Sunday, May 22, 2011

Building Ecotopia: Intentional Communities, Part 2

by Chuck Hall
If you are interested in joining an intentional community, you might want to first meet as many of the people there as possible. Make sure you can get along with everyone first before making a commitment. Over half of intentional communities fail within a year of their founding, largely because of differences among members, so a little tolerance goes a long way. When shopping for communities, watch out for people who don’t seem to respect the opinions and rights of others. As the saying goes, “You don’t really know someone until you’ve lived with them.”
In many, if not all, intentional communities, members share resources and responsibilities. They usually are self-governing and have some sort of democratic governmental body. Many are communal in nature, not holding individual property. In most cases, all members of the community own the land on which the community is built in trust, and there are no individual property rights in terms of sale or ownership. The usual formula is that the homeowner leases the property from the community if the community doesn’t own all housing outright.
All members of an intentional community are expected to share the workload and to contribute to the community. Some are stricter than others regarding these rules. Before joining a community, it’s a good idea to know exactly what’s expected of you so there are no later.
These days, living in a community whose primary focus is sustainability is seen as the domain of aging hippies or religious cultists or social outcasts. The roots of the movement in its current incarnation began in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, so perhaps there is an element of truth to this perception. I think sometimes that the more conservative-minded people of the world see intentional communities as some sort of political statement or an idealistic dream rather than anything that could be put to practical use. That's unfortunate. People tend to forget that barely more than a century ago, most of the communities in this country were sustainable in part if not as a whole. In fact, some conservative groups, like the Amish, still live sustainably in intentional communities to this day. If our ancestors could manage to live in a sustainable way with the technology they had a century ago, surely we could manage to do so much more comfortably now, regardless of our political or religious affiliation.
I don't see sustainable living as the exclusive domain of people with a more liberal leaning, either. I know that such a lifestyle is often seen that way in America, but I think that's unfortunate. Granted, sustainability is more likely to be favored by those who tend to be more liberal (and I count myself among them), but since that is the case at this point in our history, I think liberals have the responsibility of demonstrating to the more conservative elements of society that caring for the planet isn't a political agenda, but a more practical and necessary way of life. Environmentalism shouldn’t be a partisan issue. So if you’re thinking about an intentional community, try to keep an open mind as you investigate the possibilities.

Building Ecotopia: Intentional Communities, Part 1

by Chuck Hall
"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank." - Chief Maquinna, Nootka Tribe
At its most basic level, an Intentional Community is simply a group of people who come together in one place with a shared vision of what living in a community means. In the opening quote for this chapter, Chief Maquinna has nicely summed up the idea behind intentional communities. It’s about caring for one another as one big family.
The term ‘intentional community’ comes from the 1944 article The Small Community by Arthur Morgan. Morgan saw the small community as the ‘seedbed of society,’ and he felt that America was at risk of losing its core values if the small community disappeared. Shortly after World War II, communities began to form across the United States with the intention of preserving those small town values. The rapid industrialization after the war had led many to feel disenfranchised, so they began to come together to preserve a way of life they felt was beginning to fade. At first these groups were known as ‘cooperative communities,’ because of the cooperative nature of their organization, but Morgan felt that the name ‘intentional community’ was more appropriate because these communities were founded intentionally, with a shared vision. The term has since expanded to include co-housing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives and ecovillages. Since this series of columns deals with building an Ecotopia, and one of the characteristics of an Ecotopia is sustainability, I’ll be focusing mainly on ecovillages.
There are 186 communities listed in the Intentional Communities directory of the Federation of Intentional Communities (FIC) at: www.ic.org. According to this directory, there are over 8,000 people, including 2,000 children, currently living in those intentional communities listed publicly with the FIC. There are also at least 700 other intentional communities listed with the FIC that have not given their permission for a public listing, so the number of people living in intentional communities in the United States could in reality number in the tens of thousands. If you factor in communities of a religious nature, such as monasteries, ashrams and kibbutzes, the number is even higher. While people aren’t yet fleeing cities and urban centers in droves, the movement is growing steadily. For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing how these communities work, what it means to be a part of one, and how to choose an intentional community or start one yourself.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 6

by Chuck Hall
When living without electricity, one of the most basic needs is home lighting. There are many options for home lighting that don’t rely on electricity from the grid. The oldest of these options are, of course, lamps and candles. While the amount of light emitted from the average candle hasn’t changed much over the centuries, there are propane lamps on the market now that give off far more light than their older kerosene counterparts. If the small amount of illumination available from kerosene lamps is an issue for you, you might want to step up to a propane lantern. A Coleman lantern generates about as much light as a 100-watt light bulb. I’ve used Coleman (www.coleman.com) lanterns for years, and have been satisfied with their quality and performance.
The final option for lighting a home without electricity is battery-powered lighting. This requires a little homework and a lot of planning. There are a wide variety of choices in battery-powered lighting. Some of these will work better than others, so it’s better to investigate the quality of the products you intend to buy before furnishing your entire home with them. In order to avoid going broke buying batteries, I would suggest purchasing rechargeable batteries. These may be recharged using a solar powered charger. Several companies offer solar powered battery chargers. A good place to start would be Battery Stuff’s line of products at: www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers. The method I have used in the past is to buy two sets of batteries for each light; one to use and one to recharge. That way you’ll always have fresh batteries available. If you have children, you might want to buy some extras to hide around the house as well. For some reason, batteries seem to grow legs and walk off when kids are around!
A great resource for electricity-free living is Lehman’s Products for Simple and Self-Sufficient Living at: www.lehmans.com. This company caters primarily to Amish communities and carries a wide variety of products for people interested in a simpler lifestyle.
You don’t have to go totally without electricity to benefit from any of the ideas listed above. You can use as many of them as you think you will be comfortable with. The more you can do, the more you’ll save on your energy bill. Minimizing your energy consumption will also make it easier to install an off-the-grid power system. The less wattage you need, the less your alternative power system will cost.
So would it be possible to live your life totally without electricity? Two-thirds of the Earth’s population already does. With the technology available today, going electricity-free doesn’t have to be an ordeal. In fact, it can be quite rewarding. I think back on my little cabin in the woods and I remember the nights most of all. I’ve always had a bit of insomnia, but it wasn’t as much of a problem when I lived without electricity. There were no appliances humming through the night; in fact, there were no electronic noises at all. I fell asleep listening to the crickets and the wind in the trees. There was also no monthly electric bill to worry about. After about a month or so, I really didn’t miss the electricity much at all.
We live our lives according to what we’re accustomed to. We’re accustomed to the convenience of electric appliances, but what have we sacrificed for that convenience? How much freedom and independence have we traded away when we chain ourselves to the power company? Maybe it’s time to grow accustomed to something better.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 5

