Don Stephens is a

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

, eco-home

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

er and author. He has published books in the field of what he terms "optimized

self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...

" for a range of uncertain-future scenarios, that is also labeled

survivalism Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, as well as other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil dis ...

by others. In the 1960s, Stephens popularized the term "retreater" to describe those in the survivalist movement who were making preparations to avoid conflict by leaving populated areas for a pre-established remote

survival retreat In the survivalist subculture or movement, a retreat is a place of refuge. Sometimes their retreats are called a bug-out location (BOL), a bunker, or a bolt hole. Survivalist retreats are intended to be self-sufficient and easily defended. Gen ...

when or if society broke down. (At that time, this trend was primarily motivated by concerns about monetary collapse arising out of anticipated accelerating monetary inflation.) He also wrote on this topic for ''Innovator'' magazine, ''Inflation Survival Letter'', ''Atlantis Quarterly'' and ''

Harry Browne Harry Edson Browne (June 17, 1933 – March 1, 2006) was an American writer, politician, and investment advisor. He was the Libertarian Party's Presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000. He authored 12 books that in total hav ...

's Newsletter'', among others. Stephens also contributed the "Safe Shelter & Independent Energy" chapter for ''The Complete Survival Guide'' (1983), which was edited by ark Thiffault. In public speaking venues, newsletters, and magazines, Stephens has been associated with

, Robert D. Kephart, James McKeever, and

Mel Tappan Mel Tappan (1933 – 1980, born Melrose H. Tappan III) was the editor of the newsletter ''Personal Survival ("P.S.") Letter'' and the books ''Survival Guns'' and ''Tappan on Survival''. Tappan was an influential leader of the Survivalist movement ...

. Stephens studied architecture at the University of Idaho, and worked in a range of architectural and engineering firms in Idaho, Washington and southern California, before establishing his own eco-home design and consulting practice. From his university days onward, he has explored and evolved techniques of active solar and

passive solar In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

heating,

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic ef ...

, earth-integrated design (

earth sheltering An earth shelter, also called an earth house, earth bermed house, or underground house, is a structure (usually a house) with earth (soil) against the walls, on the roof, or that is entirely buried underground. Earth acts as thermal mass, makin ...

), and pioneered uses of a range of "alternative", "natural", and salvaged materials and building techniques in home and retreat construction. These include

straw bale Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

, high-density recompressed

strawblocks Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a num ...

, earth-rammed tires, tire bales, urbanite, rammed earth,

rice hulls Rice hulls (or rice husks) are the hard protecting coverings of grains of rice. In addition to protecting rice during the growing season, rice hulls can be put to use as building material, fertilizer, insulation material, or fuel. Rice hulls are p ...

, salvaged/used carpeting, and the pre-stressed "self-filling" of cement-bonded polystyrene bead

insulating concrete form Insulating concrete form or insulated concrete form (ICF) is a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roof ...

s (ICFs). Stephens developed (and originated the name for) the Annualized Geo-Solar (AGS)Greener Shelter
/ref> technique for simply and inexpensively capturing/storing the summer sun's heat, for predictable, delayed return six months later, to maintain up to 100% of needed winter warmth, which has drawn particular interest. This grew out of his pioneering work with solar and earth-sheltering, beginning in 1960. On these topics, he has written for ''Earth-Shelter Digest'', ''Earthtone'' magazine and ''The Last Straw''. He also prepared a requested paper on AGS for The Global Sustainable Building Conference 2005, in Tokyo, Japan. Stephens also presented this material at a number of conferences and workshops over the years for The American Underground-Space Association, Sol-West, the Northwest Renewable Energy Festival, the International Strawbale Association and the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, and others. In keeping with his professional advocacies, he lives in a retrofitted century-old home heated by solar and biomass, utilizes photovoltaics for power generation, drives an electric vehicle, and practices organic gardening, composting and rainwater catchment. Don Stephens died in February 2018.

Books

*''The Survivor's Primer & Up-dated Retreater's Bibliography '' (1976), ASIN B00072RD7E *''Personal Protection, Here and Now'' (1975) *''Retreating on a Shoe-string'' (1975) *''Green Papers'' (1987) *''The Complete Survival Guide'' (1983), , (Contributor)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Don Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Geothermal energy People associated with solar power Survivalists University of Idaho alumni American male writers Organic gardeners

Books

See also

References