Congratulations on your re-election.
I would like to suggest to you a form of housing that is low cost, yet extremely durable and energy efficient. I first heard of it in Mother Earth News magazine - www.motherearthnews.com - which has been publishing since the 60’s. The article can be found in the October/November 2005 issue. (They are a bi-monthly publication.) It is called Earth Bag construction.
This could really be a good alternative around the entire Gulf Coast region. It costs a fraction of what conventional housing does according to what the article states, and is very labor-intensive.
Giving all those folk who are displaced a chance to help each other build better and more survivable housing could sure lift their spirits and give them a lot of hope. It would give them all something worthwhile and healing to do, helping themselves and each other, and give them a good reason to come home.
Admittedly, they would have to leave if there were flooding again, but the housing they built using this method would likely survive to be cleaned up instead of having to be torn down and re-built from scratch.
I would bet that Mother Earth News would welcome the chance to help you get a program to develop a version of this type of housing specifically suitable to New Orleans’s and the Gulf Coast region’s needs designed in return for being credited for supporting such an initiative. Obviously I couldn’t guarantee that, as I don’t work for them. Still, it would make sense for them under the right circumstances.
I would also bet that local insurance agents, if they were educated as to the qualities of this type of construction, would be much more willing to support insuring this type of home than conventionally constructed homes.
These homes are also highly energy-efficient, which would make them much more affordable for your residents and reduce strain on the local electrical grid and gas supplies. They take advantage of their high-mass to create what is called a “thermal flywheel” effect - absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night, much as adobe or rammed-earth construction does.
It is estimated in the article that this type of home can withstand fires and magnitude 6.5 earthquakes in addition to hurricane force winds.
If local construction companies and people became highly proficient in building such homes, they could lead the nation in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly housing renaissance.
Given proper vision and leadership that you could initially provide, New Orleans could become a national leader in modern housing and a shining example of making a disaster of un-precedented magnitude into an opportunity of monolithic proportions.
Of course, you could choose to ignore this letter, seeing only another “environmentalist”trying to change “the way things are done.” I have nothing to gain out of this. I don’t own a construction company, and I live way up near Chicago. The only thing I would get out of this, if it were to happen, would be the satisfaction of my fellow countrymen lifting themselves out of the rut of destruction and reconstruction and into a position of national and even international leadership.
No one is more perfectly placed to initiate such a change than you are, Sir. You have you electorate and your people’s need squarely at your back at this point in time. You have a freshly leveled city to rebuild. You stand at a unique point in the history of your city, region, and nation with many possible paths before you. A crossroad, if you will. It will be interesting to see what road you choose to follow.
I wish you and our fellow citizens the best in any regard.
Sincerely,
Daniel A. Stafford
Co-chair, Progressive Democrats of Illinois
www.illinoisprogressives.org
By : Dan Stafford
May Wednesday 24th 2006
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