The Be the Change Project’s Top Tips for Regenerative Living, Part 6: Building with Earth

Reader Contribution by Kyle Chandler-Isacksen
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The boys and I putting the final touches on the Tadelakt finish of our cob oven.

This series is based on the belief that our small, individual actions are important.  Sure, climate change, environmental degradation, structural inequality…are big problems that need big, systems-based solutions and one person’s worm bin won’t save the planet.  But I also know that not having a worm bin and plopping my food scraps in the trash causes bad things to happen.  It subtracts from the balance of life and health. Rich worm castings improve a plant’s life, a garden’s health, make better carrots, feed a few thousand worms.  That’s an addition. Plus, it’s an action we can take, daily, share with our kids, our friends, scale up. Combine that with a lifestyle of plusses and we start to get places.  I also know that if I don’t try to live regeneratively, that if I don’t act in my community, demonstrate alternatives, that I’ve already given up. But this piece is not about worm bins but building with earth and is our Top Tip Number 6 for regenerative living.  

By earth I mean clay-rich soils and sand.  Building with earth falls under the broader umbrella of natural building and the even bigger one of green building.  For this article, I’m sticking with just building with earth: cob and adobe, natural plasters and clay-paints.

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