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delicrieux · 5 years ago

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Please i’m begging you a continuation of that poe one shot please 😔❤️

ask and thy shall receive. also i lowkey snapped lol

part 1.

It is pathetically easy to grow attached when you two are, quite literally, the last people on this planet. In the strange domes of sand and heat mirages he had fallen from the sky as a gift — or a curse, depending who’s perspective one takes. Though, despite your grim fate, both of you secretly let a thought blossom: at least, even if stuck, you are together.

Together. Such a binding word. You noted it’s peculiarities once you heard it leave his lips for the first time. Together. It wrapped around you like a vine, springing hope, or a snake, warning of venom and heartache. Alas, together you will face everything head on. There is no other option. You both would crumble otherwise.

He is curious and chatty and he finds this planet fascinating with it’s three suns and seven moons. He had wondered aloud one evening how long does a day last. You, without missing a beat, in a pensive tone, had uttered: 20 hours. He, at first night, did not believe you. Evenings, then, he pried. 5 hours, you said. Mornings? he questioned once again. 3 hours. He was shaking with disbelief. Night? he asked lastly. 11 hours and 37 minutes.

“That’s...” He started with a smile, uncertain whether you were joking or not, “Very specific.”

“It must be—“ You countered calmly, meeting his gaze under the pale moonlight, “—if we are to survive.”

Daytime is useless to us, you had warned him, so sleep during the day. You will burn if you leave. Night’s best place to tinker and look around. Morning is fine, but the temperature rises drastically, so best thread carefully. Evening was when I found you. Had it been day... Well, let’s not think of it.

A full 117 hours had passed when he could not take it anymore. It was daytime, a heatwave, the air so palpable it looked like silk fluttering in the wind; the sand was bright and burning; sky bluer than his eyes. He watched through the ship’s window, it being warm enough inside to make him sweat but not enough to have difficulty breathing. When asked how did you manage not to cook like the scorpions in foil you urge him to eat, you had, with a shrug, said: air conditioning, it has solar panels. Alas, he was fidgeting, and glancing at your still form by the makeshift bed. He figured you might be sleeping. Though, he also knew that you were most likely not.

“Water.” He broke the silence, and your head twitched in his direction, hazy eyes meeting his, “Where do you get water from?” This question had bothered him a while, you knew, and it surprised you that it was not the first thing he had asked once he awoke.

“There is... something. I’ll take you there when evening sets. It’s about ten miles west from here. If we make it in time, then... Well, you’ll see.”

It was a painful wait of 14 more hours till finally you urge him outside. The air is hot, it burns your throat, and you pull your scarf over your lips and your hair so only your eyes can be seen. Fixing your backpack and making sure the straps won’t dig into your skin and create blisters, you glance at him. Soft, warm breeze ruffles his hair as he looks at the horizon. The sky is already turning pink. He looks handsome, you think, though you refuse to entertain the thought further.

You trek forward, over mountains, and hills, and odd flat terrains that stretch for miles. You point at certain spots and say, in a matter-o-fact, teaching tone: quick sand there, turn east there and you’ll be eaten by snakes, we’re entering scarab territory, so I hope you’re not squeamish. But after the long journey with small breaks in between — nothing profound, just a stop to drink water and catch your breaths — you climb the last hill, your leg muscles contorting as you do. But the view presented to you takes your breath away. It takes away his, too.

Ways down, against the violet-pink sky with the last sun peaking just slightly on one side and two moons already up on the next, stands a grand palace of sandstone, chipping, ancient, massive: columns, arches, pillars that reach for the sky. You turn to him with a smile, breathless, heart beating rapidly in your chest. He stands humbled, mouth agape, lost in wonder. You had seen a great many things, traveled to many planets, secretly rode in the most modern of spaceships... But you, as he, had never seen anything quite as opulent and lonely as this.

No words are needed. He looks at you and you share the strange delirious thought. He starts to laugh, amazed at first, his smile more beautiful than the sun. You join him, still out of breath, giggling, renewed somehow, abloom with happiness. You grab his hand and rush downwards, sliding down the hill, almost tripping and tumbling. The sky dyes darker when you finally reach the entrance.

“Ready?”

“Uh—Should I be?” He replies uncertain, still holding your hand. You can’t stop smiling. Tugging him forward, you enter.

It is never dark here, not really. Where the suns burn in a treacherous light of fire, the moons provide a pale sickly glow that makes everything appear white and gray. Inside is only one hall, a vast empty room with pillars holding up a second floor with no stairs to reach it. Vines and leaves and grass poke out the sandstone and wrap around columns and arches like pretty ornaments. At the center stands a well covered with a heavy lid. In the deafening silence you hear the sound of water.

“Is that a—“ He points at the well and you nod, letting go of his hand and throwing your backpack near a bush of sweet brier. He lets out another laugh, this one humorless, more shell-shocked than anything.

“It is the only place I know of.” You explain, stalking to the well and motioning upwards, “When the moons align...” There is a scar in the roof, a crevice from which light spills and sets everything aglow, “It looks... Well... magical, I suppose.” You finish, feeling a bit silly for the comparison.

“Why not just stay here then?” He asks, joining your side when you beg him for assistance to remove the lid. With combined strength, you push it just enough to reach a hand in and fill the flasks you brought with fresh, cold water.

“We wanted to.” You start, forlorn, glancing around the area with a burdened gaze, “We saw it before we crashed, from way up above. It was evening when we did, just the start of it. We figured that someone might live here. Might help us. Three of us set out, two stayed. Me, Nine, and... Murphy.” You take a much needed seat, your bones aching with relief. He fills up the flasks, listening, “We were so... stunned. Really. Even when we found no one here, we found water. We got lucky. We thought we will set up camp and stay for as long as we needed. Until we figured out how to get out. The plan was to look around and report back but we took our time to get here and then we stayed. We thought we had all the time in the world. We didn’t even realize dawn was breaking. And then the suns rose...” You turn your head slightly, eyes landing on a pale pillar with four names engraved onto it, “And then everything started to burn. Murphy was lounging by the well and once sunlight hit him his skin turned to boils. We retreated but we had nowhere to run. So we hid behind the pillars. In the only shadows this place had. We stood there for...” 20 hours you want to say, but you don’t manage. 20 hours of tension and pain, 20 hours back pressed against hot stone, 20 hours of hearing Murphy sob and screech at his open wounds. Poe lands a hand on your shoulder and you jerk, then offer him a crooked smile. You point at the pillar, “They left their names. All who went and vanished came through here.”

It was meant as a checklist of those who passed onward, leaving clues as to where to find them in case they didn’t return by morning. Now it stands as a silent grave of those forgotten, lost in the sand. The only reminder that they ever existed. Murphy. Nine. Sindra. Ribbon. They were not your friends, merely scavengers that you met on a quest to get richer. The five of you teamed up. And subsequently, one by one dispersed into nothingness. You don’t know what happened to them. And in whole truth, you don’t want to either.

