Ecotopia

[freebeard]

I met Ernest Callenbach back in the 1970s when he stopped by Cerro Gordo to see the new town we were building.

wikipedia.org]

Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is a utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter. The author himself claimed that the society he depicted in the book is not a true utopia (in the sense of a perfect society), but, while guided by societal intentions and values, was imperfect and in-process.[1]

There've been a few audio books, but no Hollyweird blockbuster based on it. Who holds the rights?

I see opportunity in a manga or video game adaptation or rip-off. Here're the themes one could work in:

• The self-climbing wizard's tower, a three-story pod that rises atop a cylinder of pick-and-place printed rock and extruded mortar. Radial rollers let it spin to compress the most recent layer.
• The semisubmersible air-curtained and Templated icicle that is towed by longboat and winched ashore into a dry pond.
• A Peristaltic_pump comprised of wooden planetary rollers and hemp fabric hoses 2-3ft in diameter, ganged in series and wind powered.
• And of course the 3D printed mud bubble houses. Ceramic clay amended with flash graphene

All watched over (according to Richard Brautigan) by machines of loving grace.

[freebeard]

I know it's my own thread, but it's the best match for this post:

Las Vegas is Building the World’s Largest Sphere

It's interesting that they build a[n admittedly] heavy UV sphere to carry the inside screen, and then cover it with a geodesic dome weather cover with an outside screen.

This instantiates R. B. Fuller's dream of a World Map on the East River next to the United Nations building in NYC for his World Game. At ?t=104 you see the Earth projected onto a geodesic dome.

[freebeard]

Another eco-topical topic: Hempwood, straight out of Kentucky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qy6awPeric

Also, here's a guy with two videos on shredded styrofoam aircrete: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxY...wCmPJVxreVgjIw

[freebeard]

Youtube wants me to see Belinda Carr videos.

Everything WRONG with Amazon's Spheres in Seattle

This a different failing that the Biosphere in Arizona. There the structure, like this one. blocked a large portion of sunlight. Surely not helpful for tropical plants in Seattle. The Eden Project in Cornwall does it right.

No -- in this case, a greenhouse at 75 degrees and 60% humidity is not a conducive workplace environment. And where do the pollinating insects come from?

I still like the structure, though. Never visited it while there was any chance.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Another eco-topical topic: Hempwood, straight out of Kentucky

I'd take that Hempwood with a grain of salt, yet hemp fiber can actually replace fiberglass for most applications.

[freebeard]

Belinda Carr has done a series on insulation; this one compares hemp and sheep's wool for insulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmVTDh3JNIQ

The Hempwood sounds similar to particle board or wafer board. The quality probably comes down to the binder. It can be sawn with flat or vertical grain, like wood.

[freebeard]

Here's another Belinda Carr video on the question of 'green' building practices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPDr8odygJo

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I'm far from being green-washed, yet I would be favorable to a cost-effective solution which may eventually also qualify as "green".

[freebeard]

Irrespective of the materials used, a hemispherical shape is stronger, more conservative of materials and aerodynamically superior.

You can do the math, but that doesn't capture the psychological benefit of inhabiting the space.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Irrespective of the materials used, a hemispherical shape is stronger, more conservative of materials and aerodynamically superior.

Of course the hemispherical shape has its advantages, yet it would be nearly impossible to convince the average Joe to give it a try while looking for a new home.