And that brings me to the inspiration for this blog post.

Firstly, Julie Cohen of Better Than Fiction Productions emailed me the link to a video that she produced for PBS about a lady called Dee Williams who lives in a tiny house.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

And secondly, I read this morning at Bindu Wiles blog that she is starting a community project called the Shed Project, which has nothing whatsoever to do with sheds (or tiny houses), but fits perfectly alongside the story of tiny houses because it’s all about shedding the bumf that we don’t really need (including excess body weight).

I’m going to be taking part in the Shed Project to see what I can shed. If you’re interested in getting rid of some of your excess, Bindu Wiles will be launching the project in about a month’s time, so add her to your feed reader if you don’t want to miss out.

This Tuesday, 13th July, I’m going to be joining artist Janet Botes to launch ecojunki at the Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks Meet-up. We’ll be showing some of our own recycled art and crafts, and inviting Greendrink-ers to bring along their own recyclables for a demonstration/have-a-go.

If you’re in Cape Town and want to come along, here are the details:

Atlantic Seaboard Greendrinks
Cape Creative Exhibition Centre, 37, Main Road, Greenpoint
Tuesday 13th July 2010
6 pm for 6.30 pm – till 9 pm
The theme for the evening is greening visual arts and wine making
Time changes for this month : 6 pm for 6.30 pm – till 9 pm.

Eco artist and activist Janet Botes will present the Ecojunki movement and projects in Waste Art.
Bring recycled packaging (paper, plastic) which can be used for a demonstration !

All Capetonian artists are invited to participate in an open discussion about how to green Visual Arts.

Heron Ridge Wine Farm from Helderberg will be presenting their experience of farming the wine biodynamically and offer some wine tasting, which you will be able to compliment for a small contribution with some cheese platters from African Cheese and Wine Tours.

I have another great green giveaway for you. Dennis Publishing and Magbook are giving away 5 copies of their new Green Living Guide by Hugh Bowring to EcoStreet readers.

Did you know that…
Turning down the thermostat by 1C can save you around £40 a year on heating bills?
Switching to energy efficient light bulbs can save the average UK household £128.42 per year?
The average UK household throws away £424 of food a year?
The average Briton throws away 7 times their body weight in rubbish each year?

Inside the Green Living Guide you’ll find:
194-pages of invaluable expert advice, tips and guidance.
Inspirational case studies ranging across Low Carbon Building Programmes to Green travel schemes.
Tips to battling against climate change at home and work through making small but significant changes.
Clear sections dedicated to help you live a greener life – including work, travel and raising a family.
100s of money saving tips ideal for achieving sustainable living on a budget.

Author Hugh Bowring is the director of Footprints Environmental Solutions Ltd, an independent company that provides ecological advice and Green products to companies and the general public. Prior to his current profession Hugh was a environmental journalist, and won the East of England’s Environmental Journalist of the Year Award for his contribution to generating awareness for Green issues across the British media.

There are THREE ways to enter yourself in the giveaway:

1. Comment below.
2. Post the giveaway to Facebook.
3. Post the giveaway to Twitter.

Each one will earn you a separate entry, so please leave individual comments for each.

Please note that this giveaway is only open to readers with a UK postal address.

The winner will be chosen at random on Mon. 19 July.

This giveaway is now closed.

And the winners are: Adrian Crook, Tracy, Thelma, Kim Holgate and Kulwinder Lombardelli.

The Green Living Guide is available now from magbooks.com and amazon.co.uk for only £7.99

It’s Earth Day today, and I’m delighted to be giving away five Energy Seals, worth $16 each, from the very generous Powered Green to 5 of our US readers.

An Energy Seal is a sticker made from recycled aluminium that represents a carbon offset for a computer. Each Energy Seal symbolizes that renewable energy sources have produced an equal amount of energy used by a single computer over the course of its lifetime. The Energy Seal is then placed on the outside of a computer to show support for clean energy.

Powered Green is an environmental start-up based in Madison, WI, founded by two recent UW – Madison graduates. Their efforts support the development of new wind projects across the country through the sale of Powered Green gear. Each product stands as a way to generate awareness and support for renewable energy on an individual basis. Their efforts in less than a year have already stopped over 1,000 tons of CO2 from reaching the atmosphere.

To stand a chance to win one of these Energy Seal stickers for your computer, please leave a comment here about your Earth Day plans. Five comments will be chosen at random to each receive a free Powered Green Energy Seal, and the winners will be announced here on Sunday 2nd May 2010. Please note that this giveaway is only open to readers with a US mailing address.

And the winners are…

Kristi, Tiffany Pettey, Miranda johnson, Nick and Chrystal. Congratulations, you’ll soon be working/playing on a computer with a carbon offset!  Winners, please reply to my email requesting your mailing address.

UK readers: keep a lookout for a new sponsor giveaway tomorrow, just for you!

During the recent UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen our world leaders failed to agree on a climate deal. But we all know it’s not only up to them and there are plenty of things that we mere mortals can do to make an impact on climate change. As consumers, we need to take responsibilility for our own actions. Here’s one way to do something – do 30!

