Hey, pretty new to this. Was introduced to Zeitgeist by a workmate, and was blown away, which
I'm sure is not an uncommon story. I would describe it as feeling society has a sickness but
not knowing what it is, in a way the film described that sickness and gave it a name which is a
step in the right direction.
I am really impressed with the ideas of The Venus Project as a possible Solution Ver 1.0. Jaques
and Roxanne are no doubt very clever and have illustrated their dream beautifully so that each of
us can see what might be if we focus. I don't think there would be many sane people who would be
against living in such a society, and of course improving it over future generations once established.
One question that many would have is how can we make that a reality? How can it happen when
currently we are all locked into a monetary system with many levels of control built in to
ensure future land developments and city planning follow the same old wasteful and profitable
formulas of the past?
The Venus Project once built would surely be much more inexpensive to maintain than our present
towns and cities are, however to build this even on a small scale would be extremely ambitious
and require a great deal of investment in materials, technology, and man power.
Realistically such a mobilisation of people and funds, could take decades to achieve. However,
being a generation Y'r, I don't like waiting for things, I want instant gratification, and "I
want it NOW!"
So how can we stop talking, stop dreaming, and start doing?
Just the other day, while indulging in my favourite socially acceptable drug "television", I caught
an episode of "Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" on ABC 2. On this particular job he was working with a
team to make what's termed a "Cob House", which is essentially a centuries old building technique
that builds very robust, fire, weather, and pest resistant houses using a mix of dirt, clay, straw,
and lime, etc. It can be mixed and built by hand, once dried it's very tough with some houses in
England having stood for hundreds of years, when rendered it looks just as nice as any modern
house you see today, and can be built 2 stories high, maybe even higher. The best bit being it is
literally dirt cheap (Oh yeah, that Pun was totally intended!).
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/good_wood/cob.htm
So with a little research this method could be adapted for use in Venus Project inspired communities.
You could start by using your bare hands to build, however in the spirit of the Venus Project, it
would be preferable to find ways of using technology to mix and assemble buildings with less and less
labour and greater speed. Buildings and houses could then be fitted out with the latest in power
generating, climate control, networking, and water saving devices so that near total off the grid living
is achieved. Considering how much money you will save on the building itself, the extra coin can
go a long way into making such houses state of the art, and very environmentally friendly.
I believe by looking to the building techniques of the past where people didn't have delphin
and metricon house and land packages, but instead had willing people and lots of dirt, clay, and
straw at their disposal, inexpensive communities of the future could be built today that reject
the overcomplicated and hugely expensive houses that most people currently purchase.
It could be a solution for the time being at least until we can scrape together enough money to
build machines that make the houses for us using extruded and moulded light weight composite plastics
as Jaques and Roxanne illustrate
What are peoples thoughts, just one idea we may be able to feasibly start building our own Venus
Project now, and of course always interested in anyone else's ideas to kick a Venus Project community
off sooner rather than later.
