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Dear All,
I wasn't there so I can't really comment but I do recognize some of it. This is what you get when people make strawbale building into a believe instead of a science. Best regards, Cas
> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:23:30 +0200 > From: asbn@baubiologie.at > To: Strawbale@amper....muni.cz > Subject: [Strawbale] ESBG 2011 and the future of strawbale building > > ESBG 2011 and the future of strawbale building > > Some personal remarks on the so-called european strawbale gathering 2011 in > the sleepy village Bouzov-Podoli (CZ) > > My first day in BP: imagine coming to a place where permaculture is the > thing. That´s fine by me, but in this case it literally means > eco-puritanism. The only room for presentations - a tiny teahouse (and this > also means no coffee anywhere) with a sunken roof because of the abundant > vegetation on it, that you have to enter with a deep bow and some deep > respect of mother nature. A big bump on the head reminded me: tree-trunks > are harder than my skull, maybe because I had not taken off my shoes before > entering. > > The purpose of the building (100 % ecological of course, made of trunks, > earth and maybe a little straw) became quite clear: it´s a stresstest on > what earthen walls really can do for indoor-climate. No ventilation, no > electricity, no windows to be opened, and now you may multiply like 30 > people in a room for 20 with the 36 °C it had on this day, add a lot of > sweat and you come to the result, that it´s possible to build 100 % > ecological even with almost no money and without architects and building > physicians. At least if you don´t intent to use the building for longer than > the 2 minutes we humans survive without breathing. > > Apropos shoes: We wouldn´t have needed them at all because of the heat, but > outside the teahouse we had to decide whether to walk on crushed stone with > bare feet (and get rid of this softening overcivilised attitude of us petty > urbans) or slip back in our dampening footwear. > > Nature was the big theme on this 'ESBG', but even the wasps (which seemed to > gather here from all over Czech Republic) knew that and so they decided to > populate the vegetarian feeding places in crowds and followed the food and > drinks to the tables. This was the next lecture to learn to live in > accordance to mother nature. And if you count those nice little creatures as > visitors (why not?), this ESBG was the best visited ESBGs of all time. > > But who am I to complain: not arriving on the first day saved me from > working on the wells (yes, really!) to have the pleasure of pipewater. Cold > water was spare, except at the only real refreshing place around, a pond > about 3 km astray, which had obviously been overlooked by the eco-puritans > and so kept it´s natural beauty. > > Enough; I came here to meet and greet and share and exchange, so let´s come > to that. The programm was very relaxed, it's called „open space“ and > supposedly the latest hype for conferences. In fact open space means, that > nobody feels responsible, because nobody had to follow a schedule or could > even be sure about what he or she had to present or share. The majority was > wandering around the perimeter, not knowing where to go, what to say or > hear. Superfluous to mention the lack of any presentation technique like a > silly beamer (which really doesn't fit to such a low tech area); we crowded > together around some laptops, until their batteries went dead. > > But let´s have some practice. Only pure naturalists enjoy standing in the > baking, burning sun for more than 5 minutes, not to speak of building > strawbale constructions. But there are always those tougher than the rest. > Some were very willing to work with the handmade strawbales, but... > according to the law of Max (I come to that later) one has to begin with the > stemming of the lines before the wrapping may begin. A lecture, that the > truth of strawbale-building isn't just fun with bales, but a lot of > preparing work around. After 15 minutes everybody seemed to know the > technique of wrapping by watching the stemming and left the place. > > Dusk fell, it was still very warm, and after exchanging a lot of > anger-calming jokes about the ongoing events (in the center of which stood > „Mad Max“, the ever stressed out, goofylike leader with an annoying cowboy > attitude (and hat)), we found ourselves coming together, enjoying delicious > cold beer and soothing cigarettes (some more natural smokeables) and each > other, celebrating a birthday child with a „cake“ of clay with candles, and > entertaining us with tales of the strawbalers world and about the funny > situation. The local ESBG-team tries always to compensate Max' chaotic > manner and is really nice and friendly, serves some schnaps and (free) beer > to lift the spirit... but it all came to a sudden end with the spontaneous > arrival of the 'leader'. He prohibits smoking (we sit outside in the open > air on a place called 'bar', but according to Max' law we are on a > strawbuilding site and everybody knows: don't play with fire when on a > strawbuilding-site). Because the author of this silly review seems to ignore > the actual seriousness of the situation, Max threatens him to remove him > from the premises and fetches the lighted cigarette out of his hands. „What > about the candles?