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Addressing emergency and refuge situations

 

Builders Without Borders Website

 

Mud buildings in Gaza . Emergency shelter using tradtional mud blocks. 

 

Building Websites, Native American Resources.

2/28/07

Builders Without Borders is an all-volunteer network, dedicated to

promoting more natural, sustainable building opportunities all over the

world.

 

Builders Without Borders: Subscribe to Listserve

We expect to average one or two messages per month, announcing

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In the coming weeks and months, we and our partners will announce

projects in Mexico, Pakistan, Siberia, Maine and other locations. We

are looking forward to a productive year, with your help and support.

 

Derek Roff

Director, Builders Without Borders

 

Global Green. International Organization to help create a sustainable future. Greenbuilding Programs

 

Rebuild Green after Katrina. Resources: needs sorting, see file with live links.

 

Mississippi Estuaries. Understand how the health of coastal wetlands affects the health & saftey of people and animals.

 

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The following section is a rough draft which needs to be edited, but has good information.

Emergency shel ter with live links

 

 

 

 

 

www.solarliving.org

The Solar Living Center, workshops on natural building and renewable energy.

 

http://www.state.ms.us/frameset.jsp?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fmshomehelp.gov%2F

 

www.naturalbuildingnetwork.org

Have questions, concerns or need to know more? Contact us!

Send email to: info@naturalbuildingnetwork.org

Natural Building Network

PO Box 23631

Eugene, Oregon 97402

 

Monday-Thursday 10am-4pm Pacific Time

Telephone: 541-344-5436.

Thank you!

 

\http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/emergencyshelter.htm

Emergency Shelter

This Emergency Shelter design is the result of a collaboration between Kelly Hart, host of GreenHomeBuilding.com and Dr. Owen Geiger of www.grisb.org. We came up with this design in response to a plea from aid agencies operating in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake there. The challenge is to provide quick, safe, decent shelter with minimal tools and supplies to sustain life through the winter. Access to remote areas is extremely difficult, since many roads have been destroyed or blocked by landslides. Because of these and other difficulties, and the fact that winter will create a much more dire situation, fast easy-to-build temporary shelter seems most appropriate.

Labor: 90 hours, not including plastering. For example, this structure could be finished by 5 unskilled workers working 6 hours a day for 3 days.

Cost: Approximately $100 US dollars, plus barbed wire, and tarps or plastic sheeting. This assumes salvaged doors, windows, woodstove, stove pipe, etc.

 

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Feb05/r020805c

Samuels's design consists of a bed tray onto which a single foam or standard mattress can be placed. A disposable or reusable canopy attaches at one end. This canopy, or roof, when in a down position, provides occupants visual and audible privacy. When the canopy is raised and made vertical, its "C" shape, coupled with an attached fabric screen, provides a standing individual private space where he could change clothing, groom and simply have a small but useable private area. Used separate from the sleeping pad, the canopy in its upright position can be placed in various configurations to provide privacy for dressing, grooming and toilet.

 

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http://www.dreamgreenhomes.com/

 

 

Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005

From Jenny McKinney & Patrick McKinney,

Your Guide to Retirement Planning.

FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

The United States Treasury and the IRS have provided guidance relating to the application of two provisions of the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005. This provision allows for Hurricane Katrina victims who have employer-sponsored retirement plans and IRAs to have access to their retirement savings.

Under one provision, individuals who live in the four states that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and who suffered an economic loss as a result of the hurricane to receive tax relief if they must take distributions from eligible retirement plans. These distributions must be qualified Hurricane Katrina distributions to be eligible for the tax relief.

Usually early IRA distributions are subject to a 10% early distribution tax and are includible in income over a 3-year period. The Katrina distribution is not subject to the normal 10% tax and will not be includible income. Another provision of the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 increases the allowable plan loan amount from an employer-sponsored and provides for a suspension of payments for plan loans that were made to Katrina victims that were outstanding on or after August 25, 2005.

For more information, go to the IRS web site .

 

http://www.ecoresources.com.au/ptv2/page8/files/42f8134d9a6e07a70ff470e1a0487365-78.html

SANTA BARBARA PERMACULTURE NETWORK

Presents:

Permaculture & Sustainable Aid for the 21st Century: How to Change the Paradigm of Emergency Disaster Relief & Development to a Model of Life Affirming Assistance

 

3 Day Conference

Evening Lecture with Geoff Lawton, Friday, June 30

Workshop July 1 & July 2, 2006

Santa Barbara City College West Campus, Fe Bland Auditorium

 

As Americans we have often thought of emergency disaster relief in terms of sending aid to other countries, after Hurricane Katrina we also see a need to know how to respond in a better way to our own natural disasters. Natural disasters, wars, famines, how does the human family respond to each other's needs during these overwhelmingly stressful times? What new models can we create to assist each other better?

 

Join renowned permaculture teachers and designers Geoff Lawton, Nadia Abu Yahia, and international aid worker Andrew Jones, on July 1 and July 2, 2006, as they share their experiences working around the globe in recent disaster zones and longer term refugee camps, existing from circumstances the world may have already forgotten.

 

The model of aid permaculture has to offer is vastly different from conventional aid, it includes long term development, land care strategies, and allies itself strongly with the eco-village movement, which incorporates ecological design and natural building techniques for even temporary structures. Permaculture recognizes that most people have an innate need to help when disaster strikes, and a huge cost to cultures if systems aren't designed with viable ways to both assist and be assisted whenever a need might arise.

 

Permaculture is a design system based on ecological principles for creating sustainable human environments, and is one of the most holistic, integrated systems analysis and design methodologies found in the world. Originally coined from the words PERMAnent agriCULTURE, it has evolved to one of permanent or sustainable culture with consciously designed landscapes that mimic the patterns of nature.

 

http://www.secondjourney.org/Katrina_Wkbk.pdf

Revisioning New Orleans

 

http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/programs/katrina/katrina.htm

 

http://www.eere.energy.gov/states/news_detail.cfm/news_id=9410

 

 

Networking Natural Builders Worldwide

 

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Natural Building Links 1

 

American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment

Annotated Bibliography for Straw Bale Construction

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Straw: The Next Great Building Material?

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Strawbale Construction Discussion List at REPP.org

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