{"id":1254,"date":"2024-12-23T07:09:51","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T07:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2025-01-04T07:11:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T07:11:37","slug":"1254","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bullseye.ac\/blog\/learning\/1254\/","title":{"rendered":"Auroville \u2013 Sustainability Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reached the Auroville ECR junction \u2013 and decided to follow instructions in the welcome mail related to hitchhiking. Every two wheeler seemed to be carrying three people \u2013 so started walking. As the evening progressed, and I had only walked 3 km, was not sure if I would finish the 8 km before nightfall. So hailed a passing auto. He wanted 150 bucks to get to the gate. I preferred walking. The auto driver magnanimously gave me a lift till his house. Got down, and immediately thumbed one more \u2013 and got dropped about half a km from the guest house. Walked again the rest of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of Auroville starts in 1968. The plan was to have a self sustaining, self governed international township. Hyderabad was one of the places which had been shortlisted, but finally a tract of barren land about 15 km from Pondicherry was chosen.  Deforestation and over grazing had led to all topsoil erosion. In the monsoon, the sea adjoining this land would be red, as the loose soil would leach in. The first residents, about 300 of them, came in at this time. They built houses for themselves \u2013 in a typical village style. The first few years they struggled with water \u2013 and then electricity. They busied themselves with tree plantation. Over 2 million trees have been planted since then \u2013 and sustained. As a result, Auroville today has a forest cover which is more than 50%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other hallmark of Auroville is their economic model. All land and houses are built by individuals \u2013 but owned by the community. Also the economy is more kind than cash. Decision making for the community is by consensus. Consensus does not mean vote power here; it means tapping into the collective wisdom of the community. Practically it means prolonged discussions \u2013 and struggles to move ahead. As with the rest of us, Aurovilleans are also good at analysis and bad at synthesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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50 years later, the population has increased to around 2,500 (not including tourists!). We debated whether this is a sustainable number for the community to survive. Given the very healthy lifestyle at Auroville, one gets see to see many of the original inhabitants still merrily cycling around the mud roads of the commune. Immigration is a way of helping out ageing communities. Quite a few of the residents are from neighbouring localities. Earlier, their reason for joining was mostly economic. Now it is not so. What about the Auroville youth? Are they choosing to stay on? One thing that hinders is education. Although parents are usually committed, grandparents have their doubts. Auroville has infrastructure till school level \u2013 but kids have to go out for college. Some of them do come back to their roots after a few years. Yet, out of 100 young people who experimented with community living in 2016, only 8 have stayed on in 2017. Part of the reason could also be lack of adequate housing for young people and the inadequacy of initial personal capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Auroville master plan has been designed for about 50,000 people. Land is being purchased even today to get to that stage. I am not sure if it really needs that kind of population. Probably one of the things that can help is to have a large floating population \u2013 which comes in for a few months to a few years \u2013 and then goes back again to the outside world, having renewed themselves. On a philosophical note, what the Earth needs to sustain itself is not more people, but many fewer. Till the 19th<\/sup> century, we had a population which had stabilised at a very sustainable 1 billion. So the challenge today is how do we get back there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here are some links for seeing some films on Auroville:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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