Cob and recycled materials

[Otherfish at aol.com]

Doug Scof's entry re carpet & other potentially toxic materials has reminded
me of a certain (somewhat related) philosophy re cob that I find troublesome.

Specifically that of: low cost as the "ideal" ethic of a "correct" cob
culture.

Each of us is in an economic reality - some folks have  less $ ( either by
choice or circumstance ) and some folks have more.  These are realities of our
personal lives & we are faced with either living within our economic means or
changing them ( having access to more $).

I am pleased when I hear of someone creating a low cost cob building based (in
part) on using low cost or no cost recycled materials.  Getting free of the
economic burdens of modern life is a noble thing.
However it bothers me when this use of recycled, reused, rejected or cast off
materials is touted as somehow freeing us from the "evils" of modern
industrial  production and thereby making the us more "correct" than we might
otherwise be.
I  am troubled by this for two reasons:

1. It ignors the fact that for these cast off materials to be available to us
they still had to be manufactured by someone.  And if the materials are low/no
cost because they are industrial seconds, that simply means that another unit
of the same industrial product that was not a second was produced to take its
place ( a gain for you, but an additional loss for the planet).   Only a
recycling that reduces pollution , unnecessary transportation or wasteful
original manufacturing has real benefit to the larger world.  I mean, recycle
& reuse as much as you can - just dont hold it up to be more than the personal
bargain that it is (if thats all that it really is).  It's important to be
brutally  honest with ourselves on this - no delusions are needed - we have
enough of those already.

2. This bothers me even more - the idea that removing cob from the economic
mainstream is a superior  goal.  Again, if you can get free from modern
economic madness by  all means do so.  Its just that there is a WHOLE WORLD
of people for whom that is not reality.  For cob to be effective in the lives
of most people it (cob) must find a way to fit into the mainstream patterns of
economic life.  To say that cob must be in a non money world as much as any
honest cobber can stand is selling us all short.  We as cobbers need to work
on all fronts.  If we see cob as limited to only a frugal & humble being then
we are marginalizing ourselves and cob into a position that will keep us on
the fringe.  Again - the fringe is fine if thats where you personally want to
be - its just that the fringe is just the fringe.   But if we truly want to
change the beast we must strike at its heart & like it or not - being able to
have an economic impact on the lives of people will do that in a way that the
economic  and cultural margin cannot do.

please think on this - 
regards
john fordice
THE COB CODE PROJECT
otherfish at aol.com