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Developing Solutions In the introductory home page “developing solutions” refers to our own experimental forest in Olympia and interfacing the “powers that be” with tried and true solutions from those who have gone before us. Below is a few of those people who have broken the trail in developing solutions, and who’s findings we have taken to heart in building our own solution . The following bullets are ecological forestry champs of the past 6 decades who give tours and others who are following suit. Let us not forget, though, the Native People of this country who lived ecologically for the last 10,000 years, before dominant culture overwhelmed them. (see Nisqually Indian Tribe)
Notable US big land owners using selection forestry, but not keen on giving tours, include:
Individuals following suit:
Hand-in-hand with making ecological forestry possible goes such things as domesticating housing starts, and transforming wasteful building fashions. Featured here is an article I wrote after an interview I was given by architect and author, Tom Bender of Manzanita Or. To appreciate this man’s greatness, his work has mentored Rocky Mountain Institute, energy efficiency czars, Amory and Hunter Lovins. www.tombender.org. Sustainable Architecture by Jean Shaffer 1996
Tom Bender is an architectural visionary who thinks long term and looks at changing the entire materials and energy picture of housing. His practical career reflects what he said 20 years ago, that energy use could be reduced by 90%. In a 1981 competition in California on Affordable Housing Designs, he did a study that found he could reduce housing costs by 90%. His clients, as well as his own family of 4, have had a better quality of life in the process. Straightening out physical designs reduces dependence on natural resources and energy. He also ties home and workplace together which eliminates unused space and cuts down on transportation costs. He designs houses to focus on the inner quality of the occupants as well as to honor the materials he puts into a dwelling. Mirrors over the sink in his bathrooms are replaced with a window looking onto a beautiful garden. Detailing such as door knobs are made of things like knar led roots naturally embedded with stone to remind one of the wood’s life rather than sanding individual characteristics out of it. He gives his houses silence by removing motors such as refrigerators, furnaces, washers and dryers. Kitchens have thousands of dollars of cabinets and other fancies missing. Touches such as foot pedals on the floor for tap water save hot water, focus on the needs of the cook, and say something about making a good meal, and enjoying something good. During our interview, he took us on a tour of his own 1200 square foot house to show us his approach of “enough ness” in architecture. The living room was oriented towards the sun. It opened up with sliding glass panels so it’s much like camping as possible. In the kitchen the refrigerator is replaced with an insulated cupboard that opens to the outside for its coolness. He uses natural materials in place of artificial ones such as Formica. Having milled all the house wood on site from local sources, he used the leftover slab wood for the counter tops. The house size was greatly reduced by making rooms multipurpose. The master bedroom is a raised platform off the living room with sliding panel doors. It’s literally a bed-room with huge wrap around windows onto the Pacific Ocean. Doors are open during the day providing additional lounging area for the living room and shut at night for sleeping. Linens and such are stored beneath the platform. We ate lunch in the dining room which is a raised platform in a window corner of the living room. We sat cross legged on the floor around a round table. On the kitchen side of the platform, chairs can be pulled up for those preferring chairs. Firewood is stored under the platform. A stairway to the upstairs and a rice paper shoji wall separate the living room from the entry, keeping heat downstairs. All the space under the stairs is devoted to fine cabinetry for storage. The house is wood throughout. Tom: “I think it’s really vital that we do use wood in our buildings; that we do use old growth in our buildings. If we don’t, it’s like shunning somebody… I don’t say that we use old growth and cut it up into 2X4’s … but if we use just enough of it, so we’re aware of what it is that has become so precious because there’s so little of it left…. I think that’s vital. Most of the wood we use in buildings is not old growth…. We made a floor for the upstairs and we oiled the bottom of it and we had a beautiful wood ceiling downstairs …” “….we aren’t using any more wood than houses with wood substitute products use, because we build so small. We were using the 2nd growth. If we just adopted a sustainable enough forestry procedure so we are not over cutting…. It’s the most simple and direct way to provide…..” (See www.tombender.org/forestry.pdf for his forestry article) “When you’re sitting in a house on the coast here, in a 100-120 mph wind in the winter time and watching the waves crashing against the cliffs of the mountain, watching a Sitka spruce whip back and forth in the wind, the only kind of thing that can survive that kind of wind in a direct impact and you see these products in your house, you know you’re touching that wood. You somehow get a lot closer to what’s appropriate to the meaning of growth and life in that place.” “If you use something which is imported from Brazil, Indo-China, you’ve totally lost the sense of why, the sense of meaning that things have. And that’s a whole dimension of our surroundings, of our lives that we almost totally ignore.” “In any wealthy society all systems become incredibly wasteful. And this is not just an issue of how many resources they use, both material, energy and human resources, but it’s also an issue of effectiveness. Let’s take an example and say a wealthy society of people start building big living rooms. We don’t acknowledge there is “too much ness”, that there is this huge space people have to walk across from the bedroom to the kitchen. It’s like buying pants that are too big and keep falling down so we have to look at what a pattern is trying to accomplish. You know what a living room is for, what a kitchen is for, and find ways that fit the right size in the right way onto that.” (end of quote) Tom’s home designs release large amounts of resources and energy, otherwise wasted. Yet he designs them to be generous, enriching, and supportive of their inhabitants. The bonus of this is it makes everyone more effective. He can be reached at 503-368-6294 or at tom@tombender.org MOST RECENT SCIENTIST PUBLICATION ON ECOLOGICAL FORESTRY go to www.fs.fed.us/pnw and look for Issue 48 of Science Findings, Nov 2002 |
from Euro American ancestry. His forest started out as old growth,
and remains so. It contained over 1 million board feet when he
started cutting over 50 years ago. Altogether, he has harvested
over 1 million board feet in 50 years. Today the forest's volume
is still over 1 million board feet. His gradual-harvest techniques
demonstrated that one can get just as much wood by selective cutting
as clearcutting a forest, but selective cutting over time allows
the forest to remain whole. He also proved to the world that Douglas
fir doesn't need the sunlight intensity of a clearcut to regenerate.
Merve actually has to thin out Doug firs coming up under his full
canopied forest, which allows in 60% of the light. In the past,
mills clamored for his high- quality saw logs. Now Merve does
his own milling on site and sells directly to customers. Visitors
come from all over the world and keep this ecostery monk very
busy. (604) 722-2853.
