From The Last Straw Monthly Round-up: Extreme weather might be one of the most visible signs of climate change, but crossing planetary thresholds takes many forms. This month we take a look at how to help Typhoon Halong survivors in Alaska, a cob building comeback?, wildfire prevention, and more...

Open Call: Get your building featured in the next issue of The Last Straw magazine!
If your building is selected, it’ll be featured in the next magazine and you’ll receive a free copy of the issue! Email all submissions to editors@thelaststraw.org by October 31st!

There is no "miracle" technology! We need to relearn and update the sufficient lifeways that predate cheap fossil fuels.

This month's TLS Talks is an online panel discussion between six young professionals making their own way in architecture, construction, and education with natural materials. Register for free (donations encouraged) here: www.eventbrite.com/e/how-to-wor...

The real "there is no alternative"

Authoritarian neoliberalism: make more people houseless, poor, surveilled, and automated out of a job, and then throw them in a hole.

@newframeworks.bsky.social co-owner Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz was violently abducted by ICE on June 14th, along with his 18 year old stepdaughter, Heidi. Support them and learn more about how ICE, building, and everything are connected here: www.newframeworks.com/support-our-...

We are blowing past our modest climate thresholds faster than expected: “irreversible tipping points in the climate system — like the melting of Arctic ice sheets or the wide-scale collapse of coral reefs — are closer at hand than scientists previously believed.” from archive.is/202505291047...

Our first TLS Talk with Ace McArleton starts in less an hour! We'll talk about New Frameworks' SEED program, and hear from the first couple program graduates. Tune in for free and ask your questions!

The 1st #strawhouse in Europe was renovated after ~100 years. I asked the cncp-feuillette.fr about problems with the renovation for a lecture:
"We didn't need to carry out any major renovations, just plastering and limewash paint, because it was in very good condition."

“Unlike many carbon removal solutions still in development, biomass building products are already commercially manufactured in the United States and globally.” Even if you just skim this, the conventional material carbon and monetary cost comparisons are worth a look: rmi.org/insight/buil...?

Join our live video call May 28 w/ New Frameworks co-founder Ace McArleton as he talks about the SEED program, which helps make sure "high-performance, carbon-smart, and socially just building practices are accessible, scalable, and shared." Register for free : www.eventbrite.com/e/ace-mcarle...

Good clarifying piece that calls for building new institutions and points out architecture's connection to everything, requiring that "we...all become architecture critics"

A recent study found that on a global scale soil is getting worse at retaining moisture: www.carbonbrief.org/global-soil-... It also found that dry soil is a more significant cause of sea level rise than previously thought, creating even more ripe conditions for droughts, floods, wildfires.

You may have heard that a new book called Abundance came out recently, with Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson claiming to offer a way out of climate crisis that would be neither uncomfortable nor unpopular. Critical reviews quickly came out picking apart the book's oversimplifications:

We're new here, but not new to the world. We've been putting out stuff about natural building and ecological design for almost 33 years! Here's a little bit about a few DIY-ers helped revive natural building methods: www.thelaststraw.org/a-history-of...