Tina Therrien is a partner in Camel’s Back Construction, a Canadian straw bale pioneer with over 60 straw bale residences, studios and other assorted buildings to its credit. The company is committed to constructing sustainable buildings and to reducing the negative impact of its building practices.
NL: Other than the community aspect, what do you see as the advantages of straw bale construction?
Tina: With rising energy costs, those people living in conventional, on-grid homes are really looking for ways to reduce their overall operating costs. Of course, with walls of R-40 (about double the insulation of standard homes) there are tremendous energy savings to be had both in summer and winter in a properly designed passive-solar straw bale house. And for folks who decide to take the leap to build an off-grid straw bale home, well, they definitely benefit from the insulation factor. But there are many other benefits. Straw bale construction allows for more creative design, in that you are already working with a malleable and quite adaptable building material. Straw bale homes are unique, they feel good (no, really, I’m not just saying that…you have to visit a straw home to appreciate how it feels inside) and they offer excellent sound insulation. Some people are touting straw bale homes as “healthy homes” if they are finished and furnished with non-toxic materials.
NL: Would you describe straw bale construction as high-tech or low-tech?
Tina: Hmmmm, that’s kind of a tricky question. Straw bale construction, while being a specialized form of building, is also quite an accessible form of building, in that you don’t have to have advanced math skills and years of training that other trades might require. (I’m speaking strictly of the straw bale portion of the house here; if you choose to build an entire home, then the skills you require are quite different.) We have had participation from 10-year-olds to 84-year-olds, men and women alike, and at one jobsite we even had a volunteer in a wheelchair help with the stitching portion of the job. Now that is exciting! It is empowering for people to get back to their roots and participate in real projects, not unlike what we would have all been doing had we lived 200 years ago in Canada. However, there is a danger in considering straw bale construction really low tech, in that without proper instruction, guidance or skills, the detailing of a straw bale building can potentially fail.
A new report shows that home owners are prepared to pay more to live in a sustainable home. 92% interviewed for a new survey were keen to see sustainability features offered on new homes. The report also shows that men are more likely than women to know about energy saving and energy generation in the home.
The production of one liter bottle of Fiji water uses 26 times more water than the bottle contains. Twenty-six! The production also consumes almost one kilogram of fossil fuel, and emits over one pound of CO2.
Although consumers are now more aware of holistic living and sustainability, finding green furniture can be a frustrating experience for many. The Seattle Times has put together a list of stores that carry eco-friendly, sustainable and natural furniture as well as tips for shopping in your own area.
New images of the Ramsay House Project have been uploaded to flickr. The house now has windows and the doors are being installed. You can also see the new cedar soffit that has just been installed.
You can view all the images in our gallery.
[tags]environment, building, construction, pictures, images, gallery, flickr, galleries, blogs, bloging[/tags]
Echo Haven is 6 acres of land within the Calgary city limits dedicated to sustainable development and responsible building for 25 families. As well as being both an electricity user and generator, the houses will use rainwater harvesting and a gray water treatment system to reduce the burden on the infrastructure and replenish the hydrology regime.
[tags]calgary, sustainable, responsible, environment, echohaven, building, rainwater, electricity,net metering[/tags]
Advocates see net metering as an environmental twofer: it promotes green energy and reduces the strain on the power grid. But the number of people investing in solar panels or wind turbines has been relatively small so far, despite the selling point of being able to turn the table on electric utilities.
Some new finds for Thursday, January 24 2007.
This month’s Business Week magazine is about the top companies leading the way in sustainable practices. It’s up in the air just how sustainable these companies are in the long term, but at least there is an effort being made (or publicised). Here is what Business Week says in it’s introduction:
The word “sustainability” may evoke fuzzy stereotypes of do-gooders putting ideals ahead of profits. But for today’s global corporations, it’s an essential modus operandi. The idea is to build mutually beneficial relationships with customers, employees, and investors for many years — not just this quarter. A classic example is Unilever’s program to provide free medical care in developing markets. This creates immediate goodwill and helps build a future generation of healthier, wealthier consumers with a soft spot for Unilever brands.
