Posts tagged with "Housing"
Radical thinking: How to solve the housing crisis
By Ari | Dec 9, 09 09:58 AM
There are many empty buildings, and ample building materials.
Also, there are a lot of people without homes, and a lot of people who are in danger of losing their homes.
If the two above items are true, what is keeping us as a species from all living in safe, secure homes?
Please leave an answer in the comments. Thanks.
More: Economics | Housing | Human Rights | Oppression
Hunting for houses
By Ari | Oct 22, 09 08:56 AM
Shira and I have embarked on a new stage of our housing journey. After we read Mortgage-FREE! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership by Rob Roy, we were really into the idea of avoiding a mortgage at all costs. We figured out that we wouldn't be able to afford NYC and moved to Ithaca. We figured out we wouldn't be able to afford property alone, so we worked on forming an intentional community with other people. Then we established that that would take too long for us to bank on if we also want to be starting a family, so we focused on homesteading.
We priced out a-frames made from salvaged materials, permanent yurts, puzzled over mobile houses, tinyhomes, and kits. We made spreadsheets that carefully plot out when we could afford a woodstove and how cheaply we could assemble a DIY solar water heater, how quickly we could set up a greywater system and composting toilet so we could move in, how we could put funds into land leasing and well-drilling at once to save time and money, and other thought experiments aimed at maximizing our funds. In the end, my calculator told us the truth: Either we'd put our money into land and then slowly assemble a house from salvaged materials, or we'd lease land and plunk something down on it faster. Either way, our place would be very small. And it could take years. And neither of our affordable land possibilities seem like they're likely to pan out.
So, we're actually considering a mortgage. Seriously. A small, short-term one, but a mortgage just the same. We've got a buyer's agent, are working on our mortgage pre-qualification paperwork, and are looking at houses. Real houses. On land.
The idea of moving into a finished house (even one that needs work) with utilities and a solid roof and some land around it, all ready for move-in, is a relief. We walk around these places and I imagine a baby rolling around on the floor, a child running up and down the stairs, our cats napping in the sunroom. I imagine being able to move all of our copious amounts of stuff into the cozy space, closing the door, and saying, "we're home!" with no additional years of mud and concrete and straw and laying gravel driveways and collecting old windows to deal with. This fantasy is very alluring, even if it messes with my class consciousness, the idea of paying a bank for capital grating at my soul. Maybe this is just what you have to do, if you want to be in a house, quickly. Maybe we just have that privilege, and can do something productive and good with it rather than denying it.
This is where we're at. Who knows what my next post in this story will be - it seems it changes every day. But this time I feel like we're coming full-circle somehow. By embracing convention after running and running from it, maybe we've found a way to make convention work for us rather than against us. I feel like we understand our options and are making good decisions. Slowly, slowly.
More: Economics | Family | Housing | What we're up to
What the Frac?!
By Shira | Oct 12, 09 12:59 AM
Behold the teaser for Frack Attack, a short environmental zombie thriller that we're making with the Dacha Project:
Frac Attack Teaser from Shira Golding on Vimeo.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing | Human Rights | Music and Audio | People we know | What we're up to
HappyCommunity by Apak
By Ari | Oct 7, 09 08:49 PM
They've posted lots of new stuff on Flickr, check it out.
More: Art and Design | Housing | Photography | Technology
Underground city map
By Ari | Sep 25, 09 07:22 PM
A map of the "underground city" of Derinkuyu, Turkey. Via Urban Cartography.
More: Art and Design | Housing
New Videos for freeDimensional
By Shira | Sep 24, 09 02:08 PM
More shorts from the freeDimensional Wasan retreat...
Providing for Artists in Residence Through Sharing and Bartering in the Community from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
Negotiating the Balance Between the Roles of Artists and Facilitators from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
Defining Community from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
Fundraising for the Arts from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
Connecting the Arts and Human Rights Worlds and the Role of Emerging Art Spaces from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Economics | Film and Video | Housing | Human Rights | People we know | What we're up to | Work
Drying for Freedom
By Shira | Aug 25, 09 04:42 PM
I just heard about this documentary from TreeHugger.com. I guess drying your clothes outside is a revolutionary act. It's crazy that we have to fight for the right to not destroy the planet. Anyone want to join my campaign to legalize composting toilets?
Ari and I finally got clothes-pins and started line-drying...
More: Activism | Clothing | Economics | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing | Human Rights | Politics | What we're up to
Isaac is moving in!
By Ari | Aug 22, 09 10:27 AM
Our friend Isaac is moving in with us today! I kind of can't imagine a better housemate (the bag of bread pictured here is one of many delicious things he's left in our mailbox), and am very happy about the change. We've known him for a long time - we lived with him one summer at a coop he ran at Cornell, Prospect of Whitby. And he was part of the Ahimsa ecovillage project when we were having meetings, so we've been thinking about living together in some way again for a while now.
We're still working on finding land we can lease or buy affordably. Once we do that we'll start collecting a grubstake of salvaged, traded and found building materials, and will gradually build ourselves a cabin. (That's the current plan, anyway.) In the meantime, we wanted to save money on rent so we can pay off my school debt and work up some more savings, and we've seen how much fun many of our friends have living in group houses. Having a housemate (who we know and love already) join us in this place we dig so much is far nicer than having to move elsewhere!
We prepared for this transition by moving all of our furniture around to clear out the room Isaac is going to move into, and our apartment is now denser and cuter, which is a happy surprise. I thought we'd have to put some stuff in the basement, but somehow it all still fits up here. (We have a lot of stuff.) We moved most of our books into our bedroom, and now it feels cozier, homier, a place I want to hang out in more often. I'm excited to spend more time with our friend, and to see how our lives will change as we adapt to this new arrangement.
More: Economics | Housing | People we know | What we're up to
Art barge in NYC
By Ari | Aug 18, 09 09:07 AM
This is cool. I wish they weren't using chickens, but hey. Besides that it's a pretty awesome-sounding project.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Environment | Housing
Hosting Activism in Art Spaces - A New Video for freeDimensional
By Shira | Aug 4, 09 09:39 AM
Working with footage from freeDimensional's 2009 Wasan retreat, I put together this 8-minute video, which has been submitted to the Commonwealth Foundation's Group on Culture and Development:
Hosting Activism in Art Spaces from freeDimensional on Vimeo.
More: Activism | Art and Design | Film and Video | Housing | Human Rights | Oppression | People we know | Politics | Work
This is what is up
By Ari | Jul 21, 09 10:22 AM
Our garden is thriving, but slowly - all we've harvested so far is some little kale leaves. But there are little green tomatoes growing larger, and everything is huge and leafy and healthy, so I hope vegetables are on the way. In the meantime, we've been getting veggies from the coop, the farmer's market, the Share Tompkins swap meets, and friends. We hope to get more into foraging, too - we just got a big bag of chanterelle mushrooms from a walk in Treman State Park with Danila and Lea.