“Do you... think my ship is still intact?” He breaks the silence, his voice gentle. You shrug. It’s the best answer you can give him. “Can you take me to it, tomorrow? If it hasn’t exploded, then maybe we can find a way to fix yours. Or mine’s still working.” He adds with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

You barely manage to not roll your eyes, “Ah, yes, how can I forget, the Resistance’s greatest pilot and his most certainly greatest ship. Gravity defies you, Poe.”

“I’m know to have that gravity defying effect.”

It is, absolutely, the silliest thing you had ever heard said in a smug tone. You laugh. He chuckles and takes a sip from his flask. “You good at anything?”

“Rude.”

“That’s... not what I meant— what I was trying to say is if you’re good at tactical things. You’re clearly a good navigator.”

“I’m also a fantastic thief. And huntress. And mechanic.”

“Really?”

“Well I wasn’t before I came here. Except the thief part. I’m mighty good at stealing things. And scavenging. You’d be surprised.”

He looks at you, really looks, not in a shallow, glance-about way, but takes you in, every feature, every nervous blink, every uncertain quirk of your smile. Your throat runs dry and this time it has nothing to do with the lingering heat. No one has ever regarded you in such a way. It is both liberating and frightening.

“Yeaaaah...” He finally says, turning away, taking another sip, “You look like a fox.”

You snort, “Mischievous and sly?”

“Definitely untrustworthy.”

“Have I led you astray yet?”

“No, but I’m almost certain that that wouldn’t benefit you at all.”

He’s partly right. And he knows it. But he must also know that you genuinely favor his company. He must. He definitely noticed the way you look at him. Anyone would.

“How about...” You start slowly, “Once we leave this place, we go gambling. Cards. Slot machines. All that shabang. I’ll teach you every trick in my book — and trust me, I have many. But only if you can out drink me.”

He laughs. You wait for his fit to end. Once he’s just chuckles and breathless mutters, you nudge him, “So? What you say?”

“I say, there is definitely a catch. And it’s probably not as easy as it sounds but... Deal.”

You shake on it, smiling like two idiots. In the pale moonlight you catch his gaze, a certain tenderness within it, longing. And a thought springs forward before you can dismiss it, that perhaps he might kiss you. Your heart almost stops when he does.

#poe dameron #star wars #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader #star wars imagine #imagine #imagines #request #star wars the last jedi #star wars the sequel trilogy #star wars rise of skywalker #reader #reader insert #xreader #fanfic #i can sometimes be an ok writer #oscar issac

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mysticstronomy · 4 years ago

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HOW WOULD LIFE SUPPORT ON MARS IF WE MOVED THERE??

Blog #16 Saturday, September 5th, 2020

Welcome back,

The biggest questions are; how would we live there? Is there enough water and food? How would we grow food? We all had\have these questions at least one time, so today I will try to answer and explain.

NASA wants to send humans to the red planet by 2030, and SpaceX wants to get there even sooner, with plans to have people there by 2024.

The atmosphere of Mars is mostly carbon dioxide; the surface of the planet’s gravity is a mere 38% of Earths. Plus, the atmosphere on Mars is equivalent to about 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere at sea level. That makes getting to the surface tricky.

After the Earth, Mars is the most habitable planet in our solar system due to several reasons.

1. Its soil contains water to extracts.

2.It isn’t too cold or too hot.

3. There is enough sunlight to use solar panels.

4. Gravity on mars is 38% that of our earth’s, which is believed by many to be sufficient for the human body to adapt to.

5. It has an atmosphere (albeit a thin one) that offers protection from cosmic and the sun’s radiation.

6. The day\night rhythm is very similar to ours here on Earth: A Mars is day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds.

After the “building blocks of life” were discovered on the red planet, life on Mars and living on mars seems to be less like a scene from the movie THE MARTIAN and more like a reality.

Mars is more Earth-like than any other planet in the solar system, making it an attractive second option for human race. There’s also a natural beauty on the planet: A Grand Canyon.

How life arose on Earth remains a mystery, though many theories have been proposed. Now a new study by Japanese scientists has reinvigorated the discussion around panspermia: The idea that life may have reached Earth from Mars.

The panspermia hypothesis suggests life may have arisen on another planet, with bacteria travelling through space, hitching a ride on a piece of rock or other means, eventually making its long-distance journey to Earth. Mars is a particularly appealing source, as studies suggest it was once potentially habitable with a large hemispheric ocean.

However, the biggest challenge has been determining if bacteria could survive the harsh interplanetary – or even intergalactic journey.

To answer that question, a group of Japanese scientists, in participation with the Japanese space agency, JAXA, conducted an experiment on the international space station.

In the new study, researchers found, with some shielding, some bacteria could survive harsh ultraviolet in space for space for up to 10 years.

NEW FINDINGS!!

MARS DUST DEVIL SPOTTED BY NASA’s CURIOSITY ROVER.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has spotted a dust devil swirling through the parched Red Planet landscape.

Curiosity photographed the dust devil on Aug. 9, capturing a spectral feature dancing along the border between dark and light slopes inside Mars' 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) Gale Crater.

It's no surprise that these dry whirlwinds, which we also get here on Earth, are cropping up inside the crater these days, Curiosity team members said.

"It’s almost summer in Gale Crater, which puts us in a period of strong surface heating that lasts from early spring through mid-summer," Claire Newman, an atmospheric scientist at the Arizona-based company Aeolis Research, wrote in a mission update on Wednesday (Aug. 26). (Gale lies about 4.5 degrees south of the Martian equator.)

Shortly after landing inside Gale Crater in August 2012, Curiosity's observations allowed scientists to determine that, billions of years ago, the area hosted a potentially habitable lake-and-stream system. In September 2014, the car-size robot reached the base of Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) into the Martian sky from Gale's center. Ever since then, Curiosity has been climbing through the mountain's foothills, reading the many rock layers for clues about how the Red Planet changed over time.

Curiosity has spotted dust devils on Mars before, and so have the rover's robotic cousins. NASA's Opportunity and Spirit rovers photographed the features, for example, and the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has given us birds-eye views of the alien twisters.

COMING UP!!!

(Wednesday, September 9th, 2020)

WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN METEOROID AND ASTEROID

#astronomy #astrophysics #astro notes #astrophotography

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mccarranhandymanservices-blog · 5 years ago

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hungergames-fanfic · 5 years ago

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Tour de Wyetka

Today Efrain is coming home with me cause his daddy just started working in Mr. Kwan’s stables. He’s a really old rich man who’s managed to outlive his last stable keeper. He has twice as many horses than us and is really paranoid about who he allows in his home and land. Only reason Mr. Oxoro got to be stable keeper is cause he was a good friend of the previous man, according to Efrain.

My good friend lives an hour away on foot from Littlberg, his family is one of the few that have a gasoline based car. It’s really old, loud and sometimes won’t even start, but it’s what they got. My family ain’t got any cars, daddy says we’re lucky cause we got horses. Cause Efrain would have to walk such a long way home, he’s gonna be staying with me until his daddy gets out.

