Tag Archives: Bir

Window of opportunity

Announcing Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture

The Dharmalaya Institute, in partnership with venerated earthen architect Didi Contractor, is launching the Internship in Vernacular Eco-Architecture. The internship is a formal, academically-supervised service-learning program designed to provide architects (and students of architecture) with both practical experience and deeper theoretical knowledge in the arts and practices of sustainable building.

Happy Sapling

Planting a Vertical Orchard

This week, during our first service retreat program (see news article) on the Dharmalaya Institute’s new Himalayan eco-campus, we had a precious opportunity: our friends at SanghaSeva brought sixteen wonderful, hard-working volunteers from all over the globe to work with us, so we figured this was the time to take on…

Rajinder and Raju

Fueled by Kindness

So much in life can’t happen without the kindness of others, and this is especially true here in the Himalayas. In a “subsistence-plus” economy such as we have here in Himachal Pradesh, most villagers have enough land to feed their families, more or less, so they don’t necessarily need to work…

Terraces

Planting Seeds of Sustainability

Earthville’s Dharmalaya team is planting seeds, literally and figuratively, for a new sustainable village development project in the Himalayas. In the tiny, tranquil town of Bir, about three hours by road from the Tibetan exile capital of Dharamshala, the coriander and green beans have begun to sprout in the new organic garden in front of […]