<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Dear GSBN community,</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;">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. </span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><br></span></font></div><div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000" face="Helvetica" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">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. </span></font><br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><br></span></span></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">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. </span></span></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><br></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">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. </span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><br></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><div>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 </div><div><a href="http://www.eesi.org/062008_Straw-Bale_Construction">http://www.eesi.org/062008_Straw-Bale_Construction</a></div></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><br></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">I wish you all many blessings for 2009.</span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; "><br></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px; ">Laura</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><br></span></font></div></span></span></div></span><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; "><br></span></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#4C721D" face="'Times New Roman'" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; "><b><i><br></i></b></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#50742B"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">Laura Bartels</span></font></font></font></div><span><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#50742B"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdItalic"><i><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; ">P.O. Box 912, Carbondale, CO 81623<br>Ph 970-379-6779, Fax 970-963-0905</span></font></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><br></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="ArnoPro-SmbdCaption"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; "><a href="mailto:laura@greenweaverinc.com">laura@greenweaverinc.com</a><br>www.greenweaverinc.com</span></font></span></font></i></font></font></span></span><span></span><div><br></div><div><span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><span><img height="99" width="201" src="cid:BEE497CD-A097-4C96-B8DC-20DC694F15B3@gateway.2wire.net"></span> </div></span></span></div><br></body></html>