Housing-wise, I'm still obsessed with yurts. I made a spreadsheet outlining a three-stage budget that would allow us to buy a 20' yurt and hook it up with hot water and a woodstove and all that good stuff. I think it's doable, though it would take longer to make it livable than I'd like. But I'm impatient, and even this slow staging is faster than building a house out of wood.
Sometimes, I think: wouldn't it be easier to just get a mortgage? Yes, it would. We could do that. We could buy an old fixer-upper or a very small house, and move right in. But then we'd be selling our souls to a bank, and we're just not into that idea. We want self-sufficiency, independence, autonomy - and I don't think a 30-year commitment to a capitalist institution would help us accomplish that goal.
Anyway, we have to take it slowly, because we don't have land. We have two beautiful, wonderful, exciting possibilities on that front, and are slowly figuring out if either of them will work. And in the meantime, we're thinking about how to make our renting life cheaper - do we take in a housemate? Do we move into a group house? We're not sure, but it's nice to have less pressure as we figure it out - there are no real timing crunches here, just slow thinking and exploring.
Work is going well - we're busier than we've ever been, but on a limited number of very exciting projects. The folks we're working with are lovely and amazing, as always. And we're still managing to spend a lot of time working with our activist friends on volunteer projects. Really, a lot of time. I'm actually feeling a tiny bit burnt out (I blame it on my lyme disease...) and am having to scale back somewhat, take fewer things on. But I feel like we're reaching a sustainable level of activity.
Even so, I can not wait until we're rent-free! This is what the housing thing is all about. How do we avoid paying rent (or mortgage payments)? Imagine how much money that is in a year. Imagine you don't have to make that money, or that if you do make that money, you can put it toward whatever else you'd like. That's freedom. You shouldn't have to pay to live.
Before they settled on a name for it, our friends at the Dacha referred to their venture as their "freedom project." I think that is so apt - here we all are, figuring out ways to buy our freedom. It is hard work, but a beautiful journey.
More: Activism | Economics | Food | Housing | People we know | What we're up to | Work
With Ten Dollars, a Bag of Clay or Three Straw Bales
By Ari | Jul 16, 09 04:53 PM
The Pay It Forward Contest Entry (made by Lea, shot by Shira) on behalf of The Dacha Project, submitted to The Alternatives Federal Credit Union in Ithaca NY. Go Dacha!!
More: Activism | Economics | Environment | Food | Housing | People we know
The yurt obsession continues
By Ari | Jul 11, 09 09:52 AM
So, a tent-style yurt as a temporary (to the tune of 10-15 years) solution began to look like a better idea. We could set one up cheaply and quickly, and then be rent-free and mortgage-free, with all of our earnings going into living and into building a more permanent house, if we wanted to build a bigger place. And we'd be living on our land, making building far easier and requiring much less transportation. My thinking was that we could be grid-connected at first, and put in alternative energy later. Since a tent-style yurt is a "temporary structure," we could start with a composting toilet and deal with putting in a (required) septic system when we made our cabin. Our major expenses would be a driveway, drilled well, yurt deck, and yurt.
I learned that yurts can be hard to keep cool in the summer, even if they're easy to heat in the winter. A passive solar design would make more sense in Ithaca. Then you wouldn't have to burn wood all winter, and swelter all summer. So, yurts aren't ideal for this area - but you can avoid mildew problems and live more comfortably and efficiently if you pay for a rain catchment system, thick insulation, an openable skylight, and other bells and whistles. These features aren't just luxuries - I think a lot of them (locks, window screens, a dome opener...) would be necessities, from what I've read of the experiences of folks who didn't supe up their yurts. You could probably rig these things in a more DIY fashion, but we don't have a lot of experience and it would be cool to be able to potentially sell the yurt later, so we'd likely make a better return on our investment if we let the professionals handle it.
The recommendation from many folks is to buy a yurt from a major company that will definitely be around in the future, because parts on your yurt wear out over time and need to be replaced. Handily, the major companies (like Pacific Yurts and Ranier Yurts) offer online calculators to help you figure out how much your yurt will cost with all of the extras you'll need and want to make your place livable in your climate.
The base cost of a yurt is $5000 or $6000. But once I factored in insulation and a deck and land and a driveway and water and all of the other amenities, I realized we'd need far more to make it really happen, from soup to nuts. If we could manage to get the money together and work hard, we could be living in a very comfortable 24' diameter tent-home on an acre of land by winter. Could we actually afford it? Would the land work out? What would it be like to live in a 24' yurt? Would we hate it and wish we'd kept our money and made something from dirt and wood and clay? Would we crave natural surfaces, solid walls, soundproofed privacy? Would we bake in the summer? Or would it be awesome, and a step closer to self-sufficiency?
More: Economics | Environment | Housing
My current housing obsession: Yurts
By Ari | Jul 10, 09 08:51 AM
Live in a Well Rounded Dwelling and Build a Yurt Outside: "While we are on the topic of decreasing our energy footprints in small homes, I’d like to share the simple and small round yurt design, that has been around for ages. The yurt is a type of 'Green Weefab Mini-Home' and can be customized into another kind of hand-built 'Earth Sheltered House' for those on a budget."
How Yurts Work: "Even when faced with the toughest elements, the yurt is durable. Some of the pine frames used to build Turkish yurts last 50-70 years. One manufacturer guarantees the canvas for 15 years, longer than the average shingled roof."
Coloradans warm up to yurt living: "Traditionally, yurts were portable structures, with fabric walls. Their unique architectural feature is a central ring on a cone-shaped roof, which makes internal support systems unnecessary. Modern yurt manufacturers and owners have adapted them into year-round residences, adding fireproof roofs, glass windows, plumbing, space-age insulation and other items that might bring them into compliance with particular building codes... A 30-foot-diameter yurt with all the French-door, extra-insulation and skylight bells and whistles sells for less than $20,000. Yurts are greener than most other structures: Their wooden bases can be moved without leaving much trace of human habitation on land."
Yurt magic... building an enchanting instant house: "You can set up a yurt for under $10,000... Once you know what you’re doing, you and two or three friends can erect a 30-foot yurt in two days, and a smaller yurt in a single day. It took me and one helper about 12 hours, with neither of us having any prior experience."
Yurt Living, Negatives and Positives: "We didn’t pay the extra money for wall insulation. We regret this decision... Two LED rope lights light up the entire yurt... The moon peeks right in the domed skylight."
yurt living: "In the summer this thing cooks... And in the winter, we have a hard time keeping it above 60 degrees F when it gets dark. Also when we pulled away some of the wall/insulation stuff that wraps this thing like a burrito, we noticed mold spots, yuck!"
Yurt Living - Climate Comfort: "An air-tight yurt can have interior mold and mildew issues in any climate."
... these last two links, and other reports, are making me lean toward a wooden yurt, since our region is so wet.
A Visual Chronology of the Building of the Yurts at Tug Hollow: awesome photos of wooden yurts built in a cluster.
