Paul Wheaton | |
---|---|
Born | Moscow, Idaho, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Education | Studied under Sepp Holzer [1] |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1995-present |
Known for | Permaculture, Online video |
Website | richsoil.com |
Paul Wheaton is an American permaculture author, [2] [3] [4] master gardener, [4] software engineer, [3] [4] [5] and disciple of the natural agriculturist Sepp Holzer. [4] He is known for writing his book, "Building a Better World in Your Backyard", founding Permies, the largest website devoted to permaculture, [3] as well as for creating and publishing articles, videos, and podcasts on the subject of permaculture.
Wheaton is also the founder of Coderanch, formerly called Javaranch, [6] an online community for Java programmers. [7] He received three Jolt Awards from Dr. Dobb's Journal for his work related to Javaranch. [8] As a software engineer, he has worked on the ground system for the satellite that took pictures for Google Earth and DigitalGlobe. [7] [9]
Wheaton has participated in several documentaries, [10] [11] [12] TED Talk shows, [13] and conferences, on topics related to permaculture, energy, and software engineering. [14] [15]
Paul Wheaton was born in Moscow, Idaho, and raised in Eastern Oregon and Missoula, Montana. [3]
He began his career as a software engineer and continued to work for several private companies with software and programming. In the early 1990s, Wheaton developed Bananacom, a terminal emulator, which was used by bulletin board system operators in the United States. At one time, Wheaton had hired 14 programmers from Missoula, Montana to work on the Bananacom project. [9] [16] The product gained popularity among its users due to its usability. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Later in 2000, Wheaton worked on the ground system software for the spacecraft that took pictures for Google Earth and DigitalGlobe. [7] [9]
In 2000, Wheaton shared his views on lawn care on his website richsoil. [21] Later that year, he launched the website Permies, a place for people to discuss lawn care and permaculture. By 2012, Permies had become the largest online community dedicated to permaculture and homesteading. [4] Wheaton first documented on Permies his design of natural homes. [22] [23] [24] Called the Wofati, it is a type of natural earth-sheltered building developed by Mike Oehler and expanded upon by Wheaton. Wheaton coined the acronym, which means Woodland Oehler Freaky-cheap Annualized Thermal Inertia. "Woodland" because it is the optimal location for such a building; "Oehler" after the pioneer, "Freaky-cheap," due to the Fairly-cost effective or frugal materials; and Annualized Thermal Inertia from a book by John Hait called "Passive Annual Heat Storage" which inspired much of the reasoning behind the Wofati design. The site has attracted notable personalities such as Geoff Lawton and Toby Hemenway, rocket mass heater developers Ernie and Erica Wisner, medical herbalist Michael Pilarski, and others who explore a range of eclectic permaculture topics.
In 1997, Kathy Sierra created javaranch.com, which she transferred to Wheaton In January 2000. In 2009, Javaranch was extended to a new domain coderanch.com with a forum. [25] As of May 2020, Coderanch had more than 3 million posts created by over 332,000 registered members. [26]
Paul Wheaton authored the book "Building a Better World in Your Backyard, instead of being angry at the bad guys.", which was an iteration of his philosophy of choosing to "build good things rather than be angry at bad guys." [27] According to Wheaton, the book describes a collection of things people can do individually to make a significant positive global impact. [28] [29] He is also the author of many articles, published both on his own website and other major publications. [3]
A Wheaton's article on Hügelkultur appeared in LifeHacker in 2011, which suggested the use of wood to form the backbone of Hügelkultur bed. [30] His article on Aphids and ants was published on Countryside. [31]
In 2011, Wheaton launched a monthly podcast titled "Paul Wheaton Permaculture Podcast". [32] The podcasts mainly consisted of interviews with notable figures in permaculture and educational discussions on various topics of permaculture. In 2019, his Permaculture Podcast ranked number 2 in Feedspot's “Top 15 Permaculture Audio Podcasts & Radio You Must Subscribe and Listen to in 2019." [33]
Wheaton has also participated in other podcasts such as thesurvivalpodcast.com, in which he discussed various topics including Sepp Holzer, wofati, permaculture profitability, rocket mass heaters, light bulbs, and irrigation, and on The Pagan Homesteader podcast where they discussed Hügelkultur and Wofati. [34] Wheaton has also expressed his positions on energy saving methods in a podcast hosted by Abundant Edge. [35] Wheaton has been featured on The Joe Gardener podcast on the basics of hugelkultur. [36]
In 2008, Wheaton created his YouTube channel called paulwheaton12 which had over 86,000 subscribers and 24 million views as of June, 2020. [37] In his videos, Wheaton discusses various topics related to permaculture, which includes organic horticulture, rocket mass heaters, natural building, alternative energy, homesteading, frugality, raising chickens, wildcrafting, aquaculture, paddock shift systems, and colony collapse disorder. His videos also include interviews with Sepp Holzer and other notable people in the field of permaculture. He further presented his findings during his TEDTalk, "REALLY Saving Energy: Paul Wheaton at TEDxWhitefish". [38]
