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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Venezia: We have arrived!!!

We have finally arrived to Venezia… Last Sunday, after around 3500 km(!) by bike through Catalunya, Southern France and Northern Italy and having visited more than 40 diferent projects and campaigns, we arrived in Venezia and joined other 300 people on an incredible Critical Mass into Venezia against the TAV and the Big Cruises in Venezia’s laguna. Inside Venezia city we ended up carrying our full-loaded bikes and trailers over 5 bridges (with stairs) and joining the small-boats action to delay the exit of 3 big cruises from Venezia.We topped of this incredible day with a huge concert and feast at…

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Decrescendo in Riviera

Sorry, this entry is only available in Italiano. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. www.opzionezero.org www.mira2030.it

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Cycling on…

After 3 weeks of pedalling we left Ecotopia Biketour in Torino. We’re not quite sure why – the tour goes on for a few more weeks so we must have got our dates wrong! We arrived back to Manchester very cold and confused, but we were picked up straight away by the strength of our cycling community here. The Critical Mass the day after we got back was a good cure for any withdrawal symptoms from group cycling, with over 100 people on the road despite the rain (plus two soundsystems – one on a home made trailer and one…

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Asti To Bologna

From Asti we had an easy but dull ride on the flat. The roads were poorly maintained and full of long crack, sometimes wider than my tires. In the distance we could see the mountain and that were we were heading. Inevitably our final destination required us to scale a massive hill. For ages we climbed and climbed, it seemed to never end. I stopped to eat figs off a tree overhanging the road, and stopped again to admire the view. Eventually we were there, the Valli Unite organic argicultural co-operative. We stayed for the entire weekend as volunters for…

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