Yurt FAQ's: "Being round, yurts make better use of space than their rectilinear counterparts, are more efficient to heat, and provide less wind resistance. The roof structure, with its compression ring and tension band, is an amazing architectural design providing a great deal of strength and requiring no internal support system, thereby leaving the yurt open and spacious inside... Yurts were designed for use in some of the coldest climates on the planet. Their circular nature makes them more efficient to heat (with 12% less surface exposed to the elements than their rectilinear equivalents)... The frame panel yurts don't normally have code issues, being basically stick frame construction which has few code restrictions."
The wooden yurt kit suppliers recommended by yurtinfo.org are:
- Oregon Yurtworks ($100-$130 per square foot)
- Mandala Custom Homes ($55-$100 per square foot)
- Smiling Woods ($85-$100 per square foot)
Anyone have a yurt experience to share? Know a good website or article we should know about? Please leave a comment...
More: Environment | Housing | What we're up to
Ahimsa evolves, and an a-frame emerges
By Ari | Jun 19, 09 11:01 AM
Ahimsa has evolved from an ecovillage to a network - I think. We're still figuring it out. But it seems that everyone in the group is very motivated to work around the intersections of social justice, animal rights, and environmental sustainability - and we're all into community building. I'm kind of sad to see the idea of an ecovillage be pushed off into the indefinite future, but we were working on it steadfastly and it just wasn't something folks seemed ready to build right now, so we'll see what happens. Fortunately we've met a lot of awesome people and everyone has great ideas and energy - hopefully the convergence we're talking about holding later in the summer will happen, and then we'll see what comes out of that.
So, housing-wise, Shira and I are thinking again about what the two of us can accomplish on our own - or maybe with a friend. Something smaller. Something to help us become more self-sufficient.
I'm kind of in love with A-frames. I don't always blog when learning about this stuff, but I'm not sure how many people read our delicious links (rss feed), and I do think this info is worth sharing.
Why an A-frame? They seem to be easy to build. Based on the reading I've done and the things folks have told us, natural building requires so much labor that it may not be as affordable as it appears. It turns out that using available plans and simple conventions like a pier foundation can really cut costs (including labor). With the use of salvaged and freecycled materials, limited resources can stretch even farther. We like the idea that building something ourselves will give us and education and a workout, and will allow us to avoid a mortgage. We've also considered building something mobile so we could lease land and then take our home with us if/when we leave, but it would have to be very small, and that's probably not best for packrats like us.
So, we don't have to make an A-frame. A small cottage or cabin could work too, one with proper walls. Or a yurt, we've talked about that. But basically, it seems we're headed toward buying land and building something on it.
I think the reason I love A-frames is not only their easy construction but their aesthetics. I like that they look like cute little hills. I love the weird triangular areas that people usually block off and turn into closets - I want to just keep them open and put storage bins and things back there. I love the huge open floor feeling, the lofts. Here are a few links to linger on:
- Cute 1960s style ones that look like ski lodges
- An adorable double-A-frame I'd love to adapt to include a central greenhouse
- This one might be the perfect size for us plus kids
- This one's smaller but adorable and more affordable to build
- This one is my favorite, though it's huge - I love the little bedroom that looks out over the living room, and the back bedroom could be a studio
More: Economics | Environment | Family | Housing | What we're up to
Built to last: A pretty good video about New Urbanism
By Ari | May 21, 09 05:36 PM
More: Environment | Housing
The cost of living for the future
By Ari | May 8, 09 08:46 AM
Lately Shira and I have been thinking about moving, to save money. Our vegan ecovillage project is going well, but slowly. (And rightfully so.) In the meantime, we're continuing to love our big Ithaca apartment - it's far larger and more beautiful than anything we lived in in NYC, and it's cheaper, too. When we first moved here we were staggered by how much you can get for so little - from our jaded Brooklyn perspective. But now that we've been here for a while, we're making connections with a lot of people who are avoiding paying a lot to live, in some very creative ways. We're realizing just how much we're spending per year on housing, and how many hours of freelance work that translates into - and it's a lot of hours!
Helen and Scott Nearing, early back-to-the-landers, figured out how much cash they needed per year - the amount of cash money they'd need to pay for the few things they couldn't provide for themselves or barter for. They worked enough to make that amount of money and then they stopped working, in the belief that accumulating profit is wrong. That meant that if they finished getting their needed cash in April, they could just make music and write and work their land for the rest of the year with no need to make any more cash at all. Shira and I have been very inspired by the Nearings and love this idea, and are working toward it, though a portion of our cash outlays will ideally go into savings each year (we're planning a family, and want to be able to give our future kids something to start off with when they're grown).
So, getting into a cheaper housing situation would be very prudent. The trouble is, moving is a real pain in the ass when you have as much stuff as we do (we have hundreds of books...), and we're really enjoying having a space where people can stay with us, and where gatherings are possible. Our apartments in NYC were sorely lacking in this department. Our Ithaca apartment feels like an event space sometimes, or a B&B - we've got two private, comfortable, extra rooms where people can stay over. Our well-stocked kitchen (thank you family and friends and freeganism!) can feed a huge group of people. We've got so much stuff in here that sometimes I feel like we've got the makings of a common house right here in our apartment - when I feel stressed about how many power tools and kitchen gadgets and art supplies and children's books and toys we have, I think, it's okay, our kids will love it all, in the future. Our ecovillage will use it all, in the future.
Some time ago, I remember feeling burdened by our stuff, and the cost of having a place that fits it all. I was reading Home Work and admiring the cute wagon-houses and yurts and tiny cabins, and I wished I had so little I could put it all in a backpack. We could pack up our few belongings and traipse off to Mexico to visit our friend Emily, or bike cross-country, or whatever. But we have cat friends now who depend on us, and our belongings aren't a burden, but a hope chest.
The question is, could we find a cheaper way to live anyway, in the immediate future, while we wait for Ahimsa to crystallize? We've been looking at smaller apartments and even tiny houses that are cheaper than this place, but we've also been looking at larger houses with friends. But would it be worth the bother - and breaking our lease - to pack up our nest and move it? Do we want to work those hours to pay the extra cost of living in such a big, bright, comfortable space?
More: Economics | Housing | What we're up to
Making stuff and doing things
By Ari | Apr 25, 09 09:49 AM
So much has been happening, and I don't think we've posted a general update in a really long time. So for those who are interested...
Shira and I went to Winter Camp in Amsterdam with our friends from freeDimensional back in March. The event was a convergence of networks held by an organization that studies network cultures. People from all over the world came together to work within their network (on whatever their network works on - tech manuals, volunteerism, women and technology, whatever) and the Institute of Network Cultures watched us work and engaged us in learning what networks really are, how they're different from other cultural institutions, and how networks can work together in metanetworks.
We learned a lot. I'm always so challenged and excited by meeting with activists from all over the world - it really shakes up my ideas and understanding and makes me open my mind to other ways of thinking and doing. The hackers and open source folks in particular really spoke to me. I love the idea of technology being free and for the people, and am realizing that I want to help make that happen.
