Albion News

Green Wastewater Systems

I built a post and beam house outside of Boulder, CO and it was all about trying to practice building with a soft footprint. To live with a 300 degree view from Pikes Peak to Denver to the 14,000 ft. Continental Divide and beyond to Estes Park, was worth every hardship. Or so I fantasized. My wife and I found 35 acres on top of a mountain above the little frontier/fly fishing town of Lyons and had to decide in a few hours whether to dive in. I realized as I signed the papers that I was suddenly just the next guy who wanted to be the last one to close the gate behind him.

If I had known that I would have to dyamite a half mile long, six foot deep trench through solid rock to bury utilities (that's why they call it the Rocky Mountains, stupid) and set power poles by helicopter on a 50 degree hillside, I may have reconsidered. But, after the redwood house was completed and I awoke with a cup of coffee and Vivaldi on the CD, I watched the local mountain lion pass 10 feet in front of my french doors. I said every bruise and scar was worth it.

One of my goals was to be self contained and although whole house solar systems were not as far along as they are today, I wanted my wastewater to be considered. I sought out a regional septic designer who had come up with a wetlands system. It contained a multi-stage, insulated, plastic (sorry!) tank that did most of the work as opposed to the old, passive concrete tanks. After the tank, I dug a four foot deep field area which was lined then filled with a series of leach lines laid in various grades of sand and gravel. On top were planted numerous native flowers and grasses to further filter the remaining water. It flourished and became the first county reference for future systems.

The original design was inspired by the work done at Sol y Sombra outside Santa Fe, NM. Georgia O'Keefe's old adobe has been turned into a world famous, think tank conference center. ALL the water and sewage is handled onsite with a series of landscaped pools and gardens of lilies, irises and numerous aquatics cascading in a beautiful setting. At the end of the system is a clear pool of beautiful drinking water. It can be done people!!

Fast forward to today and a house being built in Topanga Canyon, CA. The water system is designed by Environmental Planning and Design (EPD) and the first to tackle the urban frontier. Their MicroSep Tank© is a multi stage unit coupled with self contained drainage pits and a seperate area to address roof runoff. The firm has been involved in the Audubon Center in LA as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council building in Santa Monica. Both are USGBC LEED platinum projects.

The technology is here and cost efficient. We just need to wake up the folks who wield the mighty pens.

 

Modern Green Prefab Homes

What if you could have a 2500 sf modern home arrive on flatbed trucks, assembled in two months and be drinking wine on your new deck? OK.. I exagerate a little but not by much. Anyone who has read my newsletter views on our future dwelling and building options will know of my excitement concerning the modern prefabrication movement. With the rise in economic cost (and scarcity) of land, we designers and builders are seeking new alternatives to the standard building experience/nightmare.  Technology does allow for offsite fabrication and precision while keeping production costs to a set level. Think about it... less PortaPottys and less radios blasting Freebird. Because the green building movement and LEED have been addressing the products which are included in modern style homes and commercial sites (non-VOC sheetgood plywoods, steel, glass, open space planning etc), the living quality and architectural possibilities are growing exponentially.

There are numerous stars out there such as Michelle Kaufmann with her wonderful Glidehouse homes and Dwell Magazine which has jumped into the action with The Dwell Home. This seems to be their venture with several designers who are aligned with Empyrean International LLC, a building manufacturer in Acton, MA. The designers, such as Joel Turkel with Nexthouse and Resolution: 4 Architecture, have created great shapes to address changing building needs. As people desire healthier, cost effective homes and become more saavy with the great alternative products that are quickly being marketed their way, this is the start of something exciting.

A primary need: Economic sustainability

We have been privileged in that last few years to have the friendship and mentoring of Thomas Greco and Sergio Lub, two wonderful men who are promoting conscious networking and economic practices that are sustainable and just for the many rather than controlled by the few with "trickle down" effects.

First I want to alert you to the work of Tom Greco. Tom is appreciated globally as someone who offers ways to use economics, such as alternative currencies, that may be the core to our ability to have a  habitable home, Earth.

Greco's main website is www.Reinventingmoney.com and is full of brilliant and essential resources and people to assist in transforming our understanding of economies. His most recent free ebook is Money:Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender and his blog site is Beyond Money.

Thanks, Tom, for teaching us economics that are just and sustainable for the well being of all.

Sitting with Grace: Innovative Chair Design

A brand new book on how to sit with grace and innovation. Just published from wonderful Chronicle Books, you can preorder from Amazon (and help support this site) or you can get it right this moment from Chronicle Books.

Here is the Amazon link if you would like to help support this site by buying through us. (Thanks!)

Paradoxes of Sustainability

Is it possible to live sustainably or is the word sustainable itself to be just a buzz word to sell "green" products and will corporate and consumer practices, which are currently pretty unsustainable, make this all just another practice in futility? Or can we, as Al Gore is suggesting, live with a little bit less dependence on carbon and become more aware of other options and move towards a cycle of constant recycling as W. McDonough recommends in his landmark book, Cradle to Cradle?

