Sustainable Living Websites

Also see our new Sustainable Living Links Page

[NOTE: The websites listed below will open in a new window when you click their links.]

The Earthship
The Earthship has been designed to reduce our impact on the planet and increase our connection to it by utilizing recycled and low embodied energy materials, passive solar heating and cooling, photovoltaic power system, catchwater, solar hot water, gray water and black water treatment systems.

The techniques of building Earthships are presented and developed in a way that will allow Earthship owners to participate in and sometimes completely build their own home with many materials that are free byproducts of our existing society. The homes are designed with simplicity in mind. An owner builder with little or no construction experience could build or help build his or her own home. These units have been designed with many prefabricated components and these components can be delivered to the site and assembled by an owner builder. The owner's involvement in building educates them about the function of their home and empowers them to maintain and repair their home, making that home and lifestyle all the more sustainable.

Shelter Systems
Offers a wide range of lightweight, portable, waterproof yurts, domes, tents, and shelters with a wide range of uses as family living spaces; guest rooms and temporary housing; studios; fair and exhibition pavilions; backpacking, camping, and guide tents; expedition, excavation, and research tents; ski huts; party and wedding pavilions; emergency shelters; storage sheds; bicycle sheds; solariums; window awnings; jacuzzi covers; and more. Shelter Systems makes its structures with a superstrong, tough, UV-resistant, ripstop fabric and its own nonpuncturing tarp fastener, the Grip Clip.

Dome Homes

Strong Structure
Self-Supporting
Soaring Skylights
Good Do-It-Yourselfer
Use 1/3 Less Material
30%-50% Energy Savings
Very Little Maintenance
Kit Goes Up in 6-8 Hour

Structural Integrity & Flexibility...
Since Geodesic Domes are factory manufactured to exacting standards using triangular networks forming hexagons and pentagons, this method provides for a free-span, self-supporting structure requiring no internal supports, such as roof load-bearing partion wall. This allows for maximum flexibility of roof floor design, utilizing or interior space, and future expansion. Domes are stronger and safer homes , and have proven to withstand tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes far better than ordinary, conventional box homes. All the space you pay for is usable, providing complete flexibility for placement of interior partitions, fixtures, and furniture...100% effcient.

Energy Efficiency...
Domes are highly energy efficient in two ways. First, compared to a common rectilinear home of equal floor space, a dome home has` approximately 30-50% less roof and wall area exposed to the elements. This reduction in surface area results in a reduction in energy costs for heating and cooling. Second, the spherical shape of the dome facilitates natural air flow yielding more even temperatures, reducing air stratification, minimizing cold spots, and maximizing overall interior comfort

Permaculture.net
Permaculture is the conscious design of 'cultivated' ecosystems that have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is a harmonious integration of people into the landscape in such a way that the land grows in richness, productivity and aesthetic beauty.

Permaculture has come to mean more than just food sufficiency in the household. Self-reliance in food is meaningless unless people have access to land, information, and financial resources. So in recent years it has come to encompass appropriate legal and financial strategies, including strategies for land access, business structures, and regional self financing. This way it is a whole human system.

Permaculture, then, is a design system that encompasses both “permanent agriculture” and “permanent culture.” It recognizes, first, that all living systems are organized around energy flows.

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