The ‘I do 30′ campaign encourages people across the world to turn down the temperature on their laundry to reduce co2.

Visit their website to find out more about the campaign and become a member of their Facebook group to join the other 12,000 supporters of the ‘I do 30′ campaign to see what positive impact you can have on our planet.

Radical Nature draws on ideas that have emerged out of Land Art, environmental activism, experimental architecture and utopianism. The exhibition is designed as one fantastical landscape, with each piece introducing into the gallery space a dramatic portion of nature. Work by pioneering figures such as the architectural collective Ant Farm and visionary architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, artists Joseph Beuys, Agnes Denes, Hans Haacke and Robert Smithson are shown alongside pieces by a younger generation of practitioners including Heather and Ivan Morison, R&Sie(n), Philippe Rahm architects and Simon Starling. Radical Nature also features specially commissioned and restaged historical installations, some of which are located in the outdoor spaces around the Barbican while a satellite project by the architectural collective EXYZT is situated off site.

The exhibition is on until the 18th of October and if you’d like to stand a chance of winning a ticket, simply add a comment telling us about something you do in your daily life that reduces your footprint on our planet.

This competition ends on Friday 9th of October. Two winners will be drawn out of a hat and notified by email.

In central London on the evening of Tuesday 27th October, 8 green leaders will present their view on the future of their industry. To those in the know, it’s quite a star-studded occasion. Green Tomato Cars will give their view on the future of sustainable transport, Ed Gillespie from Futerra will speak about ethical communication and consumer attitudes, and Terra Plana will comment on how its ethical footwear will evolve. Sam Kimmins, Sustainability Adviser at Forum for the Future, will give his take on the future of sustainable construction. Other presentations will be from Germination (a cutting-edge event company furthering social progress), innovative web community Project Dirt, The Hub (a shared workspace concept for social entrepreneurs) and sustainable lifestyle magazine Sublime.

Each of the 8 presentations will last no more than 8 minutes, and to keep things highly visual, no more than 5 words per slide are allowed. It means that 80% of the ideas in a normal presentation can be communicated in 20% of the time. The evening will be held at St Giles Cripplegate Church in Barbican, EC2. Further adding to the creative spirit, guests are invited to help reduce waste and bring their own reusable vessels for wine.

Inspiration and insight won’t just come from the presenting businesses either. Up to 250 keen, green thinkers and doers are expected to attend, so there’ll be food for thought in the conversations and networking, too.

Want to know more and book your ticket? Here are the details you need to know:

When: Tuesday 27th October
Start time: 6.30pm for a 7pm start (drinks will be available – you’re encouraged to bring your own cup for extra green points!)
Where: St Giles Cripplegate Church, Barbican, London, EC2Y 8DA (for map click here)

Tickets are limited, costing £9.50 in advance or £15 on the door.

You can buy your ticket here: http://futureofgreen.eventbrite.com

To find out more, click on http://www.insider-worldwide.com/trend-evening-green-futures/

The most distinctive quality of the urban environment lies in its landscape. Each individual city has its own sense of character, unique infrastructure, and physical presence. As the urban setting becomes increasingly advanced, we are leaving behind our roots – the tree canopy coverage in the developed city is declining. At present, many of world’s greatest cities lack substantial plant life. This observation isn’t just aesthetic, it is harmful on many levels. An increase in tree canopy coverage may require some painstaking effort to succeed, but could have enormous benefit if it does. Incorporating trees into the urban environment would serve to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we burn and ease the damage of deforestation – the two main roots of climate change. Right now, homes and other buildings account for 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the North America. Design and sustainability, both significant community objectives, can’t be sacrificed for one another. They must work together.

The city doesn’t “breathe” as well as a forest, contributing large quantities of carbon to the atmosphere with few sources of absorption. The earth, in order to give warmth to support life, needs a reasonable amount of greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide appears naturally in the atmosphere, exhaled by humans and involved in the photosynthesis of plants. Carbon is kept in check by a natural carbon cycle, a system which creates a balance between the carbon emitters (humans), and the carbon absorbers (plants). Oceans, land and air are all involved in the process.

After the industrial revolution, when humans began messing with the carbon levels in the atmosphere, the earth began to see increasing quantities of carbon being pumped into the system. And it’s been rising steadily since, resulting in a 1.4 degree increase in global average temperature. This might not seem like a lot, but consider the fact that the global average temperature during the last ice age was only 4 – 7 degrees colder than it is today, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The increase refers to the average temperature, not explicitly presenting the extremes on either side.

The city has taken a lot less time to grow than the forests. And we can’t undo what has been built. But by adding trees into the urban landscape, we can contribute to the solution of the unbalanced carbon cycle. Placed around a house or on a rooftop, trees can cool a building by 40%. Cutting back on air conditioner reliance means a decrease in the human- made greenhouse gas hydrofluorocarbons. An appropriate mix of trees can filter 88% of air pollution in a park, or 70% in a street setting. The benefit isn’t just limited to homes and buildings. On the streets, trees slow rain fall and absorb water, reducing rain flow into our sewers. More trees on the street means less overflow from sewers into the lake.

