Assuming you have heavily sunk those teeth in Issue #76, we hope to keep the education conversation going with our second TLS Talk! Check our events section and save the date for an August 21st Roundtable with natural building entrepreneurs Emily Wang, Seth Dunn, Myles Danforth, Ian Svilokos, and Arielle and Simon Gonzalez. It’s free but please donate if you’re able. Tune in or miss out! And if the moment has you down and a fresh TLS talk isn’t enough to lift your spirits we highly recommend you check out this (incredibly cool) local study group program. We’re getting together and changing the world folks!
FROM THE MAGAZINE
Three Decades of Natural Building Workshops
Featured in Issue #76, the one and only Michael G. Smith reflects on his long history of hands-on workshop leadership. Michael has taught all sorts of natural building methods to all sorts of folks, and his workshops tend to focus on energy efficiency, the empowerment of people through simple, accessible techniques, along with the regenerative use of local materials.
FIELD NOTES
No Justice, No Shade
“Extreme heat, particularly in cities… kills about 489,000 people worldwide… Today, more than 600 million people are exposed to temperatures above 85ºF for life-threatening periods of time. By 2070, that number could rise to 2 billion. In other words, a heat-related holocaust is upon us, unfolding in broad daylight.”
WTF and more in this Baffler review of San Bloch’s 2025 Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource. A good-to-read, hard-to-read book documenting problematic pasts of shade and heat and promising choices for our future. “We could have embraced shade. Instead, we doubled down on AC.” What are your thoughts?
ECO-TECHNICS
Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac
We are big fans of the Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac who just published a new website hosting their new issues, archival PDFs, news, and more. Their latest issue (cover above) is available now for purchase. Check out this interview with them and The Final Straw Radio (notice a trend?).
ECO-TECHNICS
Notice for Comment: Adoption of Energy Efficiency Standards for New Construction of HUD and USDA Financed Housing
The Trump Administration has opened a Request for Information on the energy code, which means that minimum energy code requirements could be eliminated. Please comment saying why we need these requirements to remain!
“HUD and USDA (the agencies) published a Final Determination on April 26, 2024, adopting the 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 energy codes as minimum requirements for programs covered under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). The Final Determination found that adoption of the energy codes would have no negative impact on the affordability and availability of EISA-covered housing. The agencies plan to review the analysis contained in the Final Determination and are seeking public comments to inform the review.”
BIOSPHERICS
A Sleeping Monster In Canada
Vipal Monga at the Wall Street Journal interviews locals and experts to present a conundrum situation for NW Canada, and a serious lesson for current political extraction fetishes. This is an issue for the land, animals, water, and people. In Yellowknife “scientists estimate a 12-square-mile area around the mine has high levels of arsenic contamination, and locals are warned not to eat fish or pick berries and plants near the city.”
An interesting solution presented was freezing the arsenic in so much ice that “even if water did somehow enter the chambers… it would take years for the blocks to thaw and for the arsenic to get into the water table… even under the most extreme Arctic warming scenarios predicted by the United Nations.”
EVENTS
August 21 - How to Work For Yourself With Regenerative Building
August 21 TLS Talks: How To Work For Yourself With Regenerative Building - Online
Emily Wang, Seth Dunn, Myles Danforth, Ian Svilokos, and Arielle and Simon Gonzalez, have carved their own careers in natural building with design, construction, education, and more. Join to hear their experiences in other careers, how they started their own businesses, and ask your own questions.
August 8-10 Ray And Roman's Clay Plaster Work Party - North Fork, California
No Experience Necessary! The work party is being led by experienced clay builders Darles Eaton and Chris McClellan aka Uncle Mud. Save the date for the Brown Coat Plaster Workshop August 30-September 1, and Finish Coat Workshop in October. Californians, do stay up to date with the CASBA Calendar.
August 15 2026 Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac Call for Submissions
Final articles should be ~750-1500 words but pitches should be short explanations of what you want to submit! (Like a paragraph, or more if you have it but if not all good.) Email lobeliacommons@protonmail.com. As with last year, we are giving the next almanac a loose theme, this time around migration and farm work.
August 20 Grow and Tell with BBMC: Building Code Updates
Grow & Tell is a casual, community-driven webinar series from the Bio-based Materials Collective designed to share the stories, insights, and momentum behind bio-based materials. With a relaxed, fireside chat vibe, Grow & Tell invites anyone to attend. Moderated by volunteers on the third Wednesday of the month, it’s a space to connect, inspire, and grow together.
September 18-20 Rocky Mountain Natural Building Conference, presented by the Natural Building Alliance - Bozeman, MT
This essential conference offers superstar keynote presentations, project tours, breakout presentations, and hands-on workshops and demonstrations. The event will focus on natural building materials, methods, and philosophies, including but not limited to: strawbale, cob, earthblock, hempcrete, straw-clay, timber framing, natural plastering, low-carbon and low-energy construction, sustainable rainwater use, and more. Check out their website for a detailed schedule.
.
Stay cool and committed this August. If you ever find yourself near London (U.K.), San Francisco (CA), or Green River (UT) let us know and let’s meet up!
See ya,
The Last Straw Editorial Collective
DON’T MISS OUT, GET OUR LATEST MAGAZINE NOW!
The Last Straw Issue 76, on Natural Building Education
How do you learn natural building? How do you teach it? No one told us the one catch-all trick to natural building education, but in this issue our contributors trace the histories and present to figure out a way ahead.