by Chuck Hall
About the only major electricity-using device that we haven’t covered yet is lighting. There are several approaches to dealing with lighting in an electricity-free home. For daytime lighting needs, you can always make strategic use of skylights. Even on cloudy days, skylights can supplement your lighting needs. Until recently, skylights were a problem for homes with more than one floor; however, a new product is being researched that would use fiber optics to redirect sunlight to the lower floors of a multi-story building. In these units, a solar collector reflects sunlight into a bundle of fiber optics. This bundle terminates on the ceiling of an interior floor. The sunlight is conducted by the fiber optics to a fixture placed over the end of the bundle. The fixture functions to diffuse the light evenly. The problem so far with these systems is that the sun has to be at the proper angle for them to work at all. One approach to solving this problem to add a motor-driven reflector to track the sun as it moves across the sky. The motor would be solar powered as well, so no external energy source would be required. The problem with any sort of sunlight-driven system is that it will only work during daylight hours, so if you need lighting in the evenings, you’ll have to come up with an alternative plan.
An approach that lies halfway between candles and regular incandescent bulbs in terms of electricity requirements is compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). CFLs still require electricity, but at a fraction of the cost of an incandescent. A 15-watt CFL produces as much light as a 100-watt incandescent! Recent modifications in design have vastly improved the CFLs of today. If you’ve used CFLs in the past and set them aside because of the harsh light and short life, now’s the time to try them again. I switched my home lighting to CFLs almost a year ago, and I haven’t had to replace a bulb yet. Not only that, but the lighting is indistinguishable from the incandescent bulbs I previously used, at a fraction of the energy cost. While the up-front cost for CFLs is more, savings over the life of the lamp can be between $35 and $80 or even more.
If you intend to use a CFL in a dimmer switch, be sure that it is dimmer compatible. If it doesn’t specify ‘dimmer compatible’ on the package, it can’t be used with a dimmer switch. Don’t attempt to dim a CFL that isn’t rated dimmer-compatible. Dimmer switches work by varying the amount of voltage supplied to the lamp. Each CFL has its own ballast that regulates the voltage going to the bulb, so using a non-dimmable CFL will overwork the ballast as it tries to supply a steady level of voltage to the lamp. So, using a CFL not dimmer-compatible could greatly shorten the life of the bulb. While some varieties of CFL will dim to a limited degree, the range is nowhere near as great as that of a dimmable CFL.
CFLs still need electricity in order to operate, so if you’re planning a totally electricity-free lifestyle, they’re not for you. I mention them here for those of you who want to minimize electricity use, but aren’t ready to do without electricity completely. If you are trying to minimize your electricity use so that a solar, wind, or other alternative energy source is more viable and affordable, or if you’re just trying to decrease your monthly power bill, CFLs might be a wise lighting choice for you. If, however, you are striving to be a purist, and wish to live completely without electricity, there are still a few lighting options. We’ll examine those options next week.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 4

by Chuck Hall
If you're planning an off-the-grid home, one of the considerations is water usage. Getting water to your home without electricity doesn't have to be a problem. If you have a well, you can use a good old-fashioned hand pump. Another alternative would be to install a cistern and a rainwater catch system. With a cistern, all the rainwater that usually goes through the gutters and out into the ditch is instead captured for later use. By installing a filtration system, this captured rainwater can be used in the home. Such a system is gravity-fed by installing a valve in the bottom of the cistern. This means that the bottom of the cistern would have to be situated above the water tap.
Using a cistern as your primary water supply would require careful planning and conservation. If you have a garden or plan to water your lawn, it helps to route the gray water from your showers, baths, and sinks into the ground by installing a piping irrigation system. That way you're using the water twice. I wouldn't recommend using a cistern without a well or city water backup unless you live in an area with a lot of annual rainfall. Even then I'd be cautious. As global warming continues, weather patterns are changing all over the world. Regions that have had a lot of rainfall in the past may no longer be as wet in the future.
Would you like to get rid of that electric washing machine without having to by a washtub and a scrub board? The Laundry Alternative (www.laundry-alternative.com) has a solution that doesn't require scrubbing by hand. Their portable washing machine, the Wonder Wash, is hand-operated and can wash five pounds of clothes in minutes. The secret is its pressurized laundry compartment. The pressure forces the detergent through the fibers in the fabric, getting them clean in record time. It uses a fraction of the water a traditional washing machine uses, so a Wonder Wash is indispensable if you're practicing water conservation. The best part is that the Wonder Wash can be had for less than $50!
There are still quite a few electronic gadgets in the average home, but many can be substituted for battery-operated alternatives. Battery-powered radios have been around for decades. Even televisions and computers have become compact, portable, and battery-operated. Cell phones have virtually eliminated the need for a home telephone. If you're living electricity-free, you can always charge your cell phone in the car. If you go to the extreme of living without a car as well, you can buy a charger for your cell phone that works on solar power. Solar Style offers one for less than $60 at: www.solarstyle.com.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 3

by Chuck Hall
If you’re planning to live without electricity from the grid, then what about home heating? Is it possible to forego electricity without freezing in the winter? If you’re building your own home, you can use passive solar to help to some extent. ‘Passive solar’ means aligning your home so that you have a lot of glass facing to the south during the winter months (assuming you live in the northern hemisphere) to maximize heat from the winter sun. Planting deciduous trees on the south side of the house will help in this regard. When the leaves are on the trees in the summer, they provide shade. In the winter, when more sunlight is needed for warmth, the trees have shed their leaves, allowing for more sunlight. Overhangs can also be strategically placed to block the summer sun while maximizing the winter sun.
Passive solar design can go a long way towards meeting your heating needs, but what do you do when it isn’t enough? One option is a wood-fired heating stove or fireplace. You can’t beat a warm hearth fire for coziness and romantic atmosphere! Today’s wood-fired heating stoves and fireboxes are much more energy efficient and less polluting than your grandparents’ wood stoves. Since they are designed to burn hotter than their counterparts of yesteryear, more of the wood burns, so less carbon and other pollutants are released into the atmosphere. Of course, you’d have to have a ready wood supply and now mind chopping wood on occasion. If that’s not a problem for you, visit the Wood Heat Organization at: www.woodheat.org.
A newer home heating alternative is the biodiesel stove. These stoves can burn either biodiesel or regular diesel fuel if biodiesel isn’t available in your area. And as with the biodiesel cooking stove, you can always make your own fuel. For more information on biodiesel heating stoves, visit Kuma Stoves at: www.kumastoves.com/bio_diesel.
If you have a biodiesel heater, you may also want to consider attaching a water line to it to heat water for showers and baths during the winter months. In many cases, such a system will supply all of your hot water needs when it’s cold outside. During the summer months you can place a solar collector on a south-facing roof. Such collectors can be made inexpensively yourself using PVC pipe painted black. You can find detailed instructions on how to build a collector at Build it Solar: www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm. The water can be heated the roof solar collector during the summer and by the home heating system during the winter, eliminating the need for an electric water heater altogether.
If such a system seems too elaborate for you, you might also consider tankless water heating systems. Such systems attach to the water line and heat the water as it flows, eliminating the need for a tank. While some of these run on electricity, most run on propane or natural gas. If you’re interested, House Needs offers a wide variety at: www.houseneeds.com. So far I haven’t been able to find a manufacturer that offers a biodiesel tankless water heater, but as demand for green products continues to increase, rest assured that there’s probably one on the horizon.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part 2