Such thinking will be on display at this month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, attended by a Who’s Who of the world’s business, political, academic, and media elite. Sustainability is the best way forward in a world where new sales will increasingly come from developing markets and where key resources are likely to be in short supply. Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, a financial consultancy, has codified this thinking into an analytical model that rates companies according to dozens of sustainability measures. The following slides showcase Innovest’s top three picks across 10 industry sectors.
Looking for sustainable furniture that just happens to be gorgeous as well? Vermont Woods Studios, the nations first online furniture gallery for fine exclusive elegant handcrafted, museum quality, luxury eco-furniture. They are a community of woodworkers, artisans and makers of distinctive furniture dedicated to creating custom, sustainable, natural wood works.
[tags]sustainable, furniture, future, companies, business, design[/tags]
Ever increasing delays, escalating costs, bad contractors, missing materials, unpaid suppliers, stop-work orders, cement shortages and liens. This young family is trying to finish their eco-friendly, green home project. They have been blogging and sharing research from 2005 and need a bit of help. Check the extensive resource list on their blog.
Found this article online at the Spokesmanreview.
Some people in the Spokane area worry about rising utility rates. Not Marilynne Mueller.
“The meter’s been going backward until just recently,” she said.
Mueller and husband, Joris, both 71, haven’t figured out a way to cheat the electric company – their Spokane Valley home, with its sophisticated insulation, passive solar heating and large array of photovoltaic panels, generates about twice the energy it needs in summer months. The power grid sucks up the extra juice, and Avista credits their account. When the skies turn dark in the winter, that account pays for whatever additional energy they draw.
Solar energy is only one of many unique features of the 1,650-square-foot home.
The walls are made of straw bales and the roof beams are logs salvaged after a storm. A solar chimney pumps heat from the sun into the ground, where it stays until winter, when it rises to provide warmth. The home is built into the side of a hill, and a layer of soil on the roof provides insulation and serves as an herb garden. Barrels collect rainwater for irrigation and a compost bin turns waste into fertilizer.
Besides being a good investment, the home reflects the couple’s earth-friendly ethos.
“We always felt we wanted not to take more from the world than we left behind,” said Marilynne Mueller.
Read more about the Mueller’s eco-friendly home in Spokane, Washington
[tags]eco-friendly, home, heating, power, conservation, energy, green[/tags]
Found at naturalhomeandgarden.com
Our picks for the country’s top urban neighborhoods encourage the healthy, eco-conscious good life. These burgs boast community involvement; shopping, libraries and schools within a walkable area; public transportation; and locally owned businesses.
Some are more affordable than others, but most have mixed-income housing and relatively diverse populations. They encompass environmental and/or social programs; parks, green spaces and neighborhood gathering spaces; farmer’s markets and community gardens; and sometimes alternative-energy programs and green building practices.
Read the rest of the article on the best eco-friendly communities in America.
[tags]eco-friendly,communities,homes,cities,environment,climate change[/tags]
Found this story at the New York Times.
As a way to cut energy use, it could not be simpler. Unscrew a light bulb that uses a lot of electricity and replace it with one that uses much less.
While it sounds like a promising idea, it turns out that the long-lasting, swirl-shaped light bulbs known as compact fluorescent lamps are to the nation’s energy problem what vegetables are to its obesity epidemic: a near perfect answer, if only Americans could be persuaded to swallow them.
But now Wal-Mart Stores, the giant discount retailer, is determined to push them into at least 100 million homes. And its ambitions extend even further, spurred by a sweeping commitment from its chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., to reduce energy use across the country, a move that could also improve Wal-Mart’s appeal to the more affluent consumers the chain must win over to keep growing in the United States.
Read the rest of the article on Wal-Mart and power sipping light bulbs.
[tags]Wal-Mart, energy, efficiency, light bulbs, home, power[/tags]
This month’s Newsweek magazine features a tip sheet on how to make 2007 a green year.
