Subscribe To Our RSS Feed
Like Us
Watch Us
Follow Us
Thurston
Get Blog Posts As EmailsI’ve mentioned this idea of “net-zero” before. It’s a term that means exactly what it’s saying: That an input is equal to an output. This is the true goal of sustainability. Too often the idea of sustainability is seen as be an expensive endeavor and that costs outweigh benefits. The argument against that has always [...]
Affordable Net-Zero Energy Subdivision
November 2nd, 2009 by Mark
Water World
October 23rd, 2009 by MarkIt’s been a rainy past couple of days here in Chicago and it has water on my mind. Most of the time these thoughts are about what strategies Isla Palenque can use to consume water in a sustainable way while not destroying the habitat or waterways, but lately I’ve focused a lot of my attention on what I can do [...]
Solar Decathlon
October 9th, 2009 by MarkAs you can imagine, Panama has an abundance of sunshine. It’s an ideal location to get that perfect bronze tan; to watch the sweat dribble down the side of your cold margarita; or to just generally warm any anxiety you might have. When I was first on Isla Palenque that line from Harry Nilsson’s, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” kept [...]
A Product[ive] Post
October 5th, 2009 by MarkLike a Harpy Eagle, I have my eyes trained to be on the lookout for any movement. No. I’m not looking for my next dinner. I’m looking for that next new product or idea that is going to be a game changer. Mostly, it’s just fascinating to read about how innovative people are out there, but [...]
Parks, Sharks, and The White House LEEDing the Way
September 25th, 2009 by MarkA quick recommendation: This Sunday, September 27th at 8pm on PBS is the premier of Ken Burns’ new documentary series called, “The Nation Parks: America’s Best Idea.” I’ve been following this for a few months now, and the scenes are breathtaking. Watch a short preview, here. In some uplifting news from the UN General Assembly, the [...]
UPDATE: The Cove
September 11th, 2009 by MarkI posted a few days ago about a place known as The Cove in Japan, and how a documentary seemingly ended the towns annual slaughter of dolphins. In a bit of bad news those dolphin hunts have started again. It has been reported that a few days ago 50 pilot whales and 100 bottle-nose dolphins were rounded up. The [...]
LEED and The Cove
September 8th, 2009 by MarkSince LEED is fresh on my mind (I clicked save on the LEED checklist we’re creating thirty seconds ago) I’m going to go on a rant. This week The New York Times published an article about how “Some Buildings Not Living Up to Green Label.” The article describes how some buildings aren’t necessarily as energy efficient [...]
Carbon Negative Material
August 31st, 2009 by MarkThis week a product out of the UK was brought to my attention called, “Hemcrete.” At first it seemed a novelty at best. I’ve become used to materials made from sustainable natural fibers, and some even more sustainable from agricultural waste products like Agriboard, so I’m pretty hard to impress. Then I noticed a sentence [...]
A New, Warmer Home
August 17th, 2009 by MarkA few years ago my parents were sitting around the house and realized that they had three rooms devoid of their children. They made the decision to move to a smaller more manageable home. While there are many good things about ‘living small’ there was one thing my father picked up on in their new [...]
Updates on Toilets and Whales
August 6th, 2009 by MarkOk… So here we go again! More Toilets! So you may recall a previous post I did about all the various types and methods of “Green” toilets on the market today. One of which was a dual flush and another being a low flow. While browsing Caroma (a prominent toilet manufacturer) I noticed at the edge [...]