User:Isabella salvo/sandbox1

Sólheimar Ecovillage is a small, intentional community of about 100 people, who live and work together. They are associated with the Global Eco-Village network. Sólheimar was the first community of it's kind in Iceland, bringing with it the ideas of Rudolf Steiner. Practice sustainability in daily lives, grow their own food, and make their own goods. A very happy, loving place.

Community
In April 1997, "The Global Eco-Village Network" proclaimed Solheimar the first sustainable hamlet of the country. In Solheimar the following businesses and undertakings are to be found: The shop Vala, an arts centre, The Tree Nursery Olur, The Horticultural Centre Sunna, a small candle factory, a musical instrument factory, a toy factory, a weaving factory, a handicraft centre, the guesthouse Brekkukot, a swimming pool, a sport theatre and the Solheimar homes for the handicapped and young. One of the goals the Sólheimar community strives to achieve is to create a self-sustained society, relying on organic production and harmony between humans and nature. In 2002 a completely self sustained house was built at Sólheimar, Sesseljuhús, which houses an educational environmental center, with the house itself being the biggest part - a blueprint of sorts for buildings that are built without having a negative impact on the environment.

History
Solheimar was founded in 1930, is the first community of its kind in the world where so-called able and disabled people live and work together. Inspired by the theories of Rudolf Steiner, Solheimar has focused on cultivating the individual and the environmental, and is the first community in Scandinavia to practice organic cultivation. Solheimár was founded by an extraordinary woman: Sesselja Sigmundsdottir. In 1930, she set up a self-sustainable community. What started out as an isolated and primitive settlement in 1930 with around ten small children has now become a modern, self-supporting eco-village with organic farming, thermal and solar energy and with a thriving cultural life.