by Chuck Hall
One way to live off-the-grid is to do without a source of AC power altogether. This doesn’t necessarily mean living completely without appliances. It could mean using rechargeable appliances or appliances powered by sources other than electricity. For example, major energy guzzler in any home is your kitchen range. Before the days of electric ranges, people cooked on an open fire or in a wood-fired stove. Unless you live near a forest, you probably won’t have a ready supply of kindling for a wood-fired stove. Then of course there’s the work of chopping wood and lighting a fire every time you want to cook. But there is a new alternative. Aga Cookers of Telford, Shropshire, Great Britain, manufactures a cook stove that can be run on biodiesel (http://www.aga-web.co.uk/index_334.htm). Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning alternative to wood-fired stoves. As biofuels become more readily available, these stoves will be more convenient to operate using a sustainable fuel source. In the meantime, they can be operated using regular diesel fuel or by making your own biodiesel. If you’re interested in the latter option, you can learn the details of making your own biofuels at Journey to Forever’s Web site: Handmade Projects. Make Your Own Biodiesel!
On the other hand, if you don’t mind a little extra work on occasion, maybe an earth oven would be right for you. Earth ovens are just what they sound like: ovens made of earth. Such ovens are made of a mixture of clay and sand. You can make coils to shape the oven, or alternately you can stack balls of the mixture in a circular pattern to form a dome. Some people have also made such ovens out of cob: a mixture of clay, sand and straw. The straw adds structural support and makes it possible to actually sculpt an oven into an ornamental piece for your lawn that is both attractive and functional. As fires are built inside, the oven solidifies, much like pottery being fired. For instructions on building an earth oven, visit: http://katipo.co.nz/gallery/oven. If you’re interested in the sculptural effects that can be achieved by using cob to build an oven, and don’t mind cooking outdoors on occasion, the Low-Impact Living Initiative site has some interesting photos.
There is also the option of using a propane cook stove, but propane isn’t a sustainable fuel. I once read about a hydrogen-powered cook stove, but I can’t seem to find any more information about it. If such a stove is ever offered to the public, it would have the advantage of operating on a sustainable fuel. If such a device is offered in the near future, I’ll be sure to let you know!
Next week, we’ll look at the energy saving that can be had by using passive solar design In building your new home.

Building Ecotopia: Living without Electricity, Part I

by Chuck Hall
The ultimate in energy independence is to live without electricity, just as humankind did for thousands of years before Thomas Edison came along. Some groups, like the Amish, have always lived without electricity. Others ‘dropped out’ in the 1970s during the ‘back to nature’ movement. Still more have come to more recent decisions to live off-the-grid by living without electricity. Today it’s called ‘homesteading.’
Why on earth would anyone want to live without the modern convenience of electricity? In the words of Marci Lilly of the High Lonesome Ranch in Birch River, West Virginia, “Living without electricity is actually a lot easier than most people think. How can I not have tv, or the blender, mixer, lights? Well, many people still choose to live without all the hassle, electric bills, etc. And life actually becomes easier, slower, even more serene. You go to bed earlier, so you get up earlier in the morning.”
“We lived for over five years without electricity, and had very little adjustment. We never even missed tv. But it probably takes a week before the habit of switching it on, diminishes. Just think of the silence... sometimes that takes getting used to!”
I know from my own personal history that living without electricity puts you into a whole other world of experience. I lived without electric power for nearly a year back in the late 1990s. After a while you realize just how annoying all these electronic gadgets can be. Without a television or computer or a video game to distract you, you begin to notice the world around you. You pay attention to the details. You learn to listen to the silence.
Living without electricity doesn’t have to mean living a life of austere asceticism. Don’t forget, ancient Rome’s palaces didn’t have electricity, nor did the palaces of all the kings and queens of Europe in days gone by. It is quite possible to live a life of luxury without electricity. The secret lies in learning the alternatives to electric appliances.
For one example, let’s look at refrigeration. Think about that big energy-guzzling appliance in your kitchen. It’s there to preserve food, but could there be another way to do so? Could there be several alternatives to food preservation by refrigeration that have stood the test of time? The answer, of course, is ‘yes.’
If you are a vegetarian, you can preserve most of your food by learning how to do home canning, or by storing it in a root cellar, or by drying it on a line in the sun or in a solar-powered food dehydrator. Do you eat meat? Then a backyard smokehouse can add flavor to your meats while preserving them. I can still remember my grandfather’s smokehouse, and strings of dried apple slices strung across my grandmother’s kitchen. Sometimes the old technologies are the best technologies. These tried-and-true methods worked for the human race for centuries before refrigerators came along. If you don’t want to give up the convenience of refrigeration just yet, there are solar-powered fridges. Vegas Trailer makes one, designed for use in a travel trailer. It could just as easily be used in an electricity-free cabin or home, assuming you can get by with a small fridge. For product information, visit their site at: www.vegastrailer.com/sundanzer.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at creative alternatives to on-the-grid living. It could be that the Ecotopia of the future won’t rely on fossil fuels or other polluting energy sources at all. Only time will tell.

Building Ecotopia: Electric Vehicles

by Chuck Hall
There’s no shortage of ideas for alternative fuels. Each of these ideas has its own advantages and drawbacks, but my current favorite (no pun intended) is electric vehicles. There are many reasons for this choice, but chief reason is that electricity can be produced by wind and sunlight, thereby eliminating the need for fossil fuels altogether. Ultimately, wind energy is also solar energy, as winds are produced as the atmosphere heats and cools. If electric vehicles can be built that would rely on batteries recharged from solar energy, we would have found a totally sustainable energy source. Unlike fossil fuels, sunlight offers a limitless supply of energy, for all practical purposes. If humankind is still around when the sun finally burns out, driving electric cars will be the least of our worries! So why not rely on this free, virtually limitless source of energy?
Some of the problems in the past with electric cars have been the limited range due to the storage capacity of the batteries, and the amount of time it takes to recharge between uses. These problems appear to have been solved with Toshiba’s new lithium-ion battery. This battery can charge to ninety-percent capacity in as little as five minutes, and will work in temperatures as low as minus 22 degrees F. This battery is estimated to last for about 5,000 charges, or ten years, before needing to be replaced. Toshiba Vice President Toshiharu Watanabe expects this new battery to be incorporated into hybrid vehicles by 2010.
While hybrid vehicles at present still rely on fossil fuels, the new Toshiba lithium-ion batteries are so efficient that they have resurrected talk of all-electric vehicles. The problems in the past with electric vehicles have been the limited speed and range that could be achieved with older battery packs, and the amount of time it takes to recharge the batteries once their energy is spent. The new lithium-ion batteries may eliminate these problems.
If all-electric vehicles can return to the marketplace in a big way, then each home could have its own charging station, powered by solar or wind energy. If a lithium-ion battery pack can be charged in only five minutes, such charging stations could be common in public locations ten to fifteen years from now. Imagine leaving your home for the market, and plugging in your car for a quick recharge while doing your shopping. Once your shopping’s done, your car is recharged and ready for the trip home. In the average electric, you can travel about 25 miles on 5 kilowatt-hours of electric power. Based on today’s average utility prices, that works out to approximately 1.5 cents per mile! If your gasoline-powered car gets 25 miles per gallon at $4 per gallon, that works out to 16 cents per mile. That means that electric cars cost about one-tenth as much as gasoline-powered cars to operate!
The only drawback to lithium-ion batteries is that they could damage the environment if they wind up in a local landfill, but recycling them easily solves this problem, allowing lithium-ion batteries to be a truly sustainable resource.

