Katie Jones and Peter Schmitt’s Uptown Strawhouse will be built on the site of their current garage using straw bales for walls, which will not only make the home energy efficient but will actually sequester carbon. “Passive houses” meet a voluntary energy efficiency standard that drastically reduces the building’s carbon footprint and requires little energy … Read more
Valverde Commons is a co-housing community designed to foster connection. This means there is shared governance, resources, socializing and spaces. One resident, Bob Draper, was instrumental in its planning and development. Part of the idea was to encompass the realities of ageing in place. When a 14-acre property came on the market that fit their … Read more
Babulal Gandhi, from India’s Satara district, has lived most of his life in harmony with nature, and dedicated it towards improving the state of agriculture in India. “I am an ardent ardent disciple of great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Lokmanya Tilak, but could never actively participate in the freedom struggle, so helping landless farmers … Read more
The following blog post was written by Michael G. Smith originally for motherearthnews.com and I have shamelessly posted it here to further spread his wise words.A group of about two dozen people gather on a wooded hillside in Northern California. They are women, men, and children, ranging in age from three to 72. They come … Read more
Good Earth Global does wonderful work around the world. Last year they built a dormitory for Resilient Steps, a Netherlands-based non-profit serving girls who are victims of child trafficking, child labor, sexual abuse, child marriages and other traumas. This was in Pokhara, Nepal, with the help of 30 volunteers from SOS Nepal.They completed four houses … Read more
When Richard Weaver inherited 3 acres in the center of a golf-oriented community developed by his father in Bozeman, Montana, he bucked family tradition and tore out the grass to create a self-sufficient urban farm and underground greenhouse home. He turned his father’s RV garage into an off-grid home relying on photovoltaics, rainwater and composting … Read more