Building with Nature

Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
 
Episode 102
 
Building with Nature
 
 
What if I told you that sometimes the sand on the beach is nothing more than piles of fish poop and dead animals. I wonder if that would reduce the statistics on how many people enjoy using the beach. 
 
Another thing that most people do not know is that due to several factors, there is actually a global shortage of sand. 
 
A third seemingly unrelated fact is that nearly 65% of the people in the United States are paying on a loan for their home while a significant number of people around the world live in a nice home yet never pay a mortgage. 
 
If you want to know how these three things are related, then stick around for E102 which is called Building with Nature.   
 
 
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E102 which is called Building with Nature. 
 
So you might be curious as to why a sand shortage, the construction business and a home mortgage are all connected in some way. In this episode I am going to first talk a little bit about sand and explain why there is a global shortage. Then I am going to relate that to the environmental damage caused but the construction business. And finally I am going to tie those two things to an alternative means of having a wonderful home, never paying a mortgage, and having a more sustainable lifestyle.
 
But first let’s talk about sand. 
 
Nearly 40% of us enjoy going to the beach because we usually relate that to time off work, vacation, swimming, sunshine, and just plain relaxation. We lay on the beach, we roll in the sand, we dig holes, build castles and animal figures and even bury each other under piles of sand. And being a scuba diver, when on a dive I even search through the sand for numerous critters. 
 
But have you ever ask yourself where sand actually comes from? What is it made of? How long does it take to form sand. 
 
Where sand comes from and how it is formed depends a lot on where you are and the local geography. The local environment also plays a significant role. However, sand basically forms from the breakdown of rocks. Rocks decompose due to weathering and eroding which takes place over thousands and even millions of years. This is especially true for quartz and feldspar.
 
A lot of sand is actually formed from rocks that originate thousand of miles from the ocean. As rocks travel and bump along on their way downstream they are constantly eroded. Once in the ocean the erosion continues due to the actions of waves and tides. 
 
The typical brown sand beaches that most of us see is the result of iron oxide which tints quartz a light brown, and feldspar which is brown to tan in color. But the black sand beaches in Hawaii and other locations are the result of the breakdown of volcanic rock, basalt, and other minerals. The pink beaches of Bermuda are the result of the continued decay of single celled organisms that have a pink shell.  
 
But there is a lesser known way that sand if formed that would surprise many people  The famous white sand beaches in Hawaii are actually made of fish poop. Yes that’s right….fish poop. The parrot fish, which I commonly see when I go diving, bite and scrape algae from rocks and dead corals. Through their digestive process they grind up the inedible calcium carbonate from the reef material and excrete it as sand. This natural process helps to maintain a diverse coral reef ecosystem. Parrot fish can actually produce hundreds of pounds of white sand per year. 
 
Besides these interesting things, if you get right down to it there are actually about 21 different types of sands.  
 
So, here is something to think about. Sand takes thousands to millions of years to form except when it comes to parrot fish. The next time you go to the beach and decide to bury one of your friends in the sand, be sure to tell them they are getting buried in a big pile to fish poop and maybe parts of dead animals. 
 
As you likely know by now I love these kinds of details because in so many ways it makes you appreciate the environment that is around you. But knowing all of this you have to wonder how there could possibly be a shortage of sand. 
 
Why is there a shortage of sand? 
 
Sand is by far one of the most commonly used natural materials because of its widespread applications in construction and industry. It is used on highways to increase traction. It is used to make concrete, used in paints, as a environmental clean up material, used in agriculture to grow certain types of crops, use as a road base, used to make sand paper, molding, and bricks, used in making glass for the automobile and food industry, used to make plaster, mortar, and asphalt, and also used to form clay.
 
As you can see, we use massive amounts of sand for just about everything. It is actually by far one of the planet’s most commonly mined materials. Approximately 50 billion tons per year are extracted from lakes, riverbeds, coastlines and deltas. And because it is so useful as our cites grow and urban areas expand, the demand for sand also grows. 
 
Despite this, sand mining around the globe faces little to no government scrutiny. It because it takes sand thousands to millions of years to form, it is of course being extracted much faster than it can be replaced. The result is extensive environmental damage, eroded coastlines, habitat destruction and ecosystem collapse, and in some cases, small islands being completely wiped off the map. In some areas the damage is so extensive it can be seen on satellite images. And this is not a problem in just a few isolated countries. It is in fact a problem for every single country on the planet. 
 
