South Park’s brash and somewhat over the top humor is not for everyone, but love em or hate em, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have one major likable trait that everyone can appreciate – they’re tree huggers. I know right?

Parker and Stone recently built an environmentally friendly mansion in western Colorado (Steamboat Springs). The $5 million home has eco-friendly features such as ceilings made of Douglas fir timbers salvaged from a rail trestle that once spanned Great Salt Lake, recycled carpet, in-floor radiant heating, and of course nature.
This pricey vacation getaway is going to be featured in …read more

If you’re sick of chemical cleaners that pollute the planet and our bodies, then Seventh Generation would like your help to crack down for stronger standards on toxic chemicals. Seventh Generation’s new initiative, the Million Baby Crawl is one way you can help make sure that America’s sadly outdated chemical law become tougher, in order to make the world safer for your children.

Why you should get involved:

33 years ago Congress passed that nation’s chemical regulatory law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TCSA). To date the Environmental Protection Agency has tested just 200 of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds developed …read more

Mothballs seem harmless enough but in reality are pretty darn toxic. Naphthalene, the main pesticide in mothballs can cause adverse effects on the structural integrity of the red blood cell membrane, body weight gain, chronic inflammation of the lungs, liver changes, and more following exposure. In fact the back of a box of mothballs will note that you should be extremely careful – avoid skin contact and avoiding any vapors from said mothballs in your living area.
Now, why would you have these in your home; around clothes and other textiles you use? Good question? To avoid musty clothes and pests …read more

Seventh Generation recently sent me a load of eco-products to test out. Of course I’ll be posting some reviews soon, but first we should take a look at the company as a whole, plus their eco-perks.

BASICS:
Seventh Generation is arguably one of the most well-known green companies around. They were one of the first self-declared “socially responsible” companies and have been around for 20 years. The company makes a slew of products, some that are very green and some that could be greener, but all in all, they offer some great product choices for green households in various categories…

Laundry Products
Dishwashing …read more

In a word, yes.
In many more words, here’s the scoop – Lead can be deadly at super high levels, usually in children, pregnant women, or already sick or nutritionally compromised adults. However, you or your kids are much more likely to experience low or medium level lead exposure vs. high exposure. Not that low level exposure is so great.

According to the National Safety Council (NSC), lead poisoning in children can result in IQ deficits, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, stunted or slowed growth, and impaired hearing. Once more lead gets into a child’s system, a child may suffer kidney damage, become …read more

Looking for some down time with some chill and mod homes? Look no further than the Ultimate House website. In case you haven’t heard of this show; Building the Ultimate House is a newer television series produced by i2i television for Discovery RealTime.
The show looks at, “Looks at how modern homes are being designed and built to meet the needs of rapidly changing contemporary lifestyles.”
You can watch videos at the site about….

Lighthouse, the first net zero carbon house in the UK.

The amazing Emilio Ambasz designed CASA de RETIRO ESPIRITUAL
And more…
Many homes to see – all are …read more

Last week I posted the Hummingbird of Mummy Mountain which got me thinking about desert structures, which in turn got me thinking about the iT House by Taalman Koch Architecture. The model everyone adores is not exactly in the SW desert, but it is in a desert setting; near Joshua Tree in California.

This lovely prefab is simple, small, and focused on outdoor-indoor living. It adds a smaller footprint than many homes, and can be totally customized and in most cases up and running in about 12 weeks. Not bad.

You know, about 3 years ago, I was not the biggest prefab …read more

This treehouse wasn’t made exactly to be a treehouse; at least not how you might think.
The Tree House Clapham is covered in the book Diary of an Ecobuilder, and is really special. A huge tree occupied the lot of the Clapham house, making home building a bit of work. However, instead of taking the tree out the home was built around the tree in a way. It’s easier if you see.

There are plenty of tree features going on in this eco-home. Like the great staircase:

Other eco features of this home include reduced energy demands, reclaimed and recycled material use, rainwater …read more

Continuing on with our year celebration here are my four favorite posts from Offbeat October 2007…
The Remainder House – green and lovely.
Jonesing for San Francisco – because who knew you could build the city out of Jello? plus, LOCUS Architecture is pretty fly too.

The World’s Best Offbeat Gingerbread Homes – not appropriate for Halloween month, but I did it anyhow, and all that gingerbread was so darn cute.

Offbeat Home for Sale: Want Wood Paneling? This house still makes me laugh out loud. It’s not very cool, but it is fun.
October was a busy Offbeat month actually, we had blog action …read more

Bamboo Living Homes is a company that builds and ships bamboo homes – like a container bamboo house. It’s an interesting concept, with some odd building codes mixed in – i.e. it could take you a while to get your permit to actually use one as a home. On the plus side bamboo is a nice sustainable material and strong.
What I found a little odd was that Bamboo Living Homes notes that many bamboo homes in Japan have been standing for 200 years plus; but the homes they ship are made of the same same species of untreated bamboo poles …read more