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Book Review
Gaviotas
by Ryan Ramon
Map of Colombia from Weisman's Gaviotas
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Alan Weisman, Gaviotas,
A Village to Reinvent the World,
Chelsea Green Publishing, 1995
With our wise and wonderful government (we all wonder what the policy wonks and lobbists
will do next...) gearing up to get involved in Plan Colombia, we at West By Northwest are revisiting
a seminal work about Colombia, Allen Weisman's story of a pioneering intentional
community in the plains of the Eastern Llanos of Colombia, Gaviotas. Gaviotas is
a legend in the "appropriate scale of technology" circles. Author Alan
Weisman traveled as part of a team to Colombia's outback on assignment for National
Public Radio to report on possible solutions to the world's environmental problems.
In the spirit of originality, let me quote the back jacket, for once a good summary
of the book:
"In 1971, a group of Colombian visionaries and technicians decided to prove
they could thrive in one of the most brutal environments imaginable: their country's
barren, rain-leached eastern savannas. Despite the constant threat of Colombia's
political turbulence, this is now the setting for one of the most hopeful environmental
success stories ever told.
For more than three decades the scientists, artisans, ex-street kids, and Guahibo
Indians living" ... here ..." have elevated phrases like sustainable development
and appropriate technology from cliché to reality. Sixteen hours from the
nearest major city, they invented wind turbines that convert mild tropical breezes
into energy, solar collectors that work in the rain, soil-free systems to raise edible
and medicinal crops, and ultra-efficient pumps to tap deep aquifers -- pumps so easy
to operate, they're hooked up to children's see-saws. The United Nations named the
village a model for the developing world. Others call it an utopia. But Gaviotas
founder Paolo Lugari insists, ' Utopia means no place. We call Gaviotas a topia,
because it's real.'
"Yet the heroes of this story are not only the human beings and their technology.
In the shelter of millions of Caribbean pines, which the Gaviotans planted as a renewable
crop, an unexpected marvel has occurred: the regeneration of an ancient native rain
forest.
"Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called Paolo Lugari 'the inventor of the world'....
Paolo Lugari says ' Elsewhere they're tearing down the rain forest. Here we're putting
it back. If we can do this in Colombia, there's hope that people can do it anywhere.'"
Our friend and contributor, Barbara Kelley wrote, " A Dream Come True
- That's what Gaviotas is about. My dream is that this book will serve
as a guide to create 'Gaviotas of the North', possibly on Indian Reservations. A
reparation! It is also about saving tomorrow, future generations, forests, wildlife,
even Earth. Gaviotas 'packages' the dream-that-became-real with verbal genius
in a timeless gift... Please pass it along when you are finished."
Maybe Gavoitans can benefit from the WorldTeach program of training locals to develop eco-tourism! (There
is no web page that I can find.) But often too much visibility can alter the thing
one is trying to preserve. Since most of us wouldn't brave the journey to war-torn
Colombia, maybe the best we can do is be grateful that Gaviotas exists, that Weisman
wrote such a fine book, and take the lessons home for creative solutions and resist
U.S.A. involvement. Let Colombians solve Colombians' problems. Let many Gaviotas's
spring up around this weary, wierd and wonderful world.
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