Building Ecotopia: Alternative Fuels

By Chuck Hall
A kit for making your own biodiesel fuel
As fuel prices rise around the world, entrepreneurs everywhere are looking for alternative fuels and alternative energy.
Personally, I don't think that there is any one-size-fits-all solution to the global energy crisis. If there is to be a solution to our transportation needs, I think the answer lies in utilizing many different types of energy. The commonality of all of these types of energy should be that they all be sustainable and renewable, doing as little damage to the environment as possible. Fossil fuels meet none of these requirements, as there is a finite supply of fossil fuels, and all of them are bad for the environment. I don't think it's wise to invest in any resource that will eventually run out, especially if there is an alternative.
An example of a fuel source that is both sustainable and renewable would be biofuels. Biofuels include ethanol and other alcohols made from plant matter, and biodiesel made from plant oils.
Biofuels have gotten a bit of a bad reputation based on the ways they are currently produced. Using current production methods, it actually takes more energy to produce biofuels than you get back out of them. This is also true of fossil fuels, but the energy used to create fossil fuels was expended over millions of years. The laws of physics actually prevent you from getting more energy out of any fuel than you put into it in the first place, but that doesn't mean that the energy expenditure required to make biofuels cannot be greatly reduced.
One way of reducing these energy requirements is to use the parts of the plant that are normally discarded. For example, ethanol is usually made from the corn grain itself, but it could just as easily be made from the stalks. Instead, stalks are routinely cut down and burned. Another example is biodiesel, which is usually made from plant oils. There is no reason why biodiesel cannot also be made from reclaimed cooking oil from restaurants. In fact, many people do just that. There has been a recent outbreak of people stealing waste cooking oil from storage tanks behind restaurants. Presumably these bandits are making their own biodiesel.
Biofuels are just one of many alternative energy sources for transportation. Other choices include hydrogen fuel cells, public transportation, electric cars, vehicles that run on compressed air, walking, and the good old-fashioned bicycle.
Another way to make a difference in energy used for transportation is to redesign how we travel. The Western world has developed a ‘car culture' in which we design our communities around our automobiles. One of the considerations in building Ecotopia is redesigning our communities around foot traffic instead of around automobile traffic. One design I really like has an ecovillage laid out in a series of concentric circles. Each circle is a road. A common garage lies on the outermost circle. People who live in the ecovillage park their long-distance transportation vehicles in the garage. The ecovillage itself has smaller vehicles for travel within the village. These vehicles might be electric golf carts for the elderly or handicapped, or bicycles or tricycles for those capable of using such vehicles. There could also be covered quadricycles for those days with inclement weather. These smaller vehicles would use less energy for short-distance trips within the ecovillage.
Ultimately, finding alternative fuel sources is only one part of the solution. Rethinking how and why we travel gives us a broader perspective, offering more solutions and greater energy independence.

Building Ecotopia: Green Honeymoons

by Chuck Hall
The final phase of any wedding is of course the honeymoon. You can make your honeymoon a trip to remember by looking into ecological tourism, also known as ecotourism. Ecotourism is a relatively new idea in vacationing. According to the International Ecotourism Society (http://www.ecotourism.org), ‘ecotourism’ is “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” Ecotourism is about connecting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel.
Ecotourism packages are designed to minimize the impact of travel on the local ecosystem. Instead of tour buses, such trips often use bicycles, hikes, canoes or other non-polluting forms of transportation. Once you arrive at your destination, you get to experience life in the local culture. You might participate in a tribal festival or help with the harvest. You might build a church, school or other needed building. You might use your expertise and training to help the local villagers dig a well, improve their healthcare, or plan their village’s development. Ultimately ecotourism is about learning from and contributing to the local culture; gaining mutual respect, education and maybe even friendship.
Many ecotourism adventures take place in more rural settings in agrarian communities, where people are more in tune with nature and have a deeper appreciation of the growing cycles and seasons of the year. They have learned to take care of the land because they depend upon it for their survival. By vacationing in these locations, you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in cultures that have a deeper appreciation for the benefits of nature. In many ecotourism vacations you will also gain firsthand experience in implementing conservation measures, and the cost of your vacation package will contribute to sustainable development for the people who live in your destination.
Another benefit of ecotourism is the cultural exchange. By participating in the local culture, you become aware of the political situation there. You become sensitive to the political, environmental and economic concerns of the region. With such sensitivity comes awareness. This awareness helps to build community and understanding around the world. You are in effect an ambassador of goodwill, learning about the customs and concerns of other peoples in other nations.
A particular type of ecotourism that environmentalists might be interested in is sustainable travel. Sustainable travel is designed in part for the benefit of the locals. If you have special skills or education that they could benefit from, a sustainable travel package would allow you to volunteer for a brief or extended period to put your skills to work for the local community. For example, if you are a teacher, you might teach a class. If your specialty is construction, you might plan a building for use in the community. If you are a health care specialist, you might set up a clinic. If your specialty is agriculture, you might educate the locals in sustainable crop development. A skilled travel agent can take an inventory of your talents and put them to work in many locations throughout the world. If you don’t have any specialized skills, don’t worry. There are still many hands-on opportunities that require little or no skills. You might find yourself building a home for a needy family, digging a garden, or making a road. The possibilities are endless!
If your local travel agent doesn’t offer ecotours, you may also visit The International Ecotourism Society’s site at: http://www.ecotourism.org.
To make your honeymoon a truly unique and memorable experience, consider an ecotour. It’s a great way to start your life together with your new spouse. Bon voyage!

Building Ecotopia: Green Wedding Receptions

by Chuck Hall
There are many considerations in having a green reception. The largest part of a reception is the food and drinks.
You may want to consider having a vegetarian reception. A skillful caterer can create dishes in such a way that the absence of meat is not even noticeable. I have been to many parties that only served vegetarian fare. Invariably there are always a few guests at such parties who didn’t even realize that there was no meat on the table!
If you decide that you can’t live without meat at your reception, try to avoid buying meat, poultry and fish from companies that don’t raise their animals in a cruelty-free environment. Look for ‘free range’ poultry, and seafood harvested from sources that take care to minimize the environmental impact on our oceans. Try to avoid meat that has been enhanced with growth hormones and other drugs. If you plan to use a caterer, find one who is experienced in using organic foods. If you are lucky enough to find such a caterer in your area (or the area where you plan to have your wedding), they will be able to give you valuable input about using locally-grown, seasonal produce in interesting ways. If you and your partner want a ‘must-have’ local item to be included on the menu, a good caterer might even suggest moving the date of the wedding to such a time when your item might be at the peak of its growing season.
Once you’ve planned the menu, your next consideration will be the wedding cake.
Look for a baker who specializes in using only organic ingredients and natural decorations. An interesting twist is to use flowers or other plants as decorations instead of the plastic pieces commonly used. There are many varieties of flowers that are edible. Fruits and berries also make attractive decorations for your cake.
For the top of your cake, consider using a family heirloom from both the bride and groom instead of a plastic bride-and-groom piece. Using trinkets that have a special significance and history can add an element of tradition by including the past in the ceremony. The use of such heirlooms also underscores the idea of recycling by using old materials and objects in new ways.
A final consideration is the music for the reception. If you’re a purist and you really want to make a statement, hire musicians who use acoustic instruments. The unamplified sounds of an acoustic ensemble blend nicely with an outdoor setting, or with any wedding that has a green theme. If you are planning a church wedding, you may want to check with the celebrant to see that the choice of music is appropriate for such a setting. Some churches don’t allow secular music.
If you are planning an outdoor wedding, there are a couple of caveats. You should have a tent or overhang for the musicians in case of rain. Even on sunny days, sunlight can have adverse effects on the delicate surfaces of some instruments. So do yourself, and your musicians, a favor by keeping them in the shade. If your outdoor wedding is in a public place, and if you have chosen amplified music, check with city officials about the local noise ordinances. You don’t want to have your reception shut down for being too noisy! Finally, consider who will be attending and choose your site accordingly. If Grandma and Grandpa will be in attendance, you might not want to have your wedding on the side of a mountain.
Next week we’ll look at green choices for the honeymoon.