You don’t have to ditch leather or sell your car to help the environment. We’ve gathered 10 simple tips for living greener in 2007. Hey, it’s a lot easier than losing those 15 pounds.
4. Air Your Laundry Make like Grandma and line-dry your clothes once in a while. It not only saves money, but also decreases your yearly carbon- dioxide emissions. Likewise, run your washer on cold whenever possible – and use it only when it’s full.
Click here to read the rest of the article on being green in 2007 at Newsweek.com.
[tags]green,environment,new year, 2007, resolutions,global warming[/tags]
Tomorrow, November 24th is ‘Buy Nothing Day’. Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop. If you’ve never taken part in Buy Nothing Day, or if you’ve taken part in the past but haven’t really committed to doing it again, consider this: 2006 will go down as the year in which mainstream dialogue about global warming finally reached its critical mass. What better way to bring the Year of Global Warming to a close than to point in the direction of real alternatives to the unbridled consumption that has created this quagmire?
And the pressure is never-ending. There’s always a newer gadget or a trendier pair of shoes, so we keep spending. Makeup and perfume alone are a $33 billion industry.
Not only is this addiction to spending hurting our wallets, it’s also hurting our environment. A disturbing report by the World Wildlife Fund revealed last month that if humans continue to consume the way we do now, by 2050 we will need twice the resources our Earth can produce. The Living Planet Report said human consumption is “bankrupting” natural resources and that our ecological footprint — the impact our consumption is having on cropland, forests and fish — has tripled since 1961.
“We are in serious ecological overshoot, consuming resources faster than the Earth can replace them,” the report said. “The consequences of this are predictable and dire.”
It also said that Canada is using natural resources faster than most. If everyone in the world consumed at the rate of the average Canadian, we would need four Earths to support our lavish lifestyle. In short, our spending is killing the Earth. Without smarter shopping habits, our society of abundance won’t last much longer. But if we change the way we consume, this trend can be reversed.
A good place to start is with tomorrow’s Buy Nothing Day. Every year, millions of people around the world put away their wallets for a day as a protest against the psychological and environmental impacts of consumerism and overconsumption. The event, which started in British Columbia more than a decade ago, is now celebrated as far away as Taiwan and New Zealand. It’s no coincidence the day falls right after American Thanksgiving, when the Christmas shopping season starts in earnest, and billions of dollars are spent in a mad rush of consumption.
So instead of heading out to the malls this weekend, invite your friends over for a potluck dinner. And instead of driving a gas-guzzling SUV, use public transit.
But that’s only the beginning. Our wallets are like ballot boxes — they show what we value. By becoming conscious shoppers year-round, and by moving away from the “spend” mentality, we can put an end to overconsumption. Our Earth, and our bank books, will be better off. As the holiday shopping season gets underway, let’s all do our part by making environmentally friendly decisions, as well as buying fair-trade, sweatshop-free goods or local, handmade products.
Or better yet, let’s spend less time consuming and more time with the people that bring us real fulfillment — family, friends and community. Those are the things that money can’t buy.
Read more about Buy Nothing Day at The Toronto Star
[tags]buy nothing day, consuming, spending, holidays, gifts, ideas, environment, shopping[/tags]
Just found this story at The Christian Science Monitor.
Down in Bernard Malin’s basement is a softly thrumming metal box that turns natural gas into hot water and generates $600 to $800 worth of electricity a year – a bonus byproduct of heating his home.
Mr. Malin, the first person in Massachusetts – perhaps in the nation – to own a residential “micro combined-heat-and-power” system, also known as micro-CHP.
But he’s not likely to be the last.
Since Malin changed his home heating system to micro-CHP in February, 18 other families in the Boston area also have adopted the technology, which squeezes about 90 percent of the useful energy from the fuel. That’s triple the efficiency of power delivered over the grid.
