About the Authors

George Swanson received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology from Western Washington University in June 1975. Since that time he has worked throughout the Pacific Northwest, the Great Plains, and Southeastern United States, designing, building, and managing construction of homes and commercial buildings. His popular Dome Scrap Book, inspired by the works of Buckminster Fuller and published in 1981, distills George’s experiences designing and participating in building more than 300 geodesic dome structures in the Pacific Northwest from 1974 to 1981.

Since the 1980’s George’s firm, Swanson Associates, now based in Austin, Texas, has completed nearly one hundred low-toxic and fully nontoxic "breathing" natural building projects in eleven states and several foreign countries. Some of the building systems used were traditional straw-clay, rammed earth, Faswall® cement-bonded wood fiber wall forms, autoclaved aerated concrete block, and most recently magnesia-based (MgO) natural ceramic cement. Several of these projects have included single-family wetland septic systems, rooftop water collection systems, pervious concrete landscape features and solar voltaic energy systems.

George graduated in 1992 from the International Institute for Bau-biologie® and Ecology (IBE) as a Building Biology® Practitioner and is listed in Who's Who in America in 1996 for his contributions to Sustainable Technology. Currently he offers natural home and commercial building consulting, design and construction oversee services throughout the states and abroad.

In recent years Swanson Associates have been lead design/build consultants for numerous commercial projects, including several churches, a monastery and a twenty-one-building natural medicine complex in Austin, Texas. Ongoing long-term international projects include a waterfront eco-resort in Kauai, restoration of an ancient hacienda in Mexico, and an eco-village complex in Trinidad. Recently George returned from his fourth trip to China where on an ongoing basis he is conducting product development for DragonBoard®, including all-natural fiber/MgO cement-based wall, roof and floor prefabricated structural insulative panels (SIP’s). He also distributes several brands of MgO-based building materials.

Since 1975 George has conducted hundreds of seminars across the country and abroad on the benefits of natural building design. He can be contacted at 512-653-8624 or georgeswanson245@yahoo.com, or via his website, www.geoswan.com.

Oram Miller BBEC, EMRS provides on-site home and office evaluations in Southern California. He also provides his services to clients
nationwide by telephone, fax and email through his company, Create Healthy Homes.

Oram moved to California from Minnesota in January 2010. He was based in Minneapolis from 2005 through 2009 where he provided evaluations throughout the upper Mid-West.

Oram received his certification as a Building Biology® Environmental Consultant and Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist (BBEC, EMRS) from the International Institute for Bau-biologie® and Ecology. His training included assessment and mitigation of unhealthy electric and magnetic field exposure, indoor air quality, mold, chemical outgassing, and healthy new building materials.

In addition to helping clients with health challenges in their existing homes, Oram consults on the design, building and remodeling of healthy homes and offices in Southern California and throughout the country. Oram recommends a healthy electrical wiring protocol to create reduced EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure developed by fellow building biologists, Spark Burmaster and Larry Gust.

Since moving to California in January 2010, Oram has become involved with several green building and networking organizations in the LA area.

Oram also serves on the Conference Planning Committee of the International Institute for Bau-biologie® and Ecology. Oram was chairman of the committee for the 2012 Conference in Washington, DC and assists the committee as it plans for our next conference in July 2015 on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle. Information on the upcoming conference can be obtained here.

Oram is also a member of the faculty for the profession in the field of EMFs and is involved in curriculum development for both the beginning 212 and advanced 312 EMR seminars. He has served as a Teaching Assistant for the last three EMR seminars, including the basic EMR 212 seminars held in 2012 near Chicago and in 2013 near
Asheville, North Carolina, as well as the advanced 312 EMR seminar held in December 2014 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The basic EMR 212 seminar is a five-day intensive class for students to learn the evaluation and mitigation protocols of the Building Biology profession for the four types of electromagnetic fields that exist in homes and offices. The advanced EMR 312 seminar is also an intensive five-day class on the
advanced aspects of EMF identification and mitigation. Completion of the advanced 312 seminar is one of the prerequisites for certification as an Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist, or EMRS. Oram received this certification in December 2014.

In 2014 Oram developed an apprenticeship program sanctioned by the IBE. The program matches EMR students with building biologists throughout the US and Canada who are experienced in EMF evaluation and mitigation. Oram serves as one of those coaches to a number of local EMF students in California and surrounding states. He also organizes a study day three times a year for local building biologists and EMF students.

Oram writes and lectures on health and the built environment, including the presentation of numerous lectures and workshops throughout Southern California.

While in Minnesota, Oram presented to members of numerous green building organizations throughout the Twin Cities. Oram was also active in several of those organizations dedicated to green, healthy construction.

In 2007, the organizers of the Minnesota GreenStar Program asked Oram to submit a healthy electrical wiring protocol as part of their guidelines to help remodelers and builders provide green new and remodelled homes in the state of Minnesota. The wiring guidelines are based upon protocols developed by Oram's colleague and mentor,
Spark Burmaster, EE, BBEC of Environmental Options in Chaseburg, Wisconsin.

Please contact Oram at Create Healthy Homes (310-720-7686 or info@createhealthyhomes.com) and visit his website, www.createhealthyhomes.com.

Wayne Federer is based in rural northwestern Wisconsin, on the outskirts of Minnesota’s Twin Cites metro area. In 1977 he received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry from Bucknell University and went on to the University of Illinois to complete a Ph.D. program in Inorganic Chemistry in 1984.

While still in school, Wayne was inspired to became an environmentalist by his love of the outdoors and his reading of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. However because he has always enjoyed research, Wayne joined the corporate world as a scientist, taking every opportunity he could to foster an environmental ethic. In his 14-year industrial career investigating advanced magnetic and ceramic materials, he gravitated towards projects addressing environmental concerns, including catalytic purification and filtration of indoor air and diesel emissions. In 1989 Wayne was a leader in the organization of a company-wide conference and movement to motivate employees to integrate consideration of environmental concerns into product and process design from the moment of each product’s conception. In his community he has advocated for intelligent land-use planning and conservation design of subdivisions.

After striking out on his own, Wayne proceeded to study Building Biology® with the IBE class of 1998. He has attended green building workshops and independently researched many health and environmental issues since then. For this manual, his first foray into the world of editing, he has contributed his scientific and critical thinking skills. The latter are most evident in his writing of chapter 6, for which he gathered input about “breathing walls” from our international colleagues.

Although Wayne’s favorite abode is a tent in the wilderness, most of the time he lives in a conventionally-built 1973 rambler. He welcomes your email to editor@breathingwalls.com.