Hi,<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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. </div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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. </div>
<div><br></div><div>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. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I think we need to veer significantly more in the direction of cultural and natural related issues to solve our ecological issues.<br clear="all">Gennaro Brooks-Church<br><br>Cell: 1 347 244 3016 USA<br>
<a href="http://www.EcoBrooklyn.com">www.EcoBrooklyn.com</a><br>22 2nd St; Brooklyn, NY 11231<br><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 8:06 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bill.allen@verizon.net">bill.allen@verizon.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
John,<br>
<br>
I applaud your efforts.<br>
<br>
My uneducated question is: Why use paint at all? Don't well installed, bare wood shingles last a pretty long time (as siding) if you use the right species?<br>
<br>
I am making these choices now for my own house and keep gravitating toward natural wood (shingles or siding). With the correct roof overhang (eves and gables), don't they last a while? I just dismantled a 150+ year old barn in climate zone 6 with the original, naked hemlock siding (vertical). It's got plenty of life left.<br>
<br>
Would love any comments...<br>
<br>
Bill<br>
<div class="im">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: "JOHN SALMEN" <<a href="mailto:terrain@shaw.ca">terrain@shaw.ca</a>><br>
Sender: <a href="mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org">greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a><br>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:36:32<br>
To: 'Green Building'<<a href="mailto:greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org">greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>><br>
Reply-to: Green Building <<a href="mailto:greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org">greenbuilding@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Nansulate Insulation<br>
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