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Earthsong on radio

Direct links to radio broadcasts:

• Interview by David Steemson, City Talk - 15 September 1997
• The hunt is on for a site in Auckland for an ecologically sustainable co-housing community. Called the Waitakere Eco Village project, it's led by Robin Allison, John Hammond, and Cathy Angell. David Steemson joins them in their quest to find the right piece of land.
• (duration: 28'29")
• Close to Paradise, Spectrum - 20 May 2001
• While the Auckland Region struggles to fit another million people into its boundaries over the next fifty years, one group of enterprising folk has come up with what it believes is the perfect answer in group housing. They're building what they've named the "Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood", thirty two homes constructed of rammed earth and untreated Oregon, set on a one and half hectare organic orchard. The enthusiasts have initially raised their own funds for the first stage of the seven million dollar development in Ranui, West Auckland. They hope to move in by early spring, when they'll set to constructing community vegetable gardens using the best permaculture methods. Water for irrigation will be collected from roofs and stored in big tanks, which'll also supply households flushing and washing needs. Cars will be banished to the garages at the edge of the property, but every house will have access to high speed internet connections. The development's the culmination of a seven year long dream by people like architect Robin Allison, who emphasises that Earthsong is not some wacky "fringe" dream, but the modern equivalent of an old fashioned village. Spectrum talks to Robin and her enthusiastic friends in "Close to Paradise".
• (duration: 25'49")
• Celebration of Completion of Construction of Earthsong, Afternoons - 29 April 2009.
• West Auckland's Earthsong Eco Village has this month celebrated its tenth anniversary.
• (duration: 12'02")
• Robin Allison on "Ideas" programme, 29 August 2010. Interview by Chris Laidlaw.
• Ideas takes a look at housing and in particular so-called cohousing, which began in Denmark in the 1960's. In a cohousing community the private dwellings typically have all the features of a normal home but residents also have access to extensive communally-owned facilities. We also talk to Robin Allison, one of the founders of New Zealand's first purpose-built cohousing community.
• (duration: 55'02")