Our freelance business has been booming, which is nice, because traveling costs money! We've been working on some amazing projects for some very cool clients. The people we work with are all non-profits, culture workers, activists, and other progressive folks, and sometimes when I'm doing layout I'm also reading the text I'm formatting and thinking, "holy shit this is awesome!" (I'm talking about you right now, Scenarios USA!) Our clients really are helping to change the world.
However, a lot of work also means tough scheduling - sometimes a project goes longer than planned or an event date changes and suddenly a production schedule that was manageable becomes insanely difficult to navigate. There are only so many hours in the day! Recently I had three long documents (a gala journal, a curriculum, and a tech manual) due on the same day, over and over again, the deadlines constantly shifting as the projects got drawn out with extra edits and last-minute content updates. That was rough. But as I said, our clients are awesome, and even late nights and early mornings and weekend emailing is cool when it's for such amazing projects. It's nice to not only get a check and some nice print samples at the end of a project, but to really feel like whatever you've contributed to is going to make life better for people.
Ahimsa, our vegan intentional living project, is going so well! It's a very exciting process, meeting with people to create sustainable and affordable housing alternatives - the coolest thing is that we have no idea what we'll end up with. This open-endedness is a hallmark of our project; everyone in the group has been so flexible about the final product, which is really freeing. It's life as a design problem: Here are our needs, here are our resources; now how can we meet those needs with those resources? Easy! You go step by step and you can't go wrong. Diana Leafe Christian's Creating a Life Together has been such a help to us. She's helped give us confidence that even if people drop in and out of the project, and even if the project changes and takes on new forms, or splits, that that is progress and that is forming community. (For instance, there seems to be a greater need in Ithaca for increased access to and understanding of mutual aid, so Shira held a meeting that built on other community efforts to help that to form. This is a totally separate project from Ahimsa but is in other ways very related and overlapping. It's cool to see the "multiple centers of initiative" that Diana says are an indicator of a healthy community, in action, right here in our town. This flexibility is more freeing and useful than thinking anyone can come up with a single, perfect solution that will meet all of everyone's needs.)
Where is the project at right now? We're in between meetings, which we've been having every 2-4 weeks in Ithaca. These are consensus process meetings where we've been crafting a shared vision statement and educating ourselves about our housing options. We're gearing up for a spring retreat, where we'll camp out, do some storytelling and make food and music together, and have a bunch of big dialogues that will further define what we're all creating. And we're looking at properties, in case we find something we could afford outright that will allow us to escape the rent race so we can all save some resources and work together more easily. We're thinking hard about whether we want to pay a premium to be downtown in closer physical proximity to the greater community, or get more for our money by living out in the sticks. I'm leaning towards living out in the woods somewhere, personally. I want to do some building! Also, I dig how cheap it is to do natural building and I would like to influence policy by making alternative structures and getting them approved by building inspectors. Every dent we can make in the industrial housing complex with livable, healthy, DIY alternatives, is a step toward equitable housing for us all.
Shira and I have both been very productive creatively lately. Shira played at a house show at Ghost Cat Collective, and we both had work in an Ithaca Underground art show at the Underground Pirate House. Thanks to Ithaca Freeskool, I led a two-session workshop on DIY web design, and Shira's been going to a great photography group. I've been so inspired lately by all of the self-publishing and activism and organizing I've seen around me. When I have ideas sometimes I just write them down and don't act on them - but lately, I've been trying to just act immediately. I made a little zine I've been meaning to make for years, and some Ithaca buttons, and have been passing them around, curious to hear what people think of them so I can make them better.
Finally, it's spring here in Ithaca! I'm taking great heart from the warm wet smells of earth and blossoming trees, and from the sight of green life coming up from the ground so effortlessly and abundantly. I love how the seasons change, and how each transformation impacts us. We've been able to go out in just t-shirts, no hoodies! We've planted seeds! The windows are open and the cats are joyously sunning themselves in windowsills!
This has been a long and rambling post and I've barely covered half of the things that have happened in the past few months, but maybe the above gives you an idea of how deliciously, marvelously, inspiringly jam-packed our iCal is. I feel so grateful every day that I live in such a vibrant (local and global!) community that's challenging me on so many levels to create a better society in the here and now.
More: Activism | Happenings | Housing | What we're up to | Work
Health and wealth: The downfall of capitalism and the uplift of humanity
By Ari | Apr 4, 09 10:40 AM
Read this excerpt from Jobless rate bolts to 8.5 percent, 663K jobs lost (AP):
Orders placed with U.S. factories actually rose in February, ending a six straight months of declines, the government reported Thursday. Earlier in the week, there was better-than-expected reports on construction spending and pending home sales. And last week a report showed that consumer spending — an engine of the economy — rose in February for the second month in a row — after a half-year of declines.
Note that in this article, the authors and the economists they're quoting say that the following are indicators of health in an economy:
- orders placed in factories
- construction spending
- home sales (presumably with mortgages attached)
- consumer spending
All of these things involve people spending money. That is, the indicator of a healthy economy does not appear to be, "are people's needs being met?" but "are people spending enough?" But then, who knows, maybe spending a lot of money is somehow meeting people's needs. Is that so?
Continue reading "Health and wealth: The downfall of capitalism and the uplift of humanity..." »
More: Activism | Economics | Environment | Food | Housing | Human Rights | Media | Oppression | Politics
Human Scale Living
By Shira | Feb 24, 09 03:28 PM
A big part of why living in Ithaca has been so good for us is its small-but-not-too-small size. With a population of 60,000 (30,000 of which are students at Cornell and Ithaca College), there are plenty of people to create culture and innovation. But at the same time, it only takes a few social events to realize that this is a "small town." When I meet someone new, I'm no longer surprised to find out they know at least one other friend of mine, or that they've even "heard of me" - which always makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
When we were living in New York City we had a lot of great friends and yet we didn't ever have a sense of community. Part of this was that we dabbled in a lot of different subcultures - independent filmmakers, freegans, socialists, lesbians, radical marching bands, artists, academics, recreational volleyball players - instead of choosing one to call our own. These groups rarely overlapped and I found myself doing a lot of code-switching. Our friends were ideologically and geographically dispersed. The distance between a Red Hook freegan and an Upper East Side grad student is a lot greater than a few subway transfers.
Back in college I took an amazing course called Architecture as a Cultural System in which we explored, among other things, the concept of Human Scale. This is the idea that humans are best suited to live in an environment that is designed to meet their spacial needs. This means walkability, easy access to necessary resources, closeness to the ground and appropriate population size.
According to Wikipedia, "Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restricted rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar's number, but a commonly cited approximation is 150."
