Problem addressed

There is growing awareness of how people’s lifestyles contribute to non-sustainable consumption and production and the negative impact that this has on health, the environment, working conditions (notably in developing countries) and natural resources. The rise of climate change engagement, such as Greta Thunberg’s ‘School Strike for Climate’, has contributed to increasing concerns around climate change and the human impact. This has highlighted the need for sustainable lifestyles to complement the redesign of industrial, energy and transport systems as key elements of the transition to a sustainable economy and infrastructure. Ecovillages are one response to this need. However, setting up and maintaining a sustainable ecovillage is not an easy endeavour, with 95% of ecovillages failing in their first year.

Innovative solution

The ecovillage movement, which began in the early 1990s, is a response to people’s desires to set up a more sustainable way of life. Ecovillages are an experimental model for shared, eco-friendly living and working in a community. They are self-sufficient through food production and renewable energy and promote a non-consumerist lifestyle, a transparent and democratic governance system, decent work, fair trade and productive business.

Today, there are over 10 000 ecovillages across the world, with interest still growing in this model of sustainable living. In 2008, the Hall family founded the Suderbyn People-Care Cooperative Society on the island of Gotland, Sweden, with the aim of setting up an ecovillage. Today, the Suderbyn Ecovillage is home to an average of 15 to 30 people at once, consisting of 12 permanent residents, 8 to 10 temporary residents staying for 6 months to a year, and 10 people staying temporarily for days, weeks or up to 6 months. Each permanent resident pays into and joins the Suderbyn People-Care Cooperative. Each resident distances themselves from mass-consumption practices but entrepreneurship is encouraged if it does not focus on money-orientated values.

The ecovillage has led to the construction of Sweden’s largest permaculture forest and food garden, a perennial garden of edible plants that are available for residents to maintain and consume. Any additional food that is bought for consumption is organic, local, seasonal and/or Fairtrade, and all residents eat one common meal together per day.

Suderbyn has partnered with the European Solidarity Corps and Service Civil International (SCI, an international volunteer non-governmental organisation) to encourage more people to visit and stay at the ecovillage. For people considering long-term residency, the ecovillage offers ‘test living’ which lasts for 2 weeks and costs SEK 2 000 (EUR 188), including food and accommodation. Each permanent, temporary or guest resident provides 10 hours of volunteer work per week to take care of the community and the land. All profits from residents’ living fees and donations to the cooperative are channelled back into the care and maintenance of the ecovillage.

In 2019, all environmental and land responsibilities were transferred to the Suderbyn Earth Care Foundation, allowing the cooperative to diversify their food production techniques and develop new technologies without fear of misspending their funding and subsequently losing their land. The foundation status guarantees that even if the cooperative was to become bankrupt, the land would be protected by the law and remain a platform for the ecovillage.

Key results and benefits

The very purpose of the ecovillage is to benefit the environment, and this has been achieved. The founders of Suderbyn Ecovillage also established Relearn Suderbyn, a non-profit organisation that focuses on non-formal education, action research and cross-border cooperation between people or organisations interested in eco-living. Relearn has grown alongside Suderbyn Ecovillage as a tool to bring more people together and promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

The Suderbyn Cooperative and its non-profit organisation, Relearn, partnered with the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE), with the support of the Baltic Sea Conservation Foundation, to develop the closed-loop system on which the village operates. The closed-loop system means that the ecovillage reuses the same materials over and over again to create new products, thus conserving natural resources and diverting waste from the landfill. It provides the ecovillage with biogas, wind power and food production capabilities. The closed-loop system allows residents to harvest biogas fuel for cooking twice a day and biogas heating is in development. The ecovillage also uses a permaculture design process and permaculture principles to develop efficient and self-reliant food and energy systems. An aeroponics system – the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil – is also in its testing phase.

Aside from the environmental impact of the ecovillage, one of the key results of Suderbyn Ecovillage is the community of support it provides to other people and organisations exploring more sustainable models of living. Suderbyn Ecovillage is very well-connected to other similar projects and involved in the permaculture and transition movements. Several members of the community are members of the boards of the Ecovillage Association of Sweden and the Baltic Ecovillage Network. It has made a guidance manual available online, aimed at other ecovillages who wish to develop a similar closed-loop system.

Potential for mainstreaming

The cooperative received EUR 158 590 from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) through the Swedish Leader programme. The first Leader funds were used to put in place basic infrastructure for the ecovillage such as wastewater treatment and initial landscaping. The cooperative received two years of funding from the Baltic Sea Conservation Foundation to develop the closed-loop system.

Suderbyn Ecovillage is looking to further ensure its economic viability by investing in affordable and experimental sustainable technologies that should mitigate the negative economic consequences of an unpredictable climate. Suderbyn is planning to build a production kitchen onsite and purchase a café in Visby using self-generated funds. The café will act as an additional source of income by selling vegan food produced at Suderbyn Ecovillage, provide sustainable employment opportunities and host education workshops.

Suderbyn is committed to sharing knowledge and expertise on environmentally friendly solutions to upscale and mainstream green choices. Over 2020, Relearn is the contracted developer and partner in the Leader-funded transnational project ‘Off-Grid DIY Renewable Energy in the Baltic Sea Region’. Through an online platform, the off-grid DIY project aims to communicate understanding energy-related solutions and create an international community where real-life experiences are shared among users, new adapters and communities. Through the European Solidarity Corps, the Suderbyn-based international learning programme Green Skills also provides a unique opportunity for learning and sharing knowledge. The programme explores how to operate an ecovillage, advancing social competences and practical skills in a range of areas – from organic food production and collective decision-making, to DIY energy systems and a sociocracy-based governance system.