The Construction Industry Causes Significant Environmental Damage
 
With sand being such a widely used material in the construction industry, I think it goes without saying that the environmental damage goes well beyond the mining of sand. The construction industry itself causes extensive environmental problems. In fact, every phase of the building industry causes some sort of environmental damage. Just think about it for a minute. 
 
-Extraction, transportation and processing of the raw materials
 
-Waste: the waste produced in any construction process is enormous, most of which ends up in landfills. 
 
-Pollution; The construction of buildings causes an enormous amount of air and water pollution due to the extensive use of chemicals.
 
-Fossil fuels: Transportation during all phases of construction, from the original extraction of raw materials to end of life transportation of waste to the landfill, increases consumption of fossil fuels. 
 
-CO2 emissions: The construction industry contributes anywhere from 25% to 40% of the worlds CO2 emissions. 
 
-And of course the continued growth causes even further habitat loss and environmental destruction.  
 
All that being said, our population continues to grow and so does our urban areas. Consequently, the construction industry also continues to grow. 
 
So, lets just think about this for a minute because I am almost to the point of tying this altogether and telling you how you can avoid a mortgage. 
 
As you have likely heard me point out before, there is an increased trend toward urbanization. What urbanization means is the transformation of unoccupied or sparsely occupied land into densely populated cites. This is the result of increased human population and migration of people from rural areas to the city. Now there are a lot of reasons for that happening many of which I have covered in previous episodes. But allow me to give you a different perspective on this because urbanization is one of those things that has significant environmental impact and we never give it much thought. 
 
For example, urbanization results in:  
 
-Habitat loss and deforestation which in turn decreases biodiversity and species loss. 
 
-Irreparable changes in natural environmental processes which disturbs and destroys numerous natural life cycles vital to the survival of ecosystems. 
 
-Rapid transmission of disease as a result of people living in densely populated areas
 
-Introduction of invasive species which even further destroys local habitats. 
 
-Increased regional temperatures due to the use of asphalt and other dark materials in urban areas which absorbs heat. 
 
-Paving with asphalt and concrete increases run off causing erosion, decreasing soil and water quality due to pollutants. 
 
-Changes in water cycles through the atmosphere. Now this is something that most people do not think about. Trees and plants return a significant portion of precipitation to the atmosphere through a process called transpiration. Loss of plant productivity and biomass decreases the amount of water returned to the atmosphere and results in dryer conditions which eventually alters the local ecosystem.
 
Now allow me for a minute to make you think about something. 
 
In the United States urban areas make up only 3 percent of the entire land area in the country yet are home to more than 80% of the population. Conversely, 97% of the land mass in our country is comprised of rural areas that contain only 19.3 % of the population. 
 
For me, I see that as an advantage since I live in a very rural area anyway. What that means to me is that there is a whole lot of open space out there to go and enjoy while 80% of our national population is having to live in crowded conditions and deal with a much higher crime rate. After all, only one in five Americans live in a rural area. But, at any rate, that is not the focus of this episode.  I point this out only because urbanization has a significant environmental impact and there is a good way to avoid that. 
 
What about no mortgage? 
 
So what about this idea of not having a mortgage and how the heck does that relate to what I’ve been talking about. 
 
To be fair, there are a number of countries around the world that offer mortgages. However, no country in the world uses the 30 year mortgage the way the US does.  
 
Now most people would say there is no way they could purchase a home without a mortgage. And indeed, few people can actually pay cash for a home. That said, there are plenty of families around the world the live in nice big home and never have a mortgage. In fact, not only do they successfully pull this off, they do this in a sustainable way that is not often seen at least in the US. 
 
But how does this happen? 
 
Allow me to introduce to you the concept of bio construction. This is a method of construction that not only prevents waste but is also a lot less expense, it is sustainable, and helps to almost entirely avoid paying a mortgage. And this is how these three topics tie into one another. You can avoid the wastefulness of the construction industry, build a home at a drastically reduced cost, drastically reduce your impact on the environment, and save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if that sounds unbelievable then I am also going to give you a real life example. 
 