Factories and other industrial facilities have used large CHP systems for years. But until the US debut of micro-systems in greater Boston, the units had not been small enough, cheap enough, and quiet enough for American homes. Add to that the public’s rising concern about electric-power reliability – seen in a sales boom of backup generators in the past couple of years – and some experts see in micro-CHP a power-to-the-people energy revolution.
“Right now these residential micro-CHP systems are just a blip,” says Nicholas Lenssen of Energy Insights, a technology advisory firm in Framingham, Mass. “But it’s a … technology that … could have a big impact as it’s adopted more widely over the next five to 10 years.”
Read more about micro-CHP.
[tags]news,science,heating,environment,conservation,homes[/tags]
Found this article from www.technologyreview.com via www.newsvine.com.
Technologies collectively known as concentrating photovoltaics are starting to enjoy their day in the sun, thanks to advances in solar cells, which absorb light and convert it into electricity, and the mirror- or lens-based concentrator systems that focus light on them. The technology could soon make solar power as cheap as electricity from the grid.
The idea of concentrating sunlight to reduce the size of solar cells–and therefore to cut costs–has been around for decades. But interest in the technology has picked up in the past year. Last month, Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corporation showed off its new system for focusing sunlight with a fresnel lens (like the one used in lighthouses) onto superefficient solar cells, which are about twice as efficient as conventional silicon cells. Other companies, such as SolFocus, based in Palo Alto, CA, and Energy Innovations, based in Pasadena, CA, are rolling out new concentrators. And the company that supplied the long-lived photovoltaic cells for the Mars rovers, Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab, based in Sylmar, CA, is supplying more than a million cells for concentrator projects, including one in Australia that will generate enough power for 3,500 homes.
Read the rest of the article on cheap, superefficient solar energy.
[tags]news,current events,technology,environment,energy,conservation[/tags]
As promised almost two months ago, we have finally uploaded some new pictures of our house building project. As of November 1, 2006 we have the walls all up and have started work on our garage, which will be partly underground and have a green roof.
More updates to come this weekend!
We have uploaded a collection of October 10, 2006 pictures which you can also view as a animated slide show
Also updated today is a collection of October 25, 2006 pictures.
[tags]home building, gallery, images, photos, basement, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, office[/tags]
Found at the Ventura County Star. Richard and Robin Birney are remodelling their 1950s beach house with green technology and building techniques. Their story has been recently featured in their local newspaper.
UPDATE: This story is no longer on the original website 😦
The Birneys chose to go green with their remodel for two simple reasons: They knew it would be better for the people living inside their two-story home and better for the Earth.
“There is only one planet, and we need to better use our limited resources,” said Richard Birney, who works for a wholesale tire distributor.
The couple replaced their aging, energy-chugging appliances with new, “Energy-star” models and put a “solatube” skylight in the bathroom to allow natural light.
Their home often was freezing cold in winter and hot in summer, so they pumped formaldehyde-free insulation in outside walls and interior walls, which also will reduce noise.
They scrapped an air-conditioning system by improving their house’s cross ventilation and installed recycled bamboo or “plyboo” flooring instead of carpet.
Read the rest of the article online.
While on our summer vacation, our inbox had some requests for straw bale house plans. Here are some links and resources for those looking for house plans for building a straw bale house. By the way, a friend of ours is building a straw bale garage in Calgary. We are planning on talking to him and posting some pictures soon.
Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. It is commonly used in natural building. It has advantages over some conventional building system because of its cost and easy availability, and its high insulation value.
Although grasses and straw have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world, their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska, where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sods) were not.
[tags]straw bale house plans, green building, resources, natural, environment[/tags]
We just found this great blog about the experience of building a straw bale house. You can find the blog at http://pasostrawbale.blogspot.com/.
In the year 2000 I started straw bale dream house that would be ecologically sound, environmentally friendly, and a place to finally call home. In choosing Dave Exline/Three Little Pigs Construction, I ventured into house building hell.
This is the story of the building of that house. The story of what happens when you trust someone you should not. The story of bad decisions, poor quality work, and lack of accountability. The story of what it takes to salvage what was once thought unsalvagable.