Ari and I counted, and in just the last week, we've had 25 different friends over to our house, some of them more than once (you know who you are...Joe). Our friends Jeremy and Teresa came over for dinner on Sunday, Ari taught a freeskool class on web design on Wednesday, we had a ton of extra veggies from our CSA share so we had a potluck/cooking party with a bunch of folks on Thursday, more friends stopped by on Friday after watching Milk together at Cinemapolis (the art house theatre on The Commons), on Saturday the Phillips family came to stay with us for the weekend and Ben and Grace stopped by to join us for dinner and on Sunday we had our second official founders' meeting for Ahimsa Ecovillage with eleven guests, including three kids.
The amazing thing is that there are numerous ways in which all these folks are connected outside their relationships to us. This makes for a very tangible social fabric and a feeling of interdependence that I haven't truly experienced since sleep-away camp as a kid (I went to the socialist Jewish kibbutz-like Camp Moshava for six summers.)
As we move forward with Ahimsa, our sustainable, vegan ecovillage project, human scale will be a key concept. How can we create a community that is big enough to create innovation and cross-pollination, but small enough to maintain accountability and trust? How many people does it take to be self-sufficient? How will our size and location (rural vs. urban) impact our connection to the broader Ithaca community? I don't know the answers yet, but I'm loving the process of finding out. In the meantime, I'm enjoying being part of the monkeysphere.
More: Economics | Education | Environment | Family | Food | Happenings | Health | Housing | People we know | What we're up to
Sometimes Green Building Makes Me Cry
By Shira | Feb 12, 09 05:25 PM
Granted, the voice-over and music are heavy-handed, but I must confess to weeping tears of joy throughout this video.
More: Activism | Economics | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing | Human Rights
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities
By Ari | Feb 11, 09 09:15 AM
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities by Diana Leafe Christian
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I found this book, I jotted down, "looks like the way to go if you're working on an ecovillage or intentional community project and don't want to doom it to failure." Two careful reads later, I'm pretty sure I was right, and we're using the book to guide our own ecovillage project as it forms. This volume is jam-packed with insights into the many legal, financial, social, and other issues surrounding the complicated but world-changing subject of intentional community. There are sample agreements, vision documents, financial arrangements, and other useful tools. The author is a member of Earthaven community, and her book draws on interviews and research into many communities all around the world.
View all my reviews.
The Group House Handbook: How to share your kitchen without going crazy
By Ari | Feb 11, 09 09:05 AM
The Group House Handbook by Nancy Brandwein
My review
This book is really, really useful for anyone considering sharing a house, either to live in, or as a common house in a cohousing situation. It's a bit dated but provides a fun window into sixties counterculture - and it's surprising how much of the content is still totally appropriate for today. It includes sample budgets and other useful documents, and is full of goofy cartoon art of group house residents alternately delighting and bothering each other.
View all my reviews.
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Economics | Housing
A Mini Ecocity
By Ari | Feb 9, 09 10:49 AM
Best viewed large - there are lots of details. Feedback appreciated!
More: Activism | Art and Design | Environment | Housing
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #6: Economies
By shirari | Feb 4, 09 02:33 PM
Tune into the Wednesday, February 4th edition of our podcast to check out our snappy new format! We've broken the show into three segments to make it easier for folks to selectively listen to parts they're interested in:
- Local Updates, in which we tell you about wonderful and exciting new developments in our local area, the Fingerlakes region of New York. You'll hear about permaculture organizing, the new Ithaca Freeskool calendar, and a new vegan group. (We can't wait to go to their pizza party on Friday!)
- Be the Change, in which we give you two tips, both of which, now that we think about it, are pig-related. (And yet, somehow, relevant to a general audience. We think.)
- Discussion: Economies, in which we look briefly at some issues with non-profit funding, venture capital, microlending, and global capitalism, as well as with socialism and other isms, before giving an overview of different interesting alternatives (featuring copyleft, coworking, freeganism, CSAs, relocalization, and other awesomeness).
Links mentioned in the show:
Hook up with other Fingerlakes Permaculture folks at flxpermaculture.net
Ithaca Freeskool
Ithaca Zine
Ahimsa Ecovillage
Ithaca Vegans Yahoo Group
Vegan Chai is so over bacon!
Ari's Twitter
Find a local CSA at localharvest.org
If you listen to our podcast, tell us what you like about it, and what could be improved! And if you don't listen to our podcast, why not? Tell us what you might like to hear, so we can do a better job of it. Thanks and peace to all who tune into this edition!
Previously:
Previous show notes
More: Activism | Animals | Economics | Environment | Food | Happenings | Housing | Human Rights | Music and Audio | Oppression | People we know | Politics | Shirari Peace and Love Podcast | What we're up to | Work
Our Friends at The Dacha Project Are Awesome.
By Shira | Feb 1, 09 05:20 PM
Our friend Lea makes videos for About.com. She's also part of The Dacha Project, "An unlikely band of six, creating a more sustainable and autonomous existence somewhere in upstate New York." These awesome instructional videos were made on their sixteen acres...
More: Activism | Economics | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Food | Housing | Media | People we know
"You are brilliant and the world is hiring!" – Paul Hawken
By Shira | Jan 14, 09 07:21 PM
Here is first part of Alex Steffen's keynote at the Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival. You can watch the rest at Worldchanging. I especially like when he talks about transportation and mutual-aid. Good stuff!
More: Activism | Economics | Environment | Film and Video | Housing | Technology
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #5: Top 8 Activist Strategies
By Shira | Dec 16, 08 05:51 PM
December 16, 2008 - 71 minutes - 95.5MB
After an update about Ithaca, Shaleshock and our vegan ecovillage project, we discuss our top eight best practices for changing the world and conclude the show with some ideas for a d.i.y. anticapitalist holiday season.
Show links:
- Tortillas and Cider, Delivered to Our Doorstep
- Ahimsa Ecovillage: A vision for a low-cost, low-impact, vegan ecovillage in or near Ithaca, New York
- Green Nettle Dacha
- Shaleshock
- Read Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
- Read Shira's article Change-a-lujah! A Conversation with What Would Jesus Buy? Filmmakers Morgan Spurlock and Rob VanAlkemade
Some Places Worth Donating To (there are so many more, here are just a few):
- Arts Engine supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. Donate
- East New York Farms! is a collaborative project whose mission is to organize youth and adult residents to address food issues in their community by promoting local and regional sustainable agriculture and community-based economic development. Donate
- freeDimensional is an international network that advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work. Donate
- The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Donate
- Just Vision is a nonprofit organization that informs local and international audiences about under-documented Palestinian and Israeli joint civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Using media and educational tools, they raise awareness in order to encourage civic participation in grassroots peace building. Donate
- Scenarios USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that that uses writing and filmmaking to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in under-served teens. Scenarios USA asks teens to write about the issues that shape their lives for the annual "What's the REAL DEAL?" writing contest, and thousands have responded with their raw and revealing insights. Donate
- Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance is a grassroots group of Finger Lakes residents who are concerned with understanding and protecting our communities and environment from exploitation by the energy industry with regards to drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Donate
Previously:
More: Activism | Animals | Economics | Education | Environment | Food | Happenings | Housing | Human Rights | Music and Audio | Oppression | Politics | Shirari Peace and Love Podcast | What we're up to | Work
Shale Shocked
By Shira | Dec 6, 08 03:05 AM
There are many factors that contribute to the fertility and productivity of land that are beyond a landowners' direct control. One of the major issues we need to consider in New York State is natural gas drilling. Ever since the development of more commercially-viable drilling techniques around 2000, major oil companies have been going to town on the Marcellus Shale. One of the main ways they get access to the land is by leasing land and drilling rights from local landowners. While this can be a good source of income for struggling farmers, there are numerous environmental impacts including the distribution of toxic chemicals into the soil and water table.
