You are invited to take part in “Living lightly on the earth:” building an Ark for Prince Edward Island, 1974-76. We are looking for stories, photographs, film and video; anything that would help to tell the story of the public life of the Ark. All submitted materials will be included in a public gallery on this website, and selected materials will be used in the exhibition and book.
Who should contribute?
If you were involved in in the Ark project (or the New Alchemy Institute, Solsearch Architects, or a like-minded group), if you were at the opening ceremony with Prime Minister Trudeau and others, if you visited the PEI Ark, if you were a neigbhour of the Ark, or if you know about the Ark project some other way, we would love to share your stories.
If you have visual material (photos, films, videos, sketches), souvenirs (Ark postcards, coffee mugs, t-shirts) or publications (magazines, official reports, drawings), we would love to share them. These could be family photos from a visit to the Ark on a trip to PEI; sketches by designers and students who dropped in to the site; or even bits and pieces salvaged when the Ark was demolished in 2001.
Many people from the Island and elsewhere took part in intentional and temporary communities on Prince Edward Island from the 1970s onwards (the so-called “Back-to-the-Islanders”). Your stories of how the Ark connected (or didn’t) with your community would be great to share.
The Ark was part of a diverse movement re-thinking humanity’s relationship to nature and technology. We would love to hear from anyone who was involved in an ecological building or design project (built or unbuilt) from the era of the PEI Ark (roughly 1972 through 1985), especially projects influenced by the Ark or the New Alchemists. Please consider sharing your stories and mementos with us.
How to submit your stories or mementos
A form has been provided below where you can enter text along with one or more digital media files.
You will be asked if you want your name used with your materials. If your stories and mementos include the names or images of other people, it would be helpful for you to let us know if those people agree to being identified in public.
How will your stories and mementos be used?
All submissions will be moderated before being posted in the gallery on the website. If we see something that might be embarrassing or harmful, you will be contacted before it’s posted to the gallery. We also reserve the right to withhold submissions that are inappropriate. Otherwise all material will be posted in the gallery on the website.
As well, your stories may be quoted, and visual material may be included in the publications, exhibition and website. You can ask to review these uses of your material before publication.
Your contribution will let you put your stories and mementos of the PEI Ark out in the world, to be shared along with those of many other people. These stories will make an important contribution to awareness of the PEI Ark and of the history of “ecological” architecture and early “green” building in the 1970s.
Questions?
Please use the response form on the Contact page of the website to send a message with your questions to the project team. If you have a more detailed story to tell, or materials that you can’t easily post to the website, please contact us to see about different arrangements.
If you have any ethical concerns about your participation in this research, you may also contact the Director, Research Ethics, Dalhousie University at (902) 494-1462, or email: ethics@dal.ca
Share Your Story
Website submissions and Consent Form
Project title: “Living lightly on the earth:” building an Ark for Prince Edward Island, 1974-76
Researcher: Prof. Steven Mannell, (902) 494-6122; steven.mannell@dal.ca