[tags]ecology,environment,straw,bail,building[/tags]
We packed up the baby and headed east for our summer vacation!
We don’t have much internet where we are – so there will not be many new posts for a few more days. Please bear with us.
We are having a blast though!
M & R
USA Today”> recently published an article on the growing popularity of building green in Portland.
Michelle Walsh looks out a wall of windows in her airy new condo high above the Willamette River. Across hills and forests loom snow-capped Mount Hood and, when it’s clear, Mount St. Helens. Below? Construction chaos all around.
Walsh revels in it. She and her husband, Edward, proudly wear “urban pioneer” buttons the builder handed out to early move-ins at the nation’s first large-scale redevelopment to go 100% “green.”
Call it “eco-friendly.” Call it “sustainable.” Portland’s $2.2 billion South Waterfront project, rising on a decaying industrial site south of downtown, signals a watershed in the green-building boom.
A trend that has taken hold across the USA in the past few years is evolving to a new level. What has been a patchwork of green buildings in many cities is expanding to whole communities, whole neighborhoods. Portland, well known as an urban-design innovator, particularly for its transit-oriented developments, is leading the way again.
The green ethic – energy-efficient, water-stingy buildings full of features that stress the natural over the chemical, the recycled over the new and the renewable over the finite – is firmly mainstream.
Continue reading about going green in Portland.
[tags]home building,green,eco-friendly,portland,news,blogging,blogs[/tags]
We have not gone away at the Ramsay House Project! We have both been working on our business, AdWords-Target.com, hopefully to help fund some of our large green project 🙂 We stumbled upon this great blog yesterday of another home builder blogging about the experience online. Enjoy!
This is a diary about the construction of a small house. My name is Greg Manter, and I’m the owner of this house-to-be. My contractor is Marshall Schwenk and I’m his one-man crew.
Yes, my house is going to be small, but it’s designed to be easily expandable. 584 square feet of heated space, plus 120 square feet of porches. That’s plenty of room for a 12×16 living room, 12×16 bedroom/office, 8×8 kitchen, and 8×8 bathroom/laundry. The spiral stair will be in a 6×6 stairwell. There will be 6×10 porches on both the first and second floor.
The house style is Charleston Single House. The narrow end faces the street, porches run along the side overlooking a side-garden. The style is beautiful and comfortable … if we execute it correctly, my little house will be too.
Read more at the Home Building Diary.
[tags]blogs,blogging,construction,renovation,news,events[/tags]
If you have an idea that could help others reduce their ecological footprint, then head over to the Zerofootprint Challange and contribute today!
The Zerofootprint challenge is about simple ideas that can empower individuals to create massive change that could dramatically reduce our ecological footprint.
The criteria for small ideas that will have an impact include:
Zerofootprint Criteria for Small Ideas
1. Simple: The idea should be simple to describe.
2. Reproducible: If the idea works for one instance it should be replicable to another with little or no modification.
3. Scalable: As the idea is applied in more and more instances the relative cost of administering it should not change or should increase slowly.
4. Incentive Structure: The incentive structure should be well matched to the task. All participants should have some positive reward from participating. It should be a win-win-win situation.
5. Impact: If successful, the idea should have a very significant impact on reducing our ecological footprint and should foster sustainable commerce.
A friend recently sent me an email describing Zerofootprint. We couldn’t believe we hadn’t seen the site before and had to share it with our readers.
Zerofootprint is a not-for-profit organization whose primary goal is to connect people who care about the environment. They aim to bring together millions of individuals, organizations and companies from around the world, who share the common goal of reducing their ecological footprint. Zerofootprint’s website and ongoing projects help people fulfill their intention to reduce their footprint through the content and services it provides.
Zerofootprint’s aim is to be the world’s foremost content hub for green, linking millions of people from across the globe engaged in sustainable commerce, and helping to inform people, who want to strive toward a more sustainable lifestyle.
