Eco Communities must be embraced if we are to survive on this planet - this is my experience of living in one of Bali's most advanced

in #photography8 years ago (edited)

The most advanced Eco Community I have ever known, situated in the heart of paradise.

I have been living for the last 9 months in a community on the edge of a jungle in central Bali. But this is no ordinary community. It is an eco community, designed around sustainability. Never before have I experienced a place where every possible measure has been taken to intelligenly work in harmony with nature to minimise the impact on our planet and maximise our connection to nature.

The name of this place is Taman Petanu Eco Neighbourhood.

Above you can see our eco pool at night. An infinity pool which overlooks a stunning valley and the Petanu river which winds its way into the distance, as far as the eye can see. There are fish and frogs living in our eco pool because there are no chemicals in the water which is constantly aerated by fountains & a tier pool system. The fish nibble at my feet when I stay still for long enough and sometimes when the nights are hot, I will float on my back, looking up at the stars listening to the concophony of insect noise from the jungle valley beneath me.

Above you can see the edge of my home and our little meditation area beneath. And the wonderful valley of life that fills me with such energy every moment I am there.

My home is a beautiful open plan wooden construction with a roof designed specifically to maximise rainfall catchment, storing it in a pool sized tank under the house. The water goes through a filter before coming out of our taps. This is the only place I have found in Asia where you can drink your tap-water. Not only that, the used water goes from our home to a 'grey water' system where it is cleaned and used again, this time for the surrounding plants, of which there are many.

We are litterally surrounded by our food. And it is 100% organic. Fruit trees & vegetables of all varieties can be found in the grounds of Taman Petanu, with herb gardens too and moringa trees growing everywhere. Moringa just happens to be one of the most nutritious plants in nature. Put a little of this in your smoothie every day and your immune system will be strengthened greatly. I have not been sick since arriving. Not even a cold.

Every morning I rise before the sun in order that I can watch the changing colours over the valley. The word peaceful doesn't even come close to describing what I experience. When the sun rises I stand in the same spot every day and sungaze for periods of up to 44mins. I will do a seperate post on the benefits of sungazing. Please don't try this unless you have done your reseach first.

I have been instinctively drawn to helping this community with my skills and above you can see a little flyer I recently put together advertising one of the rooms available for rent here. Feel free to contact me if you fancy a Bali holiday in the most awesome eco community you will ever find. It would be so much more than a holiday. Because education comes with it. The most important education of all: how we can survive on this planet forever, in harmony with nature.

My baby son Esteban may not remember his time here when he grows up, but there is no question that he has already been influenced by it. He is so connected to nature here and has witnessed and come to love a plethora of wildlife.

I was born in Hammersmith, London. And spent most of my life there. Esteban will live a very different kind of childhood to my own and his connection to Mother Earth will be strong all his life.

Already he prefers fruit above all other food and can identify most of it with various cute baby words. He is a vegan like his mother and father. And he is in perfect health. I will do another post on the benefits of veganism soon. There is no question that my body and mind have changed substantially since turning vegan three years ago and have since then done a bunch of reseach on this subject. Bottom line: eat as much raw fruit & veg as you can and make sure it's organic. If you do this, you are very unlikely to ever get sick again.

To end this post I would like to give you a short film I recently shot, looking out across our valley at night, in which I manage to catch my first lightning storm.

Okay my Steemit friends, that's it for now. I am going to do a follow-up post on Taman Petanu because there are so many other eco features I would like to share with you.

Hope you enjoyed and keep watching for more...

THANK YOU STEEMIT!

And before I go, I just want to say a huge thank you to Steemit for completely empowering my life in a way that I couldn't possibly have predicted. I posted on Youtube for years and earned almost nothing. Here I have earned over $300 in just a few months and I know now that I will be posting here forever, not just for the money, but for the opportunity to share what I have learned with intelligent, open-minded folks like yourselves. So, thank you to one and all for all your comments and upvotes. I am eternally grateful :)

To learn more about Taman Petanu or better still to book yourself that much needed educational holiday, check the link below.
http://www.tamanpetanu.com

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Wow Sam, your #steemit #photography is out of this World! Well, maybe it is IN this World. Thanks for the reminder that we live upon such a beautiful plain within Nature's Heavenly Realm. ;)

Upvoted & SHared!!