Page 23 - C.A.L.L. #42 - Spring 2017

Tamera: A Realistic Utopia

Peter Gringinger writes of his experiences at Tamera, a communal ecovillage in
Portugal that hosted the 2016 ICSA conference.

This article appeared in its original form on Peter’s blog, “Regenerative Blog – Peter Gringinger:
Exploring Sustainable Communities and Livelihoods Worldwide” which can be accessed at
regenerativeblog.wordpress.com.
Peter Gringinger, Melbourne, Australia.

Tamera ecovillage is located in southern Portugal in the region of Alentejo, some 20km inland from the
Atlantic coast. The ecovillage owns 130 hectares of land in the rolling hills of the area with an intense
Mediterranean climate of hot and dry summers (up to 40 degrees celsius) and mild winters (with
rbetween 300 and 1200 mm of precipitation). The region was traditionally farmed by small scale
subsistence farmers, with some livestock (largely sheep and goats), cork harvesting, olives and small
scale grain production. Over the last 50 to 60 years many farms in this area where combined into larger
scale industrial farms with extensive use of fossil fuels, fertilizers and pesticides. Over the years the area
was more and more depopulated as most of the younger people moved to the cities due to lack of
opportunities and progressive desertification and soil degradation of the area made even farming more
and more difficult. This has also affected the land and soils of Tamera and one of the ecovillage’s areas of
focus is the restoration of natural soil and water systems in order to support the regenerative
development of the ecovillage and to support the needs of humans and ecosystems.

Tamera the Healing Biotope was founded in
1995 and two of the main founding
members are Dieter Duhm and Sabine
Lichtenfels, both still residing in Tamera. The
founding thought was to develop a non-
violent life model for cooperation between
human beings, animals and nature. This is
reflected in Tamera’s Vision:

The Healing Biotope I Tamera is a peace
research project with the goal to create a
model for a future society that is free from
hatred, lies, violence and fear. Tamera
should become an acupuncture point of
Tamera the Healing Biotope.
peace, a greenhouse of trust, a prototype
for an existence free of fear on this planet, a
post-capitalist societal model and a place where the human and meta realm of life come together.

This is reflected in Tamera’s goals, which are implemented in Tamera and elsewhere through various
research projects and outreach programs worldwide:

• Development of communities where human beings can rely on each other again.

• Ending the war between the genders and the healing of love.

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