Month: July 2009

ReBurbia: Make the Suburbs Livable Contest

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Inhabitat and Dwell are holding a contest to redesign the suburbs into a sustainable and livable place. The contest is called ReBurbia and they are encouraging wild and crazy ideas to be submitted. If you have an idea to make the suburbs a place for humans to live then you should enter the contest – you better hurry though because the deadline is July 31st.

Calling all future-forward architects, urban designers, renegade planners and imaginative engineers:
Show us how you would re-invent the suburbs! What would a McMansion become if it weren’t a single-family dwelling? How could a vacant big box store be retrofitted for agriculture? What sort of design solutions can you come up with to facilitate car-free mobility, ‘burb-grown food, and local, renewable energy generation? We want to see how you’d design future-proof spaces and systems using the suburban structures of the present, from small-scale retrofits to large-scale restoration—the wilder the better!

Via Spacing.

Eight Groovy Green Roofs

- Adam Clare

Green roofs are a great thing to have on nearly any building. Environmental Graffiti has compiled a list of eight incredible green roofs.

Green roofs have been around for centuries in Northern Scandanavia, but they’ve really only become a popular trend in the last few decades. Recognized now for their ability to reduce the urban heat island effect while also reducing heat loss and energy consumption in winter months – among many other benefits – green roofs are really taking off, all around the world. And these aren’t just your average pieces of sod plopped on top of a building, either. These roofs are meant to be seen, designed by the artistically inclined in newfound attempts to express and flex their creativity.

The Recession is Still a Good Time for being Green

- Adam Clare

Without a doubt the global economy is still slowly destroying itself and people are looking to change that. One great way to avoid the same mistakes that drove us into this recession is to become green with your green. Indeed, many people in Canada are still focussed on greening their lifestyles.

Let’s take this economy from one based on exploitation of finite resources to an economy that is based on renewable resources.

“We are not necessarily tree-huggers but we try to make informed decisions regarding the environment,” Mr. Carli said of his family. They use cloth shopping bags, walk to the grocery store and try to buy local produce. Ultimately, however, their household buying decisions are decided by price.

At a time when the economic recession is straining many household budgets, families such as the Carlis are looking for ways to marry their need to be frugal with their desire to be green. Turns out, a reduction in income does not automatically mean a drop in eco-consciousness as people continue to stop and consider the true cost – environmental and monetary – of their purchases. Unlike the 1980s, when the economic downturn stopped the environmental movement in its tracks, concern over the fate of our planet is still going strong, says Rick Smith, executive director of advocacy group Environmental Defence. “The environmental movement has proven to be recession-proof.”

Ela Beres, a Toronto-based consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, interviewed several Canadian families on the impact green choices were having on their everyday spending. People are definitely interested in helping the environment if it costs the same or less, she says. “That’s a no-brainer. But when it comes to saying I want to spend more money to protect the environment, that is more iffy.”

Bake Cookies in the Heat of Your Car

- Adam Clare

If you have an automobile that sits around in a parking lot for a long time then you should start baking! Here’s a simple way to bake cookies in your car. Turn that empty car interior into something useful and delicious 🙂

It is scorching hot here and to put that heat to good use (i.e. to give me a reason to go outside and leave the air conditioning), I decided to bake up another batch of cookies, using my car as a oven. Baking cookies in a car is very easy and has the added benefit that you don’t heat up your house at all, but still get to eat freshly-baked cookies. I’ve posted some tips on how to bake cookies in the car before, but the most important things you need to know are:

It should be about 100F outside and the car must be in direct sunlight
Put a potholder or something under the baking sheet so you don’t damage your dash
Cut cookies into an even thickness so they cook at the same time
And, ideally, use an oven thermometer to make sure that your car gets up to about 180F (which it will as long as the windows are up and it’s 100F or more outside)
I like to use slice-and-bake cookies to ensure I get an even thickness, and this batch was Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, instead of the regular chocolate chip I’ve used in the past. The cookies baked up very well in the 180F+ car “oven” and even retained a hint of chewiness. If you don’t use a car, these can be baked in an oven, too. Mini chocolate chips make slicing the log of dough easier, but I actually used a mixture of regular-sized white and semisweet chocolate chips for these. They took a while to bake through, but since my car smelled like cinnamon when they were done, it was well worth it.

NFB Urban Gardening Short Film

- Adam Clare

The National Film Board of Canada recently relaunched its website to better show the world quality Canadian films. Here’s a film about urban gardening in Halifax:

In this short film, Halifax gardener Carol Bowlby harvests a mouth-watering crop from her small backyard plot. In considering soil quality, lack of space and a short growing season challenges rather than obstacles, she offers a wealth of practical growing tips for urban gardeners. By heeding Bowlby’s advice, bountiful organic gardens work equally well on apartment balconies, in small or large city lots or in a rural setting.

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