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“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!” -Jack Kerouac
The Chi'bagoda Project: Keen Footwear kicks down $5000!

Let's here it for conscious capitalism supporting progressive movements in sustainable architecture!!

http://www.keenfootwear.com/stand/out_winners.aspx 

(click on Joshua Doolittle, that'd be me)

Jamaica Jamaica????

http://www.irievibeenterprises.com/jesp.html
 

Here is a "chunk" of Chi'bagoda Propaganda from a recent Buckminster Fuller Institute sponsored competition in unusually large font size that I can't seem to control.  Looks like I need to come back to Jackson, WY so I can get a lesson in managing this here blog.

 

Begin XL Font transmission, please step back from your screen: 


"Everyone must be clear that business as usual is not an option.  Most of us live in buildings erected long before we were born and our successors will have to live with the environmental consequences of the buildings we construct today.  It is vital that we minimize harmful impacts for those who come after us."

-Margarett Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2003


"Every economic threat also represents an inspiring challenge to those who are bold and creative.  Investment in the technologies that will shape the low carbon future offers a huge opportunity to business large and small around the world." 

-Nancy Skinner, The Climate Group


"Good environmentalism is good economics" 

-Barbara Conable, former president of the World Bank


The creation of an affordable, sustainable and seismically resistant alternative to contemporary wood, steel and concrete building methods will be an extremely profitable venture.  Chi'bagoda Industries will pioneer the future in green, prefab, design/build architectural methods.


The profits generated through our "conscious capitalist", efforts will then fuel a Non Profit wing focused on educational outreach efforts around this lovely orbiting sphere we all call "Home."  These clinics will promote regional sustainable development utilizing locally accessible bamboo sources.  They will also provide us essential engineering research to then be integrated back into our For Profit ventures.


Over time, jobs in these emerging communities will be created to pre-fabricate the structural elements of our design/build bamboo housing requests.  Only the parts will be crafted, packed in a shipping container, and sent to its destination for final assembly on a prepared foundation.


The "Perma Yurt" design, being the most simplistic, will allow the homeowner to also be the architect.  Dimensional  inputs and insulation strategy, along with latitude coordinate, can create their future abode virtually on our website.  It will then emerge on their site a few months later, specifically tuned to its location to provide passive-solar benefits.


Once our progressive business gears gain momentum, we will systematically be able to address global housing needs, combat global warming, and transform the global economy, while manifesting a profitable enterprise that will be poised to solve other challenges that need to be addressed.  These primarily include sustainable energy, transportation, food and clothing production.  Bamboo will play a role in all of these efforts.  These designs are all ready simmering in the back burners of my mind. 

 

 

 
 

Published Sunday, April 27, 2008 9:40 PM by JDoo

Comments

# re: The Chi'bagoda Project: Keen Footwear kicks down $5000! @ Monday, April 28, 2008 5:19 PM

How much will a bamboo house cost. Bamboo has to be trucked farther than wood, which means it's not environmentally sustainable in Jackson Wyoming. If you have more information comparing the environmental impacts of building materials, please share.

George Bush

# re: The Chi'bagoda Project: Keen Footwear kicks down $5000! @ Monday, April 28, 2008 11:26 PM

The Chi'bagoda Project is a global operation just getting rolling.  Initially, we go to the bamboo, figure out how many different ways and forms we can build with my glue-less, composite bamboo strip beam system.  We'll "open source" that data on our site, promoting sustainable development all over the world.

Anyone with a local bamboo source and an internet connection can follow a "Do It Yourself" guide that works with their socio-economic situation.

This vision, however, has never been tested at full scale before, so final costs for a prefab kit home shipped in a container to Jackson just aren't available yet.  The way things are going, it'll be a while before we're at that stage.  We've got lots of tinkering/R+D ahead of us, but we'll do that as a non profit.  

When we're ready and confident to start addressing US building code issues/approval, then we'll sink our teeth into that arena.  It'll likely be an uphill battle so the more ammunition we have on our side the better.

It's the shipping that is the problem regarding sustainability, due to fossil fuel consumed for transport.  If we can go Hydrogen as easily as it seems to be possible, then we're all set.  At the very least, we'd need to first get the oil industry out of the White House.

In the meantime, we can plant more bamboo to sequester the CO2 released during transport, i.e. "Carbon Neutral" which isn't perfect, but it's a start.  We can later turn that bamboo into homes as well which is a nice bonus to that plan.

The other, complimentary strategy is to work with waste water treatment facilities and home grey water systems so that we can plant contained bamboo groves creating a regional supply in 3-5 year cycles.  

Large solar powered de-humidifiers are another possible water source for arid regions that could irrigate contained bamboo groves. I don't believe anyone has gotten around to that idea yet either.  It's going to be necessary as water is becoming a more critical issue.  It's floating all around us in the air as water vapor, especially at night when the freeze coils charged up by the solar panels could kick on to collect dew.

The trick of course for towns like Jackson, WY, or more likely over the Pass or down in Star Valley where we have some land access, is to plant a hardy species from N. Japan or upper Andean slopes that can with stand cold Why-Om-ing winters.  Some sort of solar/hot water coil thermal system may also be needed to keep the roots from freezing when risks of -20 below zero Fahrenheit are possible.  You could also load up on hay over the ground to serve as insulation.

Bamboo roots or rhizomes travel at 12" below the soil.  To contain a grove you must dig a 2' deep trench around your grove and line with a thick plastic barrier in a complete circle then refill with dirt.

Sprouting bamboo shoots is another story, but a nursery in Washington has figured out a new pioneering method based on test tubes and tissue cultures.

The big deal with this vision is that steel fabrication releases tons of CO2 emissions, and chopping down  a tree halts the CO2 "inhalation" factor completely, and causing lots of other potential problems due to deforestation.  It takes a tree at least 60 years before it can be harvested again.

However...there is the possibility of building with solid pole Aspen trees which is a regional building material.  It doesn't work so well being made into boards, so leave it as a pole, bolt it all together.

Aspens and bamboo are like cousins, since both are interconnected organisms, linked by roots/rhizomes.  That exploration will have to wait, however, till my body is healed after all these surgeries I am dealing with, both hip sockets and then both shoulders, one at a time over the next 2 years or so.

If we can phase over to a bamboo based architectural system we can save our remaining forests, because bamboo is a renewable grass, producing 15 km in a lifetime.  And, we can eliminate CO2 emissions from steel production which requires burning coal to melt down iron ore.

If you haven't OD'd on all this and want to read the full Buckminster Fuller Challenge submission that provides more detailed information please follow this link:

http://chi-bagoda.gaia.com/blog/2007/12/buckminster_fuller_challenge_2007_submission

JDoo

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