AtomJohnson Blog

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them
glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing that you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.

While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

When I moved into my new condo in Boulder, I was amazed at the amount of packaging that was used in the move. I probably could have filled my entire loft with the crumpled packing paper that was used. The movers would wrap a rubber dog toy with four giant sheets of packing paper and throw it into its own box (yes, and exaggeration, but not by much). It took me several days and nights just to fold and box all of the packing paper for donation and reuse. The folded boxes took up my entire deck for several months before I found someone else moving who could use them. I think most people would have probably just thrown the boxes and paper away. I cringe to think about how many plastic bags would have been used for this throw-away effort.

Welcome onto the scene Earth Friendly Moving. They are a souther California based company that specializes in “zero waste” moving. You can rent their reusable plastic moving boxes for only $1/week. The deliver these boxes right to your door with trucks that run on a combination of biodiesel and vegetable oil. Other elements of the Earth Friendly Move include biodegradable Recocube packing pellets and Poopy Pallets made from recycled disposable diapers.

via Treehugger

I am eight days till closing on my new house in Boulder. I could not be more excited about the move. I had my inspection on the house yesterday and the only thing wrong in the entire place is that the bathtub faucet drips when the shower is turned on. And my inspector did a very thorough job. He basically gave the building the inspection eqivalent of a strip search. I’m not sure that I could have asked for a cleaner inspection report.

If you’ve seen pictures of the place, you can clearly see that it is a gorgeous place in an amazing setting. However, what the pictures don’t say is that the house is in a cohousing community. As I tell people this, most people immediately think commune…something on the order of bunk beds, uniforms and kool-aid. I can’t say that I’ve had an easy time myself understanding exactly what makes cohousing different from a regular condominium complex. From my initial perspective, I could see that everyone had their own place with enough space and resources to shut themselves out from the rest of the world if they chose to do so. Outside of your own house, the community shared common grounds and facilities in the Common House. I knew that these communities are generally sustainably built. I had also come to find out that the HOA was community managed. It was not until tonight though that I really came to appreciate the unique complexities of a cohousing community.

Bryan Bowan, one of the community architects and the current owner of my new home, gave me a copy of the DVD documentary that was made about the design and development of the Holiday Neighborhood. It focused mostly on the Wild Sage Community itself. When you all come to visit, you will be encouraged (forced) to watch the film.

What impacted me the most in the film is the fact that the Wild Sage community members were actively involved in the design of the community from the very beginning stages. At one point, the documentary shows the section title of ‘Design Year Three’. These community members spent over three years planning out their future community with the goal of creating a community that had the least impact on the planet that it could possibly have. In fact, the overall goal of the community is zero emissions. Essentially that means that no fossil fuels will be burnt in order to provide power to the community. Through energy efficiency and clean energy generation, the community hopes to have zero reliance on fossil fuels. There are several other design decisions that were carefully calculated in order to create an environmentally sustainable neighborhood with an intentional focus on creating a diverse community where neighbors know and interact with one another. I for one am totally psyched to become a part of this amazing community.

You don’t often hear of the man suffering a mid-life crisis who went out and bought himself a Geo Metro. That is because economy cars have never been what we would call ’sporty’. The ’sports car’ and the ‘economy car’ have generally been kept in two separate classes…until now. The star at this year’s Detoit Auto Show was a hybrid/electric sports car that runs on soybean-based biodiesel fuel, get 50 miles to the gallon, and can go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds! And who created such a car? A small group of Philadelphia high school students in their auto shop class built the car. They used an old Honda Accord chasis, a Volkswagen turbo diesel engine, and whatever other parts they could scrounge up. Be sure the check out the video coverage on CBS’s website (the video is on the right side of the page)….it’ll blow you away. You can also see several photo albums from the building process at this website.

I drive a very practical car. It is a 1997 Honda Civic DX hatchback. The only thing sexy or enticing about it is that fact that my grandmother calls it the ‘Night Rider’. Even though I often get passed by Geo Metros, I have not really had any desire to get a new car….until now.

