Paul Wheaton

Paul Wheaton is an American permaculture author, [[Master gardener program|master gardener], [[software engineer]], and disciple of the natural agriculturist [[Sepp Holzer]]. He is known for writing his book, "Building a Better World in Your Backyard", founding Permies, the largest website devoted to permaculture, as well as for creating and publishing articles, videos, and [[podcasts]] on the subject of permaculture.
Wheaton is also the founder of Coderanch, formerly called "Javaranch", an online community for [[Java (programming language)|Java]] programmers. He received three Jolt Awards from [[Dr. Dobb's Journal]] for his work related to Javaranch. As a software engineer, he has worked on the ground system for the [[satellite]] that took pictures for [[Google Earth]] and [[DigitalGlobe]].
Wheaton has participated in several documentaries, [[TED (conference)|TED Talk]] shows, and conferences, on topics related to permaculture, energy, and [[software engineering]].
Early life.
Born in [[Moscow, Idaho]], Wheaton was raised in [[Eastern Oregon]] and [[Missoula, Montana]].
He began his career as a [[software engineer]] and continued to work for several private companies with software and [[Computer programming|programming]]. In the early 1990s, Wheaton developed Bananacom, a [[terminal emulator]], which was used by [[bulletin board system]] operators in the United States. At one time, Wheaton had hired 14 programmers from [[Missoula, Montana]] to work on the Bananacom project. The product gained popularity among its users due to its usability.
Later in 2000, Wheaton worked on the ground system software for the spacecraft that took pictures for Google Earth and DigitalGlobe.
Projects.
Permies.
In 2000, Wheaton shared his views on [[lawn]] care on his website richsoil. Later that year, he launched the website permies, a place for people to discuss lawn care and permaculture. By 2012, permies had become the largest online community dedicated to permaculture. When Wheaton invented his design of natural homes, the first one of it was documented on Permies. The site has attracted notable personalities such as [[Geoff Lawton]] and [[Toby Hemenway]], [[rocket mass heater]] developers [[Ernie and Erica Wisner]], medical [[herbalist]] Michael Pilarski, and others who explore a range of eclectic permaculture topics.
Coderanch.
In 1997, [[Kathy Sierra]] created javaranch.com, which she transferred to Wheaton In January 2000. In 2009, Javaranch was extended to a new [[Domain name|domain]] coderanch.com with a [[Internet forum|forum]]. As of May 2020, Coderanch had more than 3 million posts created by over 332,000 registered members.
Publications.
Books and articles.
Paul Wheaton authored the book "Building a Better World in Your Backyard, instead of being angry at the bad guys.", which was an iteration of his philosophy of choosing to "build good things rather than be angry at bad guys." He is also the author of many [[article (publishing)|article]]s, published both on his own website and other major publications. According to Wheaton, the book describes a collection of things people can do individually to make a significant positive global impact.
A Wheaton's article on [[Hügelkultur]] appeared in [[Lifehacker|LifeHacker]] in 2011, which suggested the use of [[wood]] to form the backbone of Hügelkultur bed. His article on [[Aphids]] and [[ants]] was published on "Countryside".
Podcasts.
In 2011, Wheaton launched a monthly [[podcast]] titled "Paul Wheaton Permaculture Podcast". The podcasts mainly consisted of interviews with notable figures in permaculture and educational discussions on various topics of permaculture. In 2019, his Permaculture Podcast ranked number 2 in Feedspot's "“Top 15 Permaculture Audio Podcasts & Radio You Must Subscribe and Listen to in 2019.""
Wheaton has also participated in other podcasts such as thesurvivalpodcast.com, in which he discussed various topics including Sepp Holzer, "wofati", permaculture [[profitability]], rocket mass heaters, light bulbs, and irrigation, and on "The Pagan Homesteader" podcast where they discussed Hügelkultur and Wofati. Wheaton has also expressed his positions on energy saving methods in a podcast hosted by "Abundant Edge".
Other media.
