Behold (Resistance)

Behold that person across the street

She is nice when she talks to you

She greets you warmly on her way to work, but wait, what is this?

She is getting into a car, and it seems like it’s hers

Yes

She owns an EDU (Earth Destroying Unit)

She is nice but she pays for the killing of people and for the destruction of the planet

I’m sorry my friend, this may be uncomfortable, but it’s a fact

She is a subsidizer of wars, and a planet destroyer

(Ironically, to pump gas, to fuel up, she pulls a trigger)

The experiment was to build something from scratch, or in this case to rebuild something without applying for a grant or a loan.

The building would’ve been one of those abandoned ones that the city can’t think of anything to do with except to demolish it. We would’ve taken possession of it, clean it up inside and out, gone around the city collecting unusable tires, built the outer walls the same way earthships walls are constructed, following the contours of the old building, and depending on how big the building was (one or two story), the new walls would’ve been the foundation from which the second floor was to be built (or the roof of the first floor).

If more load bearing walls were needed we would’ve simply built them out of the same material as the outer walls.

The inside walls would’ve been built the same way as earthship inner walls, out of discarded bottles, aluminum cans, and a mixture of mud cement and plaster.

The walls would have cost very little to build. The wiring and the plumbing would’ve been more challenging and perhaps cost more, but I don’t think an average person cannot learn to put pipes together, or to lay out wiring after studying a couple of books and asking a couple of question to the experts.  

I don’t know how the city would’ve reacted when asked to give up one its dilapidated buildings. I would’ve liked to find out. Perhaps it would’ve been easier if we would register as a non-profit organization, which in effect we would be.

I also would’ve liked to find out if anybody at all would’ve joined me.

I imagine that only the ones who share my idea of independence would even consider joining such venture. It sounds simple but it actually wouldn’t have been. Physically, it would’ve been very demanding, and then we would have to explain to perplexed spectators what we were doing without getting into an argument, a psychological burden.

I’m not sure if we could’ve passed the construction off as a place for anybody to live, but that would be its primary purpose. We could have constructed rooms to rent, and be perhaps the cheapest place to stay in the city.

It would’ve been a center of resistance to the accepted practice of virtual slavery modern economics run on, with its interest rates financing. Think of a thirty yearlong mortgage.

The building since it would’ve been donated wouldn’t have been mortgaged. We would pay utilities, which according to the concept of thermal mass would be a whole lot less than a conventional building. Property taxes and regular maintenance would’ve been the main costs.