Living on a giant crusty earthen raft
So, there’s been a lot of earthquakes lately. Haiti back in January; Chile, last weekend; Japan, back in February; California, constantly for about the past month; and Taiwan yesterday. I know many scientists will say “these events are not related”, but, as I reminded my friends yesterday, people act like we don’t live on a [...]
Q: What’s wee, made of straw bale, and awesome?
A: The ModCell Straw-Bale Pre-Fab home!
File this under “better late than never”… I just learned about this house and knew I had to talk about it here because it embodies many of the things that I love in one tidy, very livable package. Observe:
It’s a house, which is great, since I love house design;
It’s made [...]
Outstanding.
Tonight on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi, Africa, who built a windmill in front of his family’s home after quitting school because of the famine in his country. William visited the library in his village – which was sponsored by the U.S., by the way – and [...]
Do-It-Yourself projects are good for the environment
Lately I’ve been on a big Discovery Channel kick (it’s hard NOT to watch when Bear Grylls is on the TV), and I wanted to briefly mention one of their partner companies, called Planet Green. Hopefully many of you have the Planet Green channel on your cable because it is full of great environmentally friendly-programming, [...]
How do you recycle a car?
Tucked away in Wednesday’s edition of All Things Considered on NPR was a short bit where they discussed listener letters, and they answered one letter that was sent in after a report on the Federal Government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program. Specifically the listener wanted to know “what happens to the ‘clunker’ after it is turned [...]
Every city should have one of these
Today I visited the Portland ReBuilding Center, and hopefully you can get an idea of what it is from the title: it’s a place where people can donate used building materials so they can be sold again for new building projects. It’s building recycling, or, “rebuilding”. And it’s great! Have a look:
I am originally from [...]
Gray (Grey) Water
I’m now in Portland checking out the job market here. Portland is one of the most “sustainable” cities in the United States, a point proven to me after less than 2 days when I visited a restroom that uses a graywater system. Graywater systems recycle water that is used in washing hands and [...]
Meet Dorothy.
Dorothy is my new set of wheels. Well, she is new to me, but actually she is quite old. She’s a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon with only 27,000 miles that I received from a private owner for a VERY reasonable price. She is in excellent condition for a car her age, and if I play [...]
Long, full day
I’ve gotten all angles of the Dwell on Design conference today, including a foray into a conversation led by Dwell editor Sam Grawe and an unexpected visit into a class presented by the AIA LA as part of their Mobius content. Good stuff. Final thoughts tomorrow after I’ve had time to digest it [...]
Inside an Airstream Trailer
Currently writing to you from inside an Airstream trailer! Lots of fun stuff here today….if the Airstream’s a rockin’ don’t come knockin’…
keep looking »