About Us

This blog was initiated by Kelly Hart and Dr. Owen Geiger as and adjunct to their website, www.earthbagbuilding.com, in an effort to bring the concept of earthbag building to the broadest possible audience. It is offered with an attitude of good will toward all of those who might employ the ideas and further this very sustainable approach to building.

Kelly Hart is the host of www.greenhomebuilding.com and www.dreamgreenhomes.com, and has built his own home using the earthbag technique. He has adapted the concepts popularized by Nadir Khalili and his “superadobe” building, by filling the bags primarily with crushed volcanic rock. This creates insulated walls that are similar to strawbale, except that they are completely impervious to damage from moisture, insects or rodents. Kelly has produced a DVD, titled Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete House, which chronicles his adventure of building this house, and shows other earthbag houses as well. Email: kellyhartATgreenhomebuilding.com

Dr. Owen Geiger, Ph.D. (in Social and Economic Development), is the former Director of Builders Without Borders and Founder and Director of the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building (www.grisb.org). He is an author, engineer and licensed contractor specializing in strawbale construction, earthbag and other types of sustainable building. He co-authored the Builders Without Borders Straw-Bale Construction Guides and contributed to Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village. Dr. Geiger has consulted on numerous international housing projects, worked closely with Habitat for Humanity for seven years and mentored housing officials with the United Nations Institute of Training and Research. He is also a correspondent for The Last Straw Journal. Email: strawhousesATyahoo.com