Green Options

A Segway may seem a little tame for a professional slalom skateboarder, but for 2003 Slalom-Cross world champion Richard de Losada, his Segway has become the transportation mode of choice for short errands and trips to the beach (as well as playing Segway polo).

A resident of eco-community and tourist destination the Sea Ranch in Northern California, de Losada certainly thought his Segway was the perfect choice for the green lifestyle promoted by the community.

He found out differently on Feb 24, 2007, when the Sea Ranch Association gave him a ticket for a covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R) violation for riding his Segway.

Richard, who had moved his family of five kids to the community for the “good clean environment,” limited his Segway use, even though the community’s CC&R didn’t specifically mention such vehicles.  He didn’t ride it around the community, but continued to use the Segway for other trips. “I could ride 4-5 miles on 10-20 cents of energy,” said Losada, “so it seemed like a no-brainer. But I observed the rules at the Sea Ranch.”

The UK’s first eco community has been granted permission to start building a mini eco village. The community will consist of nine families who are going to build their houses from straw bale, mud and timber in the Welsh village of Glandwr.

The community is called the Lammas and the members will build four detached dwellings and a row of five attached houses on a plot of 76 acres. They’re going to live off-grid and collect their water from a spring that’s existing on site as well as from rain water captured on the turf-made roofs of their houses.

After a brief hiccup last week (call it the Senior Editor in vacation mode!), we're pleased to get back to our content swap with Naturalpath, the green health community. This week, we're featuring an article on a concept that's rapidly growing around the world: eco communities. What are they? According to the article,

Eco villages seek to unite two emerging truths: human life thrives best in small, supportive, healthy communities, and that the

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