Dan Phillips and Creating Houses from Recycled Materials

I just found this excellent video, from TEDxHouston, of a talk given by a man named Dan Phillips on the creation of homes from recycled and re-purposed materials. I definitely thought that it was going to be meat and potatoes on home building and how to use/find materials to use. Boy was I wrong!! This, most excellent, talk is as much about philosophy of home construction, and how we live within our homes/communities, as it is anything else.

Mr. Phillips discusses basic philosophy in the terms of how we seek, build, finance, and live in our homes. A really interesting way to approach things indeed. He breaks it down into two major ways of looking at homes based on Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the Apollonian and Dionysian. Now Nietzsche wasn't the first to discuss these two in opposition to each other, I think that was probably Plutarch, but Nietzsche went the extra mile to oppose the two diametrically. The Apollonian being the ordered, the ideal, the logical, the thinking, the appreciation for visual and tactile things, whereas the Dionysian is the chaotic, the intoxicated state, the instinctual, the feeling, the appreciation for reality (organic structure?). Applied to modern homes you have the Apollonian McMansion, and the Dionysian [name your organic/sustainable/recycled home design ethos].

Within this framework Phillips breaks down the ideas behind his work and why it is important. The largest driving force, within the home construction industry, is the waste created by the consumer. Formally waste was all over, the industrial revolution had a dirty, wasteful start (think your turn of the century saw mill or steel furnace), now we are presented with a industrial process that is certainly wasteful in terms of pollution but not necessarily use of raw materials. Modern mills and plants that make materials for use in home construction have the process of getting the most out of a raw material to a T. If you have ever been present at, or watched a video of, a modern saw mill in action you will have undoubtedly noticed the advancements made in production of dimensional lumber. Computer technology has allowed a mill to calculate the most efficient use of a log within milliseconds and then cuts it accordingly, gone are the days of cutting 2x4's from one log then 4x4's the next and so on. The problem of waste lies with the consumer.

Phillips gives an example that I, myself, have been guilty of, turning away a piece of lumber because it is somewhat warped. Another example is throwing out the off cuts of pieces of lumber and not using them for other projects and applications. Yet another is replacing any piece of a home just because of a minor imperfection that changes or, in the eyes of most, depreciates its value. This is as bad an example of wanton over consumption as any. Years ago people wouldn't waste anything they bought when building a home or making anything in particular. Today we throw away most of what we buy.

Mr. Phillips believes that a return, or more like a shift, towards the Dionysian side of life, is required in order to conceive of and create a less wasteful way of life. Mr. Phillips, you are preaching to the choir. This shift from an ordered way of building would allow us to get in touch with a more organic and natural expression of our wants and needs. His ideas are quite provocative and I strongly urge you to take aside for a few minutes and watch his talk. Without further diatribe, here is Mr Phillips.



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America on a Diet: Curbing Consumption

As a concerned American I can only hope that my writing will spread awareness of certain problems we have in our society. As Americans we consume, a lot, from the oxymoronic consumer durables to fast food. I believe we can live our lives in much simpler ways. This has become somewhat trendy to the extent that people are buying clothing, coffee mugs, and appliances that are made from recycled parts or products. Now really these things serve not to fix the problems but serve the problem in a way that makes consumers feel good about themselves. But what about acctually solving the problem?

There are many ways to consume less but we have to be willing to change the ways we live and work. Here are some suggestions of what we could cut out or cut down on in order to fix our consumption problems.

In the kitchen we have a great deal of waste going on. On average 8% of our energy costs are from our refrigerator alone! Dishwashers, microwave ovens, blenders, bread makers, toasters, all take a good deal of electricity or water to run. Now if we cut out say dishwashers we could free up space, electricity, water, and even eliminate a sanitary nighmare. Replacing your older appliance might be a good plan but be weary. Just because you buy a energy star fridge doesn't mean you are doing the right thing. Keep those clunkers around till they need to be put on life support. Who knows, by then there might be better options and some might not come from China.

Turning out the lights and making sure the faucets are not leaky will also save an enormous amount. Lights can be complicated because of the buzz over CFL (compact flourecsant) light bulbs. As a rule of thumb if you are leaving a room turn your lights off. If you are leaving a room and then coming right back in it is better to leave them on, but no more than 5 minutes. Turns out that the large initial amount of energy to turn that light on does make a difference. A leaky faucet is a huge waster of water. Consider that a leaky faucet in your home will waste approximately 2,000 gallons of water a year. That is 2,000 gallons of fresh water that is completely wasted. To look at this in a different light that translates to about a 5 gallon bucket filled a day, or 41 baths a year, or 21 liters a day for all you metric people. Considering that you might have more than one leaky faucet you are wasting a TON of water.

How about the things we buy?

Well a great way to stop consuming or rather to consume significantly less would be to eat local. Supporting local food is supporting an industry that uses considerably less energy and wastes a lot less than industrial agriculture. Beyond that you will likely be spending less money on things like packaging and preservation that increase the amount of energy used to produce a food but not the amount of energy (nutritional value) of a food. Also consider that on average our produce at Wal-Mart and Price Chopper and other grocery stores travels 1,500 miles to get there. And worse still only about 7% of the money you spend stays in your local economy, the other 93 pennys out of every doller go to pay for parts of the food system like packaging, transportation, and preservation. In comparison local farmers at your local farmers market keep up to 90% of each doller you spend. Thats money that stays in your local economy and not the economy of other communities or other countries.

The holidays are upon us and we are all going to be heading out to shop for gifts for our friends and families. But do they really NEED what we are getting them? Is there anything we can get that will hold its value? Are we spending money for something that is disposable when we can get reusable? Is there an alternative to what you are getting them that would be less wasteful?

Instead of a CD or DVD maybe get a gift certificate for a digital copy that you can get through iTunes or some other service.

Instead of hitting Abercrombie hit the local Salvation Army.

Try to find things used instead of new. 9 times out of 10 you will be able to find what your want on your local Craigslist or maybe even eBay. Remember just because it is used doesnt mean it has stopped being useful.

Get digital copies of books that can be viewed on something like Amazon.com's Kindle or Barnes and Noble's Nook. Sure these things are news technology and are energy intensive, but they represent entire library's of books in your pocket. Save trees and some green this way. Besides we don't need a highway infrastructure to transport E-books.

Instead of getting something for someone this holiday season do something for them. Maybe take them to a museum or local concert. Not only are you doing something fun but you are stimulation part of your local economy. You could even volunteer to do work for them or treat them to a day off and say do dads chores or mow the lawn or wash the dishes. These little things can help a lot.

Remember people it isn't what you are giving to people but what the gift really represents. Your love for your friends and family. So if it is something special and personal, and not something just bought at Wal-Mart and wrapped in gaudy paper, it will mean more.

I encourage you to leave some comments on this post. I gave a few examples, but now I want to hear what your ideas are regarding lowering consumption.