NextGEN is the emerging youth network of GEN, and is working to bring the voices of youth and young adults into the ecovillage movement. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a growing network of sustainable communities and initiatives that bridges different cultures, countries, and continents. GEN serves as umbrella organization for ecovillages, transition town initiatives, intentional communities, and ecologically-minded individuals worldwide.
We had a European meeting of NextGEN on the weekend of October 5th to 7th, 2012 (Friday to Sunday) hosted by ZEGG Community in Bad Belzig, Germany, near Berlin. About 50 mostly young people got to know each other, shared project ideas, discussed their dreams for the organization, and, also very importantly, had a lot of fun thanks to clown Nicoletta! Our group was made up of both young people and adults who envision a world where wisdom is shared between generations!
The outcome of the weekend are six working groups – Structure, External Communication, Heart & Soul, Money, Education, Bicycle Tour, NextGEN-Conference – in which we are working now to shape and strengthen the idea of NextGEN as a network that connects both people living in ecovillages and people interested in learning how to live in community.