This sustainable solar demonstration home was designed to use very little energy while still placing an absolute priority on aesthetics. The purpose of building this home was to gain hands-on experience of what worked well and, conversely, what would be changed if done again. Every effort was made to use ecologically sound materials both for the sake of the environment and for the well-being of the structure's occupants.

Note that the bottom two feet of the exterior wall is cement stucco. Above that is mud plaster. The cement stucco is used where the most erosion occurs due to rain splashback. The mud plaster is quite durable above this point, and the wall is further protected by the roof overhang.

Article & Picture © Ted Owens www.BuildingWithAwareness.com

This essay by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus was released at an October 2004 meeting of the Environmental Grantmakers Association, and it's been ruffling feathers ever since.

As I write this, the fourth in a series of violent hurricanes has just bombarded the Caribbean and Florida. In Florida, more than 30 are dead and thousands are homeless. More than 2,000 Haitians are dead. And ninety percent of the homes in Grenada are destroyed.

As Jon Stewart deadpanned on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, "God, you've made your point. You're all- powerful."

Yet it isn't God we need to be addressing our concerns to -- it's us.

Scientists have long said that stronger and more frequent hurricanes would be a result of global warming. It's an effect of warmer oceans.

Yet no prominent national leader -- environmental or otherwise -- has come out publicly to suggest that the recent spate of hurricanes was the result of global warming. That's in part due to the fact that the conventional wisdom among environmentalists is that we mustn't frighten the public but rather must focus its gaze on technical solutions, like hybrid cars and fluorescent light bulbs....

Article © Peter Teague, Environment Program Director, Nathan Cummings Foundation Picture © Grist Magazine, Inc

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