[Cob] numbers

[Patrick Newberry]

Shooting at, not shooting. Hey, it's a form of crowd control :-)

<snip>
Lou McFarland
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 1:06 PM
  For instance, BBC 
actually showed national guardsmen shooting "looters"  It was horrifying
to 
see.
</snip>

I can answer somewhat to Habitat for Humanity since I work at the
international office here in Americus GA.

Generally speaking Habitat for Humanity International does not build
house. Yup, not stick house, not cob house etc. What they opps I mean we
do is to assist local organizations know as Affiliates to raise money,
organize and yes build houses. Thus in general ( I'll come to the in
general part shortly) the local affiliates decide if they want to build
with sticks or cob or what ever. They also develop their own family
selection committees and such. For example in California, Habitat
affiliates have build strawbale houses. In many parts of the world we do
build with stabilized adobe bricks. That decision is a local decision. I
of course have pushed for cob but well, ain't got too far on that one...


We do have a "global village" where we built many examples of the types
of houses we build around the world. In the Guatemalan house I build a
earth oven so hey there is some earth building going on :-)

Now to address the generally speaking statement: We at Habitat have not
been traditionally a first responder type organization like the red
cross and such. We have a more long term approach. For example remember
the tsunami? Guess what we are still there building away when most folks
have forgotten the place. The reason is that it takes time to acquire
land, get permits and resources together. It will take several years to
rebuild from all the damage done by the tsunami. First responders
generally deal with immediate needs like food and warmth. 

Since we've recently had a big management turn over (which in itself is
an interesting topic), the Katrina situation has sort of cause a bit of
a change or perhaps better stated, an additional focus. Thus some one,
god knows who came up with the idea of a house in box. Hey, I didn't
think up the name. Where local affiliates in various places, New York,
California etc, could basically build pre-fab type stick homes and ship
them via rail or such to Affected areas. 

At this point the response as been so good, that we can't even use all
the offers at this point. Why! The damage houses and debris must be
removed. Not an insignificant task. Land must be acquired, permits must
be obtained etc. Sorry but the reason we actually build more houses over
seas rather than in the states is due to the cost of building which is a
direct reflection of land and building cost(read: permits, codes etc.)

Most places in the US will not allow building of COB houses. It sucks,
IMHO, but that is the reality. I do my part to change as I can, but it
still remains a reality. 

It was funny when I first started here 5 years ago at Habitat, they
showed us this film about how sad it was that these people had dirt
floors. I kept my mouth shut because little did the  folks showing the
film know, my I had dirt floors in my cob house. Instead, I just smiled
:-)

<snip>
On to Habitat for Humanity....keep in mind who is building the houses.
They 
are regular folks with some assistance from local contractors who have
only 
ever done conventional stick building.  You can only do what you know
how to 
do, so to make a change than you have to change the knowledge available.

It's not perfect, but it's far better than getting stuck in a FEMA
camper 
until the next hurricane season rolls around.  I still believe that the 
final answer will be general knowledge of alternative building methods
so 
that people know they have choices
</snip>


Pat Newberry
www.gypsyfarm.com