100% renewables community emerges from drug wars and poor soils : Renew Economy

100% renewables community emerges from drug wars and poor soils : Renew Economy: The plains of eastern Colombia are a tough land—the haunt of drug trafficking, guerilla warfare, and paramilitary groups; a place where the soil is so poor everyone said nothing could grow. Paolo Lugari, the founder of the 200-person community of Gaviotas, believed otherwise. In the face of adversity, he built a thriving, self-sustaining community.

Forty years ago, Lugari visited this bleak, barren land,�written off by agronomists�as the equivalent of a tropical desert, and decided he would make a community that would be not only habitable, but also prolific and sustainable.