Cob: Wasn't that you...

[Grace Benjamin]

Hey Sean-

Were you the Sean that started a flame-war last week on the SB list? :) 
Advance apologies if you're not.

Well either way, this is directly related to cob so I'll jump in...

<snip>
Sadly, if THE MACHINE takes off, unless it is only built by someone
with a conscience, it will be yet another (as you point out) in a line of 
many machines which, through saving us time and effort, ruin our environment 
with noise and fumes.
</snip>

I think you make a highly relavant point here, there are multitudes of ways 
to approach things in life from how you raise your kids to how you raise 
your cob walls.  And any approach can be done the wrong way by a person of 
poor conscience.

Frankly, the purest of the purists could make a cob house by using only site 
soil, site rocks, site straw, and site gravel, then thatch the roof with 
flora from on site.  If the lot were small enough, and the house large 
enough, this most pure purist could actually denigrate the quality of his 
own lot to the point that he lowers the local biodiversity, and damages the 
local environment- which of course impacts the wider environment.  My point 
is that everything has an impact, and generally I've found that the more 
active your conscience in the act, the more positive the impact.

Paul is acting with tremenous conscience IMO.  He has stated publicly his 
intention to make the plans for this machine public property, and is 
developing this with an eye to fuel conservation.  Additionally, and I don't 
know if this was part of his grand plan, but this machine runs on diesel 
fuel- which is a completely sustainable fuel.  (If you would like to know 
how, please ask me privately- I don't want to embark on a discussion of fuel 
chemistry here.)  There is no reason this machine couldn't be owned, 
maintained and used cooperatively by cobbers in the same region.  Lots of 
good can come from a machine, or for that matter- knowlegde.  LOTS.  
Similarly a whole lotta bad can come from machines and knowlegde too- people 
and how we use the knowlegde/machines is what makes the difference.


Peace and Blessings,
Grace


GIVE. Give until it hurts, then give some more.
________________________
Grace Benjamin
Catalyst ReDevelopment
3660 Packard, #2
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
****************************
22 Allen Street, #2
New Britain, CT 06053


grey_sea at hotmail.com
(860) 224 4015 msg
(734) 975 0709 h
(734) 930 6270 w
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