Over a billion people in the world lack decent housing even though there are dozens of low cost housing methods that could eliminate this problem. Possibilities include building with earthbags, adobe, cob, pallets, bamboo and other locally available materials. These affordable, sustainable housing options are described on our blog in good detail. Additionally, the Internet has thousands of websites, blogs, online journals and forums with even more information about these building methods. There are thousands of low income housing groups working on this cause. And, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of information on how to build affordable housing, and yet the lack of decent housing persists. So what’s going on? What’s the real problem here?
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Vanuatu Earthbag Project Report
In an effort to prove that a simple earthbag roundhouse could be built entirely with unskilled and inexperienced labor we made a leap of faith.
We bought a block of land on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. We intended to build a women’s centre and hoped to inspire pacific islanders to recycle and build safe affordable Eco housing. This is not a charity or a religious venture. It just started with one Australian family wanting to help some friends in a nearby island.
Buy Local
This is another short post that will go right to the point – buy local. As obvious as this is, it’s good to be reminded of basic principles/truthisms from time to time. This post was sparked by a recent experience that I wanted to share. There’s a food stand on the highway about 2-3 blocks from us. We go past it every day. I noticed they had some rather unusual looking mangoes for sale, but never stopped for a close look. The other day my girlfriend bought some and said they were really good even though the peels are partially green. (Normally a sign they’re not ripe.) I wasn’t expecting much because they’re not nearly as perfect looking as commercially available mangoes, which are delicious. [I confess to being fooled by appearances.] The mango I tried was about half the size of store-bought. Little did I know I was in for the best mango of my life.
Emergency Earthbag Shelter Now Under Construction
The earthbag emergency shelter Patti Stouter and I published in our UN Emergency Shelter Proposal is now under construction. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years. Drawings, articles and blog posts are all great, but there’s nothing like first-hand experience to work out the kinks and get detailed documentation. A European journal plans to publish this shelter design next month along with Kelly Hart’s Riceland Dome. The journal article will likely bring much more international attention to earthbag building, and this lit a fire under me to build an actual prototype.
Straw Bale Mud House Weekend
“Friends and guests from all over the world came to our land in late January to help us build a natural straw bale and mud house for Tit Yai, an Issan man who is partially paralyzed. We were fortunate to have teachers from baandin.org and Michel Spann from Holland along with children and teachers from the Sri Sangwan Khon Kaen School for children with disabilities and many local Issan people help us make the house.”