More trees would attract wildlife, make the city more aesthetically pleasing, and create more jobs. The benefits are numerous. Trees and urban design are a winning team, combining to reconcile urban culture and nature, a gap that must be bridged in order to achieve a truly sustainable city. Restoring an eco system is slow and demanding process. And unlike simply building a condo, it is unpredictable. But adding these lasting structures to the city’s infrastructure would have a greatly advantageous impact on our environment, our resources, and our money.

The potential difficulties of this goal lie in the nature of plant life. Will the slow growth of trees be frustrating enough for us to scrap the plan and come up with yet another quick and easy solution? Most of the trees that make up the canopy in major established cities have been rooted in place for a century or so, meaning that the skinny ones planted in addition will take equally as long to reach full growth. Cultivation in the urban environment won’t be easy, either. City trees die quickly in the drought of the hot summer months, as they bake against the concrete buildings and roads. If trees are to survive in the city, they would need to be planted in large groups and carefully tended.

Cities are built primarily with humans needs in mind. They create the illusion of a world solely for us. Doubling the tree canopy in the city is within our reach, and the cultivation of these entities will force us to recognize the true value of trees. The greater the esteem we assign them, the greater the benefit they will provide. Urban design and sustainability can no longer afford to clash. A green infrastructure starts with a return to the architecture of the natural world.

Photo credit: jeltovski

The global recession has finally caught up with us here in South Africa and we are starting to feel the pinch. I’m putting some work into finding ways to cut our expenses, all the while staying green, and in some aspects, becoming even greener.

Here are some ideas I’ve had for cutting back spending that will directly influence our carbon footprint.

Electricity

We have beautiful intentions of taking our home in Claremont off-grid as far as electricity is concerned one of these years (i.e. when we can afford to), until then, Eskom is pushing the electricity price to the limit and we are going to have to cut electricity usage to keep our bills under control.

1. Don’t use the tumble dryer.
2. Remind the husband and children that chargers use electricity even when the device is not attached unless switched off at the wall.
3. Close curtains and blinds at dusk to retain heat.
4. Put on a jersey before switching on the heaters.
5. Replace remainder of incandescent light bulbs with low energy bulbs.
6. Switch from using the 30′C cycle on my washing machine to cold wash.
7. Switch off the lights when there’s no-one in a room.
8. Give all worn clothes a good look-over and sniff before despatching them to the laundry basket.

We already have a few good things going for us as far as energy usage goes.

1. We have installed EconoHeat wall heaters in all bedrooms.
2. We run low energy use oil heater on wheels for the rest of the house and the occasional fire in the fireplace.
3. Our roof is very well insulated.
4. The majority of our light bulbs are of the energy saving variety.

Food

Since I stopped working outside the home and am a full-time errant housewife and mother, I have more time to cook, garden and plan. For us this is a big plus while we’re looking at our income dropping.

1. Get our home food garden in full swing. We’ve bought a whole bunch of fruit trees (apple, pear, plum, mango, naartjie (Clementine) and pomegranate) and I’ve sown spinach, chard, lettuce, carrots, onions and peas for winter growing. I will be putting some extra hours into the garden to boost food production and avoid shopping trips.
2. Complete cut out convenience foods and cook from scratch, cooking up double batches and freezing half for easy ready-meals later.
3. Eat meat only once a week.
5. Make a packed lunch for Pete and the kids the evening before.
6. Always take reusable bags to the shops to avoid paying for plastic bags that are bad for the environment.
7. Make my own household cleaners out of bicarb. of soda and vinegar.
8. Buy in bulk. I’m going to chat to a few friends and family about bulk buying and sharing non-perishables once I’ve been to Makro to check out what’s available and compare prices. Buying in bulk is better for the planet because there’s less packaging and fewer trips to the shops in a car.

Transport

When we chose our family car, we decided to buy a car with both 2×4 and 4×4, and it’s a diesel too, making it quite economical on fuel. We only need to use the 4×4 when we’re visiting our holiday place in the mountains, or when we’re away on holiday having adventures.

1. Cut back on trips out to save fuel. Plan shopping trips with collecting children from school and dropping the recycling off at the same time.
2. Use my bicycle more for local trips.

And a few more ideas that don’t fit into the above categories:

1. Sell our clutter. We moved into our new house a couple of months ago and have a store room full of stuff that we aren’t using. Some of this stuff will be despatched via Gumtree or the like.
2. Buy secondhand clothes rather than new. This is something that I often did in England, but haven’t been doing here in SA. But I just came across this great resource for vintage and secondhand clothing shops in Cape Town, and I’m going to give it another bash.
3. Use the library instead of buying books.

It’s the winter school holidays here at the moment, and Piper and I are really enjoying spending some extra time together. I’ve spent less time on the blog of late because there’s too much fun to be had off-line with my darling daughter.

Photo credit: Birdieann

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