We've been getting involved with Shaleshock, a local resistance group, and we recently designed their logo and a new website. Check out the site to get up to speed on the issues and take action. One thing you can do now is comment on the DEC's draft scope...
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a draft scope document that outlines how they will regulate natural gas drilling of the Marcellus Shale. In addition to commenting at public hearings around the state, you can submit your comments via letter or email by December 15th.
Submit comments to:
Attn: Scope Comments
Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources
625 Broadway, Third Floor
Albany, NY 12233-6500
Or email to dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us with "Scope Comments" as the Subject
More: Activism | Animals | Art and Design | Economics | Environment | Film and Video | Food | Happenings | Health | Housing | Human Rights | Oppression | People we know | Politics | What we're up to | Work
The Ithaca Green Buildings Open House
By Shira | Oct 17, 08 04:25 PM
Ari and I spent the first weekend of October climbing on people's roofs, investigating their toilets, and befriending their goats. No, we weren't being inappropriately nosy - it was all part of the 2008 Ithaca Green Buildings Open House!
In partnership with the American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Ithaca Green Building Alliance and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association organized the two-day event in which twenty-seven sites were open to visitors.
As aspiring owner-builders with a vision for a naturally-built, sustainable ecovillage, the tour offered an amazing opportunity to see what building and energy techniques work locally, and to meet a bunch of really cool people. In addition to a lot of photovoltaic systems, we checked out some amazing living/green roofs, unconventional stoves, outhouses, vegetable gardens, and really, really long driveways.
Folks were using a variety of building-techniques including timber-frame, strawbale, earth-berming and round construction. We also learned, not surprisingly, that a lot of green home-owners love animals. We made friends with many cats and dogs and even a couple of goats!
We managed to visit six homes, but my favorite was the first - Sarah Highland's straw-clay timber-framed house-in-progress. Sarah designed and is building the house herself, with help from friends. It's surrounded by beautiful land featuring a pond, an adorable sauna, and a composting toilet outhouse, which Sarah and Liz lovingly refer to as their "room with a view" and which is also temporarily housing their solar panel equipment.
While some of the other homes on the tour were just as beautiful, Sarah had designed and built the house mostly by herself, which is pretty damn impressive. The masonry stove itself, is something to behold.
All in all, it was a great tour. My take-aways are:
- It's all about the land.
- If you're not too far from the road, being on-grid has some benefits, even if you're generating most of your own power.
- Wood is a beautiful building material.
- Solar systems are easier to maintain if they're not on your roof. Unless of course, if you have a solar hot water system on top of your earth-bermed green roof like the Bensons.
- Water catchment is easy - all you need is a barrel.
- Being a bit of a gadget geek is good.
- It makes sense to design a home where you can age in place.
- Salvaged and vintage stuff is awesome.
- Make friends with your local saw mill.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the tour...
liz says she likes big "crazy" ideas like bike generators - me too!
approaching tina macdonald's place
visitors on the bensons' earth-sheltered living roof
the bensons' roof is so cool...
Hopefully it won't be too long before our home is part of the Ithaca Green Buildings Tour...
More: Animals | Economics | Education | Environment | Film and Video | Happenings | Housing | Photography | What we're up to
Spreading the Word About Ahimsa Ecovillage
By Shira | Oct 6, 08 04:03 PM
On September 20th, 2008, we presented our idea for Ahimsa, a vegan ecovillage, with members of Club Veg Southern Tier and the Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup. The discussion took place at Smart Monkey Cafe where the group convened for a delicious vegan meal. Thanks to Ben Bristoll for video taping the event and to Bill Huston for taking photos!
Ahimsa Ecovillage Discussion from Shira Golding on Vimeo.
I love this photo of us. Doesn't Ari look like a visionary?
Photo by Bill Huston
More: Activism | Animals | Environment | Film and Video | Food | Happenings | Housing | What we're up to
Quote of the day: How to have huge dreams
By Ari | Sep 18, 08 09:15 AM
"Community has made everything in my life easier and has allowed me to have huge dreams, inconceivable without community. The skills I've learned, practical and human, seem infinite. My love for humanity has thrived and expanded. Nothing about community has been easy, but it all has been fun. This is the work for political activists who want to live their solutions. If we are to survive as a species we will do so learning the ecstasy of community. We do have to get together."
- Patch Adams, in his Foreword to Diana Leafe Christian's Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Housing
If only there were more Garbage Warriors
By Shira | Sep 17, 08 02:12 PM
My friend Jolene from Arts Engine just told me about this movie. I haven't seen it yet, but the trailer looks great. Hopefully Ari and I won't face as many governmental challenges as we move forward with our natural building dreams...
While Michael Reynolds has focused on the earthship approach, which makes perfect sense for New Mexico (and perhaps post-Katrina New Orleans), it looks like strawbale might be a better technique for upstate New York, where we recently moved. We've got a lot to learn about building, but we have a community vision. We're giving a presentation about our ideas for an Ahimsa Ecovillage this Saturday at 6pm at the Vegan Meetup at Smart Monkey Cafe in Ithaca. RSVP and come!
More: Activism | Environment | Film and Video | Housing | What we're up to
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #4: In Ithaca...
By Shira | Sep 10, 08 04:48 PM
We moved to Ithaca! Listen to us discuss brimming gardens, local pirates, mushroom-growing workshops and more...
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #4: In Ithaca... »
September 10, 2008 - 26 minutes - 23.7MB
Show links:
- Read Constantine Cavafis's poem, Ithaka
- Ahimsa Ecovillage: A vision for a low-cost, low-impact, vegan ecovillage in or near Ithaca, New York
- Utica Rome Green Expo - Sept. 13th - 14th
- Farming Fungi in the Forest: A Beginners Guide to Growing Mushrooms in Logs - Sept. 16th
- Club Veg Southern Tier
- The Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup Group
- Smart Monkey Café outing - Sept. 20th
- Living with Solar and Wind Power in Ithaca: Lessons from an Energy-Efficient Lifestyle - Sept. 24th
- 2008 Green Buildings Open House & Tour - Oct. 4th - 5th
- The Grandmothers Speak - Oct. 5th
Our Fortunes
Ithaca Pirates
Another Awesome Ithaca Bumper
Always Keep Ithaca In Mind
Previously:
- Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #1: Who we are and what this is all about
- Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #2: Housing
- Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel
Living with Solar and Wind Power in Ithaca: Lessons from an Energy-Efficient Lifestyle - Sept. 24th
By Ari | Sep 10, 08 10:42 AM
Another event we're excited about in Ithaca: Living with Solar and Wind Power in Ithaca: Lessons from an Energy-Efficient Lifestyle, coming up on Sept. 24th, 7-8:15 pm, at Greenstar Coop. It's 100% free and... 100% awesome? We hope so. Visit Greenstar's Community Calendar for more info or call 607.273.9392 to register.
