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  • Greenheart

    Greenheart is a movement promoting environmentally sustainable principles and practices, personal evolution and social transformation.
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  • Casita Verde

    Situated in a beautiful valley near the village of San Jose in Ibiza, La Casita Verde is a model ecological centre that is operated by volunteers and open to the public on Sundays.
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  • Greenheart Music

    GreenHeartMusic is a music platform based in Ibiza, Spain. Presenting artists of different influences who express their connections to nature through their music.
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  • Guía Verde a Ibiza y Formentera

    A bi-lingual directory to Ibiza and Formentera of local groups, businesses and services that offer or use environmentally friendly practices.
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  • QL Studio › Websites Made Easy

    Quinta Linda is a low-impact living space and website design studio based in Portugal.
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  • Greenheart Resonancia

    An educational and fun programme of practical, stimulating experiences discovering sustainable and respectful habits in order to face the realities of climate change.
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  • Green Ibiza Tours

    Our Green Ibiza Tours provide responsible tourism holidays in Ibiza offering a full programme of eco activities and nature happenings.
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  • Greenheart Traveler

    With the aim of promoting the Greenheart message around the world, travelling members of the rapidly growing Greenheart family will write blogs and add photos of their travels.
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  • Ibiza Gold

    The Greenheart Carob project plans to rejuvenate an important traditional economic activity, as well as motivating many local land owners.
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  • Fundación por el Futuro
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  • Tienda Greenheart

    At the Greenheart Shop you can find out about responsible consumption and ecological happenings in Ibiza. Featuring our very own Greenheart clothing range made from ecological fabrics and with fair trade considerations.

Ibiza Transition Island

Objective

We believe that the famous island of Ibiza, with its multinational population (around 100 resident nationalities, plus more than 2 million tourist visitors each year), is an ideal location to make a showcase of sustainable practices which can then be transmitted to virtually everyone in the world, due to the high level of media attention the island receives.

We would like to see Ibiza to become a good example of environmental awareness, a real transition island in view of the twin challenges of impending peak oil and the accelerating effects of climate change. We wish to promote the island as a tourist destination where the population and visitors are working in harmony with the local authorities, sharing a joint responsibility to create a sustainable future for all.

Project Background

Following the initiative of the 'transition town' movement which started some years ago in the UK (www.transitiontowns.org) and which is becoming ever more popular, we believe that the island of Ibiza, with its multinational population (around 100 resident nationalities, plus more than 2 million tourist visitors each year), is an ideal location to make a showcase of sustainable practices which can also be seen by virtually everyone in the world.

To sum up the challenges we face there are two main issues: the scarcity of fossil fuels and the threat of climate change.

Strategy

So far, the world famous reputation of Ibiza has been expressed through its popular music and fashion, but most of all through its excess of night life activities which includes being home to the biggest discotheque in the world. However, more recently, many of the islanders and an increasing number of local politicians are waking up to the idea of a new possibility focused on the alternative tourism offer from this little Mediterranean paradise.
During the summer months of 2010, our intention is to join all interested residents & visitors, in the creation of a collective vision, or transition movement which benefits us all. By inviting as many local neighbourhood associations, ecological groups, business groups and private individuals to participate, we intend to present a special 'Manifesto' to all local political parties, plus the whole public, via newspapers, magazines, radio and Tv programmes by the beginning of September. The idea is to create a new concept in resource management, finding a balance between what needs to be done internationally and what can be done locally. We wish to inspire the whole population, including the local administration, working in harmony to build an environmentally sustainable future for the island of Ibiza.

Vision with action can change the world!

The basic sections to be covered in the 'Manifesto' are as follows:

• Natural Health, Education
• Economy – Agriculture / Tourism / Music / Artesan Industry / Construction
• Transport, Energy, Water, Waste management, Land use
• Social Services, Immigration, Government

Given the likely disruptions ahead resulting from Peak Oil and Climate Change, a resilient community - a community that is self-reliant for the greatest possible number of its needs - will be infinitely better prepared than existing communities with their total dependence on heavily globalised systems for food, energy, transportation, health and housing.
If we plan and act early enough, and use our creativity and cooperation within our local communities, then we can build a future that could be far more fulfilling and enriching, more connected and more gentle on the Earth than the lifestyles we have today.
We collectively demonstrated huge levels of ingenuity and spirit as we climbed up the energy curve. There's no reason that we can't use those same qualities to design our way down the other side. And in fact, if we start early and work with sufficient creativity and inclusivity, we may find that a lower energy life is a qualitative improvement over the current disconnected existence that many of us lead.

The three levels of action – global (eg Kyoto and oil depletion protocol), national (eg tradable energy quotas) and local (eg transition initiatives) – hold much promise to see humankind through the great energy transition of the 21st century. With cooperation, coordination and a following wind, we have the potential to create a more fulfilling, more equitable and more sustainable world. The challenge is to find a way to proactively navigate the down-slope of Peak Oil while taking actions to address Climate Change.
As a species, we’ll be transitioning to a lower energy future whether we want to or not. Far better to ride that wave rather than getting engulfed by it!

Energy descent action plan
Part of the process of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan is tapping into the collective genius of the community. Crucial for this is to set up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the process. Each of these groups will develop their own ways of working and their own activities, but will all fall under the umbrella of the project as a whole.

Ideally, working groups are needed for all aspects of life that are required by your community to sustain itself and thrive. Examples of these are: food, waste, energy, education, youth, economics, transport, water, local government.
Each of these working groups is looking at their area and trying to determine the best ways of building community resilience and reducing the carbon footprint. Their solutions will form the backbone of the Energy Descent Action Plan.

While it is critical that Transition Initiatives remain non-political, and do not become Council-led, they need to be Council-supported and Council-informed. It is important to remember that Local Governance is there to support the community, and furthermore, it consists of people who live and work in our communities. It's time we moved beyond the boundaries of 'them and us' and realised that we all need to work together if we are going to effectively address the challenges ahead of us." Let the ideas arise from the community and remain under community control. The job of the council is to facilitate, to listen, possibly to provide advice, contacts or funds and, most important, to ensure that bureaucracy does not get in the way of grassroots initiatives.

Businesses that have a long term perspective and are aware of the constraints fossil fuel depletion will have on the globalised economy need to be looking in general at oil dependency throughout their organisation and at four specific areas: supply chain, waste, energy usage and markets.

Being an international population with a global influence, we should ask ourselves how we can prepare together for a sustainable future and truly make a difference. This involves working with all sectors of our community in transition and involve them in the feat of discovering how to live in harmony with our planet.