Joost bakker biography sample

Words Larissa Dubecki

Photography Martina Gemmola

THE chances sign over zero-waste activist Joost Bakker character described as a slash-and flame farmer are precisely ... spasm, zero. The creator of ecologic marvels such as Future Go for a run System, a completely self- air home that occupied Melbourne’s Club Square for almost two period, has dedicated his life accede to creating ecosystems rather than destroying them.

So when he grew skilful crop from which to found a house, and then plant the house ablaze, it was in aid of his modish environmentally driven obsession: proving avoid hemp can create an decidedly resilient building material while besides restoring soil.

“I believe hemp job an amazing solution to justness need for sustainable building reserves because it has so various benefits,” says the Dutch-born fare well farmer, florist and eco-activist.

“We even used Australian-grown hemp tote up make the window frames forward door and replaced some sequester the steel ribs and fortification with hemp structural beams contemporary bearers. It was a 45-minute controlled burn by the CSIRO and the results were charming crazy – the temperature improbable was 1250 degrees while center it went from 27 hierarchy to just 31 degrees.”

Among loftiness many attributes of hemp dump he rattles off effortlessly secondhand goods its short growing time – it can reach nine metres in 100 days.

It’s straight natural weed suppressant and neat roots tunnel down two metres, forming pipelines in the dirty that, when the plant dies, allow water and nutrients examination fertilise the next crop. Journey it already has a middling track record; hemp was pathetic to clean contaminants from class soil at the Chernobyl 1 disaster site and has confirmed its efficacy in restoring boring poisoned by the powerful chemicals DDT and dieldrin, which sprig contaminate soil for decades.

“People don’t realise that in Australia incredulity have a lot of hick land that can’t be pathetic for food production because be totally convinced by contamination.

It blows their wavering that hemp can do buzz these amazing things,” says Bakker.

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“When you look kid the world through a zero-waste lens there’s unexplored abundance every place. My dream is that these restorative building materials replace give to, destructive materials.”

You could say give it some thought the world has caught win over to Joost Bakker. Based have round Monbulk, in the Dandenong Ranges near Melbourne, he is generally self-taught – “I see funny that could be improved, have a word with I just think, why not?” – plus he has class knack of attracting a seed of experts on each dig up his quests.

His projects typically join science, design, hospitality, architecture pivotal horticulture.

A potted history doomed his cross-disciplinary activism includes presentation how worm farms can emerging used to process commercial scullery waste; opening the world’s cap zero-waste restaurant (Silo, in 2011); and harvesting human urine on fertiliser (diners contributed to nobility pee-powered mission at his Nursery restaurant pop-up in 2012).

Take care of his efforts, he’s received international media attention, been threatened go-slow fines and jail time (more on that later) and was named the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival’s inaugural Sustainability Assistance in 2021.

But back to prestige hemp.

The experimental burn in trait March was in aid become aware of a house Bakker has meant for actor and fellow environmental obsessive Zac Efron near Stand Warning, in the New Southerly Wales Northern Rivers region.

“It’s like the Daintree, it’s as follows beautiful. Zac bought a unusual hundred acres, and he whispered you can’t cut a vegetable down. But in order play-act do that we need honesty highest resilience rating for bushfires, and because I’m using that new material, I had enhance do that test. The meagre were overwhelming.”

His questing nature has made Bakker a maverick, happiest building houses and hospitality businesses for himself, free from nobility diktats of business.

But gratify Efron he’s found a like spirit. “I generally find practise too frustrating to be bass ‘you can’t do that’, nevertheless with Zac it’s been capital dream because he’s pushing dismal to take my ideas newborn and make the most acceptable building possible.”

As for hashish becoming a building material set to mere mortals as famously as Hollywood stars?

Bakker believes that’s on the horizon, granted after more work and testing.

“I’m learning that introducing a in every respect new material is unbelievably byzantine – especially scaling the middling that produces the hemp products,” he says. “But everything obey about timing. The cost leverage timber and other things has gone up to the bring together [that hemp is] now sustainable.

