[GSBN] Positive politics about Palestine, strawbale and earth
Tom Woolley
tom.woolley at btconnect.com
Wed Nov 14 21:42:13 UTC 2012
Dear Alex
that sounds great ..I thought there was support for Palestine in what
you were doing, and its great to have these direct links, so it is
clearer
Derek Roff was disquieted at me raising political issues but maybe USA
is a long way from the Israel/Palestine situation whereas we are more
sensitive to it in Europe
What happens in the Middle East is critical to peace in the world
Derek thinks that politics should be kept out of GSBN discussions, but
we all live in a political context, it cannot be swept under the
carpet as it affects everything we do
I support the use of natural materials because I am against the use,
for instance, of petrochemical materials like Dow Styrofoam
http://www.bhopal.org/tag/dow-chemical/
We cannot avoid politics but we can find positive ways to change the
world using our science and technology in an ethical way
Surely if we are being asked to endorse members in GSBN we have to
consider ethical and social issues.
Would we accept nazi or racist or anti semitic balers?
When we built our strawbale school room in County Down , our planning
approval was opposed by Ian Paisley's DUP party
Orangemen against strawbale building?
Surely by building with natural and low impact materials we are trying
to save the planet
You can't get more political than that
thanks
Tom
On 14 Nov 2012, at 18:27, Alex Cicelsky (Kibbutz Lotan) wrote:
> Tom,
>
> As a peace and coexistence activist I think Israel/Palestine is
> critical issue: let’s continue it privately (and anyone else who
> wants to be included please let me know).
> Here are the links you may have been looking for:
> www.kibbutzlotan.com/marda - assisting Palestinian Permaculture famer
> www.tinyurl.com/Lotan-FoEME-BBC - BBC report on coexistence & Eco-
> education
> http://www.kibbutzlotan.com/creativeEcology/articles/
> Kibbutz_Lotan.pdf Building bridges of clay, mud & straw.
> Communities Magazine, Summer 2006, #131
>
> Salaam - Shalom, Alex
>
> Alex Cicelsky | Director of Research and Development
> Center for Creative Ecology | Kibbutz Lotan 88855 Israel
> +972-54-979-9009 | alex at klotan.co.il
> College, Training & Design Programs | Eco-Network | YouTube Channel
> | Free EcoGuide App | BirdingIsrael
>
> From: GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com [mailto:GSBN-bounces at sustainablesources.com
> ] On Behalf Of Tom Woolley
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 15:57
> To: Global Straw Building Network
> Subject: Re: [GSBN] nomination and update
>
> Dear Alex
> Can you clarify your position on Palestine?
> I was asked to speak at a conference of the International Communal
> Studies Association at Findhorn,
> however it emerged that ICSA, which is based in Israel, could not
> provide satisfactory answers to our questions about kibbutz that
> have been built on occupied palestinian land
> What I saw of the building stuff on your webs sites looks great but
> I couldn't find much about involving Palestinians (though it was
> mentioned on one site and I got the impression that Palestinians
> were involved) .
> thanks
>
> Tom
> PS I can send you the discussion document that was issued by ARC-
> PEACE on the issue of ICSA which led to a decision to boycott the
> ICSA conference if you are interested.
> I am not sure myself that boycotts are always the right thing to do
> as it can be important to support progressive people in israel
>
>
>
>
>
> On 14 Nov 2012, at 12:22, Alex Cicelsky (Kibbutz Lotan) wrote:
>
>
> Dear Balefolk,
>
> Two weeks ago we had a convergence of the core group of Israeli
> straw bale builders and designers, earth and lime plasterers and
> educators. While it’s a challenge to share knowledge in a limited
> marketplace, there is a process of development from competition to
> cooperation and quality control. We spoke a lot about connecting
> with colleagues who are experts - in particular in the area of lime
> plastering which is being reborn in this country where 2000+ years
> ago everyone had a lime slaking pit in their backyard. About 60
> folk attended with an equal proportion of men and women. I assume
> you met Michal Vital at the ISBC. She presented an overview of your
> event and the tour.
>
> I would like to take this opportunity to nominate Michal Vital
> [website http://www.vital-baron.com/ email mvital63 at gmail.com ] to
> the GSBN. We first met working together on the Medwed-Bustan-Wadi
> El Naam Bedouin Clinic project http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/391
> . Since then she’s become a prominent and highly regarded Green
> Architect in the country specializing in natural building, strawbale
> houses and energy efficiency design. She works wonderfully with
> clients, engineers and builders.
>
> One more item: four of our students have started their own natural
> building construction company specializing in strawbales. The name
> of the company is Bottz www.bottz.co.il which is Mud in Hebrew.
> The website is in Hebrew (y’all know how to use the Chrome translate
> option) - the images speak for themselves. Together with Bottz we
> have completed an earth plastered ‘light straw’ fire test wall (photohttp://on.fb.me/T30Fyi
> before plastering. For technical reasons they made blocks instead
> of the normative form-in-place method) and we're waiting for the
> Standards Institute of Israel to give us a date for the fire test,
> hopefully within two weeks.
>
> B’shalom, Alex
>
> Alex Cicelsky | Director of Research and Development
> Center for Creative Ecology | Kibbutz Lotan 88855 Israel
> +972-54-979-9009 | alex at klotan.co.il
> College, Training & Design Programs | Eco-Network | YouTube Channel
> | Free EcoGuide App | BirdingIsrael
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> Tom Woolley
>
> Rachel Bevan Architects
> 80 Church Road
> Crossgar
> Downpatrick
> BT30 9HR
> tom.woolley at btconnect.com
> 028 44 831164
> 028 44 830988
> www.bevanarchitects.com
>
>
>
>
>
Tom Woolley
Rachel Bevan Architects
80 Church Road
Crossgar
Downpatrick
BT30 9HR
tom.woolley at btconnect.com
028 44 831164
028 44 830988
www.bevanarchitects.com
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