Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

192 Designing ecological Habitats
Through the practice
of a natural form
of Deep Ecology,
the Karen hilltribes
retain vast stores of
knowledge concerning
quality of life.
hearth is where the ancestor spirit lives. Above the hearth is a set
of shelves for storing grains and seeds. The smoke from the fire
keeps the insects away. In this way, they can keep the grains till next
year’s planting season. They don’t put the fire at the very center of
the room but nearer to a wall because they like to sleep close to the
wall since it’s warmer that way. They leave the bigger space open
for cooking, some kitchen utensils, and to welcome guests. Above
the sleeping place is where they worship the Spirit of the House,
the ancestors, and the Spirits of Nature in the new-year, mid-year
and harvest-time celebrations. For these celebrations, people come
to witness and support each family’s ceremony in their house. The
whole village comes together in this way; everyone’s house is open.
With less individual ownership, the design is for more sharing. More
sharing brings greater intimacy. If you come to visit, you will get to
share with them in their single-room houses also.
Among ecovillage people, we often hear talk about respecting
Nature. Respect seems to be a prelude for change. In this regard, it
is interesting to contemplate further – what exactly do we mean by
RESPECT? Soblan is an eminent example that teaches us a kind of
respect that is mindful about the relationships and interconnections
between human beings and Nature. With this respect, the people of
Soblan over the ages have designed a form of gracious simple living that
brings intimacy and sacredness into their lives.
However, though the people of Soblan live far away in the forest, it’s still
not far enough to be unaffected by globalization and so-called ‘development’
by the government in the name of modernization. The Karen people in
general have resisted this development since they regard it to be threatening
to their way of life. For example, when the government registered their forest
as a National Park, it resulted in limitations on the movement of the hilltribes,
who in their shifting cultivation rely on freedom of movement attuned with
the cycles of Nature. The elders of the villages are well aware that if their
way of life is moved off of the land, they will lose everything – culture,
wisdom, dignity, grace – because ‘the soul of the Karen is in the field’.
As a result of issues such as this, over the last 20 years the people of
Soblan have been fighting for their right to maintain their culture and
lifestyle centered upon a deep respect for Nature. As a compromise, they
have redesigned certain aspects of their village to conform to the pressures
to modernize. They have built stronger houses made of modern materials
and a community school. In this school, along with the government’s
curriculum, they try to educate their children about the Karen lifeways and
raise awareness about the effects of consumerism from the outside world.
With the help of NGOs, the school is becoming a center for opening the
village as a Life University for Sustainability for outside learners.
Traditional villages such as Soblan are valuable reservoirs of genuine
sustainable culture. They have a lot to teach us about sustainable community
design – which here means designing with a deep respect for Nature.