A Sustainable Community

An eco-village at Sólheimar not only means environmentally friendly living, but is also centered around sustainable, healthy community life. Community members (including the 43 mentally disabled residents of Sólheimar) contribute to the village’s well-being and their own health and creativity by working in the greenhouses, creating artistic sculptures and paintings, and supporting one another. Every morning, the 100 residents of Sólheimer gather in one of the many grassy fields to have morning meeting, where the community socializes, makes announcements, sings a song, and takes a moment of silence to appreciate the sounds of the world around us. Yesterday, the CELL program invited the residents of Sólheimar to come over to the house where we’re staying, called Brekkukot, for a fun social evening with fresh-baked cookies (smákökur, meaning “small cake,” in Icelandic), tea, and coffee.