Read on for the full event description.
More: Activism | Environment | Housing | Technology | What we're up to
An update on Ahimsa, our vegan ecovillage project
By Ari | Sep 9, 08 10:35 AM
Club Veg Southern Tier has invited us to the Smart Monkey Café outing they've planned with The Ithaca Area Vegan Meetup Group. If you're in the area, please join us - you can RSVP here.
We've just updated and improved the project webpage and ic.org listing. We hope that it now provides a clearer and more useful way to get involved than our previous request that people email us (which we always took waaaay too long to respond to). It also provides some guidance as to where to go from here, once you've joined the list. And finally, it now answers a lot of questions that kept coming up in our discussions.
If you're interested in community living and would be willing to live in a sustainable, cruelty-free way in or around Ithaca, we want to meet you! Check out the page for more info and to get involved.
Previously:
A community can look like this
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #2: Housing
Ahimsa Ecovillage
More: Activism | Animals | Environment | Happenings | Housing | What we're up to
A community can look like this
By Ari | Aug 9, 08 10:47 AM
Making these drawings, and reading about natural building and the owner-builder concept, is liberating and empowering. Reading through Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter and Shelter, you can see how capable and powerful ordinary people are at creating beautiful and livable solutions themselves, without any help from "professionals." You begin to see that folks have been making their own homes and workshops and such for as long as we've been able to improvise tools and manipulate our environment. Over time we've come up with better and better ways of housing ourselves. Strawbale, cob, stone and other natural building materials are safer, easier to use, more energy-efficient, and far less expensive than the chemical-leaching, wasteful drywall and vinyl siding and asphalt shingles and other stuff that so many of us use in new houses today.
More: Activism | Environment | Housing | What we're up to
Strange Overtones
By Shira | Aug 8, 08 12:02 PM
"Strange Overtones" is the name of the new track just released by David Byrne and Brian Eno. I was just listening to it a few minutes ago, and I could not keep myself from getting up and dancing. It's pretty awesome. You can download it for free from the album site - I guess they're experimenting with new distribution techniques a la Radiohead with their album, In Rainbows.
I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't know much about Byrne a few years ago, but he'll definitely be a part of what I remember about our time living in NYC, which is rapidly coming to an end! And apparently he likes some of the same stuff as us. He was in the same movie theatre as us when we saw the amazing Korean monster comedy The Host at the Sunshine and I spotted his glistening white hair in line at McSweeney's "The World Explained" fundraiser for 826 NYC in April 2007. He also curated what was definitely the best concert experience I have had in many years - the "Welcome to Dreamland" show at Carnegie Hall, a showcase of the "freak folk" movement featuring Devendra Banhart, Vashti Bunyan, CocoRosie and others.
Most recently, we checked out Byrne's installation "Playing the Building" at the Maritime Building en route to the Figment Festival on Governor's Island. Here's a little video clip...
So now I have to start learning more about Brian Eno. Our paths haven't crossed nearly as much, but coincidently he did the music for the 1997 BBC series "How Buildings Learn" by Stewart Brand (embedded below), which I was just watching a few days ago on Google video. It's a great introduction to the way that buildings are shaped by humans and the environment. So can I assume that Eno shares our passion for permaculture and natural building? Just maybe...
More: Art and Design | Environment | Film and Video | Happenings | Housing | Music and Audio | What we're up to
In Our Future Home...
By Shira | Jul 30, 08 04:16 PM
More: Art and Design | Environment | Housing | What we're up to
Gogol Bordello and the oldest Roma settlement in the world, Sulukule
By Ari | Jun 30, 08 01:01 AM
Gypsy band Gogol Bordello supports Sulukule [Turkish Daily News, via Gogol Bordello Mailing List]:
Gogol Bordello's soloist Eugene Hutz, in the Sunday concert, said, "The incidents happening in Sulukule happen in many places around the world. Do people want more McDonalds' and hotel chains? Or is it more logical to protect a country's culture and historical structures? The choice is yours." (Read more)
More: Activism | Environment | Housing | Music and Audio | Oppression
Housing alternatives
By Ari | Jun 27, 08 10:48 AM
Ever since we read Mortgage-FREE! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership by Rob Roy, the transition from renting in NYC to... whatever it is we end up doing has gotten a lot more exciting. There are so many possibilities! Here are some ideas from Treehugger on better housing solutions.
More: Environment | Housing
Happy List
By Shira | Jun 5, 08 07:20 PM
There is a cat posse in our apartment, same-sex marriages are going to be recognized in New York State, my cousin Amir starred in this Borat spoof (it's a video for his high-school graduation party in Haifa), crop circles on google earth, using skype as our land line, Senegalese hip-hop at the eighth annual Media That Matters Film Festival Awards Ceremony, visiting Ithaca last weekend for a co-housing workshop at EcoVillage, looking for an apartment in Ithaca and finding an awesome one!!!, the plants in our window pots are starting to bloom, Obama is the democratic candidate for president, sharing our art and music this weekend as part of Bushwick Open Studios, picking up our first Hearty Roots CSA share of the season in Williamsburg, women's turkish oil wrestling at Galapagos, Renegade Craft Fair at the McCarren Park Pool June 14-15, Pineapple Express at BAM with Director David Gordon Green, tank tops, summer...
More: Art and Design | Environment | Film and Video | Happenings | Health | Housing | Music and Audio | People we know | Queer | Technology | What we're up to
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #2: Housing
By shirari | May 14, 08 12:09 PM
We're sure that you've been on the edge of your seats ever since we released our first podcast. Well, edge-dwell no more - here's the second installment.
In this edition we discuss the topic of housing, focusing on our upcoming move to Ithaca, NY where we are exploring the idea of building our own home from local materials and maybe even starting a vegan ecovillage.
Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #2: Housing »
May 13, 2008 - 48 minutes - 5.5MB
Show Links:
Recommended Books - check your local library or buy used:
- The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-sufficient Living by Helen and Scott Nearing
- Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
- Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach
- Sweet Earth: Experimental Utopias in America by Joel Sternfeld
- Ecovillage at Ithaca: Pioneering a Sustainable Culture by Liz Walker
- Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Victor Papanek
- Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
- Mortgage-Free! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership by Rob Roy
More: Books and Writing | Environment | Housing | Music and Audio | Shirari Peace and Love Podcast | What we're up to
Ahimsa Ecovillage
By Ari | May 13, 08 12:53 PM
Our ecovillage idea continues to gather steam - a bunch of people have been emailing with us about it! We're evolving the "radical solidarity" idea into an ideology of sorts so we renamed the ecovillage Ahimsa for now, instead. (Ahimsa, or non-violence, was the idea behind veganism back when it was first defined by Donald Watson in 1944).
