[GSBN] winning the hearts and minds

[Tom Hahn]

It's just you, Darrel... ;-)   Well, and me... and David... and... oh...

I do think this was a pretty rare anomaly... Even mainstream people I 
come across -- that are involved in building or design, or media 
about it -- seem to have heard of it (some still with derision in 
their tone, and most still calling it "hay-bale", though).  And I've 
seen that dramatically change for the better since my days as editor 
of TLS.  Back then it was 98% "never-heard-of-it", 1+% had "heard bad 
things" about it, and only a tiny minority knew of and were in favor 
of it.

Now that percentage is nearly reversed, with only a small percentage 
either completely in the dark (your reporter), or just full-on 
against it (mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with actual 
straw-bale construction).  That reversed 98% are either more-or-less 
knowledgeable about it, mostly in a good way, or at least familiar 
enough with it to be able to engage their concerns through a rational 
conversation about the subject.

I actually think the natural building movement is doing a pretty good 
job (considering our "huge corporate marketing budget") in getting 
into the hearts and minds of people.

I think your experience, Darrel, says (as Derek noted) more about 
contemporary media types than it does about how well we're getting 
our message out.  That reporter is possibly sadly uninformed on a 
number of other contemporary topics.

But thanks for getting the word out... at least as well as the 
reporter could convey it.  I think we all need to be reminded to be 
assertive in reaching out to the "mainstream" (as much as I like my 
"alternate universe" here at Ecosa..).  And when we do make 
"contact", we not only emphasize clarity in what we tell them, but 
also that they do the same when writing about what we do. (que 
strange "electronica" music melody from Close Encounters of the Third 
Kind......)

And I can't wait to see that "soy-boo-bale" building you've got in the works!!

Cheers from Prescott,
Tom Hahn
Ecosa Institute


><http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-colombia-bamboo-20111129,0,5294333.story?track=latiphoneapp>http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-colombia-bamboo-20111129,0,5294333.story?track=latiphoneapp
>
>I spoke with a reporter from the LA Times a few days ago who had 
>never heard of strawbale construction, so of course he had to change 
>it to "hay" bales in the article that's mostly about bamboo... but 
>it does bring up the question of how we ever break into the 
>mainstream.   This subject was so new that when I sent him 
>descriptions of materials we used in a traveling exhibit a decade 
>ago, he was so grateful that I got credit for designing buildings 
>made out of soybeans!
>
>Are we all living in an alternate universe?  Just me?
>--
>Darrel DeBoer
>854 Allview Ave
>El Sobrante, CA 94803 USA
>510-290-3669
><http://www.BambooBuildingEssentials.com>www.BambooBuildingEssentials.com
><http://www.DeBoerArchitects.com>www.DeBoerArchitects.com
>
>home page: <http://www.wdyl.com/#bamboo>http://www.wdyl.com/#bamboo
>download building codes:
><http://bulk.resource.org/codes.gov/bsc.ca.gov/>http://bulk.resource.org/codes.gov/bsc.ca.gov/
>
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