From B, for Cooperatif Cosmique: Jan. 1st 2012 the Aura note began to stir in Auroville, a new, small step, highly symbolic; there are three ways of financial exchange in Auroville: account numbers, guest cards, cash and Auras. All four are debit capital economics, ultimately regulated by a few people who manage the International Monetary Fund. Contact B: 994 353 2829. On water: That seawater desalination is the only solution is an terror: the recommendation is multi-sourcing.Clarity on the water situation is the intention.And multi-sourcing. Read more

Everyone has time to donate their lives to a worthy cause. Thinking about the priority of the physical human life, just after the air there's water. Thinking only about who needs water to grow up the edible plants we use to eat everyday, it's easy to connect all together in this problem: Auroville water is always less clean and more difficult to store, even in the aquifer. So do we care about it? Nathalie (in the english interview), is one who does care, and for the first time spoke at a meeting: the one of Water Read more

Joss Brooks, one of the first Aurovillians, told us a heartening story of 'greening Auroville' and the lessons learnt along the way. What was is it that made people come from all over the world to convert almost 60 acres of arid land outside Chennai into a thriving green space for plants, birds, animals as well as the local people? And how did they do it? Joss speaks of grit and determination, of learning from the locals, and of the satisfaction that comes by loving the miraculous world that's a gift to humanity. Read more

Taking into account the regional context, the current choice that has supported the development of Auroville up till now (that is to tap 100% of the water from the aquifers), can no longer guarantee the water-security nor expected future developments. The preliminary study shows that Auroville must diversify the sources of water supply. Among the possible resources, rain water and its management in the form of surface water seems to be one of the most promising. Click here to download the pdf of the presentation. Read more

The community "Luminosity" has started with the wish to create "A temple for living" for its inhabitants. It consists of twelve small apartments, eight offices and big communal areas. David, one of the architects, is explaining the different aspects of the building like the new systems for waste water treatment and rain water harvest. The later will be able to provide enough water for all inhabitants of the building for the whole year. Please open the attached PDF-file in order to follow a series of 17 photos which are referred to in the talk Read more

As a kick-off for the presentation of the Auroville Sustainable Agriculture Plan (ASAP), within the next few months, Auroville Radio presents a series of eleven interviews concerning the foods we eat in Auroville. What were the ideas in the old days of Auroville regarding agriculture and sustainable foods? Which agricultural developments did Auroville been through since the first Aurovillians started to change the dusty plains into the forest it is today? How is the present situation in Auroville's greenbelt and what is it capable of? And, perhaps most important, what are the challenges for the future?... Read more

What is sustainability and what are communities. Those are the two main concepts a group of American students are going to study in Auroville in the next three months. Ethan Hursch Tauber, their mentor, is going to tell us more about this program of studies run by the NGO Living Routes in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts. Is Auroville a sustainable, eco-community? Let's find out what these terms really mean and how communities around the world are working towards these important values.

Pongal is one of the longest festivals of Tamils. It is celebrated from the14th to the 17th of January and it honors a new harvest season. It is considered as a good omen and it is an occasion to rejoice with friends, family and neighbors. In Hindu Culture, the Tamil Month of Thai brings good fortune to everyone, or as the Tamils say: "Thai piranthaal Vazhi Pirakkum" which means "the beginning of Thai provides ways for new opportunities". I guess we all need new, enriching and fertile opportunities, so happy Pongal to each of you. Read more

Shama Dalvi, an Aurovilian architect, gave a presentation during the Green Practices Workshop about a rain water harvesting project at Yelagiri. She spoke briefly on different types of rainwater harvesting systems and the system chosen for the project at Amaidhi homes. Shama explained two types of harvesting techniques, the active and passive, and gave various reasons for choosing the latter. Giving more details about the entire structure of the vacation homes, she described the nitty-gritties of how the rain water was harvested. Erosion was the biggest problem and this was stabilised by using granites and creating artificial waterfalls to reduce the water force. Download presentation

