[GSBN] Congressional briefing most popular download

Wed Jan 14 04:14:27 UTC 2009

It sounds like a really fantastic project.
Congratulations from all members of AUSBALE from "down under" 
Regards,
Bohdan Dorniak

Bohdan Dorniak & Co Pty Ltd
Architects & Town Planners
47 Prospect Road
PROSPECT SA 5082
P: (08) 8344 8170, F: (08) 8344 6480
www.bdcoarchitects.com.au

 Think about Sustainability
[ Please consider the environment prior to printing this email ]

-----Original Message-----
From: GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com [mailto:GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com]
On Behalf Of Derek Roff
Sent: Wednesday, 14 January 2009 1:52 PM
To: Global Straw Building Network
Subject: Re: [GSBN] Congressional briefing most popular download

Although many of you may remember, the ever-modest Laura didn't mention that
she was one of the volunteers who built the demonstration strawbale
Eco-house right across from the major Congressional buildings, completed
shortly before the Congressional Briefing.  If you haven't looked lately,
new pictures, video and articles are available on the Builders Without
Borders web site.

<http://builderswithoutborders.org/>

Many congressional aides, and at least a few members of Congress and the
Senate, have taken note of the structure.  The nexus of a beautiful
structure, the Congressional Briefing, and the lasting availability of the
downloads, creates a powerful combination.

The Eco-house will remain in place through the Inauguration of President
Obama, and a few weeks beyond.  Catherine Wanek, Pete Fust and Darren Port
will be travelling to Washington DC for a week, to help explain strawbale
and natural building to any of the millions of people attending the
inauguration, who also choose to visit the Eco-house during this period.

Congratulations to Laura, David, Bob and Sandy for the great Congressional
Briefing, and to everyone who contributed to the Eco-house.

Derek Roff

--On Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:51 PM -0700 Laura Bartels
<laura at greenweaverinc.com> wrote:

> Dear GSBN community,
>
> This week I received some very good news from Carol Werner, the 
> executive director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute 
> which was the sponsor of the Congressional Briefing in June. She wrote  
> to say that "it turns out that we have had more than 1500 unique  
> visits to our strawbale briefing information since it was posted --  
> making it the most popular briefing for pulling down information after  
> a briefing." If you look at the breadth of topics they cover, the  
> amount of briefings and the kinds of speakers they host, it makes this  
> really astounding.
>
> In light of this, I want to encourage those in other countries to 
> consider a similar effort with your federal governments if you haven't  
> already considered it. With the impacts of the economy and awareness  
> and efforts around climate change, it's no news to any of you that  
> placing information about solutions into the right hands now is  
> critical.
>
> The influence that the briefing has had has reached to federal 
> agencies, national organizations and non-profits among, obviously, 
> many individuals. One immediate impact was that the Department of 
> Interior subsequently funded a Straw Bale Housing Symposium in South 
> Dakota along with the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy that 
> several of us presented at. There is now interest from USDA to repeat 
> the symposium for a wider audience in the same region. That is just 
> one example, and there are more brewing and in process.
>
> Beyond working with codes which is such a necessary effort, this 
> experience opened my eyes to the need to work on awareness and support  
> at the policy level and continue to encourage federal support for  
> research and housing programs.
>
> Please know that the link has been changed and share it with those who  
> may benefit. The direct link for the briefing summary and downloads is  
> now http://www.eesi.org/062008_Straw-Bale_Construction
>
> I wish you all many blessings for 2009.
>
> Laura
>
>
>
> Laura Bartels
> P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623
> Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905
> laura at greenweaverinc.com
> www.greenweaverinc.com
>
>
>
>

Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: derek at unm.edu

_______________________________________________
GSBN mailing list
GSBN at greenbuilder.com
http://greenbuilder.com/mailman/listinfo/GSBN
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.7/1892 - Release Date: 13/01/2009
8:04 PM