Honestly I do not understand why more people do not take advantage of this form of construction.  Few people, and certainly not anyone that I know, actually takes advantage of this. Most people these days shop for real estate using an agent or simply going online. They then apply for a 30 year mortgage and end up paying three times the original price of the home. It is almost laughable that people actually consider this to be a good deal.  
 
But there is an easy way to avoid this. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say easy because it takes a lot of time and hard work. But if you consider the fact that you could save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars it might be worth your consideration. But it’s not only that. This method of construction is far less wasteful and far more sustainable. 
 
What is Bio-construction
 
So what exactly is bio-construction? 
 
Very simply put it is a method of construction that uses both natural and repurposed materials. Design features also take into account the local climate, local availability of materials and consequently has a very low environmental impact. More precisely, bio-construction seeks to integrate the building into the local environment by taking into account the local climate, landscape and culture.
 
Now this is hardly a new concept. If you truly want to see some fantastics examples, all you have to do is look at the animal kingdom. Beaver dams, bird nests, spider webs, bee hives, burrow complexes built by rodents, and even enormous termite mounds are all examples of bio-construction. Interestingly enough, these structures often incorporated various sophisticated features including temperature regulation, ventilation, special purpose chambers and even traps.   
 
But as I said, this is hardly a novel idea. Humans have often used natural materials that are locally available in order to build shelters and even vast complexes of structures. However, this is truly a skill that we have lost over a period of several generations.
 
 
Basic concepts of Bio-construction 
 
But before I give you several examples of bio-construction, I first want to get you to thinking about the 4 basic concepts of this method of building a home. And this is how it all ties into being more sustainable. 
 
 
 
Use of Natural Materials
 
The first thing of course is that you must use natural materials or use materials that are as natural as possible. When harvesting local materials and using them for construction, this whole process must be as respectful of the environment as possible. 
 
 
Sustainable
 
The building process must be sustainable taking into account the environment, economic, and social aspects. Construction materials should come from renewable sources. Materials should come from local sources which minimizes transportation and the use of fossil fuels. The local environment and climate must be taken into account in order to make the structures as efficient as possible.
 
 
Collaborative
 
Bio-construction is also collaborative. What this means is that people get together and share labor, skills, knowledge and help one another to build a home.  A good example of this is when communities get together and help someone build a house or a barn. Another good example of this is the area that I live in. There are very few property owners where I live and even fewer of them actually live there full time.  But when one of us has a difficult construction project, or anything else for that matter, we pool resources, time and labor and get the project done. 
 
 
Wellness
 
And lastly, let’s talk about the wellness aspect. Using natural materials and fewer chemicals gives you a much healthier home environment.  You can tailor your home to your physical and emotional needs where everyone has their own space so to speak. You can take advantage of natural lighting, natural acoustics and passive solar. All of which create an aspect of wellness not typically seen in the modern home. 
 
Interestingly enough, if you look at the concepts of bio-construction, they relate directly to the three pillars of sustainability which are people, planet and profit.
 
Examples of Bio-Construction
 
At this point, you may be wondering about some specific examples of bio-construction.  So I am just going to quickly run through a few of these.
 
Earth bag construction: A mix or sand or gravel that is hardened with clay is packed in polypropylene or feed bags and stacked to build a wall.  They are then covered with plaster. 
 
Timber Framing: This is a technique that uses heavy timbers that are joined with wooden pegs as opposed to nails and screws. The open areas between the timbers are then filled with straw bales, cob, light-clay straw or any number of other materials. 
 
Straw bale construction: This is where straw bales are literally stacked like brick in order to build a home.  
 
Cob: This is actually a mixture of sand, clay, and straw that is similar to adobe. Lumps of cob are applied wet in order to build up a wall. 
 
Post and beam framing: This is somewhat similar to timber framing except you are using steel hardware to join larger timbers. This is actually a technique that is much easier for the amateur builder. 
 
Light-Clay Straw: This is where clay is mixed with water to about the consistency of paint. Loose straw is then mixed in until all the straw is covered.  This is then used to pack into forms and wall cavities for insulation.    
 
