I Can't believe I'm the first to review this!

This book was a transformational book for me. Twenty or thirty years ago, during the "energy crisis," a group of people went into the outback of Columbia and founded a modern day shangri-la community. They created the technologies they needed to run their community successfully off of the grid. They have reclaimed badlands, turning them into restored natural forestlands. They serendipitously discovered a natural product to generate money to support their local economy. And they were incredibly ingenious in creating the power needed for their community. Solar power and simple things like a water pump powered by a play ground teeter-totter, for example, were developed.

Unfortunately, after a decade or two of development, members of Gaviotas left Columbia, thinking that the world would be beating a path to their door, wanting to learn what they had discovered, only to find that the '70's energy crisis had been not much more than a fad, and no one was particularly interested in their message.

Another decade or more later, in the 21st Century, thinking people will agree that the time is past to keep our heads under the sand. We need the inspiration for the energy saving technologies that are available, and where we can all take it in our own local communities. We need more or this kind of can do-creativity.

I not only heartily recommend this book, I plead with everyone on the planet to PLEASE, read this book!