my gaf in the tribune this sunday (2 Viewers)

[nlgbbbblth]

good feature.

pity there was no photos of inside the house. From the outside it looks nice.

 

[krystal]

yeah congrats dudes!

patrick freyne is on a mission to socialise the turbine - bit on seomra spraoi too

 

[La La]

yeah congrats dudes!

patrick freyne is on a mission to socialise the turbine - bit on seomra spraoi too

yeah saw that - copied it here from website:

Amidst all the private property we need more public spaces and empty private buildings could evenbe used for public purposes, says Mark Malone of the Seomra Spraoi collective

THREE years ago we thought it would be useful to be proactive and get a social centre together . . . to get a sort of public space that anyone could use. Traditional social centres around Europe tend to be squats but it's not really viable to do that in Dublin because the authorities will shut you down pretty quickly. So we rent.

This is our third location. We've literally just got the keys to the new space and we're painting it up. The previous space was used for a kind of Sunday kitchen. Different groups had meetings there. It was also used for cultural events, artwork, "lm screenings and other bits and pieces. The "rst location was in Middle Abbey Street . . . a really small room. The second one was in Lower Ormond Quay and this third one is in Mary's Abbey, Dublin 1, which is a much larger premises and has much more potential. We want to build up more resources . . . internet access, English and literacy classes and things like that. We've proved over the last few years that it's possible. We've moved to bigger and bigger spaces . . . there are more people involved and the range of projects and activities is increasing all the time.

It's totally self-funded. People support the space with standing orders and we put money in ourselves. It's about autonomy. We don't want state funding or grants or anything. We want to show that you can pull these things off without necessarily having to rely on other resources. It's hard to do anything that doesn't make money in Dublin. Without going into a political rant, it's all tied into how we socially imagine ourselves. The idea of people actually working together on a volunteer basis without the transaction of cash doesn't make a lot of sense in people's heads because they're not used to thinking that way. And Dublin has a lot of empty buildings but it's just culturally unacceptable for these buildings to be used for public use because there's neither pro"t nor private gain to be made from it.

That's essentially the crux of the problem . . . commonality within the public sphere is being reduced and the privatisation of land is increasingly encroaching everywhere. One of the aims of the project is to challenge this assumption that spaces need to be privatised before they can be seen as useful. We think common usage is really important. You can certainly see the squeeze on the more mainstream voluntary and community sector at the moment. They're increasingly getting pushed out of the city centre. There are less and less communal services and public services people can actually use. So we want to build up and create our own services that people can actually use. Public spaces are de"nitely being squeezed out in terms of being something that people are able to rent or afford. But even in terms of legal status and people reclaiming private space, there's absolutely no reason why someone should own a property and let it lie there for 30 years when that space could be used.

This project has been running for three years. Hopefully it will inspire other people to do similar things. There are similar spaces in Cork and there have been things like this in Belfast. We want people to get involved and come along and see what it's about. The meetings are public . . . every Thursday night at 7.30pm. It's all about people coming along and seeing what the space is about and maybe it will inspire others to run with their own ideas and run their own thing.

 

[Wavioli]

good feature.

pity there was no photos of inside the house. From the outside it looks nice.

Inside it's a mess. A third cleaned, with half-made dinners lying around.

Not to mention the goats vomit

 

[Hector Grey]

that house looks saucy

 

[Jill Hives]

Co-ops have been all the rage in Boston for the last 5 years or so; very popular with the vegan anarchist types into hardcore. I had an ‘interview’ with one house when I was searching for a new place. I was told I would need to make Thursday night dinners (since they rotate days) to which I responded, “Is that my day to shower too?” Needless to say, it didn’t go over well. If my nose was not so awfully offended it wouldn’t have been such a bad place to live. I could have learned how to knit on Tuesdays and had lace dress tea parties on Sunday afternoons.


I do like the idea but they all seem a bit cultish for my liking.

 

[rettucs]

“Is that my day to shower too?”

I would hate to have to shower once a week. Its way too often. Were those people neurotic or something?

Good job you legged it.

Is saying that, and on an almost completely unrelated matter, I went to college with a guy who only owned one pair of jeans for the first 2 years we were there. That wouldn't be so unusual except for the fact that he only ever wore jeans to college. Computers tended to attract that sort though.

