On Friday 19 April, the NGO ‘Engineers Without Borders’ gave a seminar on development, cooperation and technology, which was held at the ‘Escuela de Ingeniería Superior’ in Bilbao. GoiEner, together with Esnetik and Dirurik Gabe-Trueke, gave presentations about our respective projects.
Joanes and Eduardo attended on behalf of GoiEner and, as we normally do in our talks, they tried to explain how the state energy system works, as well as the alternatives and proposals that we have available to make it decentralized and democratized.
We must make special mention of the two ingenious and dynamic initiatives created with from a social perspective.
Firstly, there is Esnetik, which came about from EHNE Bizkaia as a valid instrument to guarantee a fair price of milk for the people of Baserri….. and save many farms and hamlets from closure in the process!!!!
As well as establishing the milk container, Esnetik also develops all kinds of dairy produce, guaranteeing quality and a close relationship with the producer in Baserri. And what better way to look after the countryside, than by keeping small farming communities alive…
Esnetik also encourages the integration of women in the Baserri community and the inclusion of young people in a sector which is dominated by older people.
Secondly, we have Dirurik Gabe-Sin Dinero, who presented us with their way of consuming and energizing the use of various articles which normally tend to end up in rubbish dumps or incinerators. By coordinating different agents, it develops fairs where they combine second hand markets, art, music and exchanges, as well as sustainable reporting and time banks. The latter is something which is gathering more and more interest among many initiatives.
We can say that GoiEner, until it one day becomes financially independent, is one great Time Bank, where dozens of professionals from multidisciplinary areas provide their services altruistically, and share knowledge with the aim of achieving the same ethical objective.
The 40 of us who attended the seminar undoubtedly enjoyed all of the projects which were presented there.