In 2019, Wheaton was interviewed by Peak Prosperity about his book, "Building a Better World in Your Backyard (Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys. [39]
In 2020, Wheaton was also interviewed by Mike Nowak and Peggy Malecki about the "Building a Better World in Your Backyard (Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys" book as well as his general thoughts and beliefs on permaculture. [40]
In 2013, Wheaton produced a documentary of wood-burning stoves, highlighting sustainable ways to heat, which consisted of four segments called "Fire Science", "Sneaky Heat", "Boom Squish", and "Hot Rocket". The documentary was distributed in DVDs, in addition to online streaming and downloadable videos. According to Wheaton, his design of wood burning stoves uses 1/10 of the wood compared to conventional wood burning stoves. He also claimed that his stoves only produce 1/1000 of smoke compared to other stoves. [10]
In 2014, Paul Wheaton crowd-funded and produced a deck of Permaculture Playing Cards, where each card contained information about a different permaculture technique or notable people of permaculture. [41]
Later in the same year, Wheaton produced another documentary titled "World Domination Gardening", which featured a 3 days workshop of Hügelkultur, earthworks, ponds, and swales. [42] The documentary was distributed in sets of three DVDs, called "Sealing a Pond Without a Liner", "Ditches and Swales", and "Hugelkultur and Terracing". [12]
In 2015, Wheaton launched a Kickstarter project to make a documentary of rocket mass heaters. The documentary has been distributed in DVDs, streaming media, downloadable video files, and PDF plans. [43]
In 2017, Wheaton hosted a Permaculture Design Course and an "Appropriate Technology Course" which consisted of a 14 days workshop. The project was able to raise the pledged funds within 22 hours after its Kickstarter project was launched. [44] [45] [46] [47]
Later in 2018, Wheaton produced a documentary called "Rocket Ovens", which he described as an efficient way to cook and bake food making less than 1% of the carbon footprint of that of an electric oven. Distributed in DVDs and streaming videos, the documentary featured environmental friendly ways of cooking, baking, and dehydrating food with lesser amount of wood compared to other forms wood-fired ovens. [48] [49] [50]
Wheaton set up an experiment to demonstrate how compact fluorescent lamps (CFL bulbs) are not better than incandescent light bulbs. [51] He used a combination of warm clothing, incandescent lights that produce heat as well as light, and various heating devices to keep warm while his 700 square foot house in Montana is set for 40 degrees Fahrenheit all winter. With this demonstration, Wheaton concluded that by heating the person instead of the air, a person can remain comfortable and save hundreds of dollars in energy savings. [52] [53] [54]
Wheaton introduced a lifestyle model called Wheaton Eco Scale in 2010 where he categorized different lifestyles into 10 levels, where level-0 makes the highest carbon footprint and level-10 makes the lowest. [55]
In 2011, Wheaton demonstrated how hand washing a standard sized load of dishes can only use around a gallon of water. [56] This is in contrast to modern, energy-efficient dishwashers using less than 8 liters (2.1 U.S. gal) per load [57] but a significant improvement to the typical water usage during hand-washing of 20–300 liters (5.3–79.3 U.S. gal). [58] [59]
In 2014, Wheaton produced a documentary on mason bees which was featured in TreeHugger. In the documentary, Wheaton compared mason bees with Honey bees and what humans can do to help, which included keeping bees in refrigerators. [60] [61]
Wheaton has performed testing for heating a person rather than a whole house to save 90% on a heating bill while staying warm. [62] [63] [15] [64]
Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from κηρός (kērós) meaning "wax", and was registered as a trademark by Nova Scotia geologist and inventor Abraham Gesner in 1854 before evolving into a generic trademark. It is sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage.
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principles in fields such as regenerative agriculture, town planning, rewilding, and community resilience. The term was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who formulated the concept in opposition to modern industrialized methods, instead adopting a more traditional or "natural" approach to agriculture.
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber. Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans, Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes, and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild, Colin Mason on Leverage, and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka. Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop. He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian.
An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been used to accomplish a wide variety of tasks requiring controlled heating. Because they are used for a variety of purposes, there are many different types of ovens. These types differ depending on their intended purpose and based upon how they generate heat.
A stove or range is a device that generates heat inside or on top of the device, for local heating or cooking. Stoves can be powered with many fuels, such as electricity, natural gas, gasoline, wood, and coal.
