A Natural Builder Creates an Ecovillage

[kobi2187]

I am a Falun Gong practitioner. Falun Dafa is a cultivation system in the Buddha School based on the principles of the Universe: 真 Truthfulness 善 Compassion 忍 Forbearance.

Since 1999 it has been brutally persecuted by the CCP in China. People are being killed, tortured, put into concentration camps and have organs harvested from live people, simply because of their belief. More than 3400 Falun Gong practitioners have died at the hands of CCP in the past 12 years.

faluninfo(.)net

[Mcvthree3]

I wonder why this guy can create such a beautiful place, but can't seem to get around to shaving his neck.

[waellerbe]

I'm learning about Eco Villages, and I appreciate what this gentleman has to say about Natural Building. Eventually I would like to visit an Eco Village so that I can experience what it's like to live there. Quality of life is something that I'm more concerned about.

[darris321]

9:53 "natural and so presumably nontoxic"

lol

[pegasus0]

I do like most of the videos, but I really don't think it's good to remove trees from ancient forests to make houses!

[Damis10001]

This is really lovely! I adore the courtyard setting. Seems very family and friend gathering-friendly.

[goldenscales]

I would love to learn how to build these kinds of houses. Fantastic!

[Along1000m]

Robert's cute & funny....10:24

[2012Aragorn]

Yes global warming may be a fact but I doubt that it is man made now as the evidence grows for this being a political control by fear mechanism.It also brings in a lot of revenue on this phoney pre-text. Yet I do think we should be moving off the grid to take ourselves away from feeding the power greed machine.

[thebluebunny1]

if i had chickens i dont think i could kill them they would end up being yard pets lol

[Iemota21]

This guy smokes weed

[goldenscales]

@Iemota21 Yeah so? Who doesn't? Lol!!!

[poepflater]

Lol, he is stoned silly I think.

[MsOrlandos]

its okay to live like this if you have the money to buy land and build your own house, all these things cost money, but this man is right, housing developers are now finally building with sustainable materials instead of taking the cheap makeshift option, again money money money

i would love to know how to grow food they teach you to cook in schols here, they should also teach ho wto grow fruit and veg it would be a good tool to have

[powerspade]

The old way of laying earth floor was to mix earth, straw and cow manure and lay it down at a depth of about 8 inches

[Loki95531]

great video. Not to preachy but very environmentally aware especially on the forestry issues. I would give you five stars if it was still possible.

[CarlosMerighe]

I too used to believe that MAYBE global warming was a reality, until I woke up and realized that it is a political instrument. Although oil is not a renewal resource and we will someday run out!

watch?v=OzkB5DuveDE

[peakmoment]

Of course people are using it as a political instrument. But that doesn't negate the scientific data: higher levels of carbon in the atmosphere than ever in human existence; oceans acidifying, glaciers melting at alarming rates (gonna reduce fresh water levels throughout Asia), more frequent and extreme weather events.

[CarlosMerighe]

Of course Global Warming is a reality, which is we are experience record snow falls.

[peakmoment]

Absolutely that's part of it! "Global Warming" is an unfortunate misnomer for the phenomenon. It's more accurately to call it climate chaos, because the weather system is becoming less stable. Hence more frequent and more extreme weather events like the "100-year" flooding in UK a coupla years back, record snow falls, more frequent intense hurricanes, etc.

[CarlosMerighe]

watch?v=svRUcX9Q9yU

[leesoarez]

@CarlosMerighe fool

[leesoarez]

@CarlosMerighe That's old news, in fact the temperature is dropping.

[ForbiddenStallion]

I really like the guy's methods and accomplishments, but am turned off by his holier-than-thou attitude. I was going to harp on him for all the talk on climate change, but I see this was made back in 2006. I still believed that lie back then, too.

[yesiamanalien]

To make humanity truly sustainable within the time needed to keep humanity from going extinct, would require a mindset change. People have to first realize what they are causing by their actions, then learn about what they can do and then do it. Look past all the BS you see in media and look at it logically. A 2k sq ft home is too large for 2 people. Also a waste. You could use straw bale or domes of 500 sq ft and be fine. I prefer to live in 100-150sq ft home. It's nice, easy and cheap.

[jesse2006]

so true about the "true cost" economy defined at the end of this video. i would love to see that happen.

[UniqueExposures]

I agree we need more people like this, as well as more like Cal-Tech and the super adobe designs which I like way better than these lol. Either way we need to learn what our grandparents already knew, and be self sustaining and environment friendly. Coming from a Cherokee Indian background I can respect the method.

[josuha2006]

I think it's arrogant to knock the 'toxic yuppie factories' who supplied his steel, nails from toxic foundaries and other materials.

And the 'toxic truck drivers' who delivered the raw goods.

'Sustainable' is another misnomer, when people start growing enough to eat without a store, cut their own wood and make their own steel then I call it 'sustainable'

Until then hes still using 'toxic' truck drivers, factories, founderies in his building and seems to forget this.

From a toxic blacksmith.

[highsociety167]

We definately need more people like this man in the world.

[Spyramidium]

@highsociety167 i agree. and less people like her ;)

[AngjiDanTomas]

fablous

[roxywible]

Rob, you are absolutely inspiring! I want to provide health care in a cob clinic!!! Pamela

[RobMonty248]

Thank you very much though also some of the ideas at the end would threaten the rich people who own things.. Thats a problem that can go in many angles unfortunatly. We all must choose on our own to live this way and maybe it will just catch on? Offering the Govt ways to get rid of them is something they usually see as war tactics unfortunatly again. He was right though, in a way, It Is up to us to change the world, with action.