Why now?
So many people have expressed a desire to make a difference, Zerofootprint believes concern for the environment has reached a tipping point. In recent years, membership in environmental organizations has swelled because of awareness of increasingly high environmental risks.
Millions of people around the world are making a conscious connection between their lifestyle and its impact on the environment. This is the perfect time for Zerofootprint because we will enable individuals to help meet their need to reduce their impact on the planet.
[tags]Environment Activism, blogs, blogging, community, news, current events[/tags]
We have updated our list of green construction resources and affiliate links. We have spent hours compiling this collection of green building resources to help others who may be thinking or have already started a green building project. Our resources and affiliate links cover everything from funding to design issues and are a must for anyone thinking or planning on building an eco-friendly house.
We are by now means finished though! If you would like to be added to our list or you know of the perfect green treasure that you’ve found on the net, please send us an email.
Please read and bookmark our Green Building Resources.
[tags]environment,links,resources,help,blogs,blogging,daily,news,current events[/tags]
We have some new pictures of our home at our home building images gallery. The concrete contractors have been working hard getting the walls of the first floor up.
This image show the concrete contractors assembling the ICF blocks around the kitchen area. This picture shows our small kitchen. The concrete contractor on the platform is standing where the fridge will go beside the side door. Our kitchen plan is to use the space as efficently as possible; the stove has been moved to an island with additional storage. The cupboard area between the wall beside the window and the fridge is not large but should be big enough for our small family. The kitchen sink will be in the corner, surrounded by two large windows. We are on the top of the hill beside the Calgary Saddledome and we have captured the great view of the valley seperating east and west Calgary. It will be a joy to wash dishes while taking in the view from the two windows.
[tags]concrete contractors,blogs,blogging,daily,home building,photos,construction[/tags]
We have now entered the stage in the Ramsay Home Project where we are starting to think about how we are going to decorate and furnish the interior. How do you go about finding what will go good in the corner beside the coat closet? You need to browse through a decorators catalog. We are going to recycle our small collection of decorators catalogs and like the idea of passing on the set to another family building a home.
Interior design and Art schools teach very important skills that need to be studied and practiced to become an expert. The skills include color theory, design and composition. But how do designers know where to go when they need a four foot tall giraffe for a young girls jungle theme bedroom? Interior designers are not only experts in the art of desigining, but the best interior designers have the latest decorators catalog sets and know where to buy almost anything!
Every season, everything from the latest in interior design trends to timeless classics can be found in a decorators catalog. Designers trust the decorators catalog as their primary source for information on interior furnishings, manufacturers and distributors.
Here are some of our favorite selections for mail-order decorators catalog:
Crate & Barrel have just released their Fall 2006 catalog, with pictures and tips on how to organize your home on time and on budget. Check out the renewable bamboo furniture.
Curran’s Summer decorators catalog for 2006 is available at their website (curranonline.com).
The always stylish, Design within Reach also have a summer 2006 decorators catalog that you can order from their website (dwr.com) but Canadians must call 800.944.2233 to order.
The Home Decorators catalog for fall 2006 can be requested at their website (www.homedecorators.com) from a link at the bottom of the page.
[tags]decorators catalog,blog,blogging,daily,interior,home[/tags]
Trying to keep costs down on your DIY home construction project? Use the power of the web to locate used construction equipment instead of buying new.
If you are building your own home or working on the latest renovation project for your existing home, finding the right tools can add a new level of stress to your project. Tools are expensive and often only valuable for specific tasks. Finding friends or family that can lend you the tool that you may need for only a single weekend is often not an option. We have been fortunate enough so far to borrow almost all the tools that we needed that were not already in our possession. We have also found a number of excellent high quality sites that sell used construction equipment.
Purchasing used construction equipment can also have green and environmental benefits. Instead of letting used construction equipment or parts end up in landfills, purchasing used construction tools encourages re-use and recycling.
