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Participants of Visit Utopia visiting permacultural, sustainable project Sunny hills of Istria ©Jakob Šircelj

A group of seven different people with the same vision have decided to start a cooperative, an ecovillage project that aims for the sustainable revitalization of the rural area of Slovene Istria. They do not only speak and discuss about sustainability and regenerative lifestyles, but rather live and experience these words that are often only used in strategies and policies, but never turned into practice. The idea behind the project is to follow luxurious simplicity, which is a concept of a simple lifestyle that doesn’t restrict us from the basic comfort of modern times. The idea is to share living spaces (there are no private owners of the house or land, but the owner is a cooperative), tools, and cars, try to buy only necessary stuff, repair, upcycle and recycle whenever possible, buy bulk, produce own organic food and cook together. Members of the ecovillage are trying to be conscious of how their actions affect the environment, other humans and other living beings. Living together in luxurious simplicity opens the space for each individual to flourish. The guiding principle of Sunny Hill is cohabiting and collaborating in the living social laboratory. The social laboratory is a space of cooperation, innovation, and a supportive environment for research, education, and active practice of sustainable development. Members are exploring and combining modern and traditional solutions for social and environmental challenges.

Sources and links:
www.cipra.org/sl/novice/soncni-gric-trajnostna-kultura-sobivanja-2 (sl), https://soncnigrici-istra.eu/ (en), https://ecovillage.org/ecovillage/sunny-hill/ (en), www.viaggiareconlentezza.com/2018/05/18/comunita-intenzionale-sunny-hill/ (it)