To help get the word out about the project and to document its progress, we've put up a simple webpage for it at shirari.com/ahimsa/. Even if you're not vegan, or never thought you had the money for home ownership, there's room for you at Ahimsa - check it out.
More: Activism | Housing | What we're up to
Helping Myanmar
By Ari | May 9, 08 12:35 PM
Looking for an effective way to help the people of Myanmar deal with the recent cyclone devastation? Their military government is blocking and intercepting aid, and as we know from 2004's Indian Ocean tsunami debacle, some aid organizations are more effective than others. So how can we best help?
Our friends at freeDimensional report:
Jay Koh, who runs NICA (Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts ) based in Yangoon (Rangoon), and I have been in close email contact this week. His organization is currently accepting donations to be distributed to local relief organizations within Myanmar, the first being the Health and Death Assistant Association, which is managed by a monastery in Yangoon.I can vouch for Jay: his commitment to his community is incredible, but he is desperate for help right now. With the UN cutting off aid, this is one way to get funds to Myanmar almost instantly. NICA has a PayPal account set up (visit www.paypal.com; send to ifima-at-gmx-dot-net). Please consider making a donation.
Another friend knows someone who works at the Burma Project at Open Society Institute, who suggests folks who want to give aid do it through Avaaz.org, a global online movement with millions of members. Avaaz.org is concerned that the junta can easily delay, divert, or misuse aid. They are partnering with the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO) and other local organizations to aid people directly through local networks.
More: Activism | Environment | Food | Health | Housing | Oppression
Our Eutopic Vision at Forbes.com
By Shira | Apr 11, 08 06:08 PM
Ari's rendering of our eutopia
When Ari and I posted our vision of a Radical Solidarity Ecovillage to the Intentional Communities Directory, we really didn't know what to expect. So far, we've gotten a couple of email inquiries from potential members who we're going to connect with in Ithaca, and we're eagerly awaiting more interest.
One thing we certainly didn't expect was to be contacted by Forbes.com. After Elisabeth Eaves interviewed us for her article Ecotopia we were kind of nervous. She had never heard of Community Supported Agriculture, not to mention Freeganism or an assortment of other strategies that we discussed. Considering that Forbes is entrenched in capitalism, we worried that maybe our earnest ramblings might be used against us.
Luckily that was not the case! In fact, we're right up at the top of the article, and we don't sound (too) crazy:
After six years in the city, Shira Golding and Ari Moore want to try something new. The two 27-year-old artists came to New York after college, but now yearn for less urban and more affordable living. Rather than retreat to suburbia, the two are trying to recruit like-minded souls to join them in an artistic, vegan commune, which they plan to form in upstate New York.
"The number of people doesn't matter so much as shared values," says Golding, who then elaborates on a philosophy of animal rights, ecological sustainability and "freeganism," in which "you abstain from capitalism by getting things for free or [by] barter[ing]."Golding and Moore's utopian vision is in its infancy, but they aren't alone in their desire to build their own self-contained community.
If we're going to be picky, freeganism doesn't really include "bartering," as much as giving and taking freely, and we prefer "intentional community" over "commune." But what really matters is that the mainstream media is paying attention to alternative visions for sustainable living. If Forbes.com, whose tagline is "Home Page for the World's Business Leaders," is doing a whole feature on utopias, who knows what's next!
Which brings me to the word "utopia." As our friend and wordsmith Orion pointed out at our Peace and Justice Passover Seder last year, “utopia” comes from the Greek for “no place” or “nowhere.” In other words a "utopia" is a better society that does not and cannot exist. That's not very optimistic. Orion suggested "eutopia" as an alternative spelling, meaning a "good, happy place." The article Visions of Utopia or Eutopia? at CommonDreams.org, puts it this way: "Eutopia is a vision of a preferable place - but one with a bridge that gets us from here to there. Visions of a better society don't attract a critical mass of people. Only future visions with a visible, viable bridge can do that - a lesson many progressives have yet to learn." Let's start building those bridges!
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Environment | Food | Housing | Media | What we're up to
Tiny houses = small footprint
By Ari | Mar 9, 08 11:10 AM
A tiny house means fewer materials and less energy used in construction, lower fuel-use and emissions. It also (potentially) means that more of your land is left undeveloped, leaving room for our free-living neighbors to move back in.
Here's an adorable video of Tumbleweed's Jay Shafer giving a tour of his tiny house:
Another tiny house company: Martin House-To-Go
See also: The Small House Society, Tiny House Blog
More: Animals | Environment | Film and Video | Housing
Radical Solidarity Ecovillage
By Ari | Mar 1, 08 03:57 PM
Hey, any activisty, creative vegans out there interested in cohousing, intentional community, or ecovillage life? Shira and I just posted a listing for a forming community, Radical Solidarity Ecovillage, in the Online Communities Directory.
We're relocating to Ithaca, New York, at the end of this coming summer, and are talking about buying a house, seeking freedom from rent - but do we really want to lock ourselves into a 30-year mortgage on a conventionally built house, is that freedom? We're very attracted to intentional community, co-housing, ecovillages, and other alternatives, but no matter how cool they are, we just can't stomach the idea of putting our labor and money into animal exploitation. (Unfortunately most communities incorporate some form of "animal husbandry".) So we thought we'd put a listing out there, see if we can find some kindred spirits. Check it out and let us know if you or anyone you know would be interested in something like it.
For a great overview of a family's experience building their own earth-friendly, mortgage-free house, check out A Low-Impact Woodland Home.
And for a glimpse at what ecovillage life can look like, check out The Farm's Ecovillage Tour:
More: Activism | Environment | Film and Video | Housing | What we're up to
Snow Kitten Needs a Home
By Shira | Feb 22, 08 10:52 AM
Watch video of the snow kitten!
Last night, Ari and I took in a kitten who was stuck outside in the cold. He/she (we're not sure) had been visiting our window for several nights, and seemed genuinely interested in coming inside. We already live with two cats who we adopted off the street, and we don't have the resources to take care of a third, but we're trying to find him/her a home.
As you can see from the photo and video, this little kitten is adorable and striking and really loves human affection. We think he/she will also probably get along with other cats, based on interactions with our cat, Sid, through the window.
We will probably end up taking this cat to a no-kill shelter in the next day or two, but if any of you are in Brooklyn/NYC and would like to offer him/her a home, we could bring him/her to you and even hook you up with some supplies to get started. Email us ASAP at info@shirari.com.
If Only All Capitalists Were Ed Begley, Jr.
By Shira | Feb 20, 08 05:29 PM
More: Activism | Books and Writing | Environment | Film and Video | Health | Housing