I just read about the Honda Fit. It is new Honda compact car that is coming out soon. Rumor has it that they are developing a hybrid version for global release in Spring of 2007. Even though it is tiny, the rear seats can be folded up and down in various configurations to allow you to tote around alot of stuff. Throw some roof racks on top for bikes, skis and snowboards, and you have just created the perfect vehicle. Oh yeah…and the sport model will even feature paddle shifters on the steering wheel….pretty cool!

I don’t yet have a baby, but I know that babies create alot of two things….number one is noise….and number two is….well, number two.

Babies are pooping machines. Drop in some food, get out some poo.

It has always seemed to me a big waste that we wrap babies in puffy, disposable, non-biodegradable pants that are really just gift wrapping for a tiny piece of poo. Wouldn’t it seem more logical if we could just flush their cute little poopies down the toilet. Well, now you can.

If you have a baby, I encourage you to try gDiapers. If you’re concerned about clogging the comode…my first suggestion would be to stop going back for seconds. If you’re concerned about these diapers clogging the comode, read this.

Consider that conventional disposable diapers are the third largest contributors to landfills in the world and yet only five percent of the population uses them. And, a single disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to biodegrade in the landfill.

So, Nat and I have pretty much folded on the idea of purchasing one of the two houses in Nederland. Both were around $300,000 and we agree that is too much of a mortgage to crawl underneath when we want to pursue our dreams of a job that serves the greater good. On our way out of Boulder, we missed a turn and ended up running into a gorgeous community of some of the coolest houses you’ve ever seen. What really caught our eye was the giant sign that said ‘Recycling Construction Waste’. I immediately knew that it was one of the sustainable communities that I’ve been so facinated with.

Just past this awesome community was a sign that advertised the future site for Silver Sage Village. It advertised a Cohousing Community built on sustainable principles…and best of all…affordable housing. It advertised market value houses of $350,000 as low as $109,000. This of course was the perfect living situation for us. I excitedly called my folks about the possibility and to let them know that we had hung up the idea of the moutain home with the hot tub and heavy mortgage. While they were as supportive as ever, my father thought that it sounded a bit like a retirement community. Well, circle gets a square! You were right Dad…its a retirment community…for active, spiritual, community-oriented seniors.

Back to the Yurt.

The city of Lyon, France has started an innovative new initiative to curb commuter congestion. The Rent-a-bike program allows anyone with a credit card to rent a bike for $1.20 per hour. However, the first 30 minutes are free. Since most trips are relatively short, you could conceivably leave your car and own bike at home, yet still commute efficiently about the city. If you’ve ever been in the middle of a gorgeous city on a Sunday morning, or other low-traffic time, you know how enchanting it can be. Similar free bike programs have been attempted in other cities, but they have worked on the honor code. Since this system requires a credit card and a $180 check or credit deposit for each bike (cashed or charged if bike is kept more than 24 hours), theft has not been a problem.

Read more about the rent-a-bike program here.

Would you believe me if I told you that a Subaru factory in Layfayette Indiana produces less waste each week that a typical household? They have figured out a way to reduce or reuse almost everything in their manufacturing process. This is the beauty of sustainable design practices. It doesn’t mean that they have to stop producing cars. It doesn’t mean that the manufacturing quality suffers. It simply means they have thought out how to do things better to produce less waste. You can read more about it here.

I aim to do the same. One area where I try to reduce my waste is with plastic shopping bags. I keep about 5 canvas bags (stuffed within each other) in the closet next to my front door. When I go to the grocery store, I take these and pack my groceries in them. It benefits me, because I can put more in one bag, so I’m not hauling 17 plastic bags from the car each time I go shopping. It also feels great to not fill my garbage can half full with plastic bags after each trip.

I have always loved the environment and the outdoors, but as an urban dweller, it has been very easy to give into the convenience of wasteful living and turn a blind eye to the hurtful environmental practices of the way that we live. I’m not suggesting that we all grow our hair long, stop showering and listen to The Grateful Dead, but we can all pitch in and live in a more sustainable way. Alot of it has to start with us as individuals, but there is alot we can do at the urban planning level. One thing that we can do as individuals is to buy organic foods and free range meats. Please take a moment to watch The Meatrix. Its a great little cartoon about large factory farming practices. It is very real, and its time that we all pitch in and try to create a better world for our children (or our dogs, or even ourselves).