Living Roof: This is a roof structure that relies on soil as shelter and insulation. This allows plants to grow on top of the roof. The soil is piled on top of a waterproof membrane. The roof structure of course has to be very sturdy.  You can even use it as a garden if you wish. 
 
Rammed Earth: This is a technique where earth is pounded into forms to create massive walls that form a house. This truly uses minimal resources but is also very labor intensive. 
 
Log structures: This of course is one of my personal favorites. This is what I did when I first bought my cabin property. I certainly have no regrets in how I build the first cabin. But, fair warning, this type of construction is very, very labor intensive.
 
I excavated a small area for the cabin. The foundation was a mix of concrete and rock and gravel that was on the property. I attached recycled rail road ties to the concrete and that is what supports the log structure. 
 
I then harvested log pole pine from the property. I was selective in where and how I cut in order to have minimal impact. All of the logging work was done by hand. The entire structure was built out of raw materials. I even milled floor boards myself using a saw mill that was owned by a friend of mine.  The only commercial products that I used was plywood for the roof, the windows of course, and the large steel spikes used to hold the logs together. It cost me next to nothing to build this cabin. It has been standing for 26 years and still looks brand new. 
 
Now I am sure there are many other natural building techniques that I have left out. But I just wanted to give a few good examples. 
 
But after all of my years on the homestead I still adhere to such build techniques. Just recently I added on a sun room to my new cabin. The floor is all brick. I back filled the foundation with rock and dirt from the property so that cost me nothing.  The sun room is about 200 square feet and due to careful planning the total waste from this project would fill about 3 wheel barrows. And 90% of that material was repurposed.  So, essentially I had almost zero waste. 
 
 
 
Summary
 
What I want to do at this point is to do a quick re-cap of this discussion and tie that into some tips on how you can either completely avoid a mortgage, or simply have a very short term mortgage like I did.  But I also want to show you how this is a far more sustainable way to have a home. 
 
First of all for all of you beach lovers it is hard to believe that there is a global shortage of sand. But this is because sand is by far the more frequently mined natural product. There is an enormous variety of applications for sand and it is also used in so many more things than you can imagine but especially in the construction industry. It truly would be difficult to list the number of products that contain sand that are used even to build a standard home.  
 
Mining of sand has little or no government oversight. Consequently in some parts of the world the environmental degradation is so extensive it can be seen on satellite images. So once again, it comes down to all of us being mindful of what we do and what we purchase. 
 
But overall, the environmental cost of the construction industry cannot be over looked. From waste products, to use of fossils fuels, CO2 emissions, habitat degradation, toxic chemicals, the list goes on. And this is especially true for our non-stop urbanization.  
 
And one figure that I find so hard to believe is that in the United States urban areas make up only 3 percent of the entire land area in the country yet are home to more than 80% of the population. Conversely, 97% of the land mass in our country is comprised of rural areas that contain only 19.3 % of the population.
 
I have to tell you that for someone like it, that kind of statistic makes me jump for joy. What it means to me is that there are plenty of places with few people, peace and quiet,  and l lots of room to enjoy nature. But while people are flocking to urban areas, and paying a much higher cost of living and dealing with a higher crime rate, there is a much more sustainable way to live that costs far less. Not only that, if you are smart about it, you may very well be able to completely avoid a mortgage. And I am going to tell you just how to do that. 
 
How to Avoid a Mortgage 
 
In my experience most people stick to the norms of society and tend to do what 90% of the rest of the world is doing. That said, just because everyone is doing something a certain way does not mean that is the right way to do it. Often times there is another way to approach something, a better way, a less expensive way, and of course a much more sustainable way.  And as I have already discussed in previous episodes, focusing on sustainability is a lot less expensive than living in mainstream.  
 
And that is where bio-construction comes in.  Taking advantage of local resources is often far less expensive than using commercial construction materials. Furthermore, integrating the building into the local environment as well as taking into account the local climate, landscape and culture has much less environmental impact. 
 
And here is the best part.  These are the types of structures that can easily be built over time. Consequently, you can avoid a mortgage.  This is exactly what I have done on my property since I purchased it.  
 
