Discussion of UTNE Reader #2 The Gaviotas Experiment by Jay Walljasper This article is about a small community in South America that is self-sustaining in a less than favorable environment. They could teach others in this world better ways to use and preserve their resources. The Gaviotas community is a group of people who use ecologically sound ideas to survive in a climate where many other villages have disappeared. The Gaviotas have been very creative and resourceful in using their environment. they have developed solar powered appliances and have established a reforestation program. In their community it is of utmost importance to provide for the environment and live with it, instead of abuse it. They use, rebuild, and conserve what they have in a way that they are in harmony with nature. Instead of taking their ideas and selling their inventions, they have chosen to pass their ideas on to other poor communities within their country. They easily could have marketed their products for profit, but this is not within their culture. The most important concern is to recreate rainforests through planting millions of trees and allowing the jungle to thrive beneath the trees as they age. They want to maintain their culture and improve on it for those in the future. To me, it was refreshing to read about a community which started with so little, grow successfully while maintaining thier way of life. Many people in our society today who are successful could use a dose of this attitude.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 1999