We believe that the questions that the word sustainable evokes are well worth considering for the sake of all parts of the community and environment, for the quality of life in general.

We humans seem to us rather omnivorous and insatiable in our longings for more, for better. Yet there are moments when we exceed ourselves as mere humans, moments of grace when what we create or destroy are done in ways that inspire, serve and, at least for now, seem just a wee bit wiser and more useful (i.e., "better"). In this section our hope is to tell stories of creation, destruction, change and the human spirit dealing with much that often seems paradoxical. 

As community members and artists offering services for the promotion of beauty and usefulness, we also intend in this column to look at stories of how people create sustainable relationships with each other and the environment. Like tides, these things ebb and flow, hopefully ultimately nourishing and sustaining a graceful natural process even when requires disturbing, upsetting, downright messy moments.

This section is Nancy Peden's effort to salute the dynamics of living in creative relationship with all of nature. Sometimes I hope to provoke. Most times, I hope to honor with dignity, joy and tender remembering.

Found out...again!

Well everyone we know has an opinion about The Wine Spectator but in spite of all the pros and cons of its power and use of it, this issue has some lovely recommendations for anyone who wants to come visit the Central California area (beyond Sideways) as we move into deep summer. Paso Robles is doing some great things and it is also nice to see recognition of Gary Pisoni as well as the  the Santa Lucia appellation. Salud! Wine Spectator for your new issue on California's New Frontier. As the Spectator site doesn't seem to be up to date you may have to go out an by a hard copy. Enjoy!

Innovative Green Cafe

Morgan Christopher is a ball of energy and tireless seeker of all things hip. He is opening a new coffee cafe/gallery/wine bar/live entertainment destination called Ol' Factory Cafe, in the Couroc factory building in nearby Sand City, CA. His goal is to create the first green and sustainable business of its type on the Monterey Peninsula. He will be using reclaimed lumber, cork tiles, shredded denim insulation, drywall made from wheat husks and nutshells, milk based paints, eco-resin panels and bamboo flooring. He is installing a biomass burning "wood stove" at one end and a clean burning denatured alcohol hearth at the other. Staff will wear 85% bamboo fiber tee shirts and there are waterless urinals in the bathroom.

All the food purchased or created will be locally grown, organic and small farm produced as well as shade grown, Fair Trade coffee. All paper products used are recycled or reusable. And if that weren't enough, he bought a very cool 1950's delivery truck that will run on bio-diesel. I love this guy. You go Morgan.

Welcome to The Albion News

Welcome to  The Albion News in its new form, a web log. Blogging means at least two things: we are now syndicated so news of our work, our friends and their work and the places we know on this beautiful, challenged planet, goes out globally. Secondly, you, dear reader, can comment or guest author if you choose too. Welcome!

With the launching of The Albion News Web Log we recommend stories, products and services from ourselves and our friends, that we feel offer beauty and utility for daily living with depth and meaning. The Albion Millworks has created a wide variety of projects in the US and in Europe and is currently based in Carmel, CA. Your participation and referrals are invited.

Politics, Culture and Gardens?

From the publisher, Frances Lincoln:

"Since the eighteenth century, when Pope and Addison meditated deeply on gardens, there has been very little critical discussion of gardens and gardening. This stimulating, entertaining and original collection of essays aims to redress that balance, renewing the connection between gardening and the wider intellectual and cultural world.

Essays include : "The Garden And The Division Of Labour" by Martin Hoyles; "Horticultural Intervention Art" by Tony Heywood; "Digging For Anarchy" by Tom Hodgkinson; "The Spirit Of The Geometrician" by Fernando Caruncho; "As The Garden, So The Earth - The Politics Of The Natural Garden" by Noel Kingsbury; "Landscape Design And Life: Conflict Or Complicity?" by Gilles Clement; "The Explosion Of Garden Visiting In France" by Louisa Jones; "Garden, Nature, Art" by David Cooper; "Nyc Wtc 9:11: The Healing Gardens Of Paradise Lost" by Lorna Mcneur; "The Power Is In Harmony" by Nori And Sandra Pope; "Unnatural History: Women, Gardening And Femininity" by Rozsika Parker; "Zen And The Art Of Tea Gardening" by Charles Chesshire; "Where Have All The Critics Gone?" by Anne Wareham; "The Garden As Art" by George Carter; "Gardens Of Ethnicity" by Clare Rishbeth."

In our view everything is political at some level, even the glorious world of gardens. What shall anyone of us use land for? Flowers, food or Wal Mart? What classes of people throughout history have made gardens? How can gardens be made more available, more a part of all of our lives? Maybe this scholarly book can help us understand a bit more of how we might make life a bit more pleasant.

Vista: Culture and Politics of Gardens
Tim Richardson, Noel Kingsbury and Franes Lincoln
$29.95