A kitchen stove, often called simply a stove or a cooker, is a kitchen appliance designed for the purpose of cooking food. Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven, used for baking. "Cookstoves" are heated by burning wood or charcoal; "gas stoves" are heated by gas; and "electric stoves" by electricity. A stove with a built-in cooktop is also called a range.
The Easy-Bake Oven is a working toy oven introduced in 1963 by Kenner and currently manufactured by Hasbro. The original toy used a pair of ordinary incandescent light bulbs as a heat source; current versions use a true heating element. Kenner sold 500,000 Easy-Bake Ovens in the first year of production. By 1997, more than 16 million Easy-Bake Ovens had been sold.
A gas stove is a stove that is fuelled by combustible gas such as natural gas, propane, butane, liquefied petroleum gas, syngas, or other flammable gas. Before the advent of gas, cooking stoves relied on solid fuels such as coal or wood. The first gas stoves were developed in the 1820s and a gas stove factory was established in England in 1836. This new cooking technology had the advantage of being easily adjustable and could be turned off when not in use. The gas stove, however, did not become a commercial success until the 1880s, by which time supplies of piped gas were available in cities and large towns in Britain. The stoves became widespread on the European Continent and in the United States in the early 20th century.
A chimenea or chiminea(US English) is a freestanding front-loading fireplace or oven with a bulbous body and usually a vertical smoke vent or chimney.
A cooktop, stovetop or hob, is a device commonly used for cooking that is commonly found in kitchens and used to apply heat to the base of pans or pots. Cooktops are often found integrated with an oven into a kitchen stove but may also be standalone devices. Cooktops are commonly powered by gas or electricity, although oil or other fuels are sometimes used.
A masonry heater is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel, and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature for a long period. Masonry heaters covered in tile are called Kachelofen. The technology has existed in different forms, from back into the Neoglacial and Neolithic periods. Archaeological digs have revealed excavations of ancient inhabitants utilizing hot smoke from fires in their subterranean dwellings, to radiate into the living spaces. These early forms have evolved into modern systems.
A wood-burning stove is a heating or cooking appliance capable of burning wood fuel, often called solid fuel, and wood-derived biomass fuel, such as sawdust bricks. Generally the appliance consists of a solid metal closed firebox, often lined by fire brick, and one or more air controls. The first wood-burning stove was patented in Strasbourg in 1557. This was two centuries before the Industrial Revolution, so iron was still prohibitively expensive. The first wood-burning stoves were high-end consumer items and only gradually became used widely.
A rocket mass heater (RMH), also known as rocket stove mass heater, is a form of slow-release radiant heating system, designed to primarily heat people and secondarily to warm areas in line of sight around it. Variations of RMH can also be extended for the functions of cooking, heating water, and producing warm air for distribution.
Aprovecho is the name of two non-profit organizations located in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Aprovecho Sustainability Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in the vicinity of Cottage Grove, Oregon. Its focus is on sustainable living, including permaculture and renewable energy. Its sister organization, Aprovecho Research Center, develops efficient cook stoves for use in developing countries.
David Michael Oehler was an American environmentalist and author. He was a proponent and designer of affordable and sustainable alternative forms of housing. He became well known for his appearances in episodes of Louis Theroux's BBC documentary series Weird Weekends (1998).
Hügelkultur, literally mound bed or mound culture, is a horticultural technique where a mound constructed from decaying wood debris and other compostable biomass plant materials is later planted as a raised bed. Considered a permaculture practice, advocates claim that the technique helps to improve soil fertility, water retention, and soil warming, thus benefitting plants grown on or near such mounds.
Ianto Evans is a Welsh-American applied ecologist, landscape architect, inventor, writer, social critic, and teacher. He is known for his work building, writing and teaching about natural building, cob and high-efficiency solid-fuel stoves, ovens and heaters.
Ernie and Erica Wisner are a couple from Tonasket, Washington, United States, best known for their innovative rocket mass heater designs. They are often referred to as the worldwide leaders and trainers in rocket stove technology. They have made over 700 rocket stoves all over the world.
The Al Baydha Project, in rural, western Saudi Arabia, is a land restoration, poverty-alleviation, and heritage preservation program, based on principles of permacultural and hydrological design. Located roughly 50 km (31 mi) south of Mecca, in Makkah Province, Al Baydha is an area characterized by the rocky, arid, foothills of the Hijaz Mountains. Arab tribes are the major residents of this region.
Chris Lambert is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and podcaster. In 2019, Lambert launched a true-crime podcast documentary series about the murder of Kristin Smart, which led to arrests and ultimately a conviction in the 25-year-old case.