A Low Impact Woodland Home

You are looking at pictures of a house I built for our family in Wales. It was built by myself and my father in law with help from passers by and visiting friends. 4 months after starting we were moved in and cosy. I estimate 1000-1500 man hours and £3000 put in to this point. Not really so much in house buying terms (roughly £60/sq m excluding labour).

The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.

Some key points of the design and construction:

• Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
• Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
• Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
• Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
• Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
• Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
• Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
• Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
• Anything you could possibly want is in a rubbish pile somewhere (windows, burner, plumbing, wiring...)
• Woodburner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
• Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
• Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
• Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
• Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
• Water by gravity from nearby spring
• Compost toilet
• Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

Main tools used: chainsaw, hammer and 1 inch chisel, little else really. Oh and by the way I am not a builder or carpenter, my experience is only having a go at one similar house 2yrs before and a bit of mucking around inbetween. This kind of building is accessible to anyone. My main relevant skills were being able bodied, having self belief and perseverence and a mate or two to give a lift now and again.

This building is one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives. For example this house was made to house our family whilst we worked in the woodland surrounding the house doing ecological woodland management and setting up a forest garden, things that would have been impossible had we had to pay a regular rent or mortgage. 

To read more about why we did it and why this is an important option to meet the challenges of climate change and peak oil, click here.

Would you like to learn more about this sort of building and gain practical experience? Why not join us on another exciting building project. There will be opportunities for everyone of all abilities and areas of interest.

Click HERE to find out more.

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Interview with Craig Fitzgerald (October 3, 2012 - ATS/CC Radio Interview)

Broadcast October 3, 2012 - Keith Preston Interviews Craig Fitzgerald for Attack the System on Counter-Currents Radio.

Craig Fitzgerald is one of the founders of the National Anarchist Tribal Alliance of New York.

Topics discussed:

• Why nationalists aught to consider National Anarchism.
• Chris’ progression from Left-wing Anarchism to National Anarchism
• The degree to which the State can actually be abolished in a viable society
• The degree to which National Anarchism can accomodate those who believe in a State but oppose the current State.
• Agorism and shadow economies
• Institutions local communities can form
• Homesteading and self-sufficiency
• The pervasiveness of instant gratification
• Is National Anarchism against technology and urban societies?
• National Anarchism and cultural preservation.
  
  
  Click Play Below For The Interview
  
  
  
  For other interviews with Craig Fitzgerald please click here.

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Addicted to Plastic (Documentary)

ADDICTED TO PLASTIC is a feature-length documentary about solutions to plastic pollution. 

The point-of-view style documentary encompasses three years of filming in 12 countries on 5 continents, including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. 

The film details plastic's path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability. 

These solutions - which include plastic made from plants - will provide viewers with a hopeful perspective about our future with plastic.

Watch the full documentary below.

Discussed on the N-AM Facebook group here.

The World According to Monsanto (Documentary)

The World According to Monsanto - Watch the FULL documentary below.

Monsanto is a world leader in industrial agriculture, providing the seeds for 90 percent of the world’s genetically modified crops. Once a chemical company based in the US, Monsanto has transformed into an international life sciences company, aiming to solve world hunger and protect the environment.

Filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, however, exposes the company’s troubling past, in her recent film, The World According to Monsanto. In an interview with The Real News Network, she discusses Monsanto’s controversial practices from a producer of PCBs and Agent Orange to genetically modified seeds and related herbicides.

Starting from the Internet over a period of three years Robin has collected material for her documentary, going on to numerous interviews with people of very different backgrounds. She traveled widely, from Latin America, to Asia, through Europe and the United States, to personally interview farmers and people in influential positions.

As an example of pro-Monsanto interviews, she talked at length with Michael Taylor who has worked as a lawyer for Monsanto and also for the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), where he had great influence on the legalization of the genetically modified bovine growth hormone (BGH). It also became FDA policy during Taylor’s tenure that GM seeds are declared to be “substantially equivalent to non-GM seeds, hence proclaiming proof of the harmlessness of GMs to be unnecessary. Michael Taylor is a typical example of technocrats employed via ‘the revolving door policy’. He is now head of the Washington, D.C. office of Monsanto Corporation.

