hi folks

here are some scenes from today's straw bale work day at the Jacksonville Center in Floyd

this is a straw bale structure project which is being led by Leon Davis from Virginia Tech

excerpt from the whole earth catalog

WE ARE AS GODS and might as well get good at it. So far remotely done power and glory - as via government, big business, formal education, church - has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains, a realm of intimate, personal power is developing - the power of individuals to conduct their own education, find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Tools that aid this process are sought and promoted by the Essential Whole Earth Catalog.

--excerpt from a 1986 edition of the Whole Earth Catalog

tags: sustainability, reading, literacy, fuzzy searching

straw bale work day at the Jacksonville Center

A memo from the Jacksonville Center to friends & members -

The Association of Energy Conservation Professionals (AECP) has rented our building next to the barn as an incubator tenant and has done much improvement to the building and property. In partnership with The Jacksonville Center, they have been developing a Sustainable Living Education Center (SLEC) and now have small solar and wind power demonstration systems in the building. They are steadily preparing for interactions with the community and plan to have an Open House during our Winterfest event on Dec. 3 & 4. We will partner with SLEC for future educational events and opportunities for the community.

With SLEC's support, an architecture student from Virginia Tech, Leon Davis, is building a straw bale structure on the Jacksonville Center property as his thesis project. He has been quite dedicated and the building is coming along well. When complete, the 360 sq. ft. structure will belong to the Jacksonville Center to utilize as a space for classes in additional art/craft mediums.

Leon is working this Saturday, Nov. 19, on the straw bale building. He will be putting up the straw bale walls and could use volunteers. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone interested in alternative building to come this Saturday and work with Leon. Both skilled and non-skilled folks are welcome. Work will commence around 8:30 or 9am.

If you are interested, contact Wayne at the Jacksonville Center at (540) 745-2784 for more information. There will be more opportunities to work on this project in the future.

tags: green building, green design, virginia, Floyd, volunteer opportunities, ecology, sustainability

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image tags: Appalachian Power, energy, leaves, autumn, photosynthesis, color science, bioremediation, land reclamation, mine, coal, Hoge

bird-friendly wind power?

via slashdot.

Sterling D. Allan writes "After 10 years of prototyping, wind tunnel testing, patenting, and tweaking, Ron Taylor of Cheyenne (windy) Wyoming is ready to take his vertical axis wind turbine into commercial production. Design creates pull on the back side contributing to 40%+ wind conversion efficiencies. Because it spins at wind speed, it doesn't kill birds, and it runs more quietly. It also doesn't need to be installed as high, and it can withstand significantly higher winds (can generate in winds up to 70 mph, compared to ~54 mph tops for propeller designs). Generating costs estimated at 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, putting it in the lead pocket-book-wise not just of wind and solar, but of conventional power as well. Production prototype completion expected in 5-7 months." more...

tags: alternative energy, wildlife protection, wind energy, ecology, bird, migration, conservation, habitat loss, wildlife

Mississippi lawmaker focuses on Katrina recovery

via Yahoo headlines.

Rep. Gene Taylor (news, bio, voting record) represents some of Hurricane Katrina's hardest-hit victims. Nearly 70% of the houses in his southeast Mississippi district, including his own home in Bay St. Louis, were destroyed or made uninhabitable. more...

tags: Hurricane relief, Katrina, Mississippi

from the mountainkeeper.org website

Larry Gibson and Kayford Mountain

Larry Gibson's family has lived on or near Kayford Mountain since the late 1700's. More than 300 relatives are buried in the cemetery on Kayford Mountain. Larry and his family used to live on the lowest lying part of the mountain, and looked "up" to the mountain peaks that surrounded them. Since 1986, the slow motion destruction of Kayford Mountain has been continuous -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Eighteen years after the "mountain top removal" project began, Larry Gibson now occupies the highest point of land around; he is enveloped by a 12,000 acre pancake in what was previously a mountain range....

Camp Kayford. The 50 acre tract Larry occupies atop Kayford Mountain includes a natural "bowl" that begs to be hammered into an open air amphitheater. KOTM wants to design and build that theatre and make it a center for the display and celebration of mountain culture. Our ambition is to inspire a "band of brothers and sisters" to come camp on the mountain, hopefully this summer, and contribute the sweat, muscle and imagination to make this idea a reality....

from mountainkeeper.org

tags: green design, bioremediation

Chinese "eco-cities" planned

Sat Nov 5, 7:10 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - British engineers will this week sign a contract with Beijing to design and build a string of so-called 'eco-cities' in China, a newspaper reported. more...

via Yahoo headlines