[Strawbale]Information Gathering

[Joyce Coppinger]

Please share this email with others.

There is a growing interest and need to gather information about straw-bale
buildings around the world. We are interested in learning more about
business, commercial and industrial buildings, churches and schools, homes
and housing (such as elderly housing, ecovillages, cohousing, multi-family
housing), studios and workshops, all types of buildings and uses of
strawbale. People want to know what the growth rate in straw-bale
construction is over the past five years; where and what types of buildings
are being constructed; what methods are being used as well as design
features. They want to get in touch with people who are working on a similar
project in their area - say a commercial building is being planned and the
people putting the project together want to know if other people have done
the same type of building and what they can learn from them.

To accomplish this, we ask that you list your straw-bale building on the
International Straw Bale Registry. Greenbuilder.com, The Last Straw Journal,
The Straw Bale Association of Texas, and the Development Center for
Appropriate Technology, along with a number of regional strawbale
organizations are working together to build a database of buildings
constructed using straw bales. The aggregate numbers will be useful in many
ways: future research and performance testing, educating insurance
companies, mortgage companies, realtors and real estate appraisers, building
officials. It will also be useful in further popularizing SB to the general
public worldwide. Reading in a magazine article that "over $xxx million in
straw-bale construction already exists in North America" can have a strong
effect on our credibility. The registry also serves as a source of
information and contacts for The Last Straw for articles, surveys, project
pages and other journal content. It's a very valuable tool for the
straw-bale community worldwide.

There are built-in safeguards to ensure privacy about your project, if you
desire. You can share as much or as little information as you want. You can
opt to list your project as available for public viewing, but you don't have
to.

Donations to support this project are welcome. The Last Straw's publisher,
The Green Prairie Foundation for Sustainability/GPFS, is a 501(c)(3) and can
accept tax deductible contributions. Please send donations to GPFS/TLS to:
International Straw Bale Registry Project, The Last Straw Journal, PO Box
22706, Lincoln, NE, 68542-2706 USA.

Joyce
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Joyce Coppinger, Managing Editor
GPFS/TLS, PO Box 22706, Lincoln NE 68542-2706 USA
402.483.5135, fax 402.483.5161
<thelaststraw at thelaststraw...>
www.thelaststraw.org