spread...

What is Ecotopia(?) ?

Ecotopia was an annual gathering of people from all over Europe (but
also lot's of participants from other continents) involved or
interested in ecological and other social issues, in the widest since
of the meaning.It started in 1989 as an annual summer gathering of
young people organised by the EYFA (European Youth For(est) Action)
network and organised every year in another country in cooperation
with local/regional/national grassroots environmental
organisation/networks. 19 Ecotopia's took place since than..

Ecotopia was a place for learning, exchanging experiences and
spreading information about environmental, social, political and other
issues. Around 200 - 600 people attends Ecotopia each year, to share
skills and discuss about a wide range of themes related to ecological
problems: climate change, transport and mobility, GMOs, organic food,
eco-building and sustainable infrastructure, global politics and
global economic system, strategies for actions, experiences of
campaigns, alternative media, art, music, migration, war and peace,
racism and xenophobia, human right, cultural issues, influence on and
of people...

Ecotopia was also a functional model of self-sustainable community
that puts into practice the principles of an environmentally friendly
life-style: waste recycling, vegetarian kitchen, consensus
decision-making, the use of alternative energy...Where possible,
Ecotopians participated in regional actions and clean ups, try to get
local people interested in ecological problems and empower local
organizations.

Ecotopia was horizontally and self- organised; everyone is asked to
take part in runnig the camp, solving problems and decision-making.
And everybody was responsible for creating the programme! (meaning
that every participant was free to organise their own workshop,
meeting, show, presentation, whatever, a gigant "open space" and "free
floor")

Ecotopia operated on the ecorates system - an alternative economic
system based on living standards and income of people rather than
financial markets, which means that you pay for food at Ecotopia the
same amount as you would pay for it in your own country.

One of the best ways to come to Ecotopia had always been the annual
Bike Tour, starting always several weeks before, making it ecological
way towards the annual gathering.

In 2008, at the 19th Ecotopia, taking place in Turkey, EYFA decided to
stop organising further Ecotopia's. In the winter of 2009 a group of
former Ecotopia participants and organisers decided to try to start a
new series of now called annual Ecotopia? (with questionmark)
gathering, the first taking place in the Flaemingregion (Germany near
Berlin) from 1 - 21 August 2010.

Ecotopia? will be almost simular to Ecotopia, (the questionmark is
symbolic that is just a "try" but never "the" absolute realisation of
an ecological "paradise"). Rather than only for "young" people
Ecotopia? would like to be a gathering for all generations. A place
were everybody is welcome in the summer, also when they just wanted to
find an cheap and ecological friendly place to have their holidays.

the original text was made for Ecotopia:
http://btwiki.ecobytes.net/Ecotopia (external link) and is now changed
for Ecotopia?