Building Ecotopia: Green Wedding Wardrobe Considerations

by Chuck Hall
A wedding dress made of hemp
The next step in planning your green wedding is considering the apparel that the bridal party will be wearing. Of course the wedding dress is the centerpiece in any wedding wardrobe, but all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen can be dressed in Earth-friendly apparel as well. Before getting into specifics, let’s take a brief overview of the issues involved in garment selection.
If you pay a visit to your local wedding shop, you’re likely to find many wedding dresses, tuxedos and other garments made from petroleum-based synthetic fibers. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sent many of the textile manufacturing jobs overseas, where lax environmental and labor laws are in place. These laws are usually inadequately enforced if enforced at all. Even some natural fibers commercially processed rely heavily on industrial agriculture techniques that require excessive use of pesticides and other chemicals.
When choosing your wedding garments, think natural fibers such as silk, wool, organic cotton and hemp. Select fabrics that have been grown organically, without the use of pesticides. If possible, try to use fabrics that retain their natural color. Avoid clothing that has been processed using chlorine bleaches. Also try to stay away from synthetic dyes. Most fabrics are also treated with chemicals to make them stain resistant and wrinkle-free. Avoid such treatments if possible.
The Hemp Industries Association (www.thehia.org) offers extensive information on the use of hemp fabrics. Their site also contains a directory of hemp clothing manufacturers. Although hemp usually has a casual look and feel, it can be more finely processed for a more formal look. Finding formal wear made of hemp may be a difficult task, so you may only want to consider this material if your wedding is a casual affair.
Silk has always been a traditional choice for wedding dresses and formal wear. It has the advantage of being widely available in a variety of styles and colors, many of which are tinted using natural, non-toxic dyes.
Another excellent choice is linen. Linen is perfect for warm weather and outdoor events. It is made from flax and makes a lint-free fabric. It is a bit less wrinkle-resistant than some other fabrics, but unless your wedding is going to be an all-day affair, this shouldn’t present too much of a problem. If you’re planning a summer wedding, you might also want to look into organic cotton. It is soft to the touch, and ‘breathes,’ an important characteristic on hot days.
If you’re not planning a spring or summer wedding, you may want to look into something a little warmer. In that case, organically grown wool is an excellent choice. The shearing of wool doesn’t require killing the sheep. Even so, you might want to investigate the supplier of your wool to determine if the animals have been ethically treated. Another consideration when using wool is that many people have allergies to wool. You certainly don’t want your bridal party scratching throughout the entire service, so you may want to ask about allergies before planning the wardrobe!
Next week we’ll look at green choices for your wedding reception party.

Building Ecotopia: Green Wedding Rings

by Chuck Hall
In building an Ecotopian society, environmentally conscious practices should touch every aspect of our lives. Since many adult lives begin with a wedding ceremony, last week we looked at green options for wedding invitations. Once you’ve settled on your invitations, the next step is to consider wedding rings. As with virtually everything else in a wedding, there are environmental considerations in the selection of your bands. The ‘Blood Diamond’ issue has come to light in recent years, and became public knowledge with the release of a recent film by the same name. ‘Conflict diamonds’ are diamonds that have been seized and sold to finance hostile actions throughout the world, particularly in Africa. It’s the standard guns-or-butter issue. By financing wars with these conflict diamonds, resources that could be used to feed the hungry and protect the environment are squandered in destruction and violence. If these issues are important to you, consider buying rings that have been certified conflict-free.
The diamond-producing countries of southern Africa met in 2000 in Kimberley, South Africa to come up with a process whereby diamonds could be certified to be manufactured and sold free of violence. This accord led to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). A KPCS-certified diamond meets strict international guidelines for conflict-free diamond sales. When selecting a diamond for your wedding, look for KPCS certification.
You may also want to consider wedding bands made from recycled gold. A new recycling process was patented in 2004. Good Point Recycling extracts gold from junk computers. This gold is then recycled into wedding bands. It is not mixed with gold from old jewelry or other sources. Good Point Recycling bands are made entirely from gold that would have otherwise gone into the waste stream. Gold mining is the number one contributor to mercury waste on the planet. By recycling the gold from old computers, the Good Point Recycling process is doubly ecological. It reduces waste on landfills by processing old computers, and it saves the mercury waste that would have been caused by mining gold for rings. For more information on Good Point Recycling, visit their Web site at: http://www.retroworks.com.
There also many other alternatives to the traditional gold wedding bands. If you’re interested in exploring the possibilities for environmentally-sound wedding and engagement rings, Stacie Kirby maintains an excellent blog on the topic at: greenjewelry.blogspot.com.
Another possibility is to forego the wedding ring altogether, and find some other token symbolizing your commitment to your partner. One example I’ve heard of in recent years is the ‘commitment bracelet.’ Commitment bracelets are made by taking strands of hair from both partners, and braiding this hair together into bracelets. The bride and groom then wear these bracelets as a symbol of the intertwining of their lives and their commitment to each other.
As future Ecotopians find greener solutions to day-to-day living, our options are only as limited as our imaginations. Explore the possibilities with your future spouse as you create new traditions together with the environment in mind!
Next week we’ll look at green clothing options for your wedding.

Building Ecotopia: Green Wedding Invitations


by Chuck Hall

In the northern hemisphere, the wedding season is rapidly approaching. Traditionally, the foundation of the family begins with a wedding ceremony, and the family unit is the basis of any community, so I could think of no better way to start building Ecotopia than to begin with a green wedding!
Your wedding invitations will be the first chance your friends and family will have to see that you are planning an Earth-friendly wedding. By choosing invitations that are recycled or made from tree-free paper, you have set the tone for your green wedding right from the start. Remember to check your local area first when choosing a supplier. The less distance your finished invitations have to travel to be delivered to you, the less fossil fuel they'll use in being transported.
When selecting your invitations, be sure to consider tree-free papers. By using papers made from products other than trees, your wedding invitations will not contribute to deforestation. You will help reduce the demand on our forests while saving water and energy resources. There is a variety of papers available from alternative, Earth-friendly materials. Some of these include hemp, banana stalks, bamboo, cotton and vines. I live in the rural South of the United States, and there are many cottage industries here using kudzu to make lovely hand-made papers.
By using plant materials such as those listed above, trees are saved. Trees used for pulpwood can take as long as twenty years to replenish, whereas the vines and plants used in making these handmade papers can often be replenished annually. The shorter time it takes for these plants to mature makes them the more logical choice when looking for Earth-friendly papers.
Recycled paper is also a viable choice for a green wedding. Papers have been made from recycled paper products, recycled denim, and even recycled currency. By using recycled goods, you give new life to the materials while saving the energy and land space that would be needed to process what would otherwise be more garbage and waste.
There are other considerations for choosing your invitations besides the type of paper you'll be using. One of these is the dyes used to color them. One of the advantages of using natural fiber papers is that the finished product is often attractive without having to add any dyes or color additives. The warm, friendly earth tones that result lend themselves well to weddings with a nature-based theme. But if you choose to use paper that has been colored, be sure to get papers produced using natural dyes. You will also want to make sure that no chlorine has been used in the processing of your paper. Most papers that have not been bleached using chlorine will carry the ‘PCF' label, meaning ‘processed chlorine-free.'
If you are using a commercial printer for your invitations, ask if they use soy-based inks in the printing process. Petroleum-based inks are common throughout the industry. These inks pollute the atmosphere when burned, releasing hydrocarbons. Additionally, petroleum-based inks seep into the water table when the printers clean the presses. Soy-based inks are biodegradable and therefore safer for the environment.
Many of the small shops that offer handmade papers also offer calligraphy services. Most of these shops use natural inks. In some cases they manufacture the inks themselves using natural materials. In addition to the one-of-a-kind elegant touch of hand-lettered invitations, you also contribute to the environment by eliminating the need for potentially toxic printing altogether.
Next week we'll look at green alternatives for wedding rings.

