The aim - based on the Kolding Manifesto's technology concept and general vision, and on the need for concrete images (visions) of a possible future reality - is to formulate concrete routes of action that will enable an already prolific mass of sustainable technologies and production forms to become fused into units. Units large enough to also bring about a development of our lives - social and cultural as well - which are really the backdrop against which we form every imagining of a possible future, whenever we are trying to form real pictures of it - that is, in technological and organisational terms.
The idea of larger-scale experiments on a societal basis is by no means unfamiliar. The island of Samsø has been designated an alternative energy island, and in South Jutland there are serious talks on a regionwide conversion to eco-farming. A government target is to introduce eco-foodstuffs in public institutions, nursing homes, and kindergartens; and even the European Economic Community (EEC) are pointing out the need for making production, environment, culture and social life come together, out there in the rural land. And for the time being, that's what we are talking about - the rural land. As conveyor belt industrialism is withering away, and with the biggest national surplus ever, it's about time that we start conducting hands-on experiments on how we wish to live - not individually (where opportunities are endless), but in social terms.

Ecological experimental freezones were the subject of debate at  1999 Ecological congregation. At Båring Højskole a group of 120 arranged to meet on Oct. 8-10. The main purpose was to solve the problem, that we need to find some areas where many of the ongoing ecological initiatives in Denmark can be brought to work in a more comprehensive context.

With rain and groundwater, earth and air - and with the assumption that basically they are all best off if left as nature organised them. Basically, since the days are long gone when they were untouched, at least by man. There's just too many of us. Nature no longer has the last word (apart from the one and final one), and never will again; but nature continues to have the first word. This is our point of departure, while modelling away to bend things to our wishes. Therefore, the tiniest Experimental Eco-Zone will contain a drainage area. That is, an area from which all precipitation ends up in the same stream. A natural region, not divided by streams (as in the old-time parishes), but by watersheds. You see, the experiment is meant to demonstrate a few things about groundwater and lakes, i.e. the impacts of converting to eco-farming, for groundwater, streams, lakes, and the sea.

"Ecological", "Experimental", and "Zone"

Above all, an Eco-Experimental Zone is an area within which priorities are made and accepted, more so than outside, and where matters are considered within their material context. Also in terms of economy.
For example, outside the zone (where presumably liberal market economy reigns) people (i.e. taxpayers) will pay agriculture for not polluting; and here a non-polluting eco-product will cost more than a chemically based one which, already when manufactured, will involve society in expense for cleansing and disposal.
In an experimental zone (with a wildly ambitious target), we could aim for market economy to take itself seriously, meaning the polluter will pick up the bill - provided there is any pollution at all. One spin-off would be for organic foodstuffs to become cheaper than conventional ones - as a consequence of a comprehensive economic understanding and the realised market.

Special Coverage

Curinde: Curaçao 
An overview of the Curaçao free zone & industrial zone located in the Caribbean. 

 

Curinde N.V. Curinde N.V. is an abbreviation of 'Curaçao Industrial & International Trade Development Co. N.V.'. Curinde is the managing company of the Harbor Free Zone, the Airport Economic Zone and the Industrial Zone. The company provides professional support to parties interested in establishing in one of the parks. Curinde's specialists can assist with fast and accurate advice regarding the procedures for incorporating and starting a business in Curaçao. They can also refer you to legal, financial and tax advisors, as well as engineers and other technical specialists. Curinde's philosophy is to provide the highest quality facilities to companies in the Harbor Free Zone, the Airport Economic Zone and the Industrial Zone on the most competitive terms.

Harbour Free Zone The Harbor Free Zone is a fenced-in area of 57 acres. Presently, almost 100 merchants occupy a total floor space of close to one million square feet (91,000 square meters). The majority of companies established in the Harbor Free Zone are trading companies that distribute products from the United States, Europe and Asia to the Caribbean and Latin America. Clothing, textile products, cosmetics, shoes and other consumer goods are the items most frequently sold through the zone, though there is a growing business in higher value products, such as pharmaceuticals and industrial products. Besides trading companies, there are also distribution companies offering services to third parties, such as warehousing, distribution, invoicing etc.

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