There are three roads connecting Bloques to Littleberg. The shortest road is seven miles long and it’s a lonely road apart from the only house standing four miles in. Both left and right are open space of drying, sandy land with patches of tall green and yellow grass. From far away small hills and mountains close the land in, giving it the image of it being inside a shallow crater.

A small wired fence wraps around all the open land reaching halfway up the hills. Throughout the open space, cows, calfs and bulls can be seen far apart from each other, some huddled up together, enjoying the tasty grass.

Closer to the house at the forth mile mark, it’s not that hard to spot the unpainted farm house yards away. Next to it, on the right is a large chicken coop the size of a regular house in Bloques. To the left, a small section is closed off by a wooden fence. The side of the farm house, where horses are held is open and allows them to walk freely in within the small enclosure. Out by the farm house doors is a small shed where their water is placed on a large tub. Yards away is an old well we use to fill these up.

Opposite of the horse stables inside the farm house is an open stable where we bring injured animals in order to treat them. This is where I milked Brownie the first time. We kept her there cause sometimes it’s hard to differentiate cows from each other. It’s easier to keep the lactating cow on a short leash than look for it through thirty-seven others within seven miles of land.

On the left side of the house, seen from the front, is a large area kept within another wired fence keeping momma Bilmin’s flowers, vegetables and fruit safe from the pesky cows that enjoy sweetness in their lives. It’s not just cows daddy worries about though. Sometimes kids will be caught sneaking in and stealing the edibles but momma Bilmin told daddy not to do anything. After all, “they steal cause they’re hungry”. Even then, daddy jokes that if they can get past the bee stings, they deserve what they snatched. Momma Bilmin has two wooden crates filled with bees that constantly make honey.

In front of the house is a baby walnut tree thin enough for me to wrap my hands around it. A small, dusty tile passage leads us towards the house. An hacienda style, miniature home the size of two classrooms. The house is naturally orange and the tiles on the roof are just as bright along with two large solar panels. Uncle Amos really outdid himself building this house, and I ain’t officially shown Efrain the inside yet.

Stepping into the house we automatically enter a long hallway. At the end of the hall is a large potted plant blocking a window. Feet from the door is another, but this is a closet. Here we put foldable chairs, umbrellas or rain coats.

“Momma would of made this my room until I outgrew it”, Efrain says chuckling.

To the left are two doorless rooms, one walks us in the kitchen, it’s not that big but it’s perfect in size for momma Bilmin to bake all of her heart’s desires. Across the doorway is a small round table with four chairs.

“This is the breakfast table” I say to Efrain who stares at the colorful square patterns on its surface.

“Y’all have a special table to eat breakfast on?”, Efrain asks wide eyed. “Back home we just got one table but it’s bigger than this”, he adds.

“Is it this big?”, I ask taking him by the hand into the room next to this one. “This is the dinnin’ table. We don’t really eat here unless we got company”, I turn to him and notice the blank facial expression. I think he feels bad cause his table might not be this big. “We wouldn’t even have this table if aunt Lucia hadn’t bought herself an even bigger one”, I say flamboyantly just like she does when she’s tryna be snobby. This makes him chuckle. He witnessed this back at the lake.

To the right, in front of this doorway is another doorless room. This is the living room and the biggest room in the house. Here we have a big brown sofa that matches the interior walls. Next to the sofa is a reclinable chair.

“That’s daddy’s recliner so make sure to never sit on it”, I raise my eyebrows warningly.

Feet away from the sofas is a small table adorned with a potted pink succulent momma Bilmin found while one of her walks with Sasha.

“Who’s that?”, Efrain whispers pointing at the little girl sleeping on the sofa.

“That’s Sasha, momma babysits her while her parents go to work”, I whisper.

On the wall, on top of the chimney we rarely use hangs a big television screen. Here daddy watches the news. It’s just the weather and stuff that happens throughout District 10 like whippings or someone dying on the side of the road. Unless it’s Hunger Games month, all of May they’ll bombard every channel with the games and televisions will even turn themselves on so we won’t have any other choice but to watch. We still don’t, though. We just lower the volume and avoid the living room. I’m not allowed to watch the games.

“You’re not allowed?”, Efrain asks wide eyed. “But that’s where all the cool fightin’ take place”, he says chopping the air with his arms, mimicking a fight stance. He makes me smile.

“Momma Bilmin gets sad when we watch the games. She says it’s so cruel to force children to fight for entertainment”, i inform him.

“My momma said that when she was young watchin’ the games Am-“, I put my hand on Efrain’s mouth and look around. My index finger over my lips, I take his hand and drag him out the living room, down the hall to the second door on the right, passing the restroom.

My room is the smallest in the house but momma Bilmin says she’ll give me hers when I get bigger. I don’t know how I feel about sleeping in the room uncle Amos used to sleep in. In here, to the left of the door is a big bookshelf filled with books, to the right is a tall dresser I hide in when I’m upset. Usually when daddy hits me.

In front of the door, across the room is a small noisy spring bed. I lock the door and explain why my bed sheets are yellow and why that’s my favorite color but Efrain still giggles about it. I pull him under.

“Why are we under your bed?”, he asks.

“I’m not allowed to talk bout uncle Amos”, I admit.

“Why not? Everyone says it was the craziest times in ten”, he says wide eyed with a big smile on his face. Like it were cool or something.

“You know what happened in his games?”, I ask wanting to know everything that he knows.

“You don’t?”, he practically screams.

“Shhh! Just tell me but be really quiet”, I snap.

“Daddy says that this was the fourth hunger games so nobody was used to it yet. Every year when someone’s name was called people would go crazy and start beatin’ on the peacekeepers. When ya uncle Amos got called all ya family started fightin’ them. A lot of people joined up too” he nods matter of factly. “So when the peacekeepers saw that they couldn’t calm them down they started shootin’ all over the place. They done killed ya grandma’s parents, her husband and older brother and then still took ya uncle away. Momma says that this was really traumatic for ya grandma cause even after losin’ everyone she was forced to watch her baby brother play the games”, he says with regret when he notices I’m crying.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have told you any of that. I forgot momma told me not to”, he admits and stares at me. I nod and let him know it’s ok. Even though what he’s telling me is horrible, I want to know more. I’ve never heard about any of this before and when momma Bilmin told me about it, she just mentioned her husband.

“It was really cool cause Amos killed a lot of tributes, no one in ten has even killed more than two”, he says tapping his fingers on the wooden floor. “Daddy says that cause of him District ten survived the famine. Him and ya grandma helped feed a lot of people throughout the years. That’s why no one likes Tate, all he does is hide in his mansion and show up on Reaping day”, he says.

Tate is District 10’s only living victor. He doesn’t look scary or intimidating, just like any other guy but the fact that he killed someone to stay alive is really scary. His mansion is also really creepy looking. He never goes out.

“That’s why everyone knows who I am?”, I ask. He nods and gives me a shy smile. Tells me the Wyetka’s are famous cause we’re good people. This makes me cry again. What if I don’t grow up to be a good person just like momma Bilmin and uncle Amos?

