De Kleine Aarde-DKA (The Small Earth) based in Boxtel, the Netherlands and The Small Earth Nepal (SEN) had a goodwill meeting last week at Boxtel, the Netherlands. Mr. Jeeban Panthi from SEN and Mr. Jan Juffermans from DKA (retired officially in 2010) met for sharing the activities they have been organizing and for discussing future planning. Mr. Juffermans organized a sustainable bicycle tour in Boxtel, visiting the Circle center (everything second hand), biological supermarket and the sustainability center inside the premises of DKA. There are lots of sustainability examples inside the center: solar systems, wind mills, organic gardens, energy efficient and sustainable buildings and more.
The local government body is restructuring the DKA as the previous objective of exhibiting forms of sustainable building, food production and energy have almost been implemented in the Netherlands, a great success for DKA. Therefore, currently its operational phase has been stopped, all will resume with a new vision and energy from this January.
SEN was established with the inspiration of DKA for promoting sustainable lifestyles in Nepal and beyond. The network of similar initiatives has grown to more than half a dozen in four continents as in the Netherlands, Nepal, Kenya, Hungary, Australia and few more countries in Europe. SEN and DKA together will spend some efforts to strengthen the network of similar institutions that have already been established.
