[Gaviotas] Bienvenue Manfred!

Thu Nov 6 00:26:20 CST 2008

Dave,I live in Toronto Ontario. Nobody in Toronto has a Gaviotas Sleeve
Pump. The average citizen of Toronto is not interested in hand pumping water
from 60 meters below the surface of a dirty city. People are much more
likely to make use of the clean, potable, and mostly tasteless city tap
water. So it's no surprise that nobody in my neighborhood is using a
Gaviotas sleeve pump. Does that prove that nobody "has ever seen one"??
Where I used to live, which is rural kenya, people drank dirty water out of
a river because they had no alternative. They have an average life
expectancy of 45 years, largely because of the effects of water borne
diseases. Those people would be very happy to have access to the  potable
water 60 meters below them, and would be very willing to take 5 minutes out
of their day to pump it. Gaviotas sleeve pumps now exist all over rural
Latin America for the same reason!
As a civil engineer, I can say for certain that the sleeve pump is not a
"dumb idea". I can easily create a system model of the gaviotas sleeve pump
system and compare it with conventional hand pumps, and quantify the
advantages of their innovation. Their system is significantly better than
conventional hand pumps. An appropriate analogy is: would you rather lift a
real boulder, or a styrophome boulder from a movie set?
If you doubt that there was "ever such a thing", check out the picture at
http://www.friendsofgaviotas.org/technology.htm

Karl

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 6:22 PM, Dave Johnson <pinefarm at uniontel.net> wrote:

> His argument falls short when it is applied to the so called inventions of
> Gaviotas, especially to the "sleeve pump". A pump is a pump. If it works one
> place, it will work almost any place and yet nobody in the years since the
> book came out has ever seen one, not even detailed plans for one. It is a
> dumb idea and I doubt that there is or ever was any such thing.  Dave
> Johnson
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Heath Synnestvedt" <
> thapeloheath at gmail.com>
> To: <gaviotas at greenbuilder.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 8:21 PM
> Subject: [Gaviotas] Bienvenue Manfred!
>
>
>
>  Welcome!
>> I don't speak French (yet) though i was born in Canada. Yo si aprendi
>> espanol en sudamerica, pero aqui en esta lista se usa primeramente el
>> Ingles.
>> Like you i was captivated by Alan Weisman's book, and this past May i had
>> the privilege of meeting Paulo Lugari in Philadelphia.
>> Your paragraph below:
>>
>>> Pienso tambien que necesitamos inventar para el nuevo siglo, un tipo de
>>>
>> sociedad diferente. Una communedad como Gaviotas, aunque no siendo la
>> unica
>> de este tipo, represente un modelo interesante de experimento.
>>  ...represents a beautiful accord with what i heard Sr. Lugari emphasizing
>> in his lectures and conversations: The current state of human development
>> on
>> this planet is at a point where wake-up calls are well worth acting upon,
>> and Gaviotas is just one model of a community creating itself as a
>> distinct
>> organism separate from the prevailing (unhealthy) trends.
>>  A great number of the questions asked of this man were of what
>> recommendations he would make for this or that situation. His consistent
>> answer came with a good-humored smile. Gaviotas came into being in the
>> desolate tropical plains of a country at war with itself. How to replicate
>> the way Gaviotas operates in Philadelphia? The specific solutions do not
>> apply in this context. It is the model of respecting everyone's
>> contribution, decentralization of power and authority and the creative
>> generation of local solutions to local challenges: this is what he urges
>> us
>> to do. Sr. Lugari assures us that although he is seen as the mouthpiece
>> for
>> Gaviotas and he was instrumental in founding it, he is an ordinary member
>> of
>> the group, not it's head or leader. "Leaders are for mediocre societies,"
>> he
>> said on a Sunday session.
>>
>> Lest i get shunned or worse (it is voting day tomorrow here in the U.S.)
>> allow me to say that i love taking direction from someone i really deeply
>> respect, and i enjoy asking people to do things too. On principle, then, I
>> don't see this as a mark of a mediocre society as it would seem Lugari is
>> saying. Where it really rings true to me is when force or threats of
>> violence are employed by a leader to coerce those who follow. Then,
>> surely,
>> it is a mediocre society at best.
>>
>> This list is as you heard a great place to come into contact with people
>> who
>> are in this field of renewable energy systems. I am currently more of a
>> student of life, love and wisdom than a professional in any field, but i
>> have met several of those on here too! I suggest putting out a simplified
>> resume/vision message on here that may attract the attention of someone
>> looking for a graduate of such a program as you have been doing. There are
>> countless opportunities available! Be specific and the right one will open
>> for you.
>>
>> Be well,
>> Heath Emanuel Synnestvedt
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