Party: Ecotopia Biketour

Summer 2012: two and half month on the road, 120 people joined to peddle more than 3000 kilometer between Barcelona and Venezia and visited more than 40 different projects and campaigns related to Degrowth. Want to find out about what happened on the Biketour this summer? Want to meet with fellow bike-crazy people? Want to be reunited with people that you shared part of the journey of over 3000km? Want to find out about amazing degrowth projects on our trail from Barcelona to Venice? Want to join an evening of full-hearted celebrations? Come to the RAI in Barcelona next Friday…

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Can Piella: SOLIDARITY NEEDED!

Can Piella, a project the Ecotopia Biketour visited in july, is facing an eviction threat, we received this call out recently and would love to see you all supporting this great project that show an alternative path towards a more sustainable, autonomous and degrowth way to live in the land. May we be able to drink Can Piella beer for many more years!

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Bologna to Venice

We had been intending to reach Bologna on Thursday for the special market that takes place at the squat we’d be staying at but we had changed our plans and arrived on Friday instead. As luck would have it, there was another of these special martkets taking place elsewhere in Bologna and we mananged to get a couple of people to come over to tell us all about it. Basically these markets bring together consumers and local non certified but nether-the-less organic small farmers. They mostly make use of squatted spaces for the markets and are part of a growing…

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Beyond our Backyards international meeting

While the Ecotopia Biketour and the 3rd International Conference on Degrowth are over, the chance to put degrowth into practice continues at the next International meeting of BoB – Beyond our Backyards. BoB is an open network aimed at developing structures and processes for exchanging experiences, learning and advancing knowledge through action research. The second meeting of this network will be held in Can Decreix, where the biketour stayed for some days in July, from 29th September to 4th October 2012 Volunteers are also needed to make it happen and are welcome anytime from now. Enjoy a nice place to…

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Another week full of warm hospitality while cycling in italy…

monday 3 september, we planned to leave early and got up on time, but the rain (that had been falling already for 3 days) was strong. We decided to delay our departure and got invited to join the lunch with the Valli Unite family :D. After lunch, with a grey, but dry, sky, everyone on the farm warmly waved us goodbye and we had a fresh afternoon cycling to Castel San Giovanni where we camped on a field with a small shed that ended up being our kitchen and dinner room when the rain started again. tuesday 4 september, after…

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Ecotopia Biketour saved the bycicles

Mass grave found in Barcelona with 234.576 corpses “Ecotopia biketour saved the bycicles” Venezia 17 Septembre 2012 Remains were found in the Collserola mountains surrounding Barcelona but do not belong to victims of the Spanish Civil War. Radiocarbon dating by Palaeontologists at the Sorbonne led to the surprising conclusion they are much older. In fact, they hark back 250.000 years B. P., a time conventionally accepted as marking Homo Sapiens’ appearance on earth. Even more surprising is the fact these remains are not human but, wait for it… bicycles. Between the Pliocene and Pleistocene there was a populous civilisation of…

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Looking Back: From Catalunya to France

I had an amazing time on the bike tour, cycling and living with so many lovely people in this community on wheels was a great experience, and the projects I saw have inspired me. Visiting permaculture projects in Catalunya and France, our hosts gave us tours and talks about their farming techniques, as well as getting a chance to try the organic produce. These imags show the beautiful organic vineyard at Can Torres, the impressive permaculture project in Sigean, where food is grown for local families, and the Cravirola Le Maquis in Minerve, where they make delicious bread in their…

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