Kireet from the Canyon Erosion Control Project said since the beginning the Aurovilians have tried to control erosion and fresh water flowing into the sea by planting trees, building bunds and canyons, and using other methods. At the Green Practices workshop, he said the canyons came under the purview of the government and they built the check dams. These dams, Kireet pointed out, were in bad shape. The dams were rebuilt with available materials. He described the efforts involved in building these check dams and the benefits of which Auroville starting reaping slowly. Download presentation

At the Green Practices workshop, Gilles Boulicot of Auroville Centre for Scientific Research said water management is a challenging subject and in today’s context, it has to be related to sustainability. The problems of water management are universal. In India, conflict over water is sometimes acute because it’s managed by the states and not a central authority. Gilles explains the coastal zone issues facing India in detail. He points out that the ground water has decreased drastically due to excessive drilling of borewells, which in turn has led to sea water intrusion. This is a matter of big concern as it is very difficult to reverse this phenomenon. Gilles also discusses various other issues and solutions around water management.

Toby a hydrologist and Aurovilian speaks about the state of water management in and around the bio-region of Auroville. His presentation includes a warning about Auroville's potential future of overtaxed aquifers, poorly constructed failing infrastructure, and lowering water tables. Toby also speaks about solutions such as making community water use public information to encourage conservation, investing in alternative water infrastructure including rainwater catchment and desalination plants, and implementing a water distribution system where people would pay the real cost of clean water now to raise the necessary funds to maintain Auroville's water autonomy in the future.

Auroville's three day workshop 'Green Practices' ended on the 28th of August. During this intensive experience 30 speakers from Auroville and almost 50 participants explored the meaning of Green Practice here in the City of Dawn. On the final day after the final session, Alan of Auroville Today moderated a 45 minute interaction between the participants and a panel, composed of Latha of l'Avenir d'Auroville, Durganand Balsavar, architect and urban planner from Chennai, Sumant Kachru of JHM Hotels from Surat and Dave Wallack, IFMR in Chennai. Here's the recording of that session. The full Green Practice workshop recording will be published in the next few days on both www.auroco.org and AurovilleRadio websites.

Today's news features the topic of water, the commodity that we cannot do without, that we thoughtlessly squander, that is at the source of life and at times the destroyer of life. Announcements include a talk on Tibet's waters, the need and desire for those waters for a growing and thirsty China. Also there is mention of the Seminar on Sustainability in the second day of its 3-day duration here in Auroville, being recorded by AurovilleRadio.

Chrais, a Dutch consultant with the FAMC and Farm Group in Auroville, is facilitating a two-day workshop (on 23/24 of April) called “The Whole System in the Room” on all things related to food and agricultural value chains. He estimates that Auroville's dream of agricultural self-sustainance is currently only at 10-20% of its capacity, and is working to increase that by engaging further with local farmers and addressing the serious problem of rapidly sinking ground water levels. In this interview, he talks about his future vision for a sustainable agricultural action plan in Auroville, and the spiritual motivations that drive him.

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“Village Action Group” is taking care of more than 50 villages around Auroville. This organization, which combines Aurovilians and salaried employees, tries to help villagers (especially women and youth) to organize themselves into self-help groups, for personal and economical development (micro-credit) and village development (micro-project). Other activities also supported by Village Action are education, sports, culture, health, ecology… Anbu has worked for 20 years in AVAG; he now directs its activities under a trust of “Village Action Group”.

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This edition of Towards Sustainability investigates the work of the local NGO Water Harvest through Tlaloc, a part of the Water Harvest team. Talaloc takes us through explaining the solidly sustainable  water conserving and harvesting practices of the Tamil for more than 2000 years of history. Do you ever think that you are using more than your share? Listen to the following interview for some words of Wisdom from Talaloc on how to lessen your impact on our planet.

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Herbert from Siddhartha Farm is here since 1993. After he arrived he started to work with agriculture which was hardly developed at that time. Promoting organic cultures he started Siddhartha Farm where he is trying to develop his ideals of a city producing its own needs. If you want to know more about it click here and listen.

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Sustainable water resource management  is one of the basis of a sustainable community. Tency, from CSR - Center Scientific Research – give details about the programs Auroville is developing based on studies of  the bioregion aquifer done with the cooperation of the Tamil Nadul government. Reforestation, rain water infiltration and  the conscious use of the resource are the bases of this program. He also explains the devices the communities are using to recycle the waste waters system and  the big project that CSR is developing to  recycle all the waste watter of the city of Pondycherry.

