October/November 2006

Water Markets /Water Wars And a small island called Arcata, California
Jim Tobin

Taking to the Streets to Raise Awareness of Global Warming
Bill McKibben

Interview with Bill McKibben
Meteor Blades

My Low-Carbon Diet
Seth Zuckerman

A Conversation with David Ward
Jody Woodruff

In Tune With the Sacred
Raina Hassan Sanderson

Democracy and the Middle Class
Thom Hartmann

The Great Turning From Empire to Earth Community
David Korten

The McKenzie River Gathering Foundation Turns 30
Richard Moeschl

Transformation Through Film
Marla Estes

Mixed Media Reviews
Debi Weiss

Cosmic Calendar
Salina Rain

BACK TO TOP

A Conversation With David Ward

By Jody Woodruff

“Sometimes people’s prayers have to be answered by other people.”

In May, 2006, David Ward of Talent, Oregon, won the prestigious Invent Now competition sponsored by Invent Now, Inc., an entity comprised of the History Channel, Time Magazine and the Inventors’ Hall of Fame Foundation. One of twenty-five finalists, David was informed that he won on the last day of a three day event in New York City. Along with the $25,000 grant to further his work, he acknowledges that the more substantial prize is the recognition the award brings to his invention.

It must have been thrilling to be recognized for your years of hard work.

Yes. And unusual to be on center stage, New York City, for someone working on the fringes of mainstream America out here in Oregon. And, with an impressive array of prestigious people in the audience. The recognition is invaluable and will continue. This November we’ll be featured in Time Magazine in their annual invention special and recently we shot footage for a series on Sundance Channel.

You say “we.” Are you the sole inventor or is this a collaboration?

The invention has always been my project, but many people have contributed over the years. At this point, I consider it a team effort.

Has winning this award moved your project to another level?

It’s changed the nature of the project substantially in that we’re getting requests now for newspaper and magazine articles. Business men from China call us and want to license the technology. People from all over the world are contacting us for information.

Will you describe this invention that is capturing so much interest?

It’s a method for processing agricultural residues and other residual plant fibers into construction material. The beginning of the process is a machine that turns the residue into tightly bound cables that can be used in a variety of capacities. The end result is walls composed of cables bonded together with a fiber adobe mortar—a composite similar to fiberglass, but made with plant fiber and mineral based binder.

The machine that makes the cables is called the StrawJet. Essentially it’s a farm implement. In one version it would actually go through the field and collect the residual materials, take them off the ground and make them into cables. In another version it will be a very simple machine that can be used in third world countries where straw, or other materials could be carried to the machine and processed by hand. This is the machine we’re most likely to develop first. We have a prototype, an experimental machine we’re using now to generate building materials. The next version in the process of development.

You mention straw, but what other materials can be used?

Straw has been used for centuries—especially in some places like the Middle East where they don’t have much else—and is the most common, but sunflower, cotton plants, flax, tobacco, thousands of other kinds of residue can be used. A builder in India, doing reconstruction after the tsunami, is exploring how to use our technology. We asked this person what kind of fiber is in abundance there that bugs won’t eat (in the tropics, bugs eat straw). When he said “coconut palm fronds,” we got some fronds and made cable out of that.

So the same process applies to all residual materials?

Basically. But some are easier to use than others. When rice is harvested in places like China or Bali, the rice comes off the field in a nicely put together, round sheath. The rice is removed, leaving the sheath intact. That can be put directly into the mechanism that turns it into a cable. Wheat does not as consistently have an intact sheath. But an important factor about these materials is that burning is the accepted method for getting rid of residue in all countries. This creates terrible pollution, some of it very dangerous, particularly in regard to rice. Rice burning releases silica which causes silicosis and in some places like Bali, the smoky, polluted air sits in the valleys. China, in particular, is looking to our technology because they now have laws against burning wheat fields. And, like much of the world, China has used up their trees.

We’ve stopped hearing as much about deforestation as we did a few years ago, but it’s a massive problem. Our planet had huge forests, but most have gone into building houses. Houses always need replacing, or have been replaced, and we look around the world and ask … where did all that wood go? Some countries have no remaining forests at all, but even here there is massive deforestation, largely hidden unless you fly over the forests in an airplane. It starts with logging roads. Once people have access to the back country, a variety of problems ensue.

Throughout the world we have many buildings that need replacing and huge populations are crammed into tiny dwellings. There is more need for construction than ever before and virtually no forest infrastructure to support it. It’s the same all over the world. And there are a lot of ramifications other than lost habitat. The essence of the natural world manifests in the forest. There’s a whole spiritual component to the earth that’s tied in with forests that gets run over by chain saws and bull dozers. Forests can regenerate and the natural cycles of the seasons and interaction between the elemental level of being and the deeper earth level of being can heal, but not if we keep cutting the forests.

We have to find another way to build, to let the forests regenerate. My goal is for people to stop cutting trees because it doesn’t make sense. I want to make this technology simple, cheaper, better in every way so people will see alternatives. Forests can regenerate and the natural cycles of the seasons and the interaction between the elemental level of being and the deeper earth level of being can heal.
This technology could be the answer. China is a good example of what may be done—their situation has the largest ramifications in regard to deforestation and building issues.

You mentioned China before. Do you think they will use your technology?

Yes, they will use it. This technology is basically an automated version of what they’ve been doing for thousands of years—using bundles of straw plastered together with an earth based plaster.

