Thailand Ecovillage and the Kings New Theory

Wow! has it been that long since I posted anything?? There have been a few hardy souls checking in to no avail and I apologize.

Back after two months in Thailand. It was a wonderful experience all in all and we have designed and started installation of a sustainable community and retreat center of Tantric Yogis. This is all in the province of Loei in the northeast of Thailand on the Laos border. The topography is mountainous with a cool winter and bearable summer.

Thailand like many third world countries has suffered the indignity of being looted of its natural resources and the Loei region has been severely deforested. The intial deforestation was to make room for ginger plantations, and when ginger was planted out by every other tropical third world country, it changed to flowers. Right now the newest get rich scheme is to plant rubber trees. In the meantime the soil is cascading down denuded slopes every monsoon season. I hope there is a market for rocks in Thailands future.

The ironic thing about it is that a national law was passed ending all forestry extraction which has lead to the importaion of tropical hardwoods from Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. No one really learned anything, except that it is better to loot your neighbor than to be looted.

How does one ethically build in this type of situation? My solution was bamboo, a member of the grass family, and cinva ram pressed soil cement brick. Bamboo grows like a rocket in Thailand so finding materials wasn't a problem. I knew that Oscar Hidalgo and Simon Velez have created bamboo truss systems to support roofs but my client wanted 50 foot clear spans. The best I could find was Velez's spans of 37 feet.

Working with Lateritic soils, which are typical of monsoonal tropics presented another problem when it came to building the brick, in that it took more cementthan other soils. Since cement is one of the most energy intensive products used in construction I always seek to limit its use. It is also responsible for 10% of CO2 emmissions world wide.

One becomes enmeshed in whether to use steel in foundations or just stone and so it goes trying to justify materials in terms of embedded energy, social justice, and environmental correctness. At least the decision to build for the long term or generationally is a no brainer. Now we just have to convince ourselves and others to stick around for at least one generation.

Meantime I hear that King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) has written a tract called "The Kings New Theory" and that it is very similar to permaculture. I managed to find a "Cliff Notes" version of his paper and indeed he is writing of the need to care for the land and its people - the first two of three permaculture ethics.

It is amazing to me the reverence everyone holds for the King. His picture is everywhere and it is voluntary. He has great moral and political sway with the populus even though he rules in a constitutional monarchy. He has personally walked to many villages on the border of Thailand and Laos, as well as Myanmar promoting forestry and mixed cropping to replace opium poppy - and he has been successful.

Meanwhile buildings are going up, trees and gardens are being planted and I get the bonus of working with my 31 year old son in a foreign land. Perhaps now he will better understand where I was for much of his young life.

There is an incredible Buddhistness in Thailand that reduces stress, makes one smile, and helps one to gain perspective. I got in the habit of going to the local Wat on Buddha days, the four phases of the moon, and was struck with how welcoming the monks and the laity were. We would provide a dish and flowers, sometimes money and after a brief recitation of Buddha's teachings we would share a meal with the monks. I was struck by the age difference between the monks and the parishioners. The monks were young and the laymen for the most part old. It is the same trend of religions around the world no matter how benign.

Since my religion, if any, is Animism, I am disappointed to notice that the ranks of the Animists are also mostly middle aged and up. Seems that bright shiney things win the day in todays culture. I did notice that both Buddhist and Animists engage in the sacrelidge of laughter and goofiness.

I feel myself drifting right now so to save myself from later embarrassment I will continue this Thai stream of consciousness when I am more focussed.