Inner Awakening

Getting Dirty Cob and Community in Baja – Directed by Penelope 20 min This short documentary explores cob, community women and sculpture using an ancient technique of building with mud.

The film opens the doors to the joys of building with our hands using mud, sand and clay in a sustainable way called Cob building. Cobworks guides us on this journey and teaches us not only to build but how to builds community and reduce our impact on the environment

Dirt! The movie. A look at man’s relationship with Dirt.

“Dirt and humans couldn’t be closer. We started our journey together as stardust, swirled by cosmic forces into our galaxy, solar system, and planet. We are made of the same stuff. Four billion years of evolution created dirt as the living source of all life on Earth including humans.”

Dirt has given us food, shelter, fuel, medicine, ceramics, flowers, cosmetics and colour –everything needed for our survival. For most of the last ten thousand years we humans understood our intimate bond with dirt and the rest of nature. We took care of the soils that took care of us. But, over time, we lost that connection. Our species became greedy and careless. We still depend on dirt, but now we abuse and ignore it. We are destroying our last natural resource with our agriculture, our mining, and our paving over the planet for cities. We turned dirt into something “dirty.” In doing so, we transform the skin of the earth into a hellish and dangerous landscape for all life on earth.

A millennial shift in consciousness about the environment offers a beacon of hope – and practical solutions.

Around the globe, pioneers are coming together to save earth’s last natural resource. Tiny villages rise up to battle giant corporations slaughtering their land. Scientists discover connections with soil that can balance global warming. Generation X brands organic farming as trendy and children begin to eat from edible school yards. Inmates find inner peace and job skills in a prison horticulture program.

Medical researchers explore dirt’s capacity to provide solutions to such devastating health crises as AIDS. Uses animation, vignettes, personal accounts and story telling.

If you like this low quality Youtube version consider ordering the DVD from: http://www.dirtthemovie.org/  

Low-tech Magazine refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution.

“A simple, sensible, but nevertheless controversial message; high-tech has become the idol of our society.” I find this site a simple concept which is slowly building into a valuable resource.

Low-tech Magazine is written by Kris De Decker who also publishes the http://www.notechmagazine.com/ blog.

Link:  http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/

How to build a chemical free natural swimming pool for a fraction of the cost of a commercial installation by David Pagan-Butler.

Earthship Biotecture crew and Long Way Home are teaming up to build a sustainable Earthship home for Maria and her family.

An Earthship will provide free clean drinking water, the opportunity to grow food. Solar electricity, in addition to the natural light from the green house, will be able to provide lighting for working and cooking. The secure structure of an Earthship will allow her looming business to continue and grow. Watch this short film to find out more:

This partnership with Earthship Biotecture will provide paid employment for the locally trained sustainable builders, in addition to providing a sustainable home for Maria and her children in desperate need of help.

Can you help? To find out more click here to visit the website.

Architect Michael Reynold’s radical experimentation in sustainable living has created a new type of housing: self-sufficient housing made from recycled materials.

We are running out of oil, running out of water, for many reasons we need a different direction. Here, Michael Reynolds introduces the concept of the Earthship.

Earthships offer more than an enhanced quality of life. With no power lines, no water lines, and no sewage lines, this method of living allows people to take care of themselves. This short film introduces the idea of a simple Earthship and demonstrates that with a minimum outlay, a few practical friends can built a basic, habitable structure in a couple of weeks.

Now we’ve got you hooked check out the documentary – “The Garbage Warrior” a feature length film giving you the background, the the current state and hints at the new directions possible future of Earthship technology:

Micheal Reynold’s web site is here:

http://www.earthship.com

In the midst of a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, radical change is taking root.

For over twenty years, the Dervaes family have transformed their home into an urban homestead. They harvest nearly 3 tons of organic food from their 1/10 acre garden while incorporating many back-to-basics practices, as well as solar energy and biodiesel.

The “Encanta La Vida” is an unique jungle lodge located in the tropical rainforest of Southern Costa Rica. Basically catering for wealthy new agers and the like. It’s beautiful but not really my kind of thing.

However I do love the beautiful Yoga Lodge they have created, you can view a flash slideshow here:  http://www.encantalavida.com/index.php/yoga/yoga-photo-gallery

 I kinda like this  unique take on a a portable off-grid structure. You can find out more about it on the Green Economy Website. The architects - Casey Brown have created a film documenting the development of the structure. I can be found here: http://www.caseybrown.com.au/ - click on  publications > video.

I just love the stove.

Ben Law’s woodland construction is a wonderful home, an inspirational build and an example of what can be done with good honest skills and time.

Grand Designs – Woodsman Cottage (Ben Law)