livable streets

GOOD Magazine has a nice visual demonstration of a livable street, basically a city street designed to welcome pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and cars equally. Simple changes like curb extensions, textured crosswalks, bollards, and plantings turn car-choked urbanity into an inviting place to walk around.

hobbit home update

A while back I shared a few hobbit-style homes people had built, but my favorite so far has to be the Low-Impact Woodland Home that Simon Dale and his family built in Wales: Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is [...]

Green Roofs: An Introduction with Pretty Pictures

Make that drool-inducing gorgeous photos of places I’d love to see in person. EcoGeek (now added to my regular feeds) has a fun piece on green roofs. Not just solar tiles or recycled materials, though; these roofs are actually green, with grass and other plants. It’s not just for hobbits anymore. The logic of green [...]

Yesterday’s Tomorrow Today!

This makes me happy. There’s a whole blog, Paleo-Future.Com, that focuses on images of the future that people in the past have held. Lots of Disney stuff, of course, but other very fascinating pictures, videos, and other resources.

eco-friendly palace?

Here’s something to ponder: is an eco-friendly palace an oxymoron? From The Register: The Prince of Wales has been given the green light to build an eco-friendly house, rumoured to be a “starter home” for Prince William once he gets married. In a more functional than palatial move, a 200-litre rainwater reservoir will collect and [...]