China is likely to build twice as many houses as exist in the United States in the next 12 years. That’s a building program like none other in history. They already use over 60% of the world’s concrete, over 40% of the world’s steel and they’re just getting started. They don’t have enough trees and they can’t make enough bricks or they would have to dig up all their rice paddies to come up with enough clay. They’re calling us because they have plenty of agricultural residue. How this technology will get deployed there I don’t know at this point.

How long has your invention been in development?

I’ve been working toward this eventuality for the last 15 years and stumbled on this particular technology about seven years ago. When working as a construction supervisor I became very ill from the toxic construction chemicals and was unable to work. This gave me a lot of time to think and consider what I wanted to do with my life. I started looking into alternative building technology and liked the fact that there were clean materials available. I was used to high performance commercial materials, so I thought, “let’s have both.” I don’t have to have the building serve the building materials. I can have the building material serve the building. It’s been a long haul, but I’m in the process of achieving that goal.

So your illness enabled you to look for another way.

Another way of living. It’s a sobering experience to be almost incapacitated at 35 years of age. It compelled me to reassess my goals in life and consider the best use of my talents. Being ill can put you in touch with others’ suffering and lot of people who go through a serious illness discover a new level of compassion. For me, it boiled down to the goal of using my talent in a life of service. I’ve really been blessed in the long haul.

Along with the realization of suffering, came the recognition of how privileged we are here. I believe, in our society, we have to do this kind of work because we have the time and the resources that the third world countries don’t have. I’m not independently wealthy, yet the provisions have always been there for me to move forward because of the abundance in this country. Sometimes people’s prayers have to be answered by other people. Sometimes somebody who has the wherewithal, the time and the vision, has to do the work for others. If we don’t do it, it’s not going to happen. I believe that the creative inspiration or vision often comes from that level of need.

You know, a great deal of the world’s suffering has to do with a simple thing like housing, so that is my focus. But housing is just the beginning. I’ve had conversations with agencies that do humanitarian contracting, like Habitat for Humanity and Shelter for Life. Their key people tell me their frustrations: “People will donate money for tents or bags of rice, but so often the people who receive those goods are no better off in six months than they are to start with. If people could only understand how important buildings are—the foundation of society. If you have buildings, you have basic shelter, schools, hospitals, places of work.”

After you opened your mind to other possibilities, did this invention come easily, with an “aha” moment?

It’s funny, but as a part of my healing process, there were periods when I was in a dreamy state. During this time, I had very clear visions of a machine that eventually became the Strawjet. I could see the whole thing operating and had no idea what it was. Eight years later I finally understood those visions. Slow on the uptake, but eventually I got it. I think a lot of creative work comes from similar experiences. It’s not an uncommon phenomena of the psyche to experience something that manifests that way. It comes in a dream; it comes in a vision or some unusual experience.

So I would say that my “aha” moment unfolded slowly—a nagging dream that came back to me over and over like an obsession. I’d get distracted with other work and then the vision would come and find me again. Then I’d get another angle on it and have to change directions. In a sense, the project almost had a life of its own.

You’ve come a long way from that vision. And in addition to the larger focus of the world wide use of your technology, I understand that you interact with local students, perhaps some future inventors. Will you explain the Ashland School of Environmental Technology?

The Ashland School of Environmental Technology is the name of the non-profit foundation. Strawjet, Inc. is the for profit company. They work in a symbiotic relationship with no legal connection to each other. One is a company, one a foundation. I’m involved with both, but don’t run either. I’m a technical person with enough to do without being a CEO.

As far as the school, in the early days of my project, a friend asked me if I would take some interns to help in my shop. I agreed without realizing how creative the interaction with the students would be. In inventor circles, we talk about thinking outside the box. Well, the students were already outside the box! Not that they had the answers, but they had questions I hadn’t asked myself. It soon became obvious that an association with the student population relative to this project would be useful both to the students and us, so some friends and I started the non-profit school of environmental technology. Grants to this foundation enabled us to fund our early development of the machinery.

Last year we instigated a young inven-tor’s program. It’s a project where students work in teams on projects related to this technology—whether it’s investigating alternative fibers like the palm fronds or working on the design of the next piece of machinery. They did a lot of successful work last year. At this point, most of our students and interns come from Southern Oregon University, with a few from other institutions.

What do you need now to continue moving forward even more?

We always need funding. As I mentioned, we have profit and non-profit components to the project, so there is an opportunity for investment and the opportunity for donations as well.

At present, we’re in the process of putting together a comprehensive plan to commercialize and distribute the technology, doing our best to make money in the first world so that we can subsidize the technology in the third world. That’s been the agenda from the beginning, but now we’re actualizing it into a business plan.

If people want to help, to be involved with your project, what do you suggest?

Other than funding, we have a variety of opportunities for people to participate. We’re looking for students as well as mentors for this school year. Mentors need not be professional instructors—many are retired engineers and business people interested in working with students on viable solutions to challenging problems. One immediate project is the construction of a demonstration building on our property at 5765 Colver Road, Talent. Work parties are often on Saturday mornings and anyone interested in working on this with our students is welcome to join us. We’ll share lunch and have a good time!

For information about the school or project activities go to www.greeninventor.org or call (541) 535-3281. Visit www.strawjet.com to learn about the for profit company.

Jody Woodruff is a writer living in Talent, Oregon.