The web offers many tools and resources for home builders and contractors looking to find used construction equipment. Most of the top sites dedicated to used construction equipment have auctions where home builders and contractors can place bids on the equipment they are looking for. The best sites include pictures and photographs of the actual equipment that is being auctioned.
As with purchasing most items on the internet, purchasing used construction equipment requires the buyer to protect themselves from fraud.
Keep in mind that most buyers and sellers on internet auction sites are honest people. By following these easy steps, you are sure to end up a happy owner of used construction equipment like we at the Ramsay Home Project are.
[tags]used,construction,equipment,building,construction,renovation,home [/tags]
We received an email this morning from Bridget Lacey, Manager of the Beltline Green Market (market@beltline.ca). Bridget is currently drumming up support for a sustainable Green Market in the heart of downtown Calgary. We love the idea of finally having a supply of organic steaks and organic poultry in the downtown core.
An urban farmer’s market and sustainability initiative, the Beltline Green Market, is being organized to launch in Calgary early next month. In addition to offering locally and sustainably produced market goods for sale such as organic steaks and organic poultry, this project intends to increase the profile and awareness of the various activities of community groups and organizations who are working on sustainable solutions and creations. Connections made in the community at a grassroots level will help unite various activism initiatives and provide a forum for knowledge sharing with our centre city neighbours.
The Green Market will run: Sundays from 10am – 5pm, and Tuesdays from 2pm – 8pm beginning August 6th and is scheduled to continue twice weekly until October 31st.
The venue is outdoors in Connaught Park on 11th street and 14th avenue SW – in the heart of the Beltline district, the most densely populated neighbourhood in Calgary; located between the Downtown core and 17th avenue SW.
Vendor space is pre-booked, and the table fee is $40 per day. The market will run rain or shine, and complete details are included in the attached application package. Please request specific dates on you application, and I will do my best to accommodate your organization’s schedule.
Because we are promoting sustainable creations and solutions in the marketplace, leaflets and excessive paper distribution are strongly discouraged. Instead, we would like to see community organizations and vendors creating exciting awareness displays, educational activities, sustainably produced market products, volunteer opportunities, memberships and alliances, democratic petitions, or other interesting ideas tailored to your organization’s mandate.
And even more reason to eat locally grown organic steaks and organic poultry is provided by http://www.lifebeginsat30.com
Eating local means more for the local economy. According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy. When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction. (reference)
Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in the supermarket or a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmer’s market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time.
Local food just plain tastes better. Ever tried a tomato that was picked within 24 hours? ‘Nuff said.
Locally grown fruits and vegetables have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be “rugged” or to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to be getting peaches so ripe that they fall apart as you eat them, figs that would have been smashed to bits if they were sold using traditional methods, and melons that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute on the vine.
Eating local is better for air quality and pollution than eating organic. In a March 2005 study by the journal Food Policy, it was found that the miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. (reference)
Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, are the most abundant, and the least expensive.
Buying locally grown food is fodder for a wonderful story. Whether it’s the farmer who brings local apples to market or the baker who makes local bread, knowing part of the story about your food is such a powerful part of enjoying a meal.
Eating local protects us from bio-terrorism. Food with less distance to travel from farm to plate has less susceptibility to harmful contamination. (reference)
Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. Supermarkets are interested in selling “Name brand” fruit: Romaine Lettuce, Red Delicious Apples, Russet Potatoes. Local producers often play with their crops from year to year, trying out Little Gem Lettuce, Senshu Apples, and Chieftain Potatoes.
Supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give those with local open space – farms and pastures – an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.
[tags]current events,blogs,daily,blog,calgary,food,eco-friendly[/tags]
We love the city of Calgary and wouldn’t want to be building our home anywhere else. Current events with wildfires in western North America point out the importance of carrying out an environmental assessment before purchasing or planning your next home building project, especially if you are thinking of building a green home.
This morning, a could of grey smoke has slowly blown south from northern Alberta, severely impacting the environmental assessment of the City of Calgary. According to Rob Harris, wildfire information office with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, there are 169 fires burning in central and northern Alberta with 38 of those classified as “out of control”.