“Don’t cry Isa, I don’t wanna get in trouble”, he says worriedly. I wipe my tears and stay quiet.

“Did I tell you my daddy got shot when the peacekeepers started shootin’? Said he was bout two years old, mindin’ his baby business when the peacekeepers started wildin’”, he chuckles. “He got shot right here”, he points at his hip. “Said it hurt like a bitch”, he opens his eyes wide and puts his hand over his mouth. We stare and laugh at one another. I ain’t ever cursed before.

“Bitch”, I say wondering if the words can come out my mouth. Efrain laughs and joins in. “Fuuuuck”, he sings showing off his missing front tooth. After a while we start saying every curse word we can think of and laugh out loud at all the funny ways we say them. It’s all fun and games until daddy starts pounding on the door.

“Isadora!”, daddy yells behind it. When I open the door he stands there with his hands on his hip, quiet with a crazy angry look on his face. Did he hear us saying bad words? I want to apologize but what if that’s not what he’s mad about?

“Ya daddy’s here boy”, he says to Efrain who darts out of my room without saying goodbye. Behind him stands momma Bilmin extending her arm for me to take. If she wasn’t here I’d get a beating, I just know it.

Scared out of my mind, I don’t know what to say. What if they heard us talking about uncle Amos? All my life I’ve been told not to talk about him and I ain’t listen. Momma Bilmin ain’t crying though, so maybe they ain’t heard us talking about him. Her and daddy sit at the breakfast table staring at me. Nobody has opened their mouth before I start crying my eyes out. I’m in trouble but I don’t know why.

#isadora wyetka #Efrain #polomir wyetka #momma bilmin #Amos Wyetka #age 9 #the hunger games

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jmenvs3000w22 · 3 years ago

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My evolving relationship with the natural world

Nature for me has always brought comfort and calm to my life. I grew up in Ottawa, where nature started off a little more “urban” than it is now, but my relationship with nature has always been deeply rooted in awe and gratitude, with the curiosity to constantly learn more. When I was 4, my parents got a cottage on the Big Rideau Lake, and this is where I spent all my summers and weekends. This to me was my safe haven, with plenty of trails, woods, swimming and canoeing. I loved being immersed in it all, but growing up in downtown Ottawa my relationship with nature was on a weekend basis. That, and in my imagination when from a young age I knew that I wanted to be a Marine Biologist (which is my current program!), diving into the ocean to discover the unknown. Being in an urban setting, I longed for the deep nature. The real, backcountry mountains, oceans and rainforests; not the “nature” of NCC regulated parks and the trees cut out of little pavement squares on the sidewalk.

So comes along high school, and I decide that I wanted to do the Outdoor Education Program. This was an AMAZING experience for me as I was introduced finally into the world of dried dinners, camping, and bear barrels to get into the wilderness. I loved every trip we were taken on, from Algonquin Park canoe trips to hikes in Frontenac Provincial Park.

And then an opportunity came along through this school program to do an exchange with Brentwood College, a school on Vancouver Island, BC. We were going to meet with the students and do a sea kayaking trip around Salt Spring Island in the fall; in the spring, Brentwood kids were to come to Ontario and do a canoe trip in Algonquin. The sea kayaking trip was a huge shift in perspective and eye opening experience to see the beauty that was out there, and we were lucky enough to see some whales while in the water. This experience sparked my interest in the west coast, and I knew that I would be back. Through my friends in this program and to the instructors that took me there, this really gave me a sense of place in the world, and that was ultimately in the west.

Entering university, I knew my places for “deep” nature that I loved would be in the summer. But as I did my courses, I was beginning to realize that it wasn’t just about physically being in these beautiful places, it was about learning and finding ways to protect them. And not only these beautiful places where I personally liked to be, but every place, if you look, carries beauty and nature, down to the plants peaking out of the sidewalk. And so I began taking my electives in sustainability, only gaining more respect for the natural world. An evolution was happening from simply being in awe of nature, to a role of conservation and protection of it. This transpired into me making more sustainable lifestyle choices: reusable bags and mugs, jars to fill up dried good in bulk, buying clothes/anything second hand or from sustainable companies and recycled materials, etc.

In the first summer out of university, I went tree planting in Northern BC. In all truth, my ideals of nature were not met doing this job as I thought it would be. Though you are “planting trees’, these trees are covered in pesticides and and you are essentially planting a monoculture that eventually will be logged. So no beautiful, old growth forests, and no biodiversity. My sustainable lifestyle choices were not upheld either in this environment, a lot of goods transported to a camp are packaged and plastic is plenty. It was certainly not about sitting in a field admiring the wildflowers; quite the opposite, it was busting your butt to make money.

And so my second summer, I changed gears to work at the Lake Agnes Teahouse at 7005ft above Lake Louise, AB. We live up in cabins for our shift when we work, no electricity other than a couple solar panels, no running water (we pull from the glacial melted lake in the running waterfall), and this truly was the best summer ever, so much that I did it again this past summer. Not only do you live on a mountain, your days off are spent climbing, mountain biking, hiking & trail running, and backcountry camping.

Because of the pandemic, I also took a gap year and moved to Nelson, BC which is quite south and west of the Rockies. Nestled in a beautiful valley between mountains, I spent my winter working at Whitewater Ski Resort as a lifty. And when I wasn’t doing that, I was ski touring (or backcountry skiing) with my boyfriend. Accessing backcountry mountains on foot, and therefore a method that isn’t producing emissions was incredible to me. From Nelson and in between the Teahouse, I took multiple trips to the Island, including Victoria, Ucluelet and Tofino where I surfed for the first time. And through my evolving relationship with nature, I found my purpose is to move sustainably and explore this beautiful world around us.

And that is essentially where I am at now! I am back from my nature oriented gap year into school where I am mostly into environmental conservation courses. This summer, I think the next step for me is working at a Backcountry Lodge!

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wiadomosciprasowe · 5 years ago

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Hurtigruten introduces battery powered snowmobiles

https://www.y6.no/%e2%80%8bhurtigruten-introduces-battery-powered-snowmobiles/

Hurtigruten introduces battery powered snowmobiles

Hurtigruten Svalbard is introducing eSleds – Electric snowmobiles. Here from a test-run in Finland. PHOTO: AUROA POWERTRAINS Dato: 12-09-2019 12:07 CEST Opprinnelig tittel på pressemeldingen: Hurtigruten introduces battery powered snowmobiles Kategori: , Vitenskap, teknikk Turisme Miljø, energi Sjøfart, fartøy, havn Turistnæring, turisme, reiser Fully powered by renewable energy from the Arctic winds and midnight sun, here is the latest addition to the Hurtigruten fleet: Electric and emission-free snowmobiles.

Fully powered by renewable energy from the Arctic winds and midnight sun, here is the latest addition to the Hurtigruten fleet: Electric and emission-free snowmobiles.

The deal, a partnership between Hurtigruten’s land-based adventure travel company Hurtigruten Svalbard and the Finnish startup company Aurora Powertrains, is one of a kind in the history of snowmobiles and starts new era of silent and emission free snowmobiling.

