The Institute of Permaculture and Ecovillage of the Cerrado is an experimental educational design center and international community located on the Cerrado savanna of Brazil. IPEC began on a bare, degraded cattle pasture in 1998 to teach and demonstrate permaculture and to apply this information in the construction of a prototype ecological village, or ecovillage. The community exists on 25 hectares (60 acres) of land and is located in Pirenópolis, in the state of Goiás, central Brazil. IPEC is connected to the national university in Brasilia as well as many government ministries, schools and other non-profit organizations.
Ecoversidade is IPEC’s educational arm and is dedicated to education for sustainable living by fostering a profound understanding of the natural world, grounded in direct experience, that leads to sustainable patterns of living. Ecoversidade functions as a model of viable rural settlement, incorporating the realities of appropriate technology, living systems and sustainable community life from a holistic perspective.
IPEC is also the host of the 8th International Permaculture Convergence, taking place May 22–25, 2007 to provide a unique opportunity for permaculturalists to set continental and global agendas, make appropriate connections, and share innovative experiences.
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“Whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)