 

[Dktr. Faustus]

The goats at this leitrim gaff shower very very rarely, those weirdos

 

[Franco]

these guidelines are in the back of an organiser i got as a prezzie.

some are a bit nuts.

Tips for modern simplicity

Tips to dropping out of the economy & using less energy and water:

* Work as little as you can so you can spend as much time as possible doing the things that make you happy. This may mean creating collective business projects focused on meeting the members needs rather than working for the system.

* Live with less money. This may mean sharing more with others to cut costs, like sharing your living space, tools, and other things that are large material investments. Figure out what material things you can make yourself and learn to enjoy the time spent making clothes, household decorations, gifts, music, etc. Think about why you "collect" the things you do and work toward only collecting the things you really care about and filtering the rest out of your possession-- you're life will be less stressful and your loved ones will appreciate the hand-me-downs.

*Eat locally grown and packaged food. Grow your own food. Industrial food production uses a huge percentage of the fossil fuels consumed in the world. Transporting food from far away uses lots of fuel. Remember that because of the world economy, foods grown in developing countries (and tomatoes from southern Florida in ours), are mostly grown by farmers who aren't making liveable wages for their labor. Also, remember that land used for farming now had to be deforested-- which means that our food consumption is contributing to the destruction of the natural world.

*Eat low on the food chain, as little food made out of animals and their products as you can. A vegetarian or vegan diet massively cuts fuel and water consumption. It takes 5,400 gallons of water to produce 2.2 lbs of hamburger! Less processed food uses less energy too. If you live and cook communally, each meal takes less energy and water.

*Drive less. Walking and riding a bike improves your health and allows you to slow down enough to appreaciate the beauty in you surroundings. Riding the bus doesn't have to be icky if you bring a books, music or loved ones. And there's always hitchhiking! Transportation accounts for 40% of US fossil fuel use. It takes 44 gallons of water to refine one gallon of oil.

*Stop drying your clothes in a machine. The sun and a piece of rope is a "solar-dryer" that has worked great for centuries and all the hanging and taking down of your clothes helps tone your arms.

*Think about ways to share a fridge with lots of people so some individuals can get rid of their fridge. Refrigerators uses more energy than any other home appliance. You can store stuff for a day or two without a fridge and/or build a root cellar in the ground (which in more areas stays a constant 55 degrees.) Fresher food tastes better anyway. If you go to the grocery store more often on bike or foot, you'll be getting more exercise too!

*If you live in a cold or hot climate, use more passive solar heating/cooling. During the heating season keep the draperies and shades on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow sunlight to enter your home and closed at night with blankets over them to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows. During the cooling season, keep the windows and drapes closed during the day to prevent solar gain and open the house up to cool off at night.

*Get rid of lights and appliances or at least turn off lights and appliances when not in use. Get the 7-year bulbs instead of the cheapie ones because they use less energy. Get smaller wattage bulbs to use at night when you're chillin. The electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home generates more carbon dioxide that two cars!

*Get rid of your grass lawn. This is the #1 user of water in most of the country. You can replace it with a garden to grow your own food or a landscape of native plants that don't need watering. Lawns symbolize property - gardens actualize the earth's abudance

*Shower less often, with friends and for less time to save lots of energy and water.

*Re-use water used for washing for watering gardens (filtered first).

does the gaf do this kind of thing?

 

[love jones]

t




does the gaf do this kind of thing?

to a certain extent i suppose. Bu that's a bit full on. That seems like lot of effort.

Thanks to everyone who picked up the peper and gave us kind words..|..|

 

[krystal]

Thanks to everyone who picked up the peper and gave us kind words..|..|

it's my favourite bit of the turbine, the property bit.

 

[hugh]

patrick freyne is on a mission to socialise the turbine - bit on seomra spraoi too

He's onto a losing battle there. The Turbine becomes more like the Indo every week. Anyone read the article about Gaza? Sorry ... going off topic.

Anyway, nice one Willie! Hope it continues to work out ..... try and keep the crusties out though.

 

[krystal]

He's onto a losing battle there. The Turbine becomes more like the Indo every week. Anyone read the article about Gaza? Sorry ... going off topic.

Anyway, nice one Willie! Hope it continues to work out ..... try and keep the crusties out though.

no, I kept the reading of actual real news to a minimum this week - I merely read the mags, property and review sections of my sunday paper haul.