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An Interview between Vivek and Selvam, a young Auroville farmer, who thinks many things could be changed here. Selvam gives us a glimpse of what life is like in Auroville as a farmer, and brings up some interesting ideas, like for example the one that everyone in Auroville should work on farms for some time, at some point. A view on the Community from a not often heard angle.

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How to deal with water in a sustainable way? Where to get it? Which is he better way to use it in the city and in the farms? What to do with the waste water? How it can be use? This are one of the questions the Auroville faces. The answers and the way Auroville is dealing with it are given here by Tobi, one of the coordinators of L`avenir the Auroville.

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Last Saturday AurovilleRadio started a new live broadcast program: “Dialogue with a Dream." The first topic:  “Water” specifically the proposed lake at Matrimandir. This discussion among the experts included; Toby, Prashant, Rauf, Suhasini, Chandresh, Aryadeep and Charlie was constructive and positive. We would like to share a few excerpts from the discussion with the community, as a precurser to the General Meeting on this subject on Monday. Please note that we have tried to compress one hour of discussion into 15 min. To listen the whole discussion you can pass by the radio and ask for a CD copy.

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AurovilleRadio is starting a new monthly program of live broadcasts called "Dialogue with a Dream," in which a conversation will be held on current  topics of interest in Auroville. The whole idea is to bring a dialogue into a session where people from different points of view can express themselves,  initiating dialogue with one another. The proposed topic for this first session is about water, specifically the proposed lake at Matrimandir. Listen to AurovilleRadio to hear this live broadcast on Saturday, 4th of October,  5:15 pm.

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In today's English news we have an excerpt of an interview of Joy speaking about her last CD 'Lead To The Light'. Also a proposal from Manikandan to come and arrange your garden with a team of helpers. Perumal came out of the coma and is doing better. Two cultural events Saturday 28th Bharata Natya and Sunday a concert in Pitanga.To listen to the news click on the logo play (before you click on stop on the top of the page) or in the picture.

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This event has been broadcast live and recorded. Dipak Suchde, who was in Auroville in April this year for an organic farming workshop, is coming again on the 16th of August and will conduct another workshop for two days. The first workshop generated a lot of interest both from Aurovilians and Ashramites and the organiser of these visits had been asked by many to invite him again.

Programme for Deepak Suchde’s Organic Farming workshop 16th and 17 August:   16th Aug 9.00am – 11.00am at the Conference  Room, Town Hall This workshop is a sequel to the one conducted in April, so anyone who was not there, and wants to join this one is requested not to miss this session. This will be a summary of the important things that were explained last time, namely how to improve the soil quality, and plant health, how to find the feeder roots, the relation of the roots with the canopy and the quantity of the produce, common mistakes etc. Read more

Understanding Soil and Plant Physiology Workshop - 18-19 April 2006 

This workshop is being held as a part of Auroville Earthday 2006, on April 18-19. The workshop will be given by Dipak Suchde, an eminent organic farmer and environmentalist . The Auroville Earth Day 2006 team are arranging a two-day workshop where Dipakbhai will explain his simple and very effective methods. Click here for more details. See also: www.prayogpariwar.net

The Aurofuture team is announcing that Auroville’s Future was invited to attend the function to honour US-AEP’s partners held in Chennai on 14th November 2005 at the USAID (US Agency for International developments), American Embassy. Auroville’s Future collected the ‘Environmental Leadership Award’ presented to Auroville in recognition of ‘Outstanding contributions made through working in partnership to improve the environment and quality of life for the people of Asia’. After a decade of promoting environmentally sustainable development in Asia, United States - Asia Environmental Partnership (US-AEP), a regional program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) formally closed on September 30th, 2005. US-AEP/USAID recognized and acknowledged the program success to organisations such as ours who have supported the program with their time and resources. A new USAID regional environmental that continues and extends US-AEP program began in October 2005. The new program will initially implement targeted activities focused on safe water supply and sanitation, biodiversity conservation, regional environmental governance, strengthening coastal communities affected by tsunami and the regional tsunami early warning system.