Building Ecotopia: Becoming an ‘Expert’

by Chuck Hall
So far in our series on building Ecotopia, we’ve covered the basics on food, clothing and shelter in an Ecotopian society. Before we continue, I think we should pause for a moment and reflect on what it means to be a citizen of an industrialized Western nation in the 21st century.
As technology has become more readily available over the centuries since the Industrial Revolution, the day-to-day tasks of living have been broken down into specialized areas. Each of these areas requires a group of experts. For example, primitive humans built their own homes out of materials readily available in the natural environment, but as the technology for homebuilding became increasingly complex, it became more difficult for an individual family to build their own home. This meant that experts called ‘masons’ and ‘carpenters’ and ‘plumbers’ arose to meet the need.
This can also be seen in the way we now feed ourselves. There was a time when the human race consisted primarily of hunter/gatherers. Each family found their own food directly in the environment that surrounded them. With the rise of agriculture, food became a commodity that farmers could trade to other artists and crafters for goods. Thus the farmer became the ‘food expert,’ as did the husbandman who kept livestock for the same purpose. Technology has greatly improved our quality of life, but somewhere along the way the ‘experts’ took over. While we have reaped the benefits of our ingenuity, we have also sacrificed the confidence that comes with knowing exactly how to survive in nature on our own.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not suggesting that the human race should abandon our cities and towns to go live in caves. What I’m suggesting is that in this over-reliance on ‘experts’ for our day-to-day living needs, we’ve sacrificed some of our freedom. This lost freedom most often translates into dollars and cents. Consider the example of building your own home. An average starter home in the U.S. costs around $100,000 to $150,000. A large part of this cost is due to the fact that machines run by ‘experts’ produce the building materials. Other teams of ‘experts’ assemble all of these goods into the final product. Along the way, each of these ‘experts’ takes a cut of the cost of the final home.
On the other hand, if you are able to provide most of the labor for a home yourself, you eliminate the need for all of these ‘experts’ who have to be paid for their expertise. While building your own home out of natural materials may be a labor-intensive process, sometimes taking anywhere from one to five years to complete, the tradeoff here is that you don’t have to pay all the ‘experts’ in the construction industry. Not only that, but when your home is finished, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you completed the entire thing yourself, without the help of any ‘experts.’
How inexpensive is it to build with natural materials like cob? Ianto Evans, a renowned cob builder, wanted to find out. His team succeeded in building a home for under $500! For an account of this project, visit: The $500 House.
One of the ideas behind Ecotopia is returning control of our lifestyles back to the people. By learning that we can do it ourselves by building our own homes, producing our own energy, and growing our own food, we take our lives out of the hands of ‘experts’ and put them back where they belong…safe in our own hands.

Building Ecotopia: Cob Homes Part 2

by Chuck Hall
Since cob homes are made from materials readily found in nature, they can be built very inexpensively. The tradeoff with a cob home is that it is a labor-intensive process. If you’re not a hands-on, do-it-yourself type of person, cob is probably not for you; but if you don’t mind getting your hands (and feet) dirty, then cobbing can be a very relaxing and meditative experience. Most of the cob structures I’ve seen were built by groups of people in ‘cobbing bees,’ where friends and neighbors get together for a weekend or two to share the experience. Since no power tools are involved, people often spontaneously break into song or conversation while cobbing together. It’s a great opportunity to socialize while doing something positive for yourself and the environment! In fact, people who have experienced cob building firsthand often talk about it in terms usually reserved for those who have undergone a religious experience. Cobbing brings people together at an instinctual community level.
Due to the fact that cob is labor-intensive; cob homes are usually smaller than the average stick-built home. This loss of space isn’t really that noticeable in a well-designed cob home because you can shape alcoves and shelving right into the walls to take advantage of vertical space. Round rooms also look larger than square ones. The organic shapes that are possible with cob also make it possible to use space more efficiently. Housing square footage is four times larger today than it was 40 years ago! Think about how much unused space you have in your home now and you’ll see the advantages of a smaller home. By building smaller, more space-efficient and natural buildings, not only can you save on building costs, but you also save on the energy required to heat, cool and light the extra space. Cob homes can be designed to make living more comfortable in less space.
Though they may take a little longer to build than a traditional home, a crew of six to twelve people can build up to a foot of height per day in a cob home of about 800 square feet or less. One advantage to cob building is that other than applying plaster to the finished wall, there is no finish work required. Plumbing and electrical fixtures are laid in place inside the wall as it is built, and there is no framing to be done. There is no need for insulation, sheet rock, taping, and finish framing. Once the final plaster coat is applied, the walls are done.
I have seen a small cob cottage (about 300 square feet) built in one weekend by a dozen dedicated workers. But racing to finish the home is missing the point. Half the fun in building with cob is in taking time to feel the materials take shape under your hands. It’s a very tactile experience, similar to sculpting with clay. If you have a ready stable of volunteers, you’ll find that your group will eventually settle into a rhythm that is almost like a dance. Cobbing is an activity that naturally lends itself to parties, since it doesn’t require a lot of skill, and who doesn’t like playing in the mud! It’s a chance to indulge your inner child; and if you have children of your own, they’ll love it! If you don’t mind putting a little sweat-equity into building your own home, it makes a lot of sense to return to nature’s most abundant, inexpensive and healthy building material.

