Living Off-Grid on a Mountain Top

This man built a beautiful off-grid cabin with the help of friends for $65,000 CAD including the cost of the land. There was no road access to his lot so he had to bring in all of the building materials using a 4-wheeler with a small trailer, and then load them on a material elevator … Read more

Giving Building Materials a Second Chance

Baltimore-based nonprofit Second Chance salvages unwanted building materials from single-family homes and other buildings. Founded in 2001, Second Chance “provides people, materials, and the environment with a second chance.” The social enterprise deconstructs old buildings, salvages usable materials and uses the revenue generated to provide job training and workforce development for people with various employment … Read more

Tiny Homes Co-Housing in New Zealand

A co-housing development using sustainable tiny buildings and permaculture principles is happening in Golden Bay, New Zealand. Those behind the project say that 18 future residents have already provided loans between $50-100,000 each, allowing them to reserve a home and land. Homeowners would own the house title and the land directly beneath it, as well … Read more

News About Earthbags Solving Climate Problems

USA Today just featured this article titled Homes made of sandbags, barbed wire could offer cheaper, safer shelter as climate crisis worsens. Thousands of people in Puerto Rico are still living under blue tarps three years after Hurricane Maria struck the island, and more than 30,000 families have asked the government for assistance after the … Read more

Demonstration of How Iranian Yurts are Made

This video shows exactly how the traditional yurts of the Shahsavan nomads in Iran are built. The whole structure is pre-tensioned before the felted wool cover is placed over the framework, which gives the yurt the ability to withstand the gales that blow across their high mountain landscape. The Shahsavan are some of the world’s … Read more

Yale Students Build a Regenerative Building on Horse Island

A crew of students from the Yale School of Architecture has assembled the wooden frame of a one-story building on Horse Island, a 17-acre property off the coast of Branford, Connecticut. They are building a teaching and coastal research center for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, which owns the island. The crew used … Read more