Green Options

What’s it like to live in an off the grid straw bale house, use solar power, grow your own food, and collect rainfall from your roof? What if your father was a famous actor turned green activist? Nick News documents the lives of kids living alternative, ecological lifestyles in their new A Kid Off The Grid television program. The show features three kids’ stories from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeastern Missouri, a sustainable off the grid community, and that of Hayden Begley, daughter of Ed Begley Jr., the popular environmental celebrity.

Despite any confusion that you might be facing, the facts on global warming are not up for debate.

It is true that there are some natural causes of global warming. However, there is no doubt amongst the world’s leading experts that the current dangerous warming trend is primarily caused by humans.

To understand how humans cause global warming, it is important that you are aware of the link between your daily activities and the greenhouse effect. Furthermore, once you understand this, it is easy to see that you have the power to help stop global warming from getting worse.

The primary way humans cause global warming is by burning fossil fuels. This increases the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, which leads to an increase in the Greenhouse Effect.

My jaw dropped when I first watched this video tour of a beautiful owner-built green building construction project in Oregon. This particular green building is made entirely out of cob, a mixture of clay, sand, and straw.

Meka Bunch of Wolf Creek, Oregon built this stunning cob house over a four year period. Complete with hand-sculpted furniture, shelves and nooks built directly into the walls, arched windows, and a killer custom staircase, his cob building is a divine artistic achievement.

Check out the video and photos of Meka’s cob cottage for yourself:

Americans eat lots of meat. So much so that livestock is now one of the leading contributors to global warming, responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions as measured in a carbon dioxide equivalent.

A recent United Nations report concluded that the meat industry causes almost 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the world’s transportation systems — that means all of the globe’s cars, trucks, planes and ships combined.

Kathy Preston poses an important question for meat-eating Americans concerned about the effects of global warming: what are the effects of going vegetarian for just one day? Here are her astounding statistics about how going vegetarian for a single day can help prevent global warming:

Do you want to learn more about green building and gain valuable hands-on experience by helping to build an earth sheltered home? There are several natural building internship and work exchange opportunities at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeastern Missouri, an off-the-grid intentional community devoted to ecological sustainability. Read ahead to learn more about one particular earth sheltered home and green building construction work exchange.

There are many concerns about how we can prevent global warming. In every industry, whether it be transportation, agriculture, or the construction industry, there are questions about how to prevent global warming.

By building better designed, more energy-efficient, and natural homes, global warming will become less of a threat. One of the most basic necessities lacking in conventional homes is sufficient insulation.

Proper insulation will greatly reduce the need for constant home heating and cooling (and in turn, fossil fuels), as insulation will help maintain the temperature of a space. Straw bales stand out for their excellent insulative value, and for the fact that they are a totally natural and biodegradable material with minimal embodied energy.

Within the realm of natural building, many individuals choose straw bale house construction for these reasons.

Through natural building, there are many ways to prevent global warming. Conventional suburban houses are large, poorly designed, and inefficient, and the manufacturing and construction processes are big contributors to global warming.

Natural building is a sustainable design approach that promotes low impact homes built with natural and recycled materials. I will highlight two different techniques in natural building that promote global warming prevention through increased energy efficiency.

One of the most sustainable ways to acquire materials for building a house is to collect parts from soon-to-be demolished homes. You can save money from buying new lumber, which in turn will prevent deforestation, and you can recycle other materials like doors, windows, and bricks that would otherwise continue to fill up landfills.

But perhaps you’re not sure how to go about deconstructing a house. Read ahead to find out how to safely deconstruct a home and build with reclaimed lumber, instead of destroying and ruining precious building materials.

Do you want to limit the amount of trash you produce and help make your backyard soil healthy and productive? One of the easiest solutions to these problems is to compost your food waste. It requires little personal energy, and you will benefit from the rich compost resulting from the breakdown of your kitchen scraps.

The only thing you really need to do is create a suitable bin for your soon-to-be compost. There are alternatives to the overpriced, plastic compost containers that some garden supply stores hawk to customers. You can make your own using recycled shipping pallets for less than $20, or even free if you have some of the few necessary supplies.