[Strawbale] blood finish (GSBN Digest, Vol 35, Issue 21)

[RT]

On Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:00:02 -0400, <gsbn-request at greenbuilder...> wrote:

Martin wrote

> I expressed my preference for not using blood on the floor of this  
> building.  It didn?t feel right to me personally (note: I?m
> not vegetarian) and I questioned how it would be received by Haitians
[snip]

>  Bob wrote:
> 3.  My guess  is that you're rationalizing the "ick factorHaitians don't  
> have their ick factor set anywhere as high as middle class us.

> Definitely research the cultural implications, but blood is local,
> it's free and it works well. It deserves serious consideration for a
> trial.
[snip]

for un<snip>ped balance of the above see:

       http://greenbuilder.com/pipermail/gsbn/2011q1/001384.html

I don't have a problem with the First Worlders Currently Working in Haiti  
(FWCWiH) using blood as an earthen floor stabiliser, just as I don't have  
a problem with Meat-eaters and their dietary preferences. People make  
their own choices.

However, I would have the same suggestion for the FWCWiH as I do for  
Meat-eaters -- that is, before deciding whether or not to be a carnivore  
or a blood floorist, be involved in the process of leading the live animal  
 from the pasture to the place where it will be killed, help restrain the  
animal while its throat is slit and the blood collected while the  
still-beating heart pumps it out of the gash and into the collection pan.

If you are comfortable with the entire process, then by all means,  
recommend the use of animal blood for the building(s) you are making for  
the Haitians.

Me ? I think that I'd be looking at using seaweed instead.

I'm guessing that the results would be similar to that yielded by using  
animal manure admixtures except that the macerating would be done by  
humans/humans-using-mechanical-advantage-devices instead of passing the  
plant material through a ruminant's digestive tract.

Since the agar-agar is not being used for human food, my guess is that the  
process of turning seaweed into agar-agar is less work-intensive.

My guess is that the local populace probably has hands-on knowledge about  
the seaweed-to-agar-agar process.

My guess is that if dead seaweed washed up on the shore is used (instead  
of live seaweed harvested from the sea) nature has already done some of  
the work for you.


-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  c a >
manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit "reply"