Wind can play havoc on many things around your home. Planting a windbreak can provide some relief from a relentless gale and it may also help you with home temperature regulation, while providing habitat for wildlife. Windbreaks can also reduce soil erosion, increase landscape beauty, provide privacy and screening, and provide some protection from fires. … Read more
The recent Living Future 2019 conference in Seattle featured a presentation about carbon storing building components. To summarize, we cannot “net zero” our way out of the climate crisis. Net zero only addresses operational carbon. By focusing on embodied carbon, we can turn buildings into carbon sinks. The presenters tweaked Michael Pollan’s famous words about … Read more
This modern, eco-friendly home in Kerala, India is built primarily of mud and other natural materials, along with recycled elements. Passive principles were applied to let in light and much-needed natural ventilation for relief from Kerala’s tropical climate. To combat the heat and the monsoon rain, most conventional homes feature sloped roofs with thick overhangs … Read more
The Nepali Times has published two articles recently about sustainable rebuilding efforts in Nepal. One, titled Quake was a learning experience for Nepal’s schools features two schools destroyed in the earthquake which are being rebuilt using rammed earth. “Rammed earth uses locally available mud and minimal cement to construct the walls of the schools, making … Read more
This is not really about natural building, but it is a very encouraging step toward regenerating our environment. A massive Great Green Wall is being built in Africa where people from 20 countries are joining forces to grow a thicket of drought-resistant trees across about 6,000 miles of land at the southern edge of the … Read more
This three-bedroom house for a family of five is being constructed using earthbags and is the first of its kind for a residential home in the Kenya. “The bags used are the onion-net type while the dome shape of the house means that the house does not require a roof, greatly saving on cost,” says … Read more