Spreading sustainable building in India! Our team gave just a lecture and interactive session on Earthbag Technology to 50 post graduate students and faculty at SRM Institute of Science and Technology (formerly known as SRM University). SRM is one of the top ranking universities in India with over 38,000 students and more than 2600 faculty across all the campus, offering a wide range of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs in Engineering, Management, Medicine and Health sciences, and Science and Humanities.
Earthbag Training for School of Architecture (SAL) Students from India
Many Earthbag projects begin with architectural blueprints, so it was a pleasure to conduct a 6-Day Earthbag workshop for agroup of student architects from the
School of Architecture (SAL) in Ahmedabad, India.
An added pleasure-by the end of the course SAL students finished building a public
toilet, which was then donated to kids attending the Butterfly Learning Center in
Nuwakot, Nepal.
Bringing Earthbags to the People – A New, Democratic Approach to Sustainable Building
We are proud to announce that our article "Bringing Earthbags to the People – A New, Democratic Approach to Sustainable Building" has been published in Consilience Journal - The Journal of Sustainable Development. The journal is run by a team of undergraduate and graduate students, under the guidance of faculty from Columbia University in the City of New York.
To read the full article, please click here:
https://consiliencejournal.org/…/bringing-earthbags-to-the…/
Belingtar Primary School Opening
We are proud to announce the completion and opening of Belingtar Primary School in Dhading District, Nepal. Thanks to our team, volunteers and sponsors Kimberly and Becca for making it all happen and giving the children a safe and beautiful space to study.
Earthbag Houses Project: Bolgaun, House #7
Under our supervision the local community in Bolgaun, Sindhupalchok just completed the walls and bond beam of house #7. Great job team! This community housing project is sponsored by Nimbin Health and Welfare Association Australia-Based non profit.
Earthbag Training for students from Kantipur Engineering College
Teaching Nepali Civil Engineering students Earthbag Technology. We had a full house this week at our Earthbag Trainings Lecture in our Kathmandu office: 15 senior Civil Engineering students from Kantipur Engineering College.
Earthbag Houses #5 & #6, Bolgaun, Sindhupalchok
Our team just got back from Bolgaun village in Sindhupalchok where we have completed Earthbag houses #5 and #6 together with locals and Australian volunteers. This community housing project is sponsored by Nimbin Health and Welfare Association Australia-Based non profit.
Butterfly Learning Center Grand Opening
We are excited to announce that Butterfly Learning Center is finally opened! The Center is built using Earthbag technology and will serve as a community building and learning center for adults and children. In collaboration with various NGOs, Good Earth Global will be running workshops such as Adult Literacy Classes, Women empowerment, creative and fun classes for children, health and hygiene, etc...
We would like to say special thanks to the sponsors Jennifer Dahlem and Kevin L.H. for making this project happen! We are also grateful to our Good Earth Global team and volunteers who managed to overcome all the obstacles and complete the beautiful building that will serve the community.
Annual Fundraising Event
In November Good Earth Global held its first annual fundraising event, at the C24
Art Gallery in Manhattan. Almost a hundred people attended, including Madhu Marasini
the Nepal Counsel General, and his wife.
The event featured musical performances, fashion and great food, all donated, and a
short talk and slide show about Earthbags and the work we've been doing.
Thanks to those who donated and bought tickets, and we hope to see you next year.
Good Earth Nepal is now Good Earth Global
Nepal recently became the first country on Earth to officially recommend and approve of Earthbag technology; our Earthbag designs have been published in the federal government's official Reconstruction Catalog and ordinary Nepali families can now build their own Earthbag homes, with government rebuilding aid.
With these developments Nepal has emerged as a world leader in sustainable building for the masses.
We now seek to export these breakthroughs to other developing countries, and with this new challenge are changing our name from Good Earth Nepal to Good Earth Global.
As reflected in our current project roster Good Earth Global's commitment to assisting Nepalis most in need is stronger than ever, and we thank the Nepali people for providing us and those around the world with enlightened leadership and renewed hope for a safer, cleaner planet.
