SustainYou

As part of the greenhouse studio project, the Co-op is putting a new 100 amp electrical panel in the studio.  Building code states that these electrical wires must be buried 18″ or more below the ground and put in conduit.  The traditional way would be to buy 2″ PVC pipe in 8ft sections from Home Depot, glue it together with highly toxic solvent glue, bury it and be good to go.  The idea a burying toxins in our yard, where we grow our food, does not have much appeal…..

 This link shows conduit and piping options that are PVC free.

For more about the possible hazards of PVC check this link out.

Look for the green electrical install video coming this summer.

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, read by Jason Lord.

I can’t go to this because I am going to the Harriet Island Earth Day celebration. Which I encourage everyone to go to, too. But if you insist on staying in Minneapolis for earth day, here’s another event I got a flier about:

Climate Crisis Coalition of the Twin Cities Film Screenings and Discussion

Sunday, April 22nd

11:00 am The Science of Global Warming, a PBS documentary that explains Earth’s climate system and how it works

1:00 pm Global Warming: Bush’s Climate of Fear, a BBC documentary on the US Government’s suppression of climate science.

3:00 pm The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, an inspiring documentary on how we can wean our society off of fossil fuels.

Location: Acadia Cafe Theatre
1931 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis

The co-op is far from carbon neutral this year. In fact we used well over a $1000 in natural gas this winter to heat our home. Our Natural Gas water heater, on it’s 13th year, is about to RIP and we desperately need a new electrical service. The current 100amp service is illegally double tapped to the max. How can we combine all of these needs and jump in the direction of energy sustainability & carbon neutrality? This discussion looks at the supply & sources of heat needed. Follow up posts will analyze reducing energy consumption.

The core of our energy supply problem is our reliance on a inefficient natural gas furnace and water heater. Their heat is inefficiently distributed throughout the house by forced air venting. Our 1911 bungalow as been added on on and re-framed with apparent disregard for heating vents — one rooms is hot, another is cold.

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After 9 months and 3 weeks of incubation, the Carbon Neutral Co-op is going to publicly emerge!  Join us for an all night gathering and celebration!

Friday 8:00pm:  Earth day potluck dinner,

Friday 11:00pm: Bonfire and Greenhouse studio party!

Saturday: 1:00pm-4pm  Building a Sustainable Home Hands on Workshop

 

I belive I can touch the sky.  I think about it every night and day.  When I spread my wings I can fly away….

……..splat.

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When perusing our favorite grocery store,  I came across an very large and unusual looking object, I said to myself… I must buy this thing!  The food Goddess Dana informed me that I had in fact bought a butternut squash.  This discovery led to one of the recommended recipes of the week.  Adding avocado to the tamatillo sauce and roasted tomatoes to the squash kicked it up a notch.  Multicolored Jalapeño slices on the top will bring a tier to your eye.

Yesterday we had our first big snow storm in Minneapolis.  Saturday night we had nearly a foot dumped onto the city.  It was the sight of buried cars, stuck busses, neighbors meeting and helping each other.  Neighbors helping each other. 

In the morning I dug out my car and headed into the Fremont/Gerard alleyway.   Snow was everywhere! In our 2 acre block with 16 houses, 16 garages and many more cars, there was no room for a foot of snow.  There was plenty of room for neighborhood connections.  Read the rest of this entry »

4 Windows?

4 on side:

3 Windows?

Comment below!

A little over a year ago I had an idea, which with the guidance of some amazing friends and housemates became the Carbon Neutral Co-Op.

Last winter I was fighting between grad school in architecture & sustainable design and corporate energy work. I chose corporate energy work. I wanted to not lose sight of the values and ethics that were fostered by my mentors and friends at Carleton. I wanted to have the quest for sustainability remain a major part of my life. The Co-Op remained an idea until 3 beautiful people, Chris, Dana and Sonja-Mae agreed to live with me even before we knew where we were going to live. This started to make it seem financially plausible that it could work…
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This weekend is the last weekend of the Art Shanty Projects at medicine lake, Minnesota. It is a habitation gallery on a canvas of frozen ice.

My friend Peter created “The Cactus Conservatory – A place to engage the community in a conversation about sustainability, eco-friendly design and cactus.”

It was in this art shanty when it was -3 F outside that I looked between the cacti and saw the temp point to 93.JPG Peter’s shanty was the inspiration for the Greenhouse studio…..a studio to feed the body & mind and warm the soul with the sun.
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Our Home: Our Food: Our minds:

Our Homes:
For the most part, all new construction in the United States uses drywall to cover interior walls.  Drywall is simply gypsum, lime and other minerals sandwiched between two layers of paper.  While some of the mineral content is recycled, it is the highly processed paper that provides a feast for mold.  It is unknown how many children and families have suffered because of mold in their walls, but it is estimated that 2 in 3 homes have mold problems.  Several pieces of drywall installed just 5 years ago in the co-op basement had mold on the back and had to be thrown out.  We didn’t used to build this way.  Read the rest of this entry »

“Make sure when you do something you are doing it for the right reasons,” a wise, perceptive and humble man said to me last night. It was Dana’s celebration night last night. That rockstar just landed a great job at a rural land use planning (super exciting stuff — that is all way over my head. I’m sure she will tell you all about it).

What are the right reasons? I asked myself, am I doing everything to satisfy my own emotions? Is there such a thing as pure altruism and if it exists is that even a right reason for doing something? How can anyone tell what the right reason is if it is always dependent on an individual’s values?
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Coming soon…

3-10-2007