| Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World--10th Anniversary Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Alan Weisman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $10.43
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (28 reviews)
Sales Rank: 38082
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 10th anniversary
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 1603580565
Dewey Decimal Number: 333
EAN: 9781603580564
ASIN: 1603580565
Publication Date: September 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Los Llanos?the rain-leached, eastern savannas of war-ravaged Colombia?are among the most brutal environments on Earth and an unlikely setting for one of the most hopeful environmental stories ever told. Here, in the late 1960s, a young Colombian development worker named Paolo Lugari wondered if the nearly uninhabited, infertile llanos could be made livable for his country?s growing population. He had no idea that nearly four decades later, his experiment would be one of the world?s most celebrated examples of sustainable living: a permanent village called Gaviotas.In the absence of infrastructure, the first Gaviotans invented wind turbines to convert mild breezes into energy, hand pumps capable of tapping deep sources of water, and solar collectors efficient enough to heat and even sterilize drinking water under perennially cloudy llano skies. Over time, the Gaviotans? experimentation has even restored an ecosystem: in the shelter of two million Caribbean pines planted as a source of renewable commercial resin, a primordial rain forest that once covered the llanos is unexpectedly reestablishing itself.Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called Paolo Lugari ?Inventor of the World.? Lugari himself has said that Gaviotas is not a utopia: ?Utopia literally means ?no place.? We call Gaviotas a topia, because it?s real.?Relive their story with this special 10th-anniversary edition of Gaviotas, complete with a new afterword by the author describing how Gaviotas has survived and progressed over the past decade.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 I love this book May 21, 2008
This is one of my favorite books. I recommend it to anyone who will listen. I just love it. I've read it twice and I'll probably read it again sometime. I want to live in Gaviotas!
Gaviotas - inspiring May 6, 2008
Wonderful book, highly recommended, inspiring. A real look at sustainable development in a highly unlikely place in the world. MUST READ!!
Must Read March 14, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an amazing story about an amazing REAL place... It is an obligated reading for all of those who care about sustainability and renewable energy and wonder whether there is an alternative for our society.
Read this and you will be full of hope and energy for action.
Engaging Style April 4, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book shows people solving ecological problems as a community. Weisman engages the reader by showing the people involved, not only the ones with training in certain disciplines, but also natives with practical solutions for living in a Columbian village. Even the children got involved in problem solving in Gaviotos.
They have learned to live in a place where there are many dangers due to drug wars, yet their survival skills are exceptional.
I highly recommend this eye-opening book
Barbara Spring
 Not DIY March 13, 2005
The vision described in the book is inspiring and very hopeful. The idea is to use our ingenuity in ways directly adapted to our environment so that small towns can be self-sufficient. Along the way, very clever uses of wind and water are discovered and described. If the reader is looking for great general ideas or approaches, this book would be hard to beat. On the other hand, if you are a garage-tinkerer and would delight in building the clever devices described, this book is close but no cigar. The drawings offered in the book purposely omit the most important details required to fabricate the devices in a proper working form. If you are a tinkerer and want to build these "goodies," you have three options. In the U.S., you can e-mail with the "Sustainable Village" web site and get the plans (eventually---they are not quick in responding). You can contact the Gaviotas offices in Bogota, Colombia. You can, of course, also take the basic idea and think through the details for yourself. That could take longer and be a little more expensive---perhaps. If you primarily want the ideas and the inspiration, then buy the book, by all means. If you primarily want to tinker and build, go straight for the plans.
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