http://youtu.be/rYdTJjS_gQ8 Plant health is a major concern for any plant lover. Growing and maintaining a healthy plant is a gardeners number one objective. There are many pests that will oppose your efforts to reach this objective . But there is one pest that you will find is a unyielding adversary, “The Aphid”. You can not […]
Aphid Infestation Management (Video) by Kennie D. Read More »
Diesel car + $1000-$2000 conversion kit + free, filtered waste oil from a fast-food joint = really low cost, environmentally friendly driving.
Vegetable Oil as Fuel for Cars Read More »
Since moving to Troy Gardens Cohousing Community last November (2013), many people have asked me what is cohousing and what does it actually look like. I’ve spent some time trying to process my own experience of living here and to communicate why cohousing is an important option.
My first summer at Troy Gardens Cohousing Read More »
This article, by Charles Eisenstein, discusses the issue of whether organic methods and permaculture can feed the world. It cites this article, by David Blume, who claims to have achieved yields that can, in fact, feed the world. In other words, his yields increase the carrying capacity of the land to the point where we
Can Permaculture Feed the World? Read More »
How does wood burning compare with natural gas? The moral Issue is murky.
Fired Up: Wood vs. Natural Gas (vs. Rocket Stoves) for Environmental and Personal Health Read More »
Energy and heat are two key physical technologies (to be used on conjunction with social technologies) in moving from our dysfunctional status quo to a future of thriving on one planet’s worth of resources (one planet thriving). Multiple solutions are necessary, including alcohol, stirling engines, rocket stoves and mass heaters, biofuel, and more. Is it true that ethanol is a net energy loser, taking
Alcohol: A Renewable Energy that Sequesters Carbon and Can Power Our Lives? Read More »
One of the aspects of A Pattern Language that is so important is the relationality inherent in it. The house relates to the porch which relates to the street. Bob Theis is an architect who designs in this tradition. In this interview with First Earth, Bob suggests, for example, that if you want to encourage
Social Architecture Read More »
Mushrooms grown on local, agricultural waste as a substrate, form products ranging from packaging to table-tops and insulations that bio-degrade. New Yorker article describing the founding of the company, along with the teacher (Burt Swersey), class (Inventor’s Studio), and school (Rensselaer Poytechnic Institute) that supported the founders and idea. Another company (Mycoworks) is using sawdust
Bio-mimicry: Mushrooms as the New Plastic and Leather and… Read More »
One way to reduce our footprint is with flexible use of space. This video shows a modular approach to the structure itself. Moving to the inside, this MIT video shows a high-tech example that might inspire lower tech approaches as well. Another take on a similar theme. Here’s an article describing the idea of a
Flexible Transformation of Spaces Read More »
A newish trend hitting Seattle is micro-housing, dense developments of small, affordable apartments, built on a small footprint. This news story approaches the issue from a zoning controversy perspective. This article also focuses their story on some controversy but shows a cool picture of the interior and describes it with some detail. In November of