Principles

I believe that it is essential that we learn to live in ways that value all living systems, of which we are part. It is clear that the way I live at present is not compatible with this belief. Together with exploring the meaning of community and learning to look after the natural world around us, the desire to build this house was a consequence of trying to bring my life-style closer to my beliefs.

The ultimate goal is to live in a way that does not diminish the well-being of others (including humans), but actually leads to a healthier world.

General principles:

Minimising ecological impact
Moving towards being carbon neutral and socially and ecologically sustainable
Aesthetics being an integral part of good ecological design
Minimising use of non-renewable resources
Creating a place that people love to live in

In practice this led to these design principles:

Use of the suns energy
Minimum fossil fuel energy use
Maximum practical insulation
Use of environmentally friendly, recycled, locally produced materials
Use of local labour and businesses
Reuse of materials from original building
Water conservation

What you can do

Live the way you believe in!

Deep ecology is a movement led by people like the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess. The central idea is that ecology is not something to be just studied and controlled by us but that we are part of ecology and we need to develop our awareness of our participation in it.

Deep ecology encourages us to think deeply about our lives. There is no single right way to live and each of us needs to develop our own set of principles to live by. Deep ecology is not just a philosophy but a movement involving action. Building this house was part of that action for us. If your principles are similar to those above I hope that the 'What you can do' sections at the bottom of each page on this site can help you take the action you want to.

See the 'What you can do' page for a compilation from all sections.

Web Design by Robin de Carteret 2002 (copyleft)