Hollister Knowlton's trip to Gaviotas, Colombia

Dear Friends,

I just returned last night from an extraordinary trip to Colombia to see Gaviotas, the sustainable community started by Paolo Lugari that has, in the last 20 years, reforested 8000 hectares (about 20,000 acres) of barren savannah and provided a home and jobs for 2,000 Colombians. In the process of planting millions of Caribbean Pine (with seed brought from the heart of the ancient Maya civilization), miraculously, in the under story, 250 species of Amazonian rainforest flora have sprouted and are thriving.

The Gaviotans harvest several commercial products from the forest by tapping the pines for their sap (biodiesel and a resin, called colofornia, that is shipped worldwide for use in paints and pigments).

Rainfall has increased by 10% over the reforested land, providing a source of pure drinking water that they are now bottling in the former hospital. All of this work is accomplished via solar, wind, and people power.

Proceeds from the sale of the water go toward continued reforestation. So by drinking Gaviotas water (the only bottled water in the world for which this is true), one is paying to plant more forest, provide permanent jobs, produce biodiesel, wood (from the thinning process), and sequester CO2.

And now, the Colombian military has donated an additional 43,000 hectares of former military land - also in the savannah - to be reforested and on which to create Gaviotas II. The contributions of the ten of us who went on this trip will fund reforestation ($1,000 pays to reforest 1 hectare – 2.4 acres). We were able to visit the new site and hear about the amazing plans (thanks to ZERI and Gunter Pauli, its founder who was with us on the trip) for establishing an integrated biological systems approach there that will produce food (pigs, fish, mushrooms) for 10,000 residents (and export) and where the waste from one process is the food for the next.

We were accompanied by extraordinary people of great intellect, true passion, precious talents, who were also tender and thoughtful and warm. For me, it was truly experiencing what “God’s Kingdom on earth” and the “Garden of Eden” are all about.

While my way is not yet clear in terms of how to integrate this experience into the rest of my life and work, we are already working on one concrete step: importing the water (by ship) to the US and selling via grass roots organizations, without middlemen. All profits will go back to Gaviotas. I can’t wait to show you the water bottles – they are designed to lock together like Legos, and indeed, the empty bottles have already become the “Legos” of the poor.

Once we get the logistics worked out, we will be letting you know how you might become involved. And I will be working on further reports as time allows.

Love to you all, Hollister
June, 2005

Fellow Philadelphia sustainability activist, Terrie Lewine, Paolo Lugari, founder of Gaviotas, and Hollister Knowlton in Colombia, this June. Hollister is working to bring Paolo to the Quaker based Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica for a Friends gathering on sustainable economics in April 2006. Her trip was paid for, in part, by the Friends Testimonies and Economics budget, a joint project of PYM's Earthcare Working Group and Quaker Earthcare Witness to which she is PYM's representative.

View photos from the trip.

(webmanager note: Here are some relevant URL's. Please visit to find out more about this incredible community.)

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC42/Colombia.htm

http://www.friendsofgaviotas.org/about.htm

http://www.earthfuture.com/seconomy/sei22.asp

For more information read the book "Gaviotas: A Village to Re-invent the World", by Alan Weisman. It's out of print but available through used book sources like www.half.com

Check the web site of ZERI (zero emissions research institute) www.zeri.com to find out more about the work of Gunter Pauli, who also was on the trip and is the fire behind Gaviotas II.

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From the open truck in which we travelled, approaching the Gaviotas community building, where Gaviotans gather for meals.

At a small Gaviotas hydro power “plant.”  Engineers told Paolo it was impossible to generate electricity with a 1 foot drop, but he proved them wrong.

Trees are tapped by hand, then a plastic bag is stapled below the cut.  A second cut is made after 7 days, and another after 14 days, then the bag is collected.

Inside the resin processing plant at Gaviotas.  Tapping the Carribean pines (close to 10 million have been planted since 1982) produces a sap that, when distilled, becomes three products:  colofornia (shipped worldwide for use in pigments and paints), turpentine, and biodiesel.  The plant is run partly on steam from wood culled from the forest, and partly on biodiesel.

The regenerated rainforest has resulted in a 10% increase in rain, providing a source of pure drinking water that is now being bottled in the former Gaviotas hospital.

Bottles being labled – much work at Gaviotas is done by hand.

Group shot of all who traveled to Gaviotas and Marandua (air force base) via military plane.

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