This is an inspiring story of how El Hierro, a small island that is part of the Spanish Canary islands group, gained energy independence and successfully converted much of its agriculture to organic.

It is described on the blog of Ellen McArthur at http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/blog/ellens-blog-a-tale-of-vision-and-leadership

El Hierro is the smallest island of the Canary archipelago

The Spanish Island of El Hierro (Canary Islands) is small and with a population of 10,500 it would seem insignificant on the scale of change – but through the most incredible leadership it is not. The government of the island stated, several years ago, that rather than spend the $8 million they would use to buy oil per anum they would instead invest that money to be totally independent. they would generate their own energy, purify their own water and change the philosophy of the island. Part of this they spent on renewables, and part they spent on a water purifying plant, which, through the use of new vortex technology and osmosis managed to create twice the amount of water for half the price. They used excess energy – electricity produced during strong wind episodes at times of low demand – produced by the newly installed wind turbines to pump fresh water up to the empty craters in the hills. The government then said to the Farmers “we will give you double the water for the same price, so long as your farming becomes organic”… change was underway – and as an example of this long term thinking allowed the price of goats milk and cheese to rise. He spoke of the buying power of the island for new electric vehicles, as the government had announced it was to order 6,000 electric vehicles. Suddenly this tiny Island with barely more than 10,000 people on it was about to make the biggest order in the history of electric vehicles…