– Exploring some of the most pristine areas of our planet has never been more eco-friendly. We firmly believe the future of travel is emission-free. Introducing electrical solutions in our land-based operations and activities is a major step in this direction. With the introduction of eSleds, Hurtigruten Svalbard once again leads the way with groundbreaking green technology, Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam says.

Debuting this winter, Hurtigruten Svalbard’s new eSled snowmobiles will offer modern-day explorers unforgettable wilderness experiences on the Arctic island of Svalbard.

With snow-capped mountains as the backdrop, guests will explore the Arctic winter landscape like never before, with silent and emission-free outdoor adventures under the northern lights.

Renewable Arctic energy

Hurtigruten Svalbard will introduce the electric snowmobiles this winter. PHOTO: HURTIGRUTEN

To fully utilize the green potential in the sustainable operation of electric snow mobiles, Hurtigruten Svalbard will set up a separate power supply including solar panels, a windmill and battery packs for energy storage. The complete renewable energy solution is delivered by Assemblin AS.

– Our eSleds and the entire operation will literally be powered by the midnight sun and Arctic winds. For us, this is only the beginning. We are already planning similar solutions to be installed at our hotels and other parts of our Svalbard operation, Hurtigruten Svalbard destination director Krisztina Uzonyi says.

Green revolution

The electric snowmobiles is the latest in a number of battery powered technology pushes by Hurtigruten and Hurtigruten Svalbard:

This summer, Hurtigruten introduced the world’s first hybrid powered cruise ship. Equipped with large battery packs, MS Roald Amundsen will be followed by MS Fridtjof Nansen spring of 2020.

Several existing Hurtigruten expedition cruise ships will be upgraded with battery packs and green technology.

In a partnership with the Norwegian startup Brim Explorer, Hurtigruten Svalbard is introducing silent, electric-powered and emission-free explorer catamarans.

With the eSled snowmobiles, Hurtigruten expands their battery revolution on shore – adding a truly unique experience for adventurous Arctic explorers.

The eSled will be powered by the midnight sun and arctic winds. PHOTO: AURORA POWERTRAINS

– At Aurora Powertrains we have a global mission to make “Snowmobiling Recharged”. eSled is based on ready-made chassis, combined with revolutionary technology. This will take Hurtigruten Svalbard’s guests into the Arctic wilderness, without emissions or the risk of disturbing wildlife, Aurora Powertrains Ltd CEO Ari Karjalainen says.

With long traditions as a mining society, electricity on Svalbard has until now been supplied by a coal-fired power plant.

– Our renewable energy solution will utilize the Arctic winds during winters and the 24 hours of Midnight sun during summer. By joining forces, we are combining Assemblin’s green technology and Hurtigruten’s unparalleled ambitions and push for more sustainable solutions in the travel industry. We hope others will follow, Assemblin project manager Lars Rise says.

—

For media: Find more photos and info in this link: http://bit.ly/hurtigrutenSvalbard

—

Book your Hurtigruten Svalbard silent, emission-free and battery powered snowmobile adventure online here or on (+47) 70 02 61 00

For more information, please contact:

Krisztina Uzonyi Destination Director, Hurtigruten Svalbard +47 947 96 181

Ari Karjalainen CEO, Aurora Powertrains +358 40 540 2146 [email protected]

Lars Rise Project Manager, Assemblin +47 94 16 91 48 [email protected]

Kilde: Pressekontor Hurtigruten AS – PRESSEMELDING –

————

Hurtigruten – World leader in exploration travel

Building on 125 years of Norwegian pioneering heritage, Hurtigruten is today the world's largest expedition cruise company.

Hurtigruten’s rapidly growing fleet of custom-build expedition ships takes modern-day adventure travellers to the world’s most spectacular destinations on our Planet – from the High North to Antarctica in the south.

Being the world leader in exploration travel comes with a great responsibility. Hurtigruten is enhancing destinations and runs an responsible, sustainable global operation. Read more about Hurtigruten's sustainability efforts here.

Hurtigruten introduced the world’s first hybrid battery powered cruise ship, the MS Roald Amundsen this summer. In 2020 she is followed by sister ship MS Fridtjof Nansen.

Hashtags: # #Vitenskap, teknikk Turisme Miljø, energi Sjøfart, fartøy, havn Turistnæring, turisme, reiser Vitenskap, teknikk Turisme Miljø, energi Sjøfart, fartøy, havn Turistnæring, turisme, reiser

#energi Sjøfart #fartøy #havn Turistnæring #Hurtigruten AS #reiser #teknikk Turisme Miljø #turisme #Vitenskap #Pressemeldinger

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architectnews · 4 years ago

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Mighty Buildings plans neighbourhood of 3D-printed homes for California

Construction technology company Mighty Buildings has announced plans to build 15 homes using prefabricated 3D-printed panels in Rancho Mirage, California.

The project is a collaboration between California-based Mighty Buildings and developers Palari Group. Construction will begin at the end of this year with the homes set to be finished by Spring 2022.

3D-printed panels will form the houses

Once complete, Mighty Buildings claims that the development will be the "world's first community" of 3D-printed homes with net-zero emissions.

Solar panels will provide energy for the properties. Individual houses will also have the option to use Tesla Powerwall batteries to store solar energy.

The development will be in Rancho Mirage

The company has released renderings showing 15 bungalows that will be built using its patented Mighty Kit System.

The hybrid process sees prefabricated panels made of 3D-printed material made in a factory before being shipped and assembled into steel-framed modular houses.

Each panel is the equivalent of eight layers of traditional construction materials, said Mighty Buildings. In the Rancho Mirage development, each property will be made up of a primary and secondary volume on 10,000-square-foot (929-square-metre) plots with gardens featuring rectangular swimming pools.

Clad with textured stone, the home's walls will be punctuated with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and house bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as a fully-equipped kitchen and living spaces.

Each property will have a swimming pool

Other optional features will include electric vehicle charging stations, as well as artificial intelligence wellness technology called DARWIN. Developed by health brand Delos, DARWIN filters air and water and can programme lighting patterns designed to encourage people's circadian rhythm.

The developer explained that the 3D-printed and prefabricated model would speed up construction.

"3D-printing allows us to build faster, more strongly and efficiently," said Palari Group founder Basil Starr.

"The process is integral to our platform of streamlining home-building that is centred on sustainability of construction, materials and operations."

A rendering of shadows cast on stone walls

Located in mountainous Rancho Mirage, the development will be minutes away from the famed Sunnylands estate, a property known for hosting high-profile politicians and celebrities.

Other large scale low-energy designs include plans for a carbon-neutral airport terminal in India and as a low-rise Passivhaus housing development in England.

Renderings are courtesy of Mighty Buildings and EYRC Architects.

The post Mighty Buildings plans neighbourhood of 3D-printed homes for California appeared first on Dezeen.