Granted I did have a mortgage on the land but that was paid off in 12 years. However, every structure on the property was built a little at a time and I paid cash for the improvements.  For example, I paid someone to frame in the new cabin and at least get it closed in.  Prior to that I had completed the foundation work and installed the underground cistern. Then over a period of about 2 years I finished the interior, added a large deck and installed solar. Most recently, I added the sunroom. I did the foundation work for that last year and did the majority of the construction work this year. I just saved money and waited until I could pay cash for everything.  By doing it this way, I built this sunroom for about 1/5th of the cost compared to paying someone else to do the work for me. Consequently, I avoided borrowing any money at all. 
 
This is exactly how many people around the world have a nice home and no mortgage. They start with something small, use locally obtained materials and bio-construction techniques, pay cash as they go, and eventually end up with a very nice home that is completely paid for. 
 
And right about now some of your are likely thinking I am a bit crazy because not everyone has the ability to build their own home. That said, allow me to give you a little bit of a different perspective. In so many ways in our culture other people are making millions and millions of dollars at your expense. But this is partially the result of our addiction to convenience and we don’t want to take the time and effort to do things for ourselves. Nor do we want to take the time and effort required to learn new skills so that we can do things for ourselves. 
 
The problem starts with this engrained belief, or perhaps its an engrained cultural norm,  that every home owner should have a large home with a nice private yard. Additionally,  with every generation that follows, success is defined as upward and every generation wants a slight larger home.
What most people today do not realize is that idea was set in our minds during a period of rapid expansion and relatively inexpensive land near urban centers.  
 
During the post war boom that started in the early 1900s,  large chunks of cheap land were available in places that were easy to build. Not only that, building material were much less expensive. The result of this was that builders focused on a highly standardized lucrative product. If you want to see a good example of this then look up Levittown on the web. It is essentially the start of what I call cookie cutter homes, meaning they all look pretty much the same. And this is standard practice for developing any new subdivision these days. The houses all look very similar. The neighborhoods are crowded and the real estate is not cheap. 
 
 
 
Now what I want to point out is going to seem totally counterintuitive. In our modern industrial age and advanced technology, it may seem odd to consider going back to older building techniques. But when you consider that the building industry represents 45% of global energy consumption and 30% of all the waste generated in the world, obviously something needs to change. By contrast bio-construction techniques typically use about 5% of what modern techniques require in order to build a home and it generates little or no waste. And there are even further benefits. 
 
When you use bio-construction and are intimately involved in the entire process of building your home I can say from personal experience that you are much more conscious and responsible for your way of living. 
 
When you build a home that respects the environment, when you are conscious of watershed issues, perhaps you collect rainwater, when you focus on consuming less, keep a garden, separate your trash, recycle, and live in a home that is much more comfortable and energy efficient your consciousness really truly starts to evolve. You now have the pleasure of having a home, not just a house.  
 
There is a huge opportunity here. So much knowledge has been lost while half the world’s population lives in urban centers. Bio-construction in many ways forces us back to our roots. We start to focus on the environment, we approach nature from the perspective of harmony instead of take, make, and dispose. 
 
It may seem odd to think of sand as a valuable commodity even if some of it is simply fish poop. But it is just another example of how we are depleting our planet of valuable natural resources that cannot be replaced in our lifetime. The construction industry takes a hefty toll on the environment and we can easily have a huge impact on that by embracing the concepts of bio-construction and taking an active part in building our own homes.
 
By doing so we start to see those buildings as our homes and not just a house. From there we can start to be more responsible for the impact we have on the planet. We share our experiences in  a like community. And from there we start to change the paradigm. Our thinking starts to evolve and so does the thinking of the next generation. And that is how we change the world. 
 
The Chinese philosopher Confucius once said, 
 
“If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.” 
 
Truly educating children, educating the next generation is by far the best way to change our future on this planet. Not only that but also openly being a living example of sustainability so that other people start to ask you why you do the things you do. 
 
Well, that it for this week folks. I hope you have enjoyed this episode and you now see yet another way that you can make a difference.  And if you like the material that I produce, then don’t forget to take the time to leave me with a review and subscribe to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast as well as my companion blog Off Grid Living News. 
 
I hope you will join me again next week. Until then, this is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.  
 
Patrick
 
 
References
 
 
 
How does sand form? 
Bioconstruction
 
Bioconstruction: Healthy and Sustainable Materials
 
Reducing the environmental impact of construction 
Urbanization
Patrick