Why this site is important, and how to help

Hi all,

I have been a frequent poster as of late, because I beleive in resources like this forum;
I teach, advocate for, and work in the areas of DIY food, energy, shelter and transportation.
The above areas are important, related, and an understanding of their relativity is critical to our
continued population upon this fragile sphere we call earth.
I beleive that the tenets of appropriate technology and sustainable development should be our
"guiding lights", especially here in urban America which i currently call "home".

I am offering my help - to a limited extent -
to populate FAQ and "sticky" threads
so that in each of the main forum areas
we can learn from each others technical expertese, experiments and results
with less "distraction" by repetitive basic questions.

I am not trying to denegrate those that come to this site all excited, and, in hurried
need of an answer, post a question before they exhaust some hours searching:
because I myself had some problems with the search function earlier.

(I spent years "lurking forums" and reading books before I felt I could post a question without qualms...)

With the above in mind, I will be posting a group of my favorite resources
in the "links to websites" area soon, I hope this will be a help rather than just criticism.

What I am asking for, and trying to answer by offering some time,
is that the moderators add a FAQ to some of the more technical areas
and that others join me in populating thsoe areas.

Thank you to Paul, et al, for providing this forum, and to all the members for their input.
I hope that my input is taken as positive, I intend it to be so.

Andor Horvath
aka mechartnik

By all means, proceed. There's nothing holding you back.

We live in a finite world, with limited (although considerable in some instances) resources. Our economy is based on consuming these resources at an ever increasing rate. Our waste has no other place to go but into the air, water and ground. Fossil fuels won't last, eventually leaving us entirely dependent upon renewable energy sources. Land and fresh water is limited and being used up. Biodiversity is declining. The human population is expanding continually. As a species, we've come a long way from caves and clubs, but the manner of our organization has made us dependent on the very technology that has improved our condition, and that technology cannot be sustained indefinitely. New methods, different ways of doing and being are needed. The problems are not insurmountable; We are an adaptive species. We will make a transition from our current paradigm of consumption to a future of renewal. The preservation of our culture through that transition is what permaculture offers.

Thanks Ken,

I just shared a sheet load of resources under the links header, and continue to try and add helpful content/direction in the wood burning stoves area. Perhaps you could help establish a FAQ/best practices thresd in your area of expertise.

respectfully,

andor

I'm not a fan of sticky, but I do like the idea that we keep links at the tops of forums to direct people to the best resources on this topic: usually a thread.

We are doing something like this for every book and DVD. The trick is that we are saying that for these resources, the staff has the okie dokie to edit the first post. (normally the staff never edits user posts - they are either left verbatim or deleted entirely).