It seems fitting that there would be numerous stories about wildfires and climate change today in the media. All of these articles require the reader to seriously examine their environmental assessment before purchasing land for a new home building project. For example, CNN posted a story titled, ‘Study: Rise in wildfires a result of climate change‘ which said:
“Lots of people think climate change and the ecological responses are 50 to 100 years away. But it’s not 50 to 100 years away — it’s happening now in forest ecosystems through fire,” added Swetnam.
Swetnam said he did not at first believe climate change affected forest fires. But he changed his mind as he and his colleagues studied 1,166 forest wildfires between 1970 and 2003 that had burned at least 1,000 acres.
“The length of the fire season has increased almost two-and-one-half months compared with 1970 to 1986,” he said.
Such fires have made recent headlines because they have burned entire communities and forced the evacuation of hundreds of households at a time. As of Thursday, the National Fire Information Center reported 412 new fires nationally and six large ones in Montana, Texas, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming.
Last month, a fire blackened 4,300 acres near Sedona, about 90 miles north of Phoenix, before it was contained. This week at least 5,500 people were evacuated in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.
Nature.com also posted a story, ‘Warming climate fuels fires in Rockies‘:
Are fiercer wildfires driven by climate change or poor forest management? Scientists and the media have been debating this burning question for decades. Now a large study of recent western US forest fires shows that, for the Rockies at least, climate is to blame.
Every year, forest fires burn hundreds of homes, severely damage natural resources, and attract more than US$1 billion in fire-fighting costs across the United States. As the fires rage more strongly, so does the debate about their causes.
Some explanations cite changing land-use patterns: livestock grazing and extensive logging in the early twentieth century was followed by forest regrowth and accumulation of burnable matter, which has increased the ferocity and spread of wildfires. But growing amounts of scientific research have indicated that local climate changes may also be to blame.
Houston Chronicle: Wildfires linked to climate change
KVOA.com: UA professor links forest fires, ‘climate change’
[tags]environmental assessment,news,daily,blog,blogging,blogs,current events,fires[/tags]
Found this article about solar power at www.businessweek.com. When it comes to cheap electricity, making money from your home is as good as it gets.
Carl Baldino, a plant manager for a textile finishing company in Philadelphia, is moonlighting as a small-time energy tycoon. In his second job, he’s got the kind of overhead most businesspeople can only dream of. His rooftop solar power generation system pays him an extra $3,000 per year on top of producing all the energy he needs to power his New Jersey home for free. The money comes from an emerging market in renewable energy credits (RECs), part of a program in many states where electricity suppliers that are required by law to invest in renewable energy buy tradable certificates from sources like Baldino. It’s just one way individuals and small businesses are making money off clean energy.
Baldino says he’s never made a better investment—especially with today’s unstable energy market. “I don’t think I can find anywhere that I can make a return of $3,000 per year [just for having solar power], and that’s if the price of energy doesn’t go up,” says Baldino. For him, the $12,000 upfront investment in the hardware and installation he made two years ago (New Jersey paid the remaining $38,700 through the state’s Clean Energy Program) is worth the money he’ll be making in the long run.
While the high cost of equipment, complicated state governing rules, and inefficiencies in the installation process still won’t allow small-scale energy systems to compete directly with the established utilities, micro-energy production is paying off. With energy prices fluctuating and instability in many oil-producing countries, individuals and small businesses are touting the profits they’re making off their wind, solar, and manure digestion systems as the wave of the future. These pioneers are finding that producing clean energy pays dividends that rival Wall Street (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/20/06, “Green Growth Areas for Entrepreneurs”). “There is a market that’s growing, and we’re just at the front end of it,” says Heather Rhoads-Weaver, founder of eFormative Options LLC, a market-research consultancy for the wind power industry.
Read the rest of the article on making Cheap electricity.
[tags]home,building,solar,cheap electricity,daily,blogs[/tags]
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