“ one dares to ask. You all can surely imagine, that the > cake with the candles followed the cigarette immediately into the dust of > the night. > > After that lecture in preventing fire on strawbuilding-sites we could have > proceeded smoking, lighting candles and joking but nobody was in any mood > for that anymore. What was told in the minutes before we went to sleep is > better not be cited. > > But what the hack, the next day would save the event: the big 'European > strawbale conference' which takes place – oh glory halleluja – in a > different location at the townhall in Bouzov (and this means comfortable > toilets, a beamer, windows to open and hopefully no wasps). > > > > My second day in Bouzov-Podoli: In preparing the big event some creative new > things were established, e.g. the european networkers, who have brought > european strawbale building-efforts to the point, where it is today, had to > present their topics on posters. Themes of the presentations were edited and > dictated to prevent duplication and different views, as a result e.g. a > well-known plasterworker didn´t talk about his expertise, but shared some > refreshing notes about his life as a young entrepreneur... an entertaining > presentation in contrast to the usual specialized strawbale-lectures. > > The schedule was tight, to say the least. We were at the clock; a > countdown-device counted 20 minutes, starting again in the second it reached > zero. Questions were entirely postponed to after the last presentation at 5 > pm and exept a lunchbreak and a short break on afternoon we had no pauses at > all for questioning or discussions (or smoking:-). A conference without the > usual exchange like comparing experiences, sharing knowledge, bringing up > strawbale building by working together. Obviously Max has a completely > different viewpoint on that – no topic was scheduled more than once, so in > the end it was one large heap of puzzle-pieces, only every stone belonged to > a different puzzle... > > Unfortunately even off the stage it was not possible to learn much, because > whatever was interesting and not per se understandable in the presented > system turned out to be a secret of the inventors. All in all a pleasent > conference-day with concise presentations and without arduous debates... > > I left immediately after the conference, some of the visitors from Poland > and Germany did that immediately after arriving (and clashing with Max), but > most of the others persevered, tolerated and outlasted the challenges and > inventions because of the big distances to their home-countries, waiting for > something like a turning point, which didn't come at all. > > > > My conclusion: Certainly it was great to get to know and meet again so many > nice people, but if this so-called ESBG is in any way significant for the > future of the european strawbale building, then good night, european > strawbale building. Whats the purpose of an ESBG? For me, what it always was > – sharing knowledge and experiences between all european networkers and > straw bale builders, so that we can go home to our respective countries, > with renewed enthusiasm (which lasted long e.g. after the last Belgian > ESBG), the reinforced feeling of being part of a movement, fine-tuning next > years coordination, and some new ideas in the baggage to be spread at home > in workshops. In one word – bringing forward the case. > > This years ESBG paints a threat: a threat of an event advertising the > organiser, abused for the sake of the local/regional strawbale building > scene alone. That leaves the international networkers with the task that > should be done by the locals: teaching newbies. Don´t get me wrong, that´s > an honorable task, and an important one, only why should any international > expert pay for that? Experts pay for becoming even greater experts. If > there´s just a job to do in which they only give, they should GET at least > paid. Or otherwise simply no one will gather together anymore. > > This is just my opinion, but I think its time to act now and push the next > ESBG in a better direction.... > > Mit lieben Grüßen / with kind regards > Herbert Gruber > -- > asbn - austrian strawbale network > Österreichisches Netzwerk für Strohballenbau > 3720 Ravelsbach, Baierdorf 6 > Email: asbn@baubiologie... > http://www.baubiologie.at > > > > > ____________________________________________________ > European strawbale building discussion list > > Send all messages to: > Strawbale@amper....muni.cz > > Archives, subscription options, etc: > http://amper.ped.muni.cz/mailman/listinfo/strawbale > ____________________________________________________ > > |