Designing Ecological Habitats - Gaia Education

198 Designing ecological Habitats
A Green Township Model
If Auroville started as a small cluster of ecovillages, today it is a burgeoning
eco-township, with a stable population of about 3,000 people and nearly
2,000 guests a day. Students from many universities throughout the world
come to study sustainability, while visitors abound to learn about community
in one of the oldest cultures in the world. Today, our primary preoccupation
is building a ‘model green township’, with systems of cluster-houses, parks,
green corridors and agricultural areas that can distinguish Auroville as a
model community in a new kind of world, where preserving and enhancing
the environment become the most critical of concerns. We’ve come a long
way from those early days of planting trees and simply praying that they
would survive.
I am a tree
TREE
I stand tall and majestic. I silently listen to life moving all around me.
Born of a small seed, I push into the earth, take root and begin my long silent
journey into cool moist layers of earth and stones. My roots form a dense web
that steadies the soil and sucks water from pools deep in the Earth.
I am home to many creatures. Squirrels live in holes in my trunk.
Cats stalk prey from my sturdy branches. Spiders hang between my leaves.
Birds nest in my leafy crown. Monkeys swing from shoots that bend like reeds.
Winged travelers rest on me.
My roots are planted firmly in the earth. My trunk and branches stretch
towards the sun’s warm rays. I feel the might force of the sky’s great winds.
I call out to clouds and catch moisture from rain and snow. My leaves dance.
Tiny golden sunbeams make them translucent green.
I give refuge: shade from the hot sun and shelter from the rain.
I am wood for the fire and company beside the rushing stream.
I am gentle witness to life’s many changes. I stand silent and listen to the
Earth’s deep inner pulse.
I am a tree.
from Marti’s book of prayers, This Earth of Ours
Marti has lived in Auroville for more than 20 years. She is a photographer and writer who
has been instrumental in creating sanctuaries throughout the world. She is Chair of the
International Advisory Council (IAC) of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and is a United
Nations ECOSOC representative to Geneva.