#Architecture – Dezeen

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buysolarbestsolarpanel · 9 months ago

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Best Commercial Solar Panel Installation Company in Ipswich, Spring Mountain,Springfield Lakes,Bellbird Park

Rising energy costs and the recent introduction of a carbon price could eat away at your bottom line. A great way to reduce your exposure to these risks is by investing in solar power for business. By doing this now, you will take a proactive approach to the situation. Best Commercial Solar Panel Installation Company in Ipswich, Spring Mountain,Springfield Lakes,Bellbird Park,Collingwood park,Redbank Plains,Augustine Heights,Forest lakes,Darra,Greenbank,Park ridge,Regents park,Camira,Flagstone,Jimboomba,

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aldinetreeservice · 5 years ago

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Is Delfino's tree team open during Covid-19?

Yes, Delfino's tree team is open during Covid-19.

Delfino is open for essential tree services during Covid-19. The Texas business environment has seen unprecedented changes to what was typically considered normal all of my life. Our small family owned company is Aldine Tree Services Houston Stump Grinding. We are performing daily protective jobs to prevent damage to homes, building infrastructure, and removing potential hazards.

We are highly trained in social distancing. We are advising all current or prospective customers to contact us via our secure web page. It’s as easy as Aldine Tree. Outside of the virus itself, we request for the safety of your family, and our team that you maintain 5 times the recommended distance. The CDC has advised a minimum 6 feet of separation, however given the everyday perils of the equipment we operate, and the need to maintain our focus, we ask our clients to employ a distance of 30 feet. We appreciate your respectful understanding for suspending hand shakes. Would we like to? Yes, old habits are hard to break, and it's what we've always felt was part of a good business transaction. We are trying to accept we can't change a virus. We deliver high importance survival skills, and do our part to eliminate the known forms of transmission we can reasonably control. If you’d like to communicate with us while we’re on your property,please use our safe and efficient secure form.

We're all learning new details on a daily basis. We can answer a frequently asked question below. What are some essential services we provide?

Here is a sampling of essential services we perform:

Removal of a tree limb which fell on your fence during the last storm.

Cut down dead live oak limbs touching your windows or showing warning signs of breaching your security in Cypress.

Haul away skinny leaning pines hovering close to your roof and presenting danger.

Diagnose giant arbors plagued by emerald ash borers or other destructive invasive pests, and eliminate the diseased areas, or an entire Chinese tallow near Memorial.

Reduce breeding areas for Ticks. These are quiet hidden plagues in waiting. They can carry Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, and other transmittable diseases.

Clear a big sycamore which fell on your driveway in Kingwood, and provide you a safe exit to make your important medical appointments.

Remove a fallen loblolly pine preventing you from opening your Spring front door.

Prevent a broken water oak section from crashing upon your Katy air-conditioner.

Identify dead or cracked limbs which surround your satellite dish, fiber optic or high speed internet delivery, electrical wires, natural or propane gas lines, telephone cables, and more. We know if we are able to keep your essential utility services safe from interruption, your ability to shelter in place in The Woodlands will be a success.

Clip stubborn hackberry roots from your damaged septic tank needing repair.

Fell a deceased shumard dangerously held in place by a distressed white oak.

Thin heavy overgrowth blocking your solar panels from receiving the vital amount of direct sunlight necessary. We have customers in Humble who rely on this to deliver their daily electricity, HVAC and hot water for their living needs.

We are the one and only Aldine Tree Services Houston Stump Grinding, and we are a click away from being able to manage your critical tasks during the coronavirus covid19 pandemic. Delfino has an excellent reputation as an honest fair priced tree specialist, and has served metro Houston since 2001. We cover Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery county Texas.

Have you ever had a less than pleasant experience with an arbor team? Please share your story below.Have a dynamite day,

Delfino Sanchez Vargas

Aldine Tree Services Houston Stump Grinding

1166 Woolwich Drive, Houston, Texas 77032

(832) 577-8158

www.aldinetreeservices.com

#aldinetree

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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The Fukushima surf revival

Emma Athena

How surfing was revived alongside a community in the wake of a tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Shinji Murohara sits in the cluttered office of his surfboard factory at the edge of Odaka, a sleepy seaside town nine miles north of the now-decommissioned Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The 52-year-old local surfing legend leans back, dressed in his signature groutfit: head-to-toe heathered gray sweats and silvering fringe around his temples to match. His eyes are deep-black, his verbal cadence quick and choppy. He gestures to the room next door, telling a story he’s told a thousand times before.

”It felt like a movie,” Murohara says, shrugging. “No one can understand except for the people who experienced it.”

Next door is the shaping room, where giant foam blocks are shaved down to sleek ovals, and where Murohara was at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake bloomed from the Pacific Ocean floor and triggered the most devastating tsunami in Japanese history, causing the Daiichi power plant to explode.

On the morning of the triple disaster, surfers bobbed in the water, nine miles from Murohara’s shop. They felt the water flatten and recede, a harbinger, and scrambled from the ocean up the nearby hill where a shrine and playground complex sit. From their perch they watched the waves return, bigger and bigger and bigger. They survived, but the world around them crumbled and broke.

If Fukushima was a book, the cover would be about radiation. But the contents would be totally different. Of course, people never read the contents.”

For five minutes, Japan shuddered in violent spurts as the Tōhoku fault gave way. Tremors ripped all the way to Beijing, and sent large ocean waves 5,200 miles to the California coast. When the earth settled, Japan had shifted 7.9 feet closer to the U.S., and a 250-mile stretch of the coast dropped two feet.

Murohara shook off the dust. Neither his two-story surfboard factory nor his childhood home, just a stone’s throw away, were badly damaged. At first, he figured business would go on as usual, earthquakes being relatively common in Japan and elsewhere along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Twenty-four hours after the disaster, Murohara heard for the first time that the power station had leaked radiation.

Murohara leans forward, placing his elbows on the table and palms together as though in prayer. He never could have known that what unfolded in the wake of March 11 — the government’s fumbles, the media’s hunger, the tens of thousands of lives lost and displaced — would turn his vibrant ocean community into an empty shell, haunted to this day by misinformation and fear.

“If Fukushima was a book,” he says, “the cover would be about radiation. But the contents would be totally different. Of course, people never read the contents. It’s our job to change this.”

The story of modern-day Fukushima arguably starts in the 1950s, after American soldiers dropped the atomic bombs but before they brought over their surfboards during reconstruction duty. Surfing was introduced to Japan in a sweet spot of its history, when new technologies and a flood of Western media ignited visions of never-ending progress and wealth.

Fukushima’s waters are coldest in March, when snowmelt from the Yamagata mountains flows into the rivers and creeks that wind through farms, towns, and factories as they journey to the sea. In Odaka, where freshwater combines with salt, life reflects the constant negotiation between the ocean’s meditative qualities and its deadly force.

In most places, the Fukushima coast is now, as elsewhere in Japan, buttressed by a concrete wall — 30 feet high, miles and miles and miles long. Giant concrete tetrapods are scattered across the beach floors, manipulating the surf. After the tsunami, defenses were not only rebuilt but enhanced. Just one strip of unadulterated sand remains, hugging the eastern point where surfers like to gather.

