We Raging Nerds are Big Fans of what used to be called Appropriate Technology, and is now called Sustainable Technology. Basically the idea that human ingenuity will (and probably must) find ways to produce food, shelter, and communities that will last. Committing your society to exploiting limited resources didn’t work for the Mayans, the Easter Islanders, or most recently,  the inhabitants of Nauru Island.

Our approach has been the hacker/DIY approach, repurpose old tech, and reduce, reuse, recycle. Through the good offices of the Global Guerillas (not for the easily disheartened) we learn of a group doing the work of getting beyond our current resource limits.

Open Source Ecology talks about  “Inventing a New Civilization on a Shoestring Budget” and their newest announcement, a Compressed Earth Block (CEB) Press, could definitely start the process here in the Southwest, Latin America, and Africa, maybe even the Mediterranean region. Put one of these on site, crank out the bricks as you build the foundation, then start building.

We still have a lot of adobe in San Diego, some original (Casa de Estudillo, the San Diego Mission), some newer (see a lot of Cliff May’s work). They are special places, particularly on hot summer days.