Talk in Oakland by Lloyd on Whole Earth Catalog and contemporary back-to-land movement

By Lloyd Kahn on May 9, 2011

I’m giving a short talk at the Oakland Museum this week on the current back-to-the-land movement and the influence of the Whole Earth Catalog and other west coast publications on same in the ’60s and ’70s.

“Hay Fever

The Oakland Standard presents an evening of workshops and talks about the contemporary back-to-the-land movement, and the efforts of young pioneers to homestead rural California. Learn (almost) everything you need to know to escape civilization. Neo-pioneers from the Sierra Nevada foothills and beyond will teach quick lessons in wildcrafting, DIY architecture, rope making, homebrew spirits, and other essential skills.

   Live music by Oakland-based Ethiopian jazz fusion band Sun Hop Fat.”

https://museumca.org/theoaklandstandard/hay-fever

The Whole Earth Catalog and Alternative Structures

Discuss the cultural tide epitomized in the popularity of the Whole Earth Catalog, first released in 1968, and contemporary interest in DIY architecture.

Teacher: Lloyd Kahn

Friday, May 13, 7:30 – 8:00pm

Oakland Museum of California

1000 Oak Street

Oakland, CA 94607-4892

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:
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4 Responses to Talk in Oakland by Lloyd on Whole Earth Catalog and contemporary back-to-land movement

  1. Wish I could be there. When I was in my 20's during the 70's I lived in a small, sort of back to the land, anarchist commune in northern NM, building alternative structures. Much of what we did could be termed a failure but for me personally it was a great period of growth and set me on a path for the rest of my life. The Whole Earth catalogue, as well as your book Shelter, were bibles even though I was too poor to but them. Every chance I got I lapped it up. Now, I look at the internet as a continuation of the Whole Earth; it is all about access to information. At least for me I approach the internet as primarily a tool, not as entertainment. Much as I used mind enhancing drugs- tools not entertainment.

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