Gaviotas

In 1971, a group of Colombian visionaries and technicians, reasoning that surging populations must someday learn to inhabit even the world's harshest regions, decided to prove they could thrive in one of the most brutal environments on earth: their country's barren, rain-leached eastern savannas. For nearly three decades the scientists, artisans, rural peasants, ex-urban street kids, and Guahibo Indians living in the village called Gaviotas have elevated phrases like sustainable development and appropriate technology from cliche to reality. Sixteen hours from the nearest major city, they…