An Open Letter to the Land that I Love

Living Technologies

Ok, so of course coming fresh off the plane from the Living Future Conference in Seattle has really got me excited about the best and brightest in green building. I will be sharing lessons learned , case studies, and knowledge nuggets in several posts. And sorry for falling off the map for so long to all my readers- life happens, eh? So one of the most interesting innovations I learned about at the conference is the BIQ house in Hamburg, Germany. This is a multi-story apartment building that is completely powered by algae! Algae sits inbetween panes of glass, eats carbon dioxide and sunlight, and produces oily algae that are digested by the building to create power. Neat huh? This building is a pilot/prototype but just opened several weeks ago. This building brings up a lot of interest in algae for it's many uses. i've seen explorations in bioluminescent algae for street lighting, algae grown for biofuel for transportation, algae for wastewater treatment, and now to pow

It's a Silly Time to learn to swim when you start to Drown

It's a silly time to learn to swim on the way down Well why am I quoting this fabulous Tegan and Sarah song? It came on during my morning commute and it had me thinking- yeah! I bet a lot of society feels the same way about climate change. It is beyond me how people can deny that climate change exists- or say they 'don't believe in it'. It's not a religion, cult movement, theoretical ideal or ideas spun by your average street-corner crazy. It is a scientifically documented, million researcher strong, thousands of pages-per-volume fact. But- it would be so much easier to get by day to day if you didn't feel like the world around you was closing in and smothering you. We don't know how to swim through all this information- and with the policy makers in their later years, they have some trouble understanding what to do and think if they just ignore it, deny it, or drag their feet they can just tread water instead of swimming forward. I totally see how that gets

"The Big Fix" Film Premiere

What an honor it was to be invited to a film premiere! On Tuesday Night, I muddled through the rain and crowds of New York City to the Village 7 theaters to attend Green Building Professionals Night of "The Big Fix" film showing. "The Big Fix" is a documentary film created by a husband and wife film team venture to the Gulf after the BP Oil Spill almost a year and a half ago. Here's some quick highlights of things I did not know about the oil spill that YOU should really note- 1) It is still leaking, BP confirmed within the past week that the oil plug was not a cure-all, and the Deepwater Horizon disaster continues. 2) The tax quarter after the oil spill, BP still had $16 billion in profits. But because it was not their expected $32 billion, the US government shot them a tax break for over 10 billion dollars. 3) Corexit, the dispersant used to break up the oil slicks we saw on the surface of the water. Is completely toxic to humans and animals. It can cause misc

Building Alive, Designing to Thrive

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