I am working on my own garden to start helping out, thank you much

[odin422]

wow i learned some vital things

[odin422]

Great stuff

[likskirtspleetscreen]

I think it's the only way for the world to survive. But here in Italy there isn't so much people whom think this way. Do You know if there is any book about ecovillages? Or any web site where i could find it?

[peakmoment]

Take a look at Peak Moment #87 with Diana Leafe Christian, author of "Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities" and "Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community." She has a free bi-monthly Ecovillages newsletter at EcovillageNews (dot) org

[margot980]

Lovely. Some of the simplest and still standing cob cottages were built very quickly to take possession of a piece of land --- hundreds of years ago. They sometimes still have a duckpond, where the soil, and pebbles (for the foundation)were dug from. By quickly, I mean two days. The thatch (just long, dead grass stems)came later, once ownership or whatever had been established.

Dead grass stem roofing lasts much longer than petro duroid "shingles".

Do these people eat their dandelions?

[peakmoment]

I expect they eat their dandelions--they're quite resourceful. How I wish we could use dead grass stem roofing. We're in wildfire country, so we'd need to find another system.

[margot980]

What do you use for roofing?

[peakmoment]

Right now petroleum shingles. Wished for metal roofing, but we have so many skylights that it's cost-prohibitive.

[PlanetThoughts]

Hello, peak. This stuff is wonderful. But, as a solution to sustainable building, do you have a sense how this could be scaled to the great mass of humanity, especially the "advanced" world. I guess we can wait till the suburbs crumble and replace them with this kind of construction - but we may need to wait 50 years. I personally would love to live in a house and community like that.

[peakmoment]

Ah, scale: there's the rub. No, with declining energy and resource depletion, we won't have the luxury of tearing down and building all over. Nor would we want to waste what's already here. We'll need to re-use materials--as Rob has done in part--and bring the handwork and care to what we build. I think those might be the buildings we'd feel better in.

[Noz7777]

I enjoyed this, but would have enjoyed it more if it weren't so 'hippie'. Not that I mind hippies, but I got a little freaked out when he was talking about touching each others' skin...

At any rate, good on them for looking to reduce the burden on the environment. I would prefer to see them grow a lot more food - permaculture style to reduce maintenance.

[bodhipeace]

Arms are for hugging, don't be scared.

I was cracking up at the sustainability lite part.

[fieryflyingserpent]

Anyone in colorado want to start a serious community like this? I'm game for a good idea.

[peakmoment]

take a look at Peak Moment # 83 and #84, also about intentional communities.

[neverbeenfree]

I am looking to join a community, and the most important aspect for me is cool people. This dork is really creepy, but he's like the big kahuna because he can build. The woman interviewing him is terrible, but maybe she is freaked out by his weirdness. I would run screaming from this place. The woman picking through the discarded vegetables is like an animal.

[beege19]

This is exactly the sort of thing I plan on doing once I turn 18 and get out of the house, build a cob house and organically farm 100% of my food with enough to sell to cover living expenses. It's inspiring to see others with the same initiatives.

[aNaturalist]

I'm really happy to see people like him and his peers attempting to live sustainably. I really like natural building, especially with cob, and I'm all for organiccally grown food. How about his ideas on the local economy. I like what he has to say. Keep it local.

[Ninyae1]

More power to the localised economy. The growth economy has begun its last throws. Energy descent is already impacting bigtime. The prediction is that when oil hits $180 per barrel, the economy will no longer be able to sustain the individual. Time to make the transition right now.

[nectarineblue]

can this place be visited.. Im in Salem..

[onewholearth]

Use less, waste none. Eco light or eco heavy just get it done.

[pchenoweth]

wonderful video. I love Rob and everything that he has to teach about saving our enviroment.

[toothache43]

He lost me with the regressive tax proposal at the end.The sort of people who take Hawkin seriously are the sort of yuppies who send away for a twenty dollar pair of "stove gloves" they could buy in a bundle at a flee market for ten bucks.When 5% of the people drive control more than half the wealth,will they really make changes because of a SALES tax?No, but it sure as heck will effect the working poor.

[robertbolman]

In many cases, environmental tax reform in and of itself would indeed be regressive. I would always wish to structure it so that the first $20,000 (+-) of income would be exempt from income tax. That way a family living a modest lifestyle and not driving a car would be rewarded by paying very little in taxes. Also, essential good such as food coudl be exempt (especially if it's organic). Environmental tax reform could be structured so as to enthusiastically embraced by the working poor.

[lilmarchboi]

funny because i live about seven minutes from eugene oregon and i have never noticed it is this in pleasant hill?

[peakmoment]

The ecovillage is west of downtown, about 5 minutes by bike.

[Undersizeme]

If you read two books - "Pattern Language" mentioned in this video and "The Permaculture Designers Manual" you'll realize that even though it may be slow and difficult to change our economic and political systems to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly it's quite practical for every individual to make over their own personal lifestyle for the better.

[bearsagainstevil]

whats a great guy and what wonderful houses, I live in the west country of the united kingdom and you do see cob houses and they do last a hell of a long time and are great houses