N. Smyrnis 8, Lagonisi, Attica
190 10 Attica
Greece
- Arts
- Democracy and community development
- Environment/Sustainable development
- Youth and education
The “eco-conscious projects” of Evolving cycles, or else called ecotopias, are eco-cultural educational land-based participatory projects. They are designed with the principles of permaculture embracing regeneration, collective food self-sufficiency and energy autonomy as they care for the land, the people and share their resources fairly. They are governed by dynamic governance (such as sociocracy) and individuals communicate with empathy. They host cultural and artistic events with ecological content, conduct educational programs and act as beacons of collectivity, designing community experiences that embrace the local community. All the projects in Evolving Cycles follow processes of facilitation that give emphasis in the care of the group as an essential element of sustainability.
Evolving Cycles is currently expanding their network of people and projects. It currently has 3 projects: 3 sites (“hubs”) , Calme Garden (Attika), Kompostopia (Peloponesos) (https://kompostopia.gr/) and Community Lab (communitylab.gr) each centered around efforts to integrate, engage and regenerate their local community . The hubs are land-based projects and serve as demonstration and hosting places for the events of Evolving Cycles. The organization serves as the network/base and legal framework of these projects. The three projects collaborate under the vision and mission of the Evolving Cycles while working though and independently from each other. Each project is led by leading permaculturists in Greece: Kostas Keremels in Calme Garden, Tina (Kompostina) in Kompostopia and Christos Karystinos in Community Lab. This makes Evolving Cycles an experienced organization and an example of cooperation in the permaculture field in Greece (Social Permaculture).
The organization consists of 6 departments (Ecology circle, Educational circle, Cultural Circle, Funding Circle, Ecotopias circle, Communication circle) which represent the fields of work and focus of it.
Christos Karystinos is an educator, facilitator and permaculture designer particularly interested in community living .He has worked as Appropriate Technology Coordinator of the AT department in Sunseed Desert Technology, a 30-years old educational center and community for sustainability. He has graduated from National Technical University of Athens from the department of Electrical Engineering and holds a master in Renewables Energies. He is trained as a Permaculture Teacher and especially in Social Permaculture Training by Alfred Decker. He has lived and visited ecovillages around the world (Los Portales, Tamera, Lakabe, Auroville) and practiced gardening at various permaculture sites around Europe (Ireland, Spain, Greece). He has participated as a participant, as a youth leader and as a trainer in more than 20 Erasmus + projects since 2012. He will be coordinating all programs that involve sustainability and Erasmus +. His personal project is communitylab.gr . He has more than 500 teaching hours in Permaculture Design courses around Europe.
Our vision is: “Collaborative communities of abundance, where ecology meets economy” and our mission is: “Serving eco-conscious projects and a culture which evolves in harmony with nature”.
We support and work towards the transition of the current unsustainable system (financial, social, environmental) to a regenerative one by implementing the solutions we would like to see in the world.
Calme Garden, which is the main hub of Evolving Cycles, is a demonstration site, has served, through educational events and activities such as agroforestry, nutrition, social sciences, art crafts, wellness programs, music and theatrical workshops, more than 500 people including individuals/groups, families, institutions and companies for the last 4 years and has integrated in its processes more than 150 volunteers from more than 35 countries.
Since Kompostopia was established in 2016, it has hosted open days, community building events, seminars and activities for over 500 people. Our customers are individuals and families from our local region and the network that was established by Tina in her previous years of teaching permaculture (especially permaculture students). It has also hosted over 500 visitors and international volunteers
Evolving Cycles has hosted young volunteers from around the world through the platform (WOOF) for the past 6 years and has offered permaculture education and hands-on work to at least 100 volunteers until now. Moreover, it is collaborating with high schools of the area for day-school visits. Evolving Cycles will be hosting ESC volunteers for the first time in 2022. The activities of each hub target mainly young people who are passionate about ecology and about the environment. Through fun, games and participation the young people understand and incorporate in their lives the values of permaculture, compassionate communication and sociocracy.
To expand our network and be capable of learning and collaborating with more organization from across the seas