An open letter to Owen Geiger

Beloved Owen,

Here is a earthbag design of yours I would absolutely love to live in! I can picture myself Godwriting" here. It would be Heaven!

Santhan and I share your blog. http://naturalbuildingblog.com/  Love it, subscribe to it, read it every single day, are fascinated by it and your vision. You never cease to amaze us.

There are many beautiful giving people in the world, and you, day in and day out, are an outstanding example. You have a passion for making the world a better place. You may remember that a few years back you so generously offered to help Santhan Naidoo design a spiritual sustainable community in Argentina.
 
This morning you so lovingly linked your blog to Heavenletters™.
http://www.heavenletters.org/greetings-one-22608.html

You began with:

People are dreaming of a better world with homes made of natural materials.

And here’s what you quoted from Santhan:

Argentina is an ideal land to create a radical shift in how homes are built and how we live as a society. Once out of the city, building codes dissolve and one is free to design and build to heart’s content. Here in the sierras land is abundant. I’d love to see some of your designs or hear more about your story.

My feeling is that the small community or village lifestyle we are aiming for is a whole lot more interesting when the community is multi-cultural. Connect that multi-cultural community to a global network of self-sufficient, yet inter-connected communities through which energy, ideas and people flow, and things get a more interesting. We could very well be creating a new Earth. Essentially we’re building on the foundation started by the eco-village and sustainable community movement. Our addition is the inter-connectedness.

Who would want to join and commit their lives to a single isolated community when the option of joining a global network of communities is available? By joining a network, what one contributes at community A in Argentina, has equal value at community B in Romania and so that one has the freedom to explore and move within the network without having to start anew.

What about possessions? Could we say that land is never owned by any individual? Instead land is placed under care of a trust and is stewarded by members of the global community. We could carry over the concept of non-possession with other resources too.

Owen, I don’t know why I haven’t kept in better touch with you. For instance, why didn’t I pass along the following blog to you when it was written? Sometimes I just kind of let the good things in life pass me by. Never again will I miss an opportunity to connect with you.
http://godwriting.org/godwriting/prime-land-in-capilla-del-monte-communitree.htm

Here is the entrance to a beautiful possible site in Argentina:

A dome house already exists on this property!

The dream of a spiritual sustainable community in Capilla Del Monte, Cordoba, Argentina, is alive and well. I  think of the following tree on this lovely site as a Wishing Tree. May the means to fulfill all dreams come true soon.

Presently Santhan, mostly referred to in my blog as Heaven Admin, is living in South Africa. He has an area here in mind for a sustainable community in a mountain area called Underburg. The person you can barely see in this photo is Santhan as he overlooks the valley:

Here's a photo of Santhan where you can actually see him:

Much gratitude to you, Owen. You are a blessing upon earth.   

With love,

Gloria

Dr. Owen Geiger, Ph.D. (in Social and Economic Development), is the former Director of Builders Without Borders and Founder and Director of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building (www.grisb.org). He is an author, engineer and licensed contractor specializing in strawbale construction, earthbag and other types of sustainable building. His new Earthbag Building Guide and accompanying Basic Earthbag Building video are now available. He co-authored the Builders Without Borders Straw-Bale Construction Guides and contributed to Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village. Dr. Geiger has consulted on numerous international housing projects and worked closely with Habitat for Humanity for seven years. He is also a correspondent for The Last Straw Journal and a Mother Earth News Green Homes Expert.
Email: strawhousesATyahoo.com