Sustainable Living Skills You Need to Survive
It might not seem so serious to the average consumer in the First World, but the future of the world as we know hangs in the balance. The media is full of bad news that can make changing things for the better seem hopeless, but there are simple and radical things you can do to reduce your impact and set an example for others. It's not just a choice, our survival depends on it.
Follow my YouTube Channel Hardcore Sustainable to find out how I've implemented sustainable technologies and techniques at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage to help me live more lightly on the Earth.
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The Cheapest, Easiest Way to Produce Solar Power at Home
I’ve gotten some comments from people saying this is illegal in some places. This video is not meant to imply that you can just connect to the grid and feed back into it without an agreement with your local utility, it is just intended to show you one way you can easily grid tie and backfeed if you have an agreement or want to get one with your local utility to grid tie.
I thought I’d have to spend a lot of money, but it ended up being cheaper than ever to get my solar system feeding back into the grid.
It used to be that you had to invest a lot of money in a solar power system. Despite that solar panels eventually paid for themselves in energy cost savings, it was a really expensive initial investment. Then there were government tax credits for renewable energy that made solar systems much more affordable to the average American. This led to the increased production of solar panels and the driving down of prices. Now technological advance is bringing costs down even more, and the technical know how to set up a solar power system like this is simpler than ever.
If you are still using grid power from fossil fuel you are propping up people and corporations that are responsible for our current government and for the system we have that benefits corporate interests over the public interest. The best way to ensure that these people lose power is to stop giving them money by becoming energy independent. It’s never been easier or cheaper, so why aren’t you doing it?
Beautiful Finish Alis Coat on a Tiny House Pt 4
In this final installation of this natural building how-to series demonstrating an earthen plaster repair and alis application, we see the finished product of all our hard work. I finished it just in time for the new tenants to move into Wisteria Lodge.
The Stunning Results of My Clay Alis Natural Paint Pt 3
Continuing this natural building how-to series and my earthen plaster renewal and alis on Wisteria Lodge, in this video I show you the technique for applying the alis. The transformation of the ugly worn earthen plaster begins and we see what a difference the alis makes in the aesthetics of this tiny house.
I Made a Non-Toxic, Super Cheap Paint From Clay: Alis Part 2
In this video I continue my renewal of the earthen plaster in Wisteria Lodge, now mixing up the alis clay based paint. This process is so simple and the ingredients are so cheap, anyone could do it. And as you’ll see in the next video, the results are incredible.
Natural Building: Repairing and Refinishing Earthen Plaster Part 1
One of the great things about natural buildings is that they are recyclable. The earthen plaster in Wisteria Lodge has been around for nearly 10 years and it’s gotten a lot of wear and tear, so this season before a new tenant moved in I took some time to repair it and finish it with a natural clay alis paint. Earthen plaster is all organic and so malleable that you can chip it off, add some water, and it comes back to life for reuse in the same repair project. This little project transformed the house from kind of a junky looking quaint tiny house inside, to a beautiful, warm, and inspiring little space.
3 Rare and Easy-to-Grow Permaculture Plants You Might Not Know About
At Dancing Rabbit we are always looking for new useful plants that will grow in our climate and soil since it can be challenging given the poor land we inherited. I’ve been trying out many in the last two seasons. Two of these plants are new to me and one I’ve grown for many years and find a vital part of my harvest every year. I was really surprised by how easy these were to start from direct seeding outdoors. I’d tried them indoors the previous year with minimal success. See my other video from last year of me starting a number of permaculture plants.
