Robert Gilman
Robert C. Gilman is a thinker on sustainability who, along with his late wife Diane Gilman, has researched and written about ecovillages. The Gilmans’ work was important in giving definition to the ecovillage movement and shaping the direction of the Global Ecovillage Network. In 1991, the Gilmans co-authored Eco-Villages and Sustainable Communities, a seminal study of ecovillages for Gaia Trust.
Also in 1991, Gilman, who was publisher of the magazine In Context, wrote an article entitled “The Eco-village Challenge” that set out a definition of an ecovillage as a:
- human-scale
- full-featured settlement
- in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world
- in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future.
From astrophysics to global sustainability
Gilman's academic training is in astrophysics. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 with a bachelor's in astronomy. He received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University in 1969. Gilman has taught and conducted research at the University of Minnesota, the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and was a research associate at NASA's Institute for Space Studies.Another phase of Gilman's life began in the mid 1970s when he decided that "the stars could wait, but the planet couldn't." He turned his attention to the study of global sustainability, futures research and strategies for positive cultural change. He and Diane designed and built their own solar home in 1975. In 1979, they founded the Context Institute, one of the earliest NGOs to focus on sustainability.
''In Context'' magazine
The institute launched In Context: A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture in 1983, with Gilman as editor. The journal won the Utne Reader Alternative Press Award for “Best Coverage of Emerging Issues” in 1991 and 1994.Global Action Plan and GEN
In 1989–92 Gilman co-developed the **Global Action Plan Household EcoTeam Program**, an early behavior-change model that organized neighbors into teams to cut household waste, water, and energy use; the model was later adopted nationwide in the Netherlands and other countries.Building on their Gaia Trust study, Robert and Diane helped convene the 1995 Ecovillages and Sustainable Communities conference at Findhorn, Scotland, which formally launched the Global Ecovillage Network. Gilman later spent three years living in Winslow Cohousing on Bainbridge Island, Washington, to test ecovillage principles firsthand.