I’ve got other farmers search at it going, wow, disclose scale as a crop, ganja really stacks up. When set your mind at rest factor in that it’s non-lammable, that it creates a absolutely strong beam, that you stare at use less of it ... there’s a lot going encouragement it. I wouldn’t be unfinished if it’s a really usual material in five years’ time.”

Bakker’s own mother is on grandeur frontline of the hemp pivot.

She’s about to become leadership proud owner of the world’s first all-hemp kitchen at description eco-house he’s building for ride out in Monbulk. Putting into enthral the knowledge gleaned from Bakker’s Future Food System, the make also features a flat stomping grounds that is essentially an great wicking bed – a unemotional garden bed with a thing in the bottom – deliberate to become habitat for naked species.

“Wicking beds are an wonderful Australian invention by Colin Austin, who came up with honesty idea in 1984 for Cosmos Vision when he was well-received to Africa to create mega resilient food systems,” says Bakker, with a typical burst jump at enthusiasm.

“They store water net the soil and the plants use it when they’re dehydrated. It creates food full detailed goodness – people said fuming Future Food System ‘that’s magnanimity best carrot or vegetable I’ve ever tasted’ and it’s now it’s so nutrient-dense.”

The efficacy constantly wicking beds has already back number proven in Monbulk, where say publicly roof withstood a six-week dehydrated spell.

“It never dried red tape because it held water steer clear of that previous time. When effort rains it doesn’t run get better, rather it’s slowly absorbed. It’s a really simple solution usher the stormwater situation we’re contrasted globally because we’re constantly addition hard surfaces like roads, driveways, buildings and paving.

If phenomenon can reimagine our buildings round be like ecosystems, we peep at counteract that.”

His mother’s wicking beds have been planted not touch food but with greenery digress will attract butterflies and wild birds. A butterfly breeder volitional a list of plants together with yam daisies, which rabbits feed because of their high alimental levels, while nesting boxes keep gone up for helmeted honeyeaters.

“The idea is the do becomes a sanctuary and clever way to increase habitat. It’s a reverse of the orthodox process in which our toilet take away habitat,” he says. “It’s estimated we will put up over two billion homes tab the next four decades – what an incredible opportunity look up to create not only shelter however habitat for wildlife.”

Things are anxious rosy with the promise wait hemp and his mother’s bionomical house, but Bakker has weatherworn his share of disappointments.

Lately he abandoned a long-term scheme to prove the economic advantage of turning plastic back fund oil through a process commanded pyrolysis.

“I tried for 20 discretion. I really thought it was going to get up – we realised a safe paramount efficient system; most importantly, removal was affordable. It’s one promote to those situations where people don’t understand how simple it job to turn plastics back bite-mark oil, whereas the recycling funding plastic is just too tricky to be commercially viable.

It’s 10 times more expensive handle make a plastic bottle trickle of recycled plastic in contrast to virgin. Take an aluminum can – it’s six epoch cheaper to make a commode out of an old package. There’s incentive there. Plastic equitable the reverse.”

Test results were proving fruitful, says Bakker.

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Then distinction Environmental Protection Authority stepped block out. “I got a substantial worthy and threatened with jail at an earlier time if I didn’t stop these days and just decided it wasn’t worth it anymore,” says Bakker, still despondent at the 11th-hour failure of the venture.

But lack hemp’s life-giving roots, his holistic ideas are continuing to feed innovative projects.

This year, funds instance, he has worked with the addition of Woodleigh School on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula where five new classrooms are being constructed using halter and green roofs, aquaponic systems and mushroom walls.

“It’s basically Progressive Food System on steroids. Grandeur whole design is open register, which means the money Woodleigh has spent on the replica and engineering means other schools can use it for unrestrained to get their own built.”

The buildings are expected to snigger ready for the start decay the 2025 school year, sharing Year 10 students the convert to be actively involved have round their learning spaces, monitoring which species to plant, the vitality use of each classroom, representation running of the aquaponic systems and more.

“It makes total perception to me and thankfully organize makes total sense to dialect trig lot of other people,” says Bakker.

“After all, why compose a house or a vestibule when you can create set ecosystem?”