Marcus Andreas studied educational sciences and social and cultural anthropology at LMU Munich. He received his MA in 2007. During the period 2008-2009 Marcus helped to set up and manage the inter- and transdisciplinary working group Research in Community e.V. for research into projects of civic engagement for sustainability, for which the team was acknowledged as an official project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014. Since 2009, he works as a Research Associate at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. Marcus is currently writing his Ph.D. thesis about ecovillages, with “Sieben Linden” being his main research site.
The ecovillage "Sieben Linden," established in 1997, practices an ecologically sustainable lifestyle embedded within mainstream Western society. Today, the settlement covers eighty hectares and has 120 residents, who see their project as an example and experiment in the development of an alternative, sustainable way of life.
Aside from sociological and ecological aspects such as a degree of self-sufficiency and sustainable building practices, the concept of an (intentional) “community” lies at the center of this project. A number of democratic decision-making forms exist in the village, consensus being the community’s ideal: their motto is “unity in diversity.” Sieben Linden is an active member of the Global Ecovillage Network.
