This book has a long title: Building Green: A Complete How-To Guide to Alternative Building Methods Earth Plaster * Straw Bale * Cordwood * Cob * Living Roofs. But then again it is a big book. Written by Tim Callahan and Clarke Snell this book overflows with 600 pages and 1500 images. The book aims […]
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I had been avoiding the movie Food Inc for a while. I’ve seen lots of animal rights movies: they are depressing. They make me angry because of the barbarity and frustrated because I feel helpless. But one evening I was feeling especially brave. It turns out the movie is UPLIFTING! Sure it jumps all over
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I was just speaking with an Eco Brooklyn intern who is an architect for a non-green firm in Queens. She was lamenting a current job she is working on where they are tearing out beautiful cherry wood details to turn the building into crap rentals. All my workers have similar stories and one of their
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I don’t know if it is a mainstream thing or what but I don’t get LEED. I even became a LEED AP in the hope that I would see what the big deal is but I still don’t get it. Why would you want to spend all that money and time so that you can
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I just came across this craigslist add with the title: green building materials delivered-brooklyn (red hook) Being a green contractor in Carroll Gardens right next door to Red Hook, I thought, “Cool! I can get green building materials delivered to our job site!” The add went on to read: “Hello, we are a green company
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Gennaro Brooks-Church was on a radio show with Henry Gifford last week. Henry is a great building energy technician who has pointed out that LEED houses and the USGBC are not exactly transparent in their energy efficiency statements. Turns out LEED buildings are not as energy efficient as USGBC would like us to believe. In
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As a green builder in Brooklyn we have very definite views on how development should unfold in the neighborhood. This ties us willingly or not to the politicians since they have influence on development. Today I got a generic brochure in the mail from Congresswoman Joan L. Millman and out of random curiosity I decided
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A green builder is a humble builder. They listen to the land and surroundings and take their cues from that. They see what nature is offering in the locality and use those resources, thankful for the gift. They build as a servant to the local nature, not a conqueror of it. Like hunters of yore
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I am still fighting it out with my fellow green builders on a list serv. I still eat meat, although a lot less, and am still not sure if my body is made to not eat meat…..but…here is what I wrote: After cooling off a bit I am ready to come back in. I have
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A green builder should be treated the same as a coroner or dentist. You don’t call them if you don’t have to. The greenest building is to not build at all. At the industry’s current evolutionary state in building it is best to avoid building if possible because building inevitably consumes resources and destroys things.
A green builder is a reluctant builder Read More »
