Recently, on Eco Design + Living, I asked readers to share some of the things they are doing to decrease their ecological footprint. Read about it here. Some of you may be wondering what an ecological footprint is and how it's calculated. For those who already know, I encourage you to take the test again over a period of time to see a comparison. For those wanting to be in the know, an ecological footprint is the amount of natural resources, calculated as an area, it takes to sustain a person. These natural resources are the products of our ecosystem that we consume, including the resources needed to take care of our waste. Natural resources are regenerative, though because of the growth of the world's population and the desire for all people to raise their standard of living (amount of consumption) to the level of developed countries, the world is in danger of overshoot. What this means is that humans are using more resources than the planet can regenerate in a meaningful time. Wastes accumulate; soil, oil, and water decline; and species are pushed to the brink of extinction.

These natural resources are the underlying foundation of our economy (the sale of goods and services derived from natural resources) that is showing signs of serious strain. Some believe we are experiencing a recession that has finally hit bottom and we're now poised for the growth machine to kick in. While I don't doubt that we will have fits and starts over the years to come, we are facing...

Share something you have changed or want to change about your lifestyle that lessens your impact on the Earth.

• share a link, a list, or a short description
• 250 words max
• may include a photo
• post anonymously, with an alias, or be yourself
• stories will be posted to a page on the Eco Design + Living website
• no efforts too small
• local or not so local, welcome
• please respond by June 1, 2009

Send stories to chandra@cfhdesignstudio.com

Eco Design + Living is an online resource for living sustainably on the Emerald Coast and beyond. For more information e-mail chandra@cfhdesignstudio.com

Plastic bottle or stainless steel? This NY Times Op piece by Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris sums it up. How Green Is My Bottle?

To summarize, if you think you will buy more than 50 plastic water bottles in your lifetime, then stainless steel is a better environmental choice.

If you only plan on buying one, then plastic has less of an impact on the planet.

Read the story...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...419bottle.html

Eco Design + Living is an online resource for living sustainably on the Emerald Coast and beyond. For more information e-mail chandra@cfhdesignstudio.com

On Thursday, Snookie Parrish and Kim Gordon's Garden Class from the Seaside Neighborhood School, visited CFH Design Studio's urban permaculture homestead. Ms. Parrish and Ms. Gordon have been teaching the students about organic gardening and living lighter on the land. The students learn through hands-on experience at the Corner Garden that is located to the East of the Seaside Neighborhood Scool on Quincy Circle. Their garden is an edible garden and most of the garden infrastructure was recycled, re-used, or donated by individuals or local businesses.

Kim wanted to show the kids a real life example of a local family that is actively working to reduce their environmental footprint. So, she arranged a field trip to our home.

When they arrived, I greeted them outside, as it was a beautiful day, just before the Spring Equinox. There were five students and they presented me with a sweet little gift of two organic German Butterball potatoes in a ceramic pot. I have two potato growing bags where they will live for the next few months.

We started by talking about some of the volunteer succulents that have sprouted up around the front porch and two bottle brush ferns that I recently discovered to be as old as myself. We then talked about the house and some of the things that were incorporated into the home to reduce its environmental impact like building to dimensional lumber sizes to reduce waste, large overhangs to protect the structure, using...

What is this...Permaculture?

When discussing eco-design and living, no conversation would be complete without permaculture. The word itself is a

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Portmanteau

or a frankenword from the words 'permanent culture' or 'permanent agriculture.' Two Australian dudes, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, coined the term in the early 1970's when they were developing solutions in response to the oil and environmental crisis at that time. It finds its origins in the simple concept that we all need food to eat and without sustainable agriculture, sustainable culture is an impossibility. Imagine that?

Fast forward to 2009, Permaculture is being revisited and re-evaluated as a solution for creating beyond sustainable communities. Permaculture is an ethics based design system that adheres to a set of principles and includes renewable energy systems, green building, sustainable agriculture, and water harvesting, among other elements. These elements are designed to work together to create closed loop or cradle-to-cradle solutions. The ethics for Permaculture are simple: care for humans, care for the Earth, share the surplus, and every being has intrinsic value. Between Holmgren and Mollison, there are 24 principles total. One example of a principle is "produce no waste."

Permaculture is a versatile design tool that can be applied to large parcels of land, a small urban structure, or even one's personal life. A permaculture design can be divided into...