Building Ecotopia: Cob Homes

by Chuck Hall
Cob building is the art of building homes using earth materials. Earth has been used for thousands of years as a building material, and is probably still the most common building material. The word 'cob' comes from an old English word that means 'a rounded lump or mass.' We get our word ‘gob’ from the same root word. Cob is basically a mixture of straw, sand and clay. These natural building materials are often available right on the building site, so transportation costs for materials are greatly reduced or eliminated altogether. Once the walls are built, they are covered with plaster to seal them. There are no forms, brick shapes or frames. Since cob is basically the same consistency as modeling clay, it lends itself to organic shapes that are more curved and natural. An artistically designed cob home fits in with its surroundings. These structures feel more at home and in harmony with natural landscapes. In addition to making beautiful homes, cob can also be used to build sculpture, garden walls and outdoor ovens.
Cob is literally 'dirt cheap' since it is made from materials readily found in nature. Many cob homes I’ve visited have been built for less than $5,000, and a few have been constructed for less than $500! Not only that, but it's so easy a child could do it. Ever make mud pies when you were a child? Then you've already got most of the basic skills to build with cob!
Cob is at home in most environments. Some of the earliest structures on Earth, in the Mesopotamian region, were made of a type of cob. There are cob homes in Western Europe that have been continuously occupied for centuries. With a little regular maintenance, a cob home is extremely durable. Christina Ott of Barefoot Builder built a cob pottery studio in Gulf Breeze, Florida. It survived two hurricanes, even when the surrounding buildings were demolished. Many cob structures in earthquake zones have demonstrated remarkable durability as well. No building system is earthquake-proof under every seismic condition, but a cob mansion in Nelson, New Zealand has survived two major earthquakes that destroyed the town around it. A cob building is one monolithic unit reinforced by straw, so it has no weak straight-line mortar joints.
Cob is also non-toxic and recyclable. It is made from natural materials that contain no toxins. This ancient way of building also doesn't contribute to deforestation, mining or pollution. Since it is a natural form of building, it does not rely on manufactured materials. Since it is made using materials directly from the building site, it doesn't use fossil fuels transporting materials to the site. When properly constructed, it is highly resistant to rain and humidity even in environments such as the Pacific Northwest and the British Isles. In fact, of the hotbeds of cob building right now in the United States is Oregon!
Due to the fact that walls in a cob home are one or two feet thick, they offer excellent thermal properties. When built with passive solar design in mind, these homes often don’t require extensive heating or cooling in temperate climates. The earthen walls capture heat from the sunlight in the daytime and radiate it at night. Such homes rarely need cooling in the summertime, and can be heated with a small wood stove in the wintertime.

Building Ecotopia: Sustainable Homes


by Chuck Hall
The good news with greener building methods is that such techniques are currently in vogue all over the world. The bad news is that many builders make a few changes here or there in standard industrial building techniques and call it ‘green,’ without going nearly far enough towards a truly sustainable building practice. Modern building methods are very taxing on the environment. Cement production is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes. Cement production now accounts for over 8% of total carbon dioxide emissions from all human activities. Cement kilns in the United States are the third largest source of dioxin contamination. Part of this is due to the fact that kiln operators are allowed to burn toxic wastes as fuel. Concrete trucks require about 500 gallons a day of highly alkaline wash water to operate. This type of water is toxic to fish and other aquatic life.
Steel, another predominant building material, is made from iron ore and other non-renewable resources. Steel production is energy intensive due to the amount of heat required. The fuels used to fire steel forges are also a major source of carbon dioxide and other forms of air pollution.
Vinyl siding and other plastics used in the construction industry are made from non-renewable petroleum by-products. Plastic manufacturing requires toxic chemicals and produces more toxic waste. Plastics don't breathe like natural building materials. Many plastics emit toxic fumes. Some plastics can take up to 50,000 years to deteriorate!
Commercially harvested lumber products are usually treated with preservatives that are highly toxic. For example, arsenic is a component in many pressure-treated lumber products. Commercial forests harvested for lumber often use hazardous pesticides and preservatives. Irresponsible deforestation causes soil erosion, contamination of waterways from silt and pesticide runoff, and loss of biodiversity in the forest ecosphere. Composite wood products such as plywood and other particulate boards are often held together with toxic compounds which in addition to contributing to the degradation of the environment, are suspected to cause allergies and other health problems.
Commercially manufactured building materials cause problems for health and the environment at all stages of their life cycle, from production and manufacturing, to use in building, to disposal when buildings are razed. Additionally, long-distance transportation of building materials contributes heavily to transportation costs, not to mention the additional pollution caused by the large diesel-burning engines required to transport them.
Clearly our current methods of building homes are extremely taxing on the environment! But many natural building techniques go a long way towards promoting more sustainable living. By using materials readily found in nature, building supplies don’t have to be shipped great distances, or manufactured in factories that pollute the environment.
There are many natural building methods. Some of these would include straw bale building, earth bag building, and stone building. While all of these have their advantages, I prefer a method that uses materials readily found on almost any building site: clay, sand and straw. This ancient method is known as ‘cob building.’ Next week we’ll look at this versatile building style.

Building Ecotopia: Recycled Clothing

by Chuck Hall
You don’t necessarily need to buy clothing made from organically grown materials to dress in a sustainable manner. Another possibility when greening your wardrobe is to consider recycled clothing. When you purchase your clothing at outlets like Goodwill and Salvation Army, you are not only contributing to charity, but also giving older clothing a second chance at life. Purchasing clothing in this manner is not only less expensive than new clothing, but it is also good for the environment because every pre-owned garment you purchase is one that didn’t have to be manufactured. I’ve been buying many of my clothes from Goodwill and Salvation Army for years now. Most of the clothing I’ve purchased from these charities over the years is virtually indistinguishable from the new clothing on the racks at the mall. I’ve also noticed lately that more and more clothing made from organic materials is showing up at these outlets, so the general public must be making the switch!
Another aspect of green garments is their care. Most organic materials can be washed in a machine or by hand, but for the few that still require dry-cleaning, there are now green alternatives to the foul-smelling and toxic chemicals used by traditional dry-cleaners. One method is to use carbon dioxide under high pressure to remove dirt and stains. The system is enclosed and pressurized so that the carbon dioxide cannot escape into the atmosphere, and some say that this method works even better than traditional dry-cleaning. Another method involves nothing but water. The water is forced through the garment at high pressure in a fine jet spray, taking the dirt and soil with it. The water passes through the fabric too quickly to moisten it.
It has been determined that washing and drying clothing has at least as much environmental impact as its manufacture does. If you can wear clothing at least twice before washing it, that’ll help. It also helps to dry your clothes in the sun if at all possible. There’s no sense in paying a higher electricity bill to dry clothes in a machine when the sun will do it for free! You can also make a difference by using an organic laundry detergent.
It’s interesting to see how fashions have evolved over the years, and to speculate what the impact of the organic trend will be. I’ve often felt at odds with the fashions of the day. I kid my wife that I must have been a Buddhist in a former life, because I like baggy, natural fibers and sandals. I wonder how often the choice of materials a designer has to work with dictates what the end design will be? There market is definitely shifting towards more natural, organically grown fibers, and the designers have picked up on it. Maybe in the future we can expect to see bright, hand-dyed organic colors, long flowing robes and ‘pajama’ pants, since natural fibers lend themselves well to these types of expression. That would be my idea of paradise! But whatever the future holds for the garment industry, you can rest assured that natural, organically grown fibers are here to stay.

