Welcome my friend. If you are reading this introduction, you, like me, are aware that the Planet is at a tipping point in its survival. You will be aware that global warming is changing the environment and affecting the way we live. You will be aware that we only have 45 years of fossil fuels left, and that we need to find alternative sources of energy. You will be aware that there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than before the industrial revolution. You will, like me, be aware that we now have a responsibility to safeguard our family’s and all our planets future.

My name is Gary Gates, and I live in the birthplace of the English Nation, Hastings, with my wife Ashlee, my two sons Grant and Danny, plus my two daughters Jessie and Mia. I have lived in Hastings all my life, growing up inspired by the values of my parents, Eddie Gates, a staunch hard working Union Rep, and my mother Pat, a lifelong member of Greenpeace. It is their values and beliefs, together with the love and support of my own family, that have inspired me to set up Earthwise, and, hopefully, make a profound contribution to changing the (currently) parlous state of the world.

So how do we, together, make a change to the world? How do we join forces, to contribute to reversing the damage we as a species are doing to the planet? Make no mistake, there can be no easy, quick solution, to our problem. We cannot reverse our mistakes overnight, but we can, if we work hard, as a united global family, put in place a long term plan to make a change.

During the 20 years that I have been within the building trades and the travels and projects that this involved, I have become very aware of how predominant masonry construction is in the building of our homes, our offices, our municipal spaces, in fact our very communities. I have seen, how, other countries have become more forward thinking, more eco-friendly in their use of timber at the heart of all their construction projects. I feel, and I hope you feel the same, that we need to follow their lead, and increase the amount of building we do here in England with timber at its core.

I have set up Earthwise Resources and Timber Frame it, to provide you with a means of contributing to this change. Through both these companies I can provide you a way of building an Eco-friendly, timber framed house, and help you resource other eco-friendly products to further increase your contribution. Consider these statistics:

• A timber frame house saves, on average, 4 tonnes of CO2 compared to masonry construction.
• 3 to 4 more tonnes of CO2 can be saved by installing solar panels in your house.
• You can drastically reduce downstream flooding and your water bills by around £250 a year, by installing a water harvesting system.
• By using lambs wool and a modern multi quilt for insulation, you can substantially reduce heat loss from a home and in turn reduce your heating bills. It is possible to achieve a U value of 0.11 by using these products.
• If every single person in this country changed one light bulb to an energy saving version, this country could get rid of one power station. Think what you could achieve by lighting your whole home with energy efficient bulbs.
• A typical domestic solar electric system will generate roughly half of your domestic electricity consumption (approximately 1,500kWh a year).

It doesn’t stop here.

There are many other ways we can help to change the future of our planet.

Now ask yourself;

• How can I not be involved?
• How can I justify continuing to live off our planets credit?
• How can we be more earthwise?
• How can I and  unite to secure all our futures?

Our planet is continually changing. When are you and Earthwise going to unite to take the first constructive step to make a conscious change to our view of the world?

Harness the resources at your fingertips to safeguard our future.