Because most modern housing
just isn’t good enough.
Because we got angry about
the way volume housebuilders
were riding roughshod over great
tracts of our towns and countryside:
erasing traces of the past; ignoring
established communities and
chucking up identikit Noddy houses
at the lowest possible cost.
Because we believe that housing
should be specific to its context;
that, done properly, development
should improve rather than destroy,
the biodiversity of the site.That it’s
not just about houses, but about
landscape, culture, community.
Because we simply didn’t believe
it when we were told that you can’t
build beautiful environmentally-
friendly housing at a price that
most people can afford.
It’s something of a surprise to us
too, but in the words of Bob the
Builder ‘Yes we DO’. Beautiful houses
that keep people cool in summer and
warm and winter and generally
happy and smiling all year round.
Places with beautiful outdoor spaces
with communal gardens and edible
landscapes and butterflies and
badgers and birds. Really we do.
Check out www.haboakus.co.uk
to see that we’re really quite
professional and grown up.
Yes you can!
So right now you could…
Think of something you’d
be happy to lend or give away.
Or a skill you’d like to share.
Then log onto streetbank to
see if there’s anyone in your
neighbourhood who’d like to
take you up on it. If you fancy
operating at a rather grander
scale you could visit Transition
Network for information about
working as a community to
respond to the pressures of
climate change and generally
improve well-being and happiness.
Or you could check out the
Movement for Happiness and
add your weight to its mission
to replace individualism and
consumerism with community
spirit and contentment.
Or you could phone up somebody
you really like and invite them
over for a cup of tea.
Well…..
Why? Because we keep meaning to grow fruit and veg in the garden, but we never quite get round to it. Because Grow Zones get people together to share ideas and expertise, pool gardening tools, help each other in the garden and have lunch. Really, what’s not to like?
Why? Because three-and-a-half BILLION pieces of gum are disposed of irresponsibly in the UK every year. Because the cost of cleaning chewing gum of the UK’s streets is three times the cost of the gum itself. But help is at hand. All hail the GUMDROP, an ingenious litter-bin-with-attitude made from – and for – used gum. Once it’s full both bin and contents get recycled to produce new GUMDROP bins and the cycle starts again. Oh, and www.gumdropbin.com is one of the coolest little websites we’ve ever seen.
Because Waterlife is one of the few films that combines investigative environmental journalism with fantastic film-making, stupendous story-telling, and breath-taking beauty. Because it tells the epic story of the Great Lakes by following the cascade of its water from northern Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, showing viewers how the Lakes might appear to a seagull, a fish or a water molecule, and exploring the impact of pollution on the 35 million people who rely on the lakes for survival – including a village where mysterious toxins ensure that most new babies are girls.