[[File:Rocket Mass Heater Inside a Tipi.jpg|thumb|A rocket mass heater inside a [[tipi]] at Paul Wheaton's [[permaculture]] homestead in [[Montana]]]]
In 2008, Wheaton created his YouTube channel called "paulwheaton12" which had over 86,000 subscribers and 24 million views as of June, 2020. In his videos, Wheaton discusses various topics related to permaculture, which includes [[organic horticulture]], [[rocket mass heater]]s, natural building, alternative energy, [[homesteading]], [[frugality]], raising chickens, [[wildcrafting]], [[aquaculture]], paddock shift systems, and [[colony collapse disorder]]. His videos also include interviews with [[Sepp Holzer]] and other notable people in the field of permaculture. He further presented his findings during his TEDx Talk, "REALLY Saving Energy: Paul Wheaton at TEDxWhitefish".
Other projects.
[[File:Rocket oven.jpg|thumb|A prototype of an outdoor rocket oven designed by Paul Wheaton being test loaded with pizzas]]
In 2013, Wheaton produced a [[documentary]] of [[Wood-burning stove|wood-burning stoves]], highlighting sustainable ways to heat, which consisted of four segments called "Fire Science", "Sneaky Heat", "Boom Squish", and "Hot Rocket". The documentary was distributed in [[DVD]]s, in addition to [[Streaming media|online streaming]] and downloadable videos. According to Wheaton, his design of wood burning stoves uses 1/10 of the wood compared to conventional wood burning stoves. He also claimed that his stoves only produce 1/1000 of smoke compared to other stoves.
In 2014, Paul Wheaton crowd-funded and produced a deck of Permaculture [[Playing card|Playing Cards]], where each card contained information about a different permaculture technique or notable people of permaculture.
Later in the same year, Wheaton produced another documentary titled "World Domination Gardening", which featured a 3 days workshop of Hügelkultur, [[Earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]], [[ponds]], and [[Swale (landform)|swales]]. The documentary was distributed in sets of three DVDs, called "Sealing a Pond Without a Liner", "Ditches and Swales", and "Hugelkultur and Terracing".
In 2015, Wheaton launched a [[Kickstarter]] project to make a documentary of rocket mass heaters. The documentary has been distributed in DVDs, streaming media, downloadable video files, and [[PDF]] plans.
In 2017, Wheaton hosted a "Permaculture Design Course" and an "Appropriate Technology Course" which consisted of a 14 days workshop. The project was able to raise the pledged funds within 22 hours after its Kickstarter project was launched.
Later in 2018, Wheaton produced a documentary called "Rocket Ovens", which he described as an efficient way to cook and bake food making less than 1% of the carbon footprint of that of an electric [[oven]]. Distributed in DVDs and streaming videos, the documentary featured environmental friendly ways of cooking, baking, and dehydrating food with lesser amount of wood compared to other forms [[Wood-fired oven|wood-fired ovens]].
Experiments, demonstrations, and opinions.
Wheaton set up an experiment to demonstrate how [[compact fluorescent lamp]]s (CFL bulbs) are not better than [[incandescent light bulb]]s. He used a combination of warm clothing, incandescent lights that produce heat as well as light, and various heating devices to keep warm while his 700 square foot house in Montana is set for 40 degrees Fahrenheit all winter. With this demonstration, Wheaton concluded that by heating the person instead of the air, a person can remain comfortable and save hundreds of dollars in energy savings.
Wheaton introduced a lifestyle model called "Wheaton Eco Scale" in 2010 where he categorized different lifestyles into 10 levels, where level-0 makes the highest [[carbon footprint]] and level-10 makes the lowest.
In 2011, Wheaton demonstrated how hand washing a standard sized load of dishes can only use around a gallon of water. He compared that a standard dishwasher uses 15 gallons of water per load while an energy-efficient [[dishwasher]] uses around 9 gallons per load.
In 2014, Wheaton produced a documentary on [[mason bees]] which was featured in [[TreeHugger]]. In the documentary, Wheaton compared mason bees with [[Honey bees]] and what humans can do to help, which included keeping bees in [[refrigerators]].
Wheaton has performed testing for heating a person rather than a whole house to save 90% on a heating bill while staying warm.
External links.
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American gardeners]]
[[Category:Permaculturalists]]
[[Category:Sustainability advocates]]
[[Category:American software engineers]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]