As Murohara was resettling in Odaka in 2016, he had seen dramatic international headlines that exaggerated or mischaracterized the water’s danger. Headlines like Wavelength Mag’s “The Fearless Surfers of Fukushima,” Al Jazeera’s “Fukushima’s surfers riding on radioactive waves,” and the Daily Mail’s “Japanese daredevils brave the contaminated water and sand.” Once people were allowed back in the region, sensational media flooded the internet — like photos of flowers, purportedly mutated by Fukushima Daiichi’s radiation, but actually photoshopped.

Emma Athena

Shinji Murohara in his surfboard factory located in Odaka, Fukushima. He has lived in the prefecture his entire life.

In Murohara’s telling, the book of Fukushima would begin not with the faulty nuclear plant, nor the aftermath of the accident, but in the early 2000s, back when Fukushima’s surf culture was deepening its roots and the local economy was flourishing from the surf-tourism campaigns he’d helped orchestrate. He would not linger on the ways in which Odaka, now polished clean of radioactive fallout and reopened to businesses, is still struggling to rebuild after the evacuation.

Murohara wouldn’t belabor the fact that Odaka’s population has dropped from 13,000 to 3,000, nor that the 15-minute drive from his home to Fukushima’s best waves, at Kitaizumi Beach, is filled with reminders of what once was: thigh-thick bamboo and a towering pine forest now littered with buried watermelons, lures for radioactive monkeys and wild boars; shiny solar panels occupying abandoned rice paddies and lots where homes used to stand; boarded buildings separating the one laundry service and two hardware stores on main street; how the only reopened guest house, once full of dripping wetsuits, is now empty some nights. At Kitaizumi Beach, there used to be a campsite where surfers and families hung out, and a restaurant that fed hungry bellies, and a public hot spring that welcomed tired bodies. Now, it’s a parking lot with bathroom facilities and some planted saplings.

Murohara would rather highlight the new grocery store and food hall/community center, where you can now buy Murohara Surfboard Productions (M.S.P.) longboards and shortboards after slurping down a steaming bowl of ramen.

He’d note that M.S.P. was one of the first local businesses to begin employing people in 2016 when residents were given the all-clear to return, and how he’s currently in the middle of doubling the space of his production facility to make room for new contract work manufacturing boards for Mayhem and Murasaki sports, North America and Japan’s biggest surfboard producers, respectively.

Though Odaka’s streets may pulse like a weak heart, he’d wax on about the upcoming international surf events that he and his partners at Happy Island Surf Tourism — Fukushima translates to “Happy Island” — have planned at Kitaizumi this summer, where extra-wide stairs extend across the length of the seawall that faces the beach like tiered amphitheater seating, perfect for watching the sunrise, or surfers ripping on waves.

He’d acknowledge that while the ocean caused incalculable damage — killing 2,000 people in Fukushima and 16,000 more elsewhere in Japan, destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings, and causing radiation to poison homes, farms, water supplies, and animals — the ocean has also helped people heal and finally feel at home again. To Murohara, the real story of Fukushima is a story of rebirth. It is a story about the weight of physical and mental trauma, of deception and unshakeable stigma, and how a destructive force can be channeled into regenerative power.

Prior to 2011, Fukushima was nationally famous for its rice, sake, farm-fresh vegetables, and horse sashimi, but, most of all, for its samurai history. Every summer since the 1300s, a military-training-exercise-cum-festival tournament has taken place in the giant grass field in south Minamisoma City, the ruling municipality for Odaka and Kitaizumi Beach. For three days, tens of thousands of spectators cheer on a reenactment of warriors from one of Japan’s most iconic eras. In one event, men wearing traditional samurai armour race horses around the dirt track; in another, men clad in all-white cloth capture wild horses with their bare hands.

In its recovery from World War II, Japan rapidly expanded its industrial base. Factories and manufacturing centers sprung up in Fukushima, which is located in convenient proximity to Tokyo and swaths of open land. The prefecture had already been supplying Tokyo’s metropolis with resources, namely energy, since the late-1800s, when coal mines were bored into the landscape. However, the island-nation’s finite natural resources dwindled as decades passed, and the need for alternative energy grew. Despite experiencing the devastation of nuclear weapons in 1945, Japan turned to nuclear energy.

Framing the effort as a means to peace and modernity, the Japanese government began investing in nuclear power in 1955, constructing its first nuclear power station in 1961. That same year, town councils near Odaka agreed to invite the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the new American light water reactor to their coastline. The system was hailed as simpler, safer, and cheaper than the alternatives, and citizens were assured that the 10-meter sea wall would protect them against worst-case natural disasters. Using Fukushima’s waves to help cool down the reactors, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station opened in 1971, and the plant was shipping energy to Tokyo in time for the last coal mine to shutter in 1976.

By early 2011, Japan was generating 30 percent of its energy via 54 nuclear plants, second in the world behind France in terms of percentage of electric power supply. Japan’s plan, according to a report from the World Nuclear Association, was to boost that number to 50 percent by 2050.

As Japan was implementing nuclear power infrastructure, surfing was gaining popularity around the globe. Starting in the 1950s, images of people surfing trickled into Japanese media. The 1959 surf movie Gidget — a Sandra Dee romance about a blonde, spunky teenage California girl — is widely credited with piquing mainstream interest in the sport all over the world. In the early 1960s, American troops deploying to Japan brought their surfboards with them, passing along surfing techniques by word of mouth. By the 1970s, surfing had sunk its teeth into Japanese culture, with more than 50,000 surfers riding waves along every available coastline.

However, surfing wasn’t afforded the same welcome to the shores of Japan as nuclear power. While the big, economic engines of nuclear power stations were received with relatively open arms, surfers were stereotyped in the same vein as hippies: lazy and unfit for serious societal demands. Left to themselves, surfers separated into tight-knit clans up and down the coasts, from the southern beaches of Miyazaki to the northern stretches of Hokkaido.

Among those who know surfing in Japan, the break at Kitaizumi Beach is considered the best within 100 miles, and the most consistent in the entire country. If it hadn’t been for the 2011 triple-disaster, one of Murohara’s colleagues, Hideki Okumoto, is positive that Kitaizumi Beach would have been chosen as the site for surfing’s inaugural Olympic competition in 2020.

Okumoto, a dynamic and fast-talking professor of economics at Fukushima University, has worked with Murohara on local surf-tourism campaigns since the early 2000s. Around that time, Okumoto was invited to advise Minamisoma City’s government on the region’s failing industrial economy. While everyone was trying to figure out how to resuscitate the electronics and auto factories that had been keeping them afloat, Okumoto, a longtime surfer, recalls telling the mayor, “‘You don’t know the real resource of this city. This area has a good wave and a good beach — it’s a good resource for this city.”

By 2004, Okumoto and Murohara had formed a nonprofit together, Happy Island Surf Tourism. Both men were assigned to a city-backed committee, alongside representatives from the chamber of commerce, tourism office, education department, and hotel association.

