Fem

Fem: Where do “fem” and “net zero” meet? Perhaps where diverse bees and people thrive; where Indigenous communities are not caught between oil and livelihood; where all have access to constructing or having a micro-generator.

Read more

Failure of Imagination

Failure of Imagination: In a context where climate change denial is alive and well, solar panels and local gardening shine. In the context of actual climate change, they begin to pale. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-global-biodiversity-report-1.5124089

Read more

Envelope

The blower test results on the new house came in at a record-setting .22 air changes per hour. Not one prone to techno-fetishism, I am nonetheless in awe of this air-tight envelope.

Read more

Destruction

Down came the old house. Ten years prior, we had re-shingled its roof together in sweaty 30 C July weather. Perhaps those rays, fertilized by the failed blower test and cracked foundation in that old house, planted the idea to…

Read more

De-Growth

De-Growth: How might housing simultaneously re-imagine social relations and built environments, e.g. reduce energy metabolism AND democratize shelter (Cattaneo and Gavaldà 2010)? Check out our neighbours, the Westmount Net Zero Social Housing Project. http://www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/canadas-first-net-zero-church

Read more

Design

Design: Aesthetics, mechanics, gardens, safety, sunlight, efficiency, navigation for all kinds of bodies. Why are these intersections so elusive? “When women are empowered to design their own houses they can do so in radically different ways.” (Pickerill 2015: 903)

Read more

Contract

With the very first contract, a whiff of the gendered embodiments and disembodiments wafting through construction, design, and planning. Don’t worry, it said, women and the plural are subsumed into the default singular and masculine.

Read more

Character Imprint

Character Imprint: Bill the digger. Dawn the electrician. Tommy the framer. Kam the tiler. Pol the finisher.  A creative and diverse group of people applying their craft, their human imprint durably encased in our home.

Read more

Context

Treaty Six and Métis lands. Canada. Alberta. Oil. Seven hours of sunlight on December 21, 17 hours of sunlight on June 21. Kilowatts sold in summer at 16 cents, bought in winter at 6 cents. And yet, solar energy incentives…

Read more

Conflicting Urgencies

Conflicting Urgencies: Saving fruit trees from demolition means trucking dirt off site. Eco-friendly building materials sometimes travel the farthest. Oil money feeds mortgage loans (esp. in Alberta). Solar for the public good sustains the private good life. @just_powers

Read more

Convictions II

Convictions cont.: Save the fruit trees in the corner of the yard during construction. Retain a good-sized yard for garden, berry bushes, and bees (and convince partner of latter). Build with solar panels, a high efficiency fireplace, and a tight…

Read more

Convictions I

Convictions: Sustainably manage the demolition of the house currently on the lot. Sell the furnace and garage door and windows to friends renovating a farmhouse. Donate everything else to Habitat. Give away perennials to homes in friends’ yards around the…

Read more