[Greenbuilding] Solutions (to the ecological problem)

[Gennaro Brooks-Church]

I've lived a lot in old european homes, some of them over 500 years old, and
it makes this modern obsession with btus look pretty silly.

Gennaro
347 244 3016
 On Jan 23, 2011 12:21 PM, "natural building" <naturalbuilding at shaw.ca>
wrote:
> Bravo Gennaro, I applaud your championing the 'cultural' aspect of
> green building on this site.
>
> In North America (as distinct from Europe and many other parts of the
> world) we have developed this '5-year resell' culture that, I propose,
> is in large part because most home-owners have little or no connection
> to their homes or community. To them a house is just a short-term
> investment opportunity.
>
> Science has its place - of course - but the pursuit of ever-decreasing
> Btus must integrate successfully with and, IMO, be subservient to the
> need to create homes that people truly feel 'at home' in.
> Sustainability is also about making homes that last (with a little TLC
> and maintenance) rather than get torn down and replaced every 50 years
> - which is another catastrophic NA trend.
>
> Regards.
> Steve Satow
>
> www.naturalbuildingsite.net
> naturalbuilding at shaw.ca
>
>> On Jan 23, 2011, at 9:31 AM, Gennaro Brooks-Church wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I think the concept of building so that it lasts a very long time
>>> is good. But too many cultures use sacrificial materials for me to
>>> overlook that option too. For example in Spain the traditional
>>> stone buildings are white washed with lime that doesn't last very
>>> long. Once a year the family and a couple friends come together for
>>> a weekend of exercise in the sun with a big meal to paint the house.
>>>
>>> It doesn't pay if you have to hire somebody once a year to do it.
>>> So this is where green building becomes cultural. Our western
>>> culture for the most part doesn't paint their own home. It is paid
>>> for. But if you turn it into a social event for bonding with the
>>> family maybe painting the home isn't actually the main point. Maybe
>>> being together with friends and family is.
>>>
>>> For me green building is more about strengthening our community and
>>> our social bonds with nature than any BTU counting. If you have a
>>> strong society that is connected to nature the rest comes naturally.
>>>
>>> This was the point I was trying to make before with my point of
>>> there being two ways of looking at green building - techie or
>>> cultural - and my opinion that most people on this list and in
>>> green building in general are tackling it with a techie view point.
>>>
>>> The techie approach in my opinion is what got us in our current
>>> ecological problem in the first place. It makes a damn if we have
>>> Uber efficient homes if the people in them are dysfunctional and
>>> allienated. Green builders for the most part see their job as
>>> building efficient homes. That won't solve our problem in my
>>> opinion. Building homes that connect us to our community and nature
>>> has a much better chance.
>>>
>>> For me that means focusing more closely at how the building
>>> process, the sourcing, the materials used, the upkeep, and the
>>> relationship of buildings to each other strengthen our love of
>>> community and nature. You may counter that it is not either or -
>>> either techie or cultural - and that is absolutely true. But right
>>> now it is pretty much only techie. If you stream through our
>>> conversations it is mostly about efficient materials and BTUs.
>>>
>>> I think our love of science destroyed our ecology. I conclude this
>>> because most older non-scientific cultures have done significantly
>>> better than newer scientific cultures in being custodians of our
>>> planet. And if Einstein is right then science should not be the
>>> tool we use to get us out of our ecological problems. We need a
>>> different tool.
>>>
>>> I think we need to veer significantly more in the direction of
>>> cultural and natural related issues to solve our ecological issues.
>>> Gennaro Brooks-Church
>>>
>>> Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA
>>> www.EcoBrooklyn.com
>>> 22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sender: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org
>>> Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:36:32
>>> To: 'Green Building'<greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>>> Reply-to: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Nansulate Insulation
>>>
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>>
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