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Natural building - Eco Life Blog

Big Respect to Madam Pele

November 6th 2006 17:39

We are on Vacation on the big island of Hawaii, and it is so magnificent. It has the only volcano that is still erupting. We walked out to see the lava flows yesterday night in the full moon, So Awesome! We were about 2 miles from the glowing lava, we could see it on the hill coming down and going into the ocean. It was such an amazing experience to see new earth being formed right in front of our eyes! How humbling it is to see what happened millions of years ago, still happening in this moment.
What a new respect I have for Mother Earth, seeing her in action like that. Standing in view of her fiery, passionate energy, I am even more appalled at Man's arrogance in destroying nature without a second thought.

Here on the Islands, we call the goddess of the volcano, Madam Pele. There are many myths and legends told about her. Here on the Big Island of Hawaii, she is alive and well and I'd like to share a modern legend with you.
Sometime in the not so distant past (80's and 90's'), there was much development going on, in these parts. Well there was an exceptionally large resort development to take place in the town of Kalapana, you know, hotels, shops, restaurants and all this in an area that had never before had any resorts. And just a few days after all the papers were signed and all the permission been granted. Madam Pele released one of her mighty lava flows to take out all of Kalapana, the surrounding areas and all thier resort plans. Just like that, all gone. There was one Lady whose permission they forgot to ask.

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Posted By: Angelika - Category: Natural building

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Strawbale/Adobe house

November 4th 2006 06:38

There is an amazing video on building a house with strawbale and Adobe available at: Building with awareness
It's an informative video and guidebook taking the process of building apart step by step while also explaining installing photovoltaic and solar water heater and passive solar design.
This is video and guidebook set is great for anyone embarking on building a home themselves, or having a home built professionally. It will guide you through and familiarize you with every process.
The native americans of old built awe-inspiring structures out of mud! They perfected the art of using Adobe-mud made from the area around them to build dwellings.

We must once again use ancient wisdom to learn to live in harmony with the earth. It is so wonderful that humans are starting to go back to basics We cannot go on living in the unsustainable way that we humans do. We would do well to learn from our ancestors the simplicity of living naturally and integrate this wisdom with our modern life.

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Posted By: Angelika - Category: Natural building

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Progressive Europe-Part 3

October 24th 2006 21:25

The Hemp Museum in Amsterdam

The third part of my Progressive Europe series is about some of the lenient Cannabis laws in some of their countries. This is one of the most amazing plants the creator has given us and we would be wise to legalize it in all countries! There are over 25,000 known uses for this plant. Cannabis could solve so many of our environmental problems that stem from using non-renewable resources in our modern lives.
Rope, twine, fuel, plastics, building materials, food, clothing can all be made from Cannabis.
It has even been reported that a bridge in the south of France between 500-700 AD was built with partly Cannabis, and it was part of a car that Henry Ford built!
75-90% of the paper in the USA was made with it until the 1880's.
Cannabis grows way fster than trees, maturing in 100 days, as opposed to 50 to 100 YEARS for trees. It can be grown easily without chemical sprays, because it is pest, mildew and rot resistant. This can't be said for cotton, which is one of the most chemically treated plants in the industry (If you buy cotton, buy 100% organic)
The Production rate blows away most crops with 10 tons per acre, every 4 months!

It can be used for fuel, by processing hemp oil into Bio-diesel, which can be used in any diesel engine.
As far as food, Hemp seeds have the very important Essential Fatty Acids, Omega 3 and 6, which are great for improving cholesterol levels as well as the immune system, among many other things.
It is also a great medicine, In the mid to late 1800's it was the 2nd and 3rd most used medication. Today, there are some countries that allow it to be used for glaucoma, and recovery from chemotherapy, appetite loss and pain associated from cancer and AIDS.
So, it is quite ridiculous that this PLANT is not allowed to be grown in most of the world and that there are laws against it in world government.
In Europe, many countries are getting wise to the ways of their ancestors. We all know how liberal Amterdam is with Cannabis laws, and Switzerland was moving in the same direction until recently. Now Spain has also decriminilized it and we were told in Germany it is also quite lax.
Well, yet another thing we can learn from Progressive Europe.