Local surfers were enlisted to help clean up the beach, and became de-facto brand ambassadors for the area. Seeing this, city officials began to reconsider their perception of surfers. The interdisciplinary committee was eventually given a $200,000 budget for work on Kitaizumi Beach, which they used to hire long-overdue lifeguards. “It was the first time in all of Japan that surfers got taxpayer money from a city,” Okumoto says.

Their initiatives worked. According to the tourism office, Kitaizumi’s summertime beach attendance swelled from 54,000 people in 2005 to more than 84,000 people in 2010. Murohara and Okumoto organized national and international surf competitions, attracting the all-holy World Surf League in 2007, which brought stars like John John Florence to town for a qualifying event. For the first time in Minamisoma City history, hotels reached full capacity.

As Kitaizumi Beach started to register internationally, so did local surfers. “In this area, there were many kid surfers, but they didn’t want to be pro surfers because they couldn’t imagine it. But when big contests came here, they thought for the first time, pro is so close to them,” Okumoto says. “They could imagine it.”

Throughout 2010, Okumoto planned to create a surf village in Odaka. The idea was to pair young surfers with older farmers to help with fieldwork in exchange for room and board, and also attract retired city folks who wanted to live a second life in a vibrant seaside community. Just as that plan was coming to fruition, however, Fukushima was struck by a horror they had been told was impossible.

On March 11, 2011, a 46-foot wave flooded the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. It cut electrical power and disabled its diesel backup generators. While the four seaside reactors were immediately and successfully shut down, the loss of all power obstructed necessary cooling procedures. Over the next five days, failure after failure occurred, until eventually, a hydrogen-air mixture built up and exploded in three of the four reactors. Then three of the four reactors experienced fuel-rod meltdowns. The final explosion happened March 15.

During this five-day window, chaos unfolded across the country, and public information was hard to come by. On the evening of March 12, Murohara received orders to evacuate via radio broadcast, but the town-wide announcement didn’t contain many details. He knew the orders were due to radiation concerns from the power plant, but he didn’t know how serious it was, how long he’d be gone, nor what the potential harms were. He packed a few days worth of clothes and drove himself and his cat, Lan, up to the western Yamagata mountains, where he could soothe his anxiety with snowboarding. Both TEPCO and the national government, which owns a majority share of TEPCO, issued press releases over the ensuing days, but each one was vague. Some people hid in their homes and refused to leave. Some people left the country immediately.

Slowly, it dawned on Murohara that he wasn’t going to be let back into his home anytime soon. Though all the roads to Odaka had been closed, he snuck into town anyway and gathered more of his things, including his surfboard.

Like everyone around the world, Murohara had questions no one would answer. Friends and family were missing, but no one was allowed to search for them. Unlike other coastal areas that had been hit hard by the tsunami, the firefighters and rescue crews in Fukushima had only the first few hours of March 12 to search for people who had been swept away by the ocean’s waves before they, too, were evacuated and barred from reentry. The towns on the periphery of the power plant — Namie, Okuma, Futaba, and Tomioka — were inaccessible for the next seven days while TEPCO sorted the situation. In some of the adjacent coastal towns, injured people who weren’t evacuated within the first day were left to die, friends and family abandoned in the wake of the waves.

In the aftermath, there was no central resource for radiation information. The few radiation sensors TEPCO had installed in the region all went offline after they were flooded in the wake of the explosion. So where, exactly, was the contamination? How much radiation was there? What were the cancer and other health concerns, and for what people—elderly, pregnant, children? What could they eat? Where could they go?

Though very different in many ways, Fukushima’s nuclear accident was the largest since Chernobyl in 1986. Nobody knew what to expect, or what would ensue. Everybody feared the worst.

In those first tumultuous days, tech guru Sean Bonner frantically assembled and moderated an international Skype chat room from his home in Los Angeles. It consisted of 25 technology professionals, nuclear scientists, and public health experts, all trying to connect the pieces of a very complicated puzzle.

Bonner regularly worked in Tokyo, and now lives there. He had been planning a technology conference in the city in April. After he heard about the earthquake, he called his Japanese colleague, Joi Ito, to make sure he was safe. Thankfully, Ito was in Miami at the time, but when they dove into the internet to search for updates on what was unfolding in Japan and came up dry, they grew frustrated. They’d heard rumors about the Fukushima nuclear plant, but they couldn’t confirm anything. It took five days for the national government to release an official report in which they stated that not only had a nuclear accident occurred, but that radioactive fallout may have been carried to areas far outside the initial 20-kilometer evacuation zone.

“[The national government was] publishing really, really sporadic data, if and when they published anything at all,” says Bonner. Though neither he nor Ito had ever worked with radiation measurement tools, nor been trained in any sort of nuclear science, they felt the need to do something. Their connections in other industries put them through to more connections, and soon the Skype chat room was buzzing nonstop with ideas from bright minds around the world.

Sean Bonner

Safecast conducted its own contamination monitoring in Fukushima after the tsunami and nuclear disaster, and posted its findings publicly.

The group decided they must first define the problem: they needed standardized radiation measurements pinpointed to GPS locations. But when they searched online to purchase radiation detection devices, they couldn’t find any. The niche market of Geiger counters had crashed. In the years prior to March 2011, maybe a few hundred were being sold a month. Suddenly, demand had exploded to thousands of orders a day. Without personal measurement devices and without reliable information from TEPCO or the government, “People literally had no way of knowing what was polluted with cancer-causing radiation, and what wasn’t,” Bonner says.

To make matters more complicated, right after the accident, the national government rolled their radiation standards back to 1990s-era numbers, but only in select areas. As Bonner recalls, “People were like, ‘How is this number safe there? But literally across the street, a different number is safe?’”

He and Ito mobilized the chat room of experts and created an apolitical, not-for-profit organization called Safecast to centralize and crowdsource their efforts. Bonner changed the original concept of his April technology conference to focus on the nuclear radiation problem at hand, and invited everyone to Tokyo.

Until that point, standard international nuclear accident operating procedures measured radiation in averages across many square miles. “That’s like taking the weather in San Francisco and declaring a forecast for the entire state of California,” Bonner says. “It’s not wrong, but it’s also not helpful in any way.”

Within a week of the budding Safecast gang putting their heads together in a tiny Tokyo conference room, they’d invented multiple iterations of mobile Geiger counters that could trace GPS locations and radiation data from a moving car. Starting five weeks after the triple-disaster, they drove all around Fukushima, collecting scientifically sound information that intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations would later use in establishing a new standard for nuclear radiation information. They also deployed Geiger counters around the world to create a contextual database on what radiation levels were considered “normal,” and where.

People literally had no way of knowing what was polluted with cancer-causing radiation, and what wasn’t.”

When Safecast conducted its own monitoring in Fukushima, they found contamination varied street by street, sometimes house by house. As data-collecting volunteers drove around the prefecture, people would rush them, begging to know “the truth.” What was safe? What wasn