I've been kind of waiting til the election is over to really get going on this project, but, what the heck... I'll figuratively "break first ground" here and now.
About a year ago, I ran into a website called CalEarth.org that featured eco-domes, and superadobe architecture. I found myself enchanted by these structures and began to conceive an idea to bring this to the Durango/Four Corners area to help people get homes who mostly can't afford to buy one of the regular stick-built traditional homes. Affordable housing in the Durango area is a big problem. The available wages for many who live and work in this area, are most times not enough to allow them to buy a home. Local programs such as Habitat for Humanity and Colorado Housing Inc. work to build traditional built homes for lower income families or individuals, who put in sweat equity, but the building costs for these structures limits the amount of homes that get built and the amount of people who can get them. By building eco-domes with superadobe, 4 to 6 small homes at least could be built for every single traditional stick-built home that gets contructed each year.
To really get going, I felt I should visit CalEarth and see them in person, to get the actual feel for them. On my budget this was a challenge, but I finally managed to get there this past September and my enchantment with these structures became full-fledged love. I'm back home now with a vision and a purpose.
Many know me as a writer/blogger about things extraterrestrial, and practical people might question that... but I firmly believe, through my own experience, that ETs are real and that those who are spiritually evolved and of high integrity will be initiating contact at some point soon. I also believe that they look at humanity as a single collective, moving towards the point of full open contact. One of their requirements for full open contact may be at least a rudimentary demonstration of sentience through showing care, love and concern for all life and an active knowledge of the interconnectedness of all life.
Humanity in my belief is just birthing itself now as a sentient species, one capable of seeing the big picture, capable of vision and seeing the interconnectivity of all life, even those parts of Creation that many don't look at as alive, such as rocks and earth. However, as postulated by Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, the Earth herself and every single part of her may be alive, and my time in nature convinces me of this aliveness, all around me.
It is not sentient for a species to be so destructive that they bring about their own extinction and the extinction of so many other forms of life around them.
"humans are members of the same body,
all created from the same essence
if one limb is in pain, the others cannot be at ease
if you are indifferent to other people's pain
you cannot be called a human."
~Saadi, 13th Century Persian poet
(from the CalEarth home page.)
So, in the spirit of demonstrating human sentience, I wish to join in with many others in initiating life-enhancing projects that show love, care and concern for my fellow human beings. One of my own great needs is for a home of my own. I want one that works in harmony with nature. CalEarth eco-domes fit that vision. But it's not enough that I just work to get one for myself. I want others to have this too, and to join me in this vision and this movement.
One of the things most troubling is the amount of noise I put up with at the apartment I currently rent. Traffic noise, construction noise, lawnmowers and much more. Often I can't even count on enough cessation of noise to get a good night sleep! Add to that my high sensitivity (see the work of Elaine Aron, Ph.D. on highly sensitive people... http://www.hsperson.com/), and it becomes a problem for me and people like me, for whom the world is often overwhelmingly stimulating and exhausting. It's like being subjected to very low level mild electrical shocks all day long. A few you recover from pretty quickly, but a whole day long full of them leaves you pretty tired out, even exhausted. Then when you can't recharge yourself by getting a good night's sleep... well, you see the problem.
So I especially want to reach out to other sensitives and create a small community for us to thrive in. I'm looking for those who have a high appreciation and value for peace and quiet and consideration of those around you. Every community is going to want to have those times of party and celebration, and certainly that is wonderful! But most noise minimized, or in moderation. I'm also looking for people who would eventually want to move this community completely off the grid, maintain a community garden and be sustainble in as many ways as we can. This will be a joint vision, not just mine, and is just in formation - conception - right now.
These eco-domes are a wonderful building technique. They will blend with the natural environment. They are built from on-site earth. They are high-wind, actually hurricane-resistant as well as earthquake resistant, having been tested at the CalEarth facility in California by going through actual earthquakes. The city of Hesperia, upon inspection, found them to not only meet, but exceed requirements for strength and load testing.
They are beautiful and feel wonderful to be inside of. They may not be for everyone, but for some of us, they could serve wonderfully well to create a small community for sensitive people to live, work and play together in a way that supports each other and contributes to the good of the planet and others.
I've called this project at its inception Khalili Village. Nader Khalili is the creator/designer/architect of these structures and he created them for people to be empowered to build their own homes with their own hands without running into roadblocks due to cost and financing. He passed away last March 2008. I'd love for his creation, vision and care for human beings to be honored by naming this community project for him. While some cost and financing may be needed to get this project underway, the cost will be significantly less than building traditional stick-built framed structures.
If this sounds like a wonderful vision for you, I hope to meet you soon!
Many Blessings,
Niara
"Earth turns to gold in the hands of the wise." ~Rumi
For more information on eco-domes and the CalEarth architecture, please visit:
http://www.calearth.org/Index/index.html
For videos about these structures, search YouTube for CalEarth, eco-dome, and Nader Khalili.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
