Auroville

Auroville

After Chennai and Mahabalipuram, we have been to Auroville. Auroville, a couple of kms away from Pondicherry (Puducherry –most of the cities have two names as before and after independence-), is an alternative living project, open to everybody all around the world, which is founded by The Mother (Mirra Alfassa) and following her principles. Like anybody else, who visits Auroville for the first time, we go to Visitor’s Centre first. Our exploration begins after settling in one of the guesthouses of Auroville. Population of Auroville, which is designed for 50.000 people to live in a self-sustainable way, is about 2500 at present. Because of that, settlements are dispersed and far from each other, also not completely self-sustainable yet. Both visitors and residents are riding motorbikes in Auroville, but we prefer to rent a bicycle. At the center of the settlement, there is Matrimandir, the symbol of Auroville. To enter the building, which is designed like a huge globe, reservation is needed. It is all white inside, as it’s mostly made by using marble, and white socks are given to the visitors. At the center of the globe, meditation room stands. In the middle of the room, there is a small glass globe, in which the vision of the sky is reflected by the optical mirrors at the top of the building. For the landscape of the garden of Matrimandir, a lot of work has done. At the center of the garden, a huge and old banyan tree exists. For us, it’s enough for meditation and simpler. Town Hall, the governing center of Auroville, and Solar Kitchen, where the community...
A Garden in Mediterranean: Flora

A Garden in Mediterranean: Flora

After the cold climate of Konya, warmth of Mediterranean covers us again. We met with our friends again, who we were together frequently before our trip. In Adrasan, Çıralı and Phaselis… Close to full moon… We were together around the fire and under the sky again… Then we followed the road into the forest from Çıralı. We found the wooden house on the skirts of Tahtalı Mountain, in the middle of hundreds kinds of flowers… The first night, we came together around the fire in the garden enlightened by the full moon. On the first night of the unity of different lives, it was like the existence of all these lives just for that night. We were like souls re-united in a world surrounded by the forest. The flames of the fire were waving in each of us, even most of us met each other for the first time and for the first time we were all together. A harmony like that could only exist in the uniqueness of an existence of such a spontaneous gathering. Everything standing and growing on the earth of the garden was sharing its beauty with us. Cats, dogs, the cactus… Even a dragonfly standing on a herb in the garden… We left ourselves in the calmness of the Garden, which was sown by Selahattin and Ayşe. A purifying and healing area is created in the place, where everybody is invited to join the flora. A place, in which you are involved to the living even in a short visit… A convent welcoming everybody… Not only living ecologically, but also creating a new way of...
Eco-volunteer

Eco-volunteer

Our hands are touching the earth and growing seeds with other hands. We think all together and grow together.Our dreams meet and our hopes grow. Our hearts, minds and hands come together; and we realise! We all meet around the dining table of the earth. Then we open our arms and immediately another hand catches one of our hands. While we are on our way to learn from nature and people who acts with nature, we visit communities interested in ecology and ecologic farms to join their work voluntarily. There are a lot of organizations connecting people who want to work voluntarily with communities who need volunteers. Via these organizations, you can contact with farms and communities to support them using your skills according to their needs in return for food and a place to sleep. Also you get a greal deal experiences about sustainable life and organic farming at the end of this process. Working in farms this way is called Woofing. It is named by one of the most popular platforms in this field, WWOOF. WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, was founded by an English woman Sue Coppardand and active in almost every country. You should check the WWOOF web site of the country you want to work. For example, you can get information from wwoofgreece.org for Greece, wwoofindia.org for India. You get the right of access to telephone and e-mail information of farm residents to contact after paying membership fee (15-30 Euros) in each country. Any farming information is not required to join. In Turkey, the project is led under the name of TaTuTa (Eco-Agro Tourism and Voluntary Knowledge and...
How to transform a caravan to an Eco-van

How to transform a caravan to an Eco-van

It is possible to reduce our carbon footprint by using renewable resources both for fuel and for electricity. We used the sun shining above us and waste oil instead of fossil fuels while travelling by caravan to emit less carbon to nature and to prevent the disasters caused by (coal plants, dams, wind turbines) our energy consumption. Waste Oil Conversion It’s possible for all diesel vehicles without electronic sections to install the waste oil conversion system. After filtering, we use the waste oil, previously used for cooking, directly in the engine with a separate fuel tank. In contrast to bio-diesel, the oil doesn’t pass through a chemical process; it is just filtered in accordance with the tolerance of the engine. Re-using waste oil in this way not only prevents opening of new mono-culture farming areas just for producing bio-diesel, but also obviates the problem of water pollution caused by waste oil that couldn’t be eliminated. To use waste oil in the vehicle, a yacht type fuel tank (20-40 liters), a conversion kit, optionally with an electronic heat indicator, including connection cables, a fuel pump and a couple of oil filters in different intensity is needed. We fill the oil tank with waste oil, gathered from restaurants on our way, after getting rid of big particles using a piece of pervious cloth and filtering the oil in accordance with the engine oil filter (ours is 5 microns). The vehicle is started with diesel fuel first, then the second tank is activated when the engine reaches a certain temperature. To clean the oil residues in the motor (just like the stickiness in...