This 2004 documentary film makes an in-depth investigation into unlabelled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly made their way onto grocery stores in the United States for the past decade.

It voices the opinions of farmers in disagreement with the food industry and details the impacts on their lives and livelihoods from this new technology, and shines a light on the market and political forces that are changing what we eat.

The film decries the cost of a globalised food industry on human lives around the world, and highlights how international companies are gradually driving farmers off the land in many countries. Potential global dependence of the human race on a limited number of global food corporations is discussed, as is the increased risk of ecological disasters – such as the Irish Potato Famine (1845–1849) – resulting from the reduction of biological diversity due to the promotion of corporate sponsored monoculture farming.

The issue of incorporating a terminator gene into plant seeds is questioned, with concern being expressed about the potential for a widespread catastrophe affecting the food supply, should such a gene contaminate other plants in the wild. Legal stories reported by the film related how a number of farmers in North America have been sued by Monsanto; and the defendant of the Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser case is interviewed.

The film was written and directed by Deborah Koons, produced by Catherine Butler and Deborah Koons, and premiered on 14 September 2005 at Film Forum in New York City to a full house. It has since been released on DVD in both NTSC and PAL formats.

Watch the full documentary below

Also watch this short 5 minute video expose.

 Also watch the documentary 'David Vs. Monsanto: A Documentary On GMO - Percy Schmeiser'.

Related links:

* Daily Mail: Cancer row over GM foods as study says it did THIS to rats... and can cause organ damage and early death in humans

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The Crisis of Civilization (Documentary)

The Crisis of Civilization is a documentary feature film investigating how global crises like ecological disaster, financial meltdown, dwindling oil reserves, terrorism and food shortages are converging symptoms of a single, failed global system.

Weaving together archival film footage and animations, film-maker Dean Puckett, animator Lucca Benney and international security analyst Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, offer a stunning wake-up call proving that ‘another world’ is not merely possible, but on its way.

The film reveals how a failure to understand the systemic context of these crises, linked to neoliberal ideology, has generated a tendency to deal not with their root structural causes, but only with their symptoms.

This has led to the proliferation of war, terror, and state-terror, including encroachment on civil liberties, while accelerating global crises rather than solving them.

Full documentary below

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Technology is killing us

Kim White/Bloomberg

by John Zerzan

Our reliance on the digital world comes at the expense of the material one. Are our lives made better by smartphones and tablets?

Every time Apple releases a new iPhone or iPad, the world seems to go into a frenzy. But what’s the big deal? Why have smartphones and tablets become so important?

CNN’s Andrew Keen, reporting from the Mobile World Congress at the end of February, referred to “our increasing addiction to our mobile phones” in a piece called “How Our Mobiles Became Frankenstein’s Monster.”

SecureEnvoy, a British mobile security firm, disclosed a widespread condition called “nomophobia” (no-mobile-phobia), or fear of loss of one’s cell phone. Two-thirds of those surveyed by SecureEnvoy strongly feared loss of their mobiles — up from 53% four years ago — reporting such symptoms as trembling, sweating and nausea. (Read further: Source)

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The Betrayal by Technology: A Portrait of Jacques Ellul (Documentary)

Jacques Ellul was a French theologian/sociologist & anarchist. He first became well-known to American readers when his book The Technological Society was published in English in 1964.

This book leveled a broad critique of technique, a term that means more than gadgets and machines -- as the English word technology means.

For Ellul, technique represented an entire way of life characterized by life fragmented so that efficiency ultimately rules over all ethical decisions.

Ellul warned that technique was having drastic effects on all aspects of modern life. His books, Anarchy and Christianity, The Politics of God and the Politics of Man are two examples of how his political and religious outlooks mutually reinforced one another.