International Conference on Sustainable Development
We were honored to present at the International Conference on
Sustainable Development in New York City, sponsored by the Earth Institute of
Columbia University. The topic of our presentation was "Bringing Earthbags to the
People: a New Democratic Approach to Sustainable Building".
Earthbag Approval Appreciation Ceremony
Following the approval of our Earthbag design by Nepali government we hosted Earthbag Approval Appreciation Ceremony that honored high officials of the Ministry of Urban Development and assisting technical experts whose collective efforts allowed Nepal to achieve this great victory. Our guests included Bishnu Paudel - Under Secretary of National Reconstruction Authority, Renaud Meyer – Country Director at UNDP, Ar. Kishore Thapa - Ex-secretary and mayor candidate of Kathmandu municipality, Er. Kishore K Jha - Urban Planner, Former general Secretary of Nepal Engineers' Association (NEA) and other Delegates from Different INGos, Urban Planners and Experts.
Presenting Earthbag Technology to Rotary Club Thamel
We were invited to present Earthbag Technology and share our experience with the team of Rotary Club of Thamel
Chaurpatal village - 1 year after
Last year we have completed an Earthbag home for Sherpa family in beautiful Chaurpatal village, Ramechhap district. This year our technical team has revisited the project and was happy to find the family has fully settled and happy with their house. This project was sponsored by Himalayan Home Trust.
Kaule Earthbag Houses
We are building six houses for our first community-based housing project in Kaule, Nuwakot. The project was sponsored Carisimo, a German-based non-profit, and Kaule Environmental Nepal provided local support.
Earthbag Toilet India
We are proud to announce the completion of our first hyperadobe toilet in India. The toilet will be used by homeless people rescued from the streets, orphans, mentally ill and elderly who live in "Hands of Compassion Home", run by Emmanuvel Charitable Trust. Currently 50 residents live in the home and the organization provides them with food, clothes, rehabilitation and medical services.
Earthbag Meeting Center, India
We completed our model Earthbag Meeting Center on the flagship campus of Anna University in Southern India, in conjunction with university faculty and administration.
Anna engineering students helped construct the heart-shaped structure, with Good Earth Global training and supervision. The Meeting Center is shaping up to be the first of many collaborations with Indian universities, stay tuned!
Breakthrough: Government Approval
In March our intensive lobbying and technical support led to Nepal's approval of Earthbag technology at the federal level. For the first time ever a sovereign country, population 30,000,000, adopted Earthbag construction as a standard and recommended construction technique, suitable for large-scale building.
This is our biggest accomplishment to date and, we believe, a turning point in the evolution of Earthbag technology. With this approval Earthbag construction, finally, emerges as amainstream, commercially viable building method.
Also gratifying was the publication of our home designs in Nepal's Design Catalogue for Reconstruction of Earthquake Resistant Houses, Vol 2, printed by the Ministry of Urban Development. This means Good Earth Global plans and blueprints will be distributed to thousands of Nepali government engineers, and that Earthbag technology is now an official building option for rural villagers receiving government reconstruction aid.
We're immensely proud of our staff, which endured many all-nighters and office sleepovers in order to supply government officials and reconstruction experts with reams upon reams of sophisticated technical data.
Fobisia Environmental Conference 2017
Introducing young people to basic principles of sustainable building is an important part of our mission, and that's just what we did when we kicked off the Fobisia Environmental Conference
2017. At Fobisia we gave classroom and practical training to 75 students, hailing from the British School (Kathmandu), the Seoul Foreign School (Korea), the Regents International School (Thailand) and the Sri KDU International School (Malaysia).
The students learned about Earthbags and the need for sustainable development, and got to build small Earthbag structures with their own hands.
Hiroshima University Conference and Earthbag Site Inspection
We presented at "Post-Earthquake 2015 Housing Reconstruction In Rural Nepal Through Alternative Building Technology", a conference organized by Hiroshima University (Japan) in collaboration with the University of Texas (USA) and Tribhuvan University (Nepal).
After an in-class lecture, we escorted students and professors to our project in Kaule village for on-site training, and for interviews with participating villagers.
