REPORT
EARTH BUILDING
2021
Online Academy Earth building training alongside an online world. BY VERENA MAEDER
In 2014 I first heard the term ‘digital disruption’ from my friend Johnny, who at the time was in his twenties and had just launched his own consulting business ShiftOn. He randomly invited me to one of his local business trainings, where he was advising local ‘brick and mortar’ businesses on how to leverage an online presence. His vision is to help brave businesses grow and thrive in the digital age - and I could tell that there were quite a few people in the room for whom it was a mental stretch to imagine things that today are the total norm. I walked away from that training inspired and filled with yearning, but also a bit frustrated. Our business is literally bricks and mortar - or at least super hands-on - and imagining any part of it ever living online was a stretch for me too. One of the main reasons I was feeling excited was because the promise of the world wide web is a bigger reach, more cross-fertilization, and scalability. I realized that I have such a deep love for earth and natural building, and that my motivation for all the work I have put into this over the years is the desire to contribute to real solutions to some pretty pressing
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EARTH BUILDING MAGAZINE
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www.earthbuilding.org.nz
problems: climate change, unhealthy living conditions, housing shortage, loss of traditional skills and resilience. I am a woman with a big vision, and I desire to extend my reach, because I have something to share. Thus started a 6 year journey to find a way to translate vague yearnings into an online offering I was able to deliver. I started by learning lots about online courses, launches, and the technology. Things have been evolving so fast in this arena, I was fascinated and often overwhelmed. I purchased quite a few online programs, and found I adore online learning. The years passed, and life kept being busy, and I kept making excuses why I wasn’t ready to create one myself. The two major obstacles for me were perfectionism and the fear of speaking on camera. I was overthinking things big time. And I was also paying too much attention to people who were saying something as tactile as earth building cannot be taught online. Thing is, it might not be the right thing for some people to learn this way, but you don’t know if you don’t try. For some it might be just what they were waiting for. Last year I was studying “Integrated Women’s Health” with a woman who is now my favourite teacher of all times (yes, I am not just all about building). Apart from starting to understand a thing or two about myself, I noticed her way of