Many Green Anarchists have cited Ellul's work on technique as influential on their thought.

Full documentary below

J. Ellul, The Technological Society, Intro:

"The term technique, as I use it, does not mean machines, technology, or this or that procedure for attaining an end. In our technological society, technique is the totality of methods ralionally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity. Its characteristics are new; the technique of the present has no common measure with that of the past." (p. xxv)

"Capitalism did not create our world; the machine did. Painstaking studies designed to prove the contrary have buried the obvious beneath tons of print. And, if we do not wish to play the demagogue, we must point out the guilty party. 'The machine is antisocial', says Lewis Mumford. 'It tends, by reason of its progressive character, to the most acute forms of human exploitation.' The machine took its place in a social milieu that was not made for it, and for that reason created the inhuman society in which we live. Capitalism was therefore only one aspect of the deep disorder of the nineteenth century. To restore order, it was necessary to question all the bases of that society — its social and political structures, its art and its way of life, its commercial system." (p. 5)

In 1950, Ellul finished his manuscript La Technique ou l'enjeu du siecle (The Technological Society), his seminal analysis of the way technology shapes every aspect of society. As contemporary thinker, he was strongly influenced by Kierkegaard, Marx and Barth. After a live, in which he wrote close to fifty books, Ellul died in the summer of 1994, at the age of 82.

The team of ReRun Produkties visited Ellul in 1990. During five subsequent days, long interview sessions were held with him in his old mansion in Pessac. The Betrayal by Technology is one of the very few existing filmed recordings of Jacques Ellul speaking.

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Interview with Craig Fitzgerald (July 30, 2012 - CthePoweR/Conscious Resistance Radio Interview)

Broadcast July 30, 2012 - Interview with Craig Fitzgerald

CthePoweR/Conscious Resistance Radio Interview

National-Anarchism.

Interview with Craig Fitzgerald (July 30, 2012 - CthePoweR/Conscious Resistance Radio Interview) from Neil G. Hiatt on Vimeo.

For other interviews with Craig Fitzgerald please click here.

(Source)

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Solar growth doubles renewable installations in South West of England

A new report published today shows that renewable capacity in the South West has more than doubled over the last year.

The 'Renewable Energy Progress Report' published by Regen SW, shows that renewable electricity capacity increased by 142 percent in the region, from 217MW in 2010/11 to 525MW in 2011/12. 

As the table above shows, the explosive growth was mostly driven by solar PV, which accounted for 237MW of all new renewable capacity in the South West during 2011/12. Small-scale solar dominated the installation market, representing 160MW of installed capacity, with large-scale solar parks adding a further 75MW of capacity to the area.

The report notes that the first half of 2011 saw “great interest from nation and international developers in large scale solar parks in the South West due to the feed-in tariff.” However, applications dramatically stopped in Spring 2011, when a fast-tracked FiT review dramatically slashed the applicable large scale FiT rate. The report states: “Before the change came into effect over 20 solar farms were deployed, adding 75 MW to the region’s total capacity. The number of applications for solar parks is now increasing again, as costs have dropped and projects are becoming financially viable using support from the ROCs regime. Solar parks are likely to be a major part of the 2012/2013 renewable electricity figures.” (Read further: Source)

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Finding and Building a Dream Eco House on a Budget

Debby Parkinson starts a blog about her family's story about relocating on a budget from Yorkshire to Kent in 2011, how they struggled to find land to build an eco-house and the solutions they came up with to overcome the lack of cash.

We are Andy and Debby Parkinson from Dover. We have four children, all studying at various places around the country. We decided to relocate from Bradford in Yorkshire, to Dover in Kent in 2011, to live a different, more sustainable life. 

We wanted to share our story, as we feel we have researched many of the elements required to move towards a more sustainable way of life. We didn't have a huge amount to spend, and felt that we typified 'ordinary' people with a modest budget and rational requirements.

