I don't invite my friends over to paint my house. I only offer that as an example of an alternative to our current system. I do think we need to tie green building and culture more closely. Currently the definition of green builder is very broadly somebody who builds houses out of ecological and efficient materials. The social implications of that building, sourcing, and maintenance are secondary if considered at all.<div>
<br></div><div>That definition is valid and important but as somebody who wants to make a substantial impact on improving the environment and our life I don't think that definition will provide the greatest impact.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I venture to say that the definition of a green builder should be more life centered and less object centered. A good example of this is the way Native Americans built, which was more about their religion than about the materials they used - their home aligning with the four corners of the earth etc.</div>
<div><br></div><div>A life centered green builder is primarily concerned with the social and ethical implications of their building. Efficiency and product choices certainly play a huge part but that follows their primary concern of building community and emotional connection with nature through the structure, how it is built, sourced and maintained.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Looking at building from this humanistic perspective first and foremost in my opinion has more impact on achieving our goals of a healthier planet. Certainly there is a time in the process to get lost in the numbers and BTUs but that is a small part of the larger vision.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Exploring our connection to past building techniques, cultures, and materials keeps us connected to the ongoing process of living. Our couple hundred years of scientific building is a drop in the bucket considering we have been building for thousands of years. To loose that perspective of us being in a time continuum guarantees our isolation from the world, a wold that is deeply connected to cycles.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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 4:23 PM, JOHN SALMEN <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:terrain@shaw.ca">terrain@shaw.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">There was a pretty serious social framework
(pun intended) for that activity and a lot of rules and complexity (think potlatch
for complexity of a social economic structure that is beyond figuring out).
There have also been similar (non-building) related cooperative efforts in
communities – mostly immigrant communities to NA. Compensation
takes many forms and much of what we still do in a community is not directly related
to payment. Nobody pays me to drive safely or give up my seat on a bus.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">As 2<sup>nd</sup> generation in my early
fifties I’ve had the pleasure of being able to talk to the generation
that settled farms in Canada
– though we are now 4 generations from that time. I’ve also been
able to talk to people that participated in the first garment industry strike
in NYC and the subsequent development of labour laws and unions.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">In the Canadian prairies for example the communities
that formed around farming were pretty impoverished by today’s standards
and a ‘single family unit’ had little chance to survive. The only
time for building was in the winter after the fields were put to rest and it
was a limited timeframe and more than one person or family could accomplish
(though many did try). The communities were primarily European with village
origins and well used to working within a community framework. Farms needed
markets for livestock and grain which required everyone to have the capability
to produce to create enough resource to elicit a market for transportation and
supply. Given the limited timeframe for building it required planning and community
effort that everyone profited from. This extended to the construction of
community stock pens, graineries, etc. as well as co-operative financing. For Canada this was
the birth of the co-operative movement which continues in the form of financial
banking, gasoline and even grocery stores. As communities became marginally wealthier
barn raising evolved into co-operative financing (as farm communities still did
not have the wealth to attract other forms of financing) and people hired each
other and paid fairly. </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">I have volunteered time for many things
and have donated a lot of design and physical work time to social housing
projects. There are always needs in a community for which there is inadequate
funding. An example from me is creating a house (group home) working with a
parent group of children with special needs. That was a form of barn
raising.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">I think what worries me is the types of
sentiment that can be used to exploit. Even the concept of ‘home’
or ‘green home’ can sentimentally inspire people to create a
building that has no relationship to their needs just to fill some empty hole. As
I mentioned before we occupy a house on average for 11 hours (8.5 of which are
spent sleeping). Our homes are equally (and predominantly for our conscious
time) the workplaces and schools we occupy, the transportation we use. </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">Individual homes are not an ‘old’
or ‘timeless’ concept – even in western culture it is
relatively new. It wasn’t that long ago that people of European origin we
were all sleeping in some big room together (and most other cultures). Isolating
a few people in a green building and then inviting each other over to paint the
place is not community building in my mind though it can be a nice shared
activity – I would prefer making dinner. Spending time together working
on social co-operative or cohousing solutions gets a little better.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy">My thoughts – but like I said too
many issues</span></font></p><div class="im">
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<p><u><font size="3" color="green" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:green">JOHN SALMEN
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN</span></font></u></p>
<p><i><font size="2" color="black" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic">4465 UPHILL RD</span></font></i><i><font size="2" color="black" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic">,. DUNCAN, B.C. CANADA, V9L 6M7</span></font></i></p>
<p><i><font size="2" color="black" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic">PH
<a href="tel:+12507487672" target="_blank">250 748 7672</a> FAX <a href="tel:+12507487612" target="_blank">250 748 7612</a> CELL <a href="tel:+12502468541" target="_blank">250 246 8541</a></span></font></i></p>
<p><i><font size="2" color="black" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic"><a href="mailto:terrain@shaw.ca" target="_blank">terrain@shaw.ca</a></span></font></i><i><font size="2" color="black" face="Gill Sans MT"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Gill Sans MT";color:black;font-style:italic"></span></font></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma">
<a href="mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org" target="_blank">greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org" target="_blank">greenbuilding-bounces@lists.bioenergylists.org</a>] <b><span style="font-weight:bold">On Behalf Of </span></b>natural building<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> January
23, 2011 11:55 AM</span></font></p><div class="im"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> Green Building<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Greenbuilding]
Solutions (to the ecological problem)</font></div><span lang="EN-US"></span><p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">On 23-Jan-11, at 11:40 AM,
JOHN SALMEN wrote:</span></font></p>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5">
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</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><span style="word-spacing:0px">Similarly if I hire or train
people for a building project that labour is part of the cost of that project
and if the project cannot afford it then that project has no value in the
community.</span></span></font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">John, what are your thoughts on the very old and very
community-oriented practice of barn-raising, where every able-bodied member of
the community helped out without expectation of any compensation other that
refreshments and, perhaps, reciprocal help when it came time to build their own
barn?</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Regards,</span></font></p>
<span style="text-align:auto;word-spacing:0px"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="word-spacing:0px">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span><font size="4" color="#630aff" face="Papyrus"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:#630AFF">Steve
Satow</span></font></span><font size="1" color="#630aff" face="Papyrus"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:#630AFF"></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="#630aff" face="Papyrus"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:#630AFF"><a href="http://www.naturalbuildingsite.net" target="_blank">www.naturalbuildingsite.net</a></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" color="#630aff" face="Papyrus"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Papyrus;color:#630AFF"><a href="mailto:naturalbuilding@shaw.ca" target="_blank">naturalbuilding@shaw.ca</a></span></font></p>
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