Building Ecotopia: Clothes Made of Beer?

by Chuck Hall
Some of the most comfortable natural garments are made of linen. Linen is made from flax. Flax is another plant that needs fewer chemical fertilizers and pesticides than cotton. It does well when grown organically. Linen jeans are especially comfortable and durable, and many men’s suits have traditionally been made of linen.
A rather novel new approach to garment making is clothing made from beer and wine! In this process, the bacteria that ferment the wine are left to convert the wine into a vinegary substance. This slimy residue is then painted onto an inflatable mannequin layer-by-layer and left to dry. When enough layers are accumulated, what remains is a garment made of natural cellulose with a texture similar to latex. These garments have to be kept moist, or they become brittle and tear easily. The Bioalloy team at University of Western Australia developed this process and they hope one day to make the material durable enough for daily wear. So one day you could wear a shirt made of your favorite beer!
There are also natural fibers that come from animals. This is a somewhat controversial area, because traditionally the use of animal products has led to the cruel treatment and exploitation of the animals. If you don’t mind using natural fibers from animals that come from farms where they are treated well, you might want to consider some of the options listed below.
When buying organic wool products, check with the manufacturer to see how the animals are treated. In addition to allowing them to roam freely, consider whether they are given any growth hormones or other chemicals in their diet. Also check to see if they’ve been dipped in any chemicals on a routine basis. You can contact many manufacturers of wool directly to get this information. If they are unwilling to talk to you about their processes, you can rest assured that they’re probably not using organic methods for growing and harvesting their wool.
Traditionally, the manufacture of silk requires either boiling or gassing the silkworms to death. If this is an issue for you, there is an alternative. Tussah silk, a product of India, is harvested in the wild after the moths have left the cocoon. This means that there is no killing involved in the processing of Tussah silk. They also carry a great collection of natural dyes, if you’re an old hippy like me, and love to tie-dye.
There aren’t really any sustainable alternatives to natural fur or leather. Fake furs and leathers are petroleum-based, so buying fakes to save an animal is just trading one set of woes for another. Fur isn’t as much of a fashion statement as it once was, as more and more people become aware of animal exploitation, but leather might be more of an issue, especially where shoes are concerned. The good news is that besides being made of leather, shoes can also be made from hemp, cotton, or recycled materials. I have a pair of hemp hiking boots that I’ve worn on Appalachian trails for over a year now, and they’ve held up better than the genuine leather pair I owned previously.
As environmental awareness increases, the fashion industry has begun to respond. Major designers have begun to incorporate organic materials into their designs. Look for this trend to continue in the future. Materials like hemp and bamboo are enjoying increased popularity, but organic cotton is by far the fabric of choice for most green clothing designers. According to Organic Exchange (www.organicexchange.org), a nonprofit committed to expanding the use of organically grown fibers, global retail sales of organic cotton products increased from $245 million in 2001 to $583 million in 2005. This trend shows no signs of waning in the near future. Organic clothing is ‘in!’

Building Ecotopia: Organic Cotton, Hemp and Bamboo

by Chuck Hall
When building Ecotopia, the principles of sustainable living touch every aspect of our lives. Dressing ‘green’ is an important part of living an Ecotopian lifestyle. The first thing you’re going to want to look for when dressing sustainably is products made from fibers that are organically grown. Just because a garment is made from natural fibers doesn’t mean that the fibers were grown in a method that is safe for the environment. About one-fourth of the insecticides used worldwide go into commercially grown cotton alone! So it is critical to make sure that you are purchasing garments made from organically grown fibers if you want to protect the environment.
Due to the comfort and durability of cotton, it is one of the most popular natural fiber choices. Cotton has been used for garments for centuries. The United States and Turkey are the world’s largest producers of organic cotton, so there is a ready supply available in the U.S. for manufacturing greener garments, but countries around the world, including Canada and Australia, are rapidly catching up. When choosing cotton clothing, it is important to make sure that it is grown organically. It takes nearly half a pound of chemicals to grow enough cotton for one t-shirt when the cotton isn’t grown with organic techniques. Think about that the next time you visit your favorite t-shirt shop!
Hemp is another readily sustainable crop. Hemp plants are highly productive, easy to cultivate and more tolerant of insects and other pests than cotton. It has been used to make ropes and garments for centuries. Unfortunately, although hemp cannot be used as a narcotic and has no hallucinogenic properties, it went out of favor in the 1930s in the United States for political reasons due to its resemblance to its cousin, marijuana. Apparently the U.S. government is afraid that Drug Enforcement Agents wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between commercial hemp and marijuana! There has been a renewed interest in this natural plant fiber due to the fact that it is so easy to grow and its fibers are so durable, so restrictions are easing up somewhat, but because of the short-sightedness of the United States in this area, China remains the world’s largest exporter of hemp. So if you buy hemp clothing, it will probably come from China or India, another large exporter of this fiber.
Believe it or not, bamboo is rapidly becoming a fiber of choice in the green clothing industry as well. It is hypoallergenic, absorbent, fast-drying, durable and naturally anti-bacterial. It is also very breathable and quite surprisingly comfortable to wear. Bamboo is a very fast-growing plant, as any gardener can tell you, making it easy to replenish. It is therefore another highly sustainable crop plant

Building Ecotopia: Green Clothing

by Chuck Hall
Unfortunately, clothing is more about status these days than about utilitarian value. The more clothes you have with designer names on them, the more status you have in the fashion hierarchy. Thinking about green clothing involves thinking about the purposes that clothing serves in the first place. Is it about comfort? Is it about modesty? Is it about protection from the elements? Is it about looking stylish? Is it about ‘one-upping’ your neighbors? What does clothing mean to you, and how will this affect your own personal definition of ‘green clothing?’
I mention the style and status aspect of clothing because environmentalists aren’t immune to the dangers of clothing as a status symbol just because they choose greener alternatives. I’m sure we’ve all seen environmentalist fashion victims as well. The point is, that having a closet full of green clothing that you wear maybe one time a year is no different, and not much better for the environment, than having a closet full of commercially produced clothing that you only wear one time a year. It has been estimated that if everyone switched to natural fibers, the entire planet couldn’t keep up with the demand for new clothing at the current rate of consumption. Rampant materialism isn’t any more sustainable just because it’s green. When choosing to live sustainably, less is more.
The type of work you do will also be a factor in the type of clothing you can choose. Many places of employment have dress codes to consider. If you are required to adhere to a dress code where you work, look for green alternatives in your clothing choices. If you are required to wear a uniform, you may want to check to see if your uniforms are available in green alternatives. If so, talk to your employer about making the switch. You may be pleasantly surprised at the reaction. Given the awareness of and interest in environmental policies right now, it may be a good marketing strategy for your place of employment. It never looks bad on an advertisement to declare that your business’s uniforms are environmentally friendly!
If you’re not required to abide by any strict dress code at work, congratulations! You’re one step closer to greening your wardrobe. The next step would be to review your wardrobe to see what’s indispensable and what you can do without. Since sustainability is about simplification, it’s better to have a few favorite garments than a whole closet full of stuff you never wear. Design a few outfits for each season, make a list, and plan to purchase environmentally friendly versions of each garment in that list. Don’t rush out and buy a whole new wardrobe, though. Another principle of sustainability is to get the most use out of everything before recycling it. So unless you’re planning to donate your whole wardrobe to charity so you can start over from scratch, just replace items one-at-a-time as needed with greener choices. That way you’re getting the maximum utility out of clothing you’ve already purchased. You can also find out which designs and materials work best for you and your lifestyle. And please don’t throw away your old garments! They can be donated to a charity like Salvation Army or Goodwill, or they can be used for any number of household needs. You can make dust rags out of them, or quilt them into shopping bags, or if you’re artistic you can even shred them and make your own handmade paper with them. The possibilities are endless!