We have successfully relocated, found an eco-architect and a like-minded builder, have compromised with our local planning department, but are happy so far. We have only begun to make changes to the back garden, have ideas for combining parking and productiveness in the front garden, and first-hand experience of living in a 2 berth touring caravan for what was only supposed to be a few weeks whilst our house was being altered. Our budget including mortgage and savings is £200,000, and our list of requirements has evolved as we have become more aware of just how little this would buy us! We hope you find our story interesting and empowering and this is an ongoing process.  (Read further: Source)

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anOther Story Of Progress (Documentary)

anOther Story Of Progress covers various issues, such as environmental destruction, indigenous resistance and insurrection – from a primitivist perspective. It also features primitivist thinkers such as John Zerzan and Layla AbdelRahim, as well as activists Vandana Shiva and Ana Maria Lozano from Justicia y Paz – to mention just some of the people appearing in the film.

Aside from footage shot with a home video-camera, material has been drawn from various documentaries to emphasise the thesis presented in the film: western civilization is a violent, destructive culture that has to be fought against.

Watch the full documentary below.

"This movie is not like any other movie. It's an attempt to break with the story of civilization and to tell another very different story. One about a culture incompatible with nature."
- Felix Silvestris Catus

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A Farm For The Future (Documentary)

BBC documentary on the precient global farming and food crisis, filmed in the UK. 

Topics covered are the influence of oil on the food production, peak-oil, food security, carbon emissions, sustainability and permaculture.

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key.

With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last year’s high fuel prices were a wake-up call for Rebecca. Realising that all food production in the UK is completely dependent on abundant cheap fossil fuel, particularly oil, she sets out to discover just how secure this oil supply is.

Alarmed by the answers, she explores ways of farming without using fossil fuel. With the help of pioneering farmers and growers, Rebecca learns that it is actually nature that holds the key to farming in a low-energy future.

Watch the full documentary below

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Seed balls

Seed balls are a method of propagation widely promoted by Natural Farming innovator Masanobu Fukuoka.

Seed balls are simply seeds mixed with equal proportions of dried compost and clay, formed into small balls, and dried for later sowing.

To make them, simply select the seeds to be used - thick-skinned seeds will need to be scarified, and some seeds need heat or cold to bring them out of dormancy. Legumes will require inoculant if they are to fix nitrogen. Also, for species that can benefit from mycorrhizal relationships, adding the spores of mycorrhizal fungi such as the genus Glomus and/or Rhizopogon, speciesGigaspora margarita, and/or Pisolithus tinctorus would be beneficial, though not necessary. [This list is not exhaustive, but these are readily available through Fungi Perfecti.]

Mix one part seeds with one part dry compost.

Next, add one part dry clay and mix.

Then spray in water a little at a time and mix it together until you have just enough water to hold everything together without crumbling.

After that, form the mixture into balls 2~3 cm in diameter.

Finally, dry the balls for later use.

Once dried, the balls are ready to be spread over land that you want to plant. When the rains come, the seeds will germinate.

Using this method along with other Natural Farming techniques, Fukuoka san was able to produce 590kg (1300lbs) of winter grain (barley or wheat) and 22 bushels of rice per quarter acre of land. Moreover, these techniques require the labour of just two people working a few weeks a year to attain the crop. There is no plowing, no weeding, no application of biocides in any form, and no fertilising.

Seed balls may be obscure in North America, but in parts of the world already badly damaged by human activity, their use is easily recognised. The BCIL Alt.Tech Foundation of India uses seed balls to regreen Bangalore. And as most of the planets deserts are the creation of mankind, we can follow their lead to undo the damage we have done.

Imagine tanks used, not for warfare, but to pull land imprinters to give seedballs an advantage. Imaging cluster bombs, not killing, but being used to distribute seed balls over deserts creating green explosions. 

While some of these ideas may seem unrealistic, they are within the realm of possibility... if we only act.

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