[Cob] living with no electricity

[howard at earthandstraw.com]

it takes a village...

...and I don't mean the "eco-village" someone described earlier, I mean one in which all work to provide a life for one another.

I experienced this briefly from 1973-1983 on an intentional collective community and we did not have electricity in our homes for 5 years.  We used kerosene lamps for evening light and went to bed and got up early. It was not easy but it was liberating in many ways.  The collective ended in 1983 and while the community still exists it is not the same.  Despite many leaving the place the experience bonded many of these people together in a spiritual way.  For the collective to have lasted there were issues that needed to be worked out but somehow that didn't happen, instead they gave up  the collective idea.  Tribal organization is collective, it can be a very good experience and I think a new form of tribalism is our only real chance to live sustainably.  


Howard Switzer, Architect
668 Hurricane Creek Road
Linden, TN 37096
931-589-6513
www.earthandstraw.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Damon Howell 
  To: coblist at deatech.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:03 PM
  Subject: Re: [Cob] living with no electricity


  Charmaine, what an inspiring note. I often dream about living without  
  electricity myself, but actually doing it is another subject.  
  Although if everything is set up right, it really isn't that much  
  harder. You do have to be more conscious of the processes. I haven't  
  completely aborted my dream to be sustainable; I am still powering my  
  cabin with solar panels and batteries (which is NOT sustainable by  
  the way) and building a cob house. But that's a far cry from living  
  sustainably. Like many people, I have no need because I still have to  
  go to town every day for work (to pay for my land). Why not drop by  
  the store and pick up what I need to live with while I'm there? Why  
  spend all my time working at my job then come home to work with  
  chickens, goats, cows, gardening, picking, washing, canning, fixing  
  the leak in the roof, and laundry until dark? Sorry I'm throwing off  
  on the REAL people who actually have it in them to do what we all  
  should. I'll learn one day I guess, I'm still young!
  Damon


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