Paul Coleman's Blog (49)

SOMEWHERE UNDER THE RAINBOW

Finally rain has started to fall heavily again after almost two months of unusually hot sunny days. And to…

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Added by Paul Coleman on January 29, 2012 at 2:36pm — 2 Comments

UNIQUE EARTHBAG GREEN HOUSE BUILT TO WITHSTAND THE PATAGONIAN WEATHER AND TO PRODUCE A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCE

It seems there is no end to what you can build out of earthbags. We've just completed our second…

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Added by Paul Coleman on November 4, 2011 at 12:26pm — 1 Comment

WE'VE MOVED INTO OUR EARTHBAG-TURF HOME AND LOVE IT

We've finally got round to finishing the front of the house and we like the way it's turned out. It is sitting very pretty atop its hill and we spend hours just staring outside the window at the gorgeous view.

The shield in the center represents the sun and the universe through the Chinese character Yuan. YUAN is one of China's most ancient characters and represents the connection between heaven and Earth. In Japan the same character is called Genki (Gemki no Gen( and…

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Added by Paul Coleman on October 19, 2011 at 11:29am — 1 Comment

This series of photo's shows how we are installing our PAHS (Passive Annual Heat Storage) system

Photo # 1 First we grade the earth slightly away from the house. Then we place the insulation and next the plastic sheeting that will take away the water and allow the earth to become warm and dry. The expanded polystirine extends at least three meters beyond the house, but will not be used on the floor inside. These things are crucial as the heat the house gathers from the summer sun and the fire will be stored in this dry earth and released through the…

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Added by Paul Coleman on February 4, 2011 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

NORTH WEST CORNER WALL OF OUR PATAGONIAN HOME ALMOST FINISHED

The North West corner turf wall is almost finished. Soon turf will be placed over the earthbag retaining wall to protect the bags and to provide a footpath. The pile of earth to the left of the wall will be a terrace planted with herbs. This will be the first of the many terraces that will enable us to utilize the rest of our land in the form of a food forest. Already the house is dissapearing into the scenery. Following the North walls completion we will begin the huge… Continue

Added by Paul Coleman on January 29, 2011 at 3:29pm — 1 Comment

SOUTH FACING TURF TO WARM THE HOUSE DURING ANTARCTIC BLASTS NEARS COMPLETION

PHOTO #1 & 2: BEGINNING AND ENDING OF THE DAY

This south facing turf wall is massive, because it has to protect us from the winds that blow up from Antartica during the winter periods and will end up using forty tons of earth, all moved by hand. Beneath lies a very uncomplicated Passive Annual Heat Storage System- we call it A SOLAR UMBRELLA. It's polysterine, one inch deep, set beneath thick plastic sheeting, the same as that used in…

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Added by Paul Coleman on January 6, 2011 at 1:55pm — 1 Comment

2010 XMAS PATAGONIAN WILDERNESS IN FULL COLOUR

Diego rows Lucio, dog and goat across Rio Quinto as we make our way to his farm.

Cliff (The Walking Treeman) Spenger is having a ball, as are we, this Xmas. Lucio, our friend and neighbour in Valle Quinto invited us all to spend the Xmas period with him and…

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Added by Paul Coleman on December 27, 2010 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments

KONOMI WINS `THE WOMENS WORLD SUMMIT FOUNDATION AWARD FOR CREATIVITY IN RURAL LIFE

So Great! Konomi has been recognised for her dedication to the planet and humanity by the Swiss based Women`s World Summit Foundation. She is one eleven inspirational women chosen from around the world to be this years Lauriates.

Bravo Konomi!

Added by Paul Coleman on November 26, 2010 at 6:34am — 2 Comments

Fantastic Journey Planting trees and Food Gardens in South Africa - now back in Chile

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A few years ago, with Tentsukuman, a famous Japanese activist and Comedian and several other leading figures we created The Wonderful World Tree Planting Festival. Since then we have led hundreds of tree planting…

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Added by Paul Coleman on November 26, 2010 at 6:20am — 1 Comment

20th Sept:Celebration Earth Eve of the International day of Peace Live Broadcast from Okinawa on UStream.

Time: 20.00 hrs. in Japan. 04.00 San Francisco. 09.00 New York. 12.00hrs London.

Brought to you by FM Tokyo and KAI Radio. Featuring Koichi Nakatani, Japan`s Tree Planting Father, and Atsushi Togami who`s just completed a peace tree planting walk through Japan, musicians and more. All night long.

20th Sept:Celebration…

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Added by Paul Coleman on September 19, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

WEST SIDE TURF WALL ON ITS WAY UP 芝生の壁ができあがった！グリーンウォール♪

A VERY HAPPY KONOMI WAVING TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW - HELLO SHEEP!

窓から世界へ向かって手を振るーハロー!羊たち！

Actually we don`t allow sheep on our land anymore, following our recent planting of trees, flowers and berries - though they can still be seen nibbling on the other side of the fence.…

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Added by Paul Coleman on September 18, 2010 at 7:30am — No Comments

PEACE FOR THE EARTH

The International Day of Peace is coming up, so I thought it wold be nice to show a couple of earth - peace related video`s, one from Korea, the other from Japan.

From Arirang TV (Korea) 2006…

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Added by Paul Coleman on September 8, 2010 at 6:51pm — 2 Comments

ARBOR DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA AND FOR US HERE IN CHILE

Todays Arbor Day in South Africa and trees were planted here in Patagonia with Food and Trees For Africa (FTFA) in mind. We'll be planting trees with FTFA in November, when we lead another Wonderful World festival Tour of 100 Japanese to South Africa.

Beautiful clear and sunny day today - Konomi planted lots of fruit trees and a Tepa Tree, which is cool ,because we used some…

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Added by Paul Coleman on September 1, 2010 at 2:16pm — No Comments

TERRA FIRMA: A PROJECT IN PATAGONIA, CHILE

We've entered into a partnership with our friend Yuji Miyata, who recently visited us here in Patagonia. Yuji, loved the nature here so much that he decided he wanted to live in Valle Quinto, where we have our second piece of land. We have four hectares, surrounded by thousands of hectares of wilderness and figured that together we could create something very beautiful, and in no time at all came…

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Added by Paul Coleman on August 31, 2010 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

TOKYO FM TO GIVE CELEBRATION EARTH OKINAWA EVENT THREE HOURS OF LIVE COVERAGE ON PEACE DAY

Tokyo FM, and its 36 affiliates, Japan's most popular station will broadcast three hours of Celebration Earth events live on Septemver 21st, the International Day of Peace. Koichi Nakatani, Japan's Tree Planting father, will host the event. This broadcast gives Celebration Earth a great opportunity to spread the work of its members through out Japan and plans are underway to make the whole event a live you tube broadcast to the…

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Added by Paul Coleman on August 28, 2010 at 3:28pm — 2 Comments

NEW EARTHBAG PROJECTS PLANNED FOR VIETNAM, PATAGONIA AND JAPAN

PHOTO: Leaving the valley after our last trip with our neighbours.

Konomi is at home, drawing the plans of the four dome home we plan to build with Yuji. he loves it here in Patagonia and we took him to Valle Quinto where we have a four hectare patch of wilderness. The valley is vast and glorious with only eleven families spread over many kilometers of woods, rivers and mountains. our friend took us to see some of his land, but the…

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Added by Paul Coleman on August 27, 2010 at 2:35pm — No Comments

PASSIVE ANNUAL HEAT STORAGE (PAHS) AND HOW IT APPLIES TO OUR CABIN

With the waterfall that supplies the water and electricy for the village a rainbow appears out of the mist - but a little too late in the day to encourage us to work on the land. Yesterdays warm weather led to the influx of freezing air form Antartica and then a brief but powerful storm.…

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Added by Paul Coleman on August 20, 2010 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

THE TWISTED TREE

We're back in La Junta and the mountains are dusted with snow and look like giant cakes sprinlked with icing sugar and topped with blue skies. It's nice to be back from our vacation, which we especially enjoyed in Villa Angustura, where we found great nature and this unusual twisted trunk of an Alerce Tree. ISN'T NATURE…

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Added by Paul Coleman on August 1, 2010 at 3:57pm — 1 Comment

20 ANNIVERSARY OF THE WALK TO SAVE THE AMAZON - THE FIRST STEP OF A MUCH LARGER JOURNEY

A lot of people know me as the earthwalker, but not many people know how it all began. Twenty years ago today, on July 25^th 1990, I began what was to be a two…

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Added by Paul Coleman on July 25, 2010 at 8:18am — No Comments

AN ARTICLE ON THE SALE OF THE WORLDS NATIONAL PARKS

Recently I have been writing articles for the mainstream media and our experience in Arrayanes National Park inspired me to write another. As you will see I am not exactly overjoyed by what I have seen. The forest of Arrayanes, also known as Alerce or Myrtle Trees, was however a treasure to behold.

THE SALE OF THE WORLD'S NATIONAL PARKS

Konomi and I are on a brief vacation with in the Village of La Angostura in…

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Added by Paul Coleman on July 17, 2010 at 5:57am — 1 Comment