Many people say they want to live their life the most adequate way possible. Cloughjordan, located in the western part of Ireland strives to actually achieve this goal. In this town there is an ecovillage, that works together towards living a more sustainable lifestyle. Everyone that lives there has a different role towards helping the community live a more sustainable lifestyle, this task simply could not be done only by one person. For example, there are a variety of business people to help the community’s economy. Pa, the owner of Django helps draw people into the ecovillage and gives them a place to stay at his hostel. One of the the natives of the ecovillage told a group of us about a “one of a kind bakery.” At the top of a large hill, the ecovillage meets the town Cloughjordan. There is a famous shop that makes fresh bread. One of the men that works there uses a tactic from hundreds of years ago to cook his bread. He is the only person in Ireland to continue to make bread this way. This is another popular business in the area that brings in people and money.
As the days went by in the ecovillage we were introduced to a variety of people that lived in the village. This was not simply because we were formally introduced, but because everyone in the village had something positive and informative to say about one of their neighbors. A friendly women who gave us a tour around the village told us we were going to meet Peadar one of the days we were in the village. Peadar is in the charge of the more political part of village. He speaks to groups of students and visitors about how to decrease their carbon footprint when they go back to America or their home country. He explains to visitors that a carbon footprint is how many “planets” you take up by your use of food, carbon emissions, energy, water, and electricity. His passion towards this change is clear. At many points in his discussion Peadar asked us “How can you do this in America?” While he tries to enforce his beliefs to different groups of people his friend and coworker comes with him to help inform people about the ecovillage and to support Peadar and his work. Nothing in the ecovillage is accomplished by a single person, everything is a group effort. Visiting Cloughjordan I would not have learned as much as I did about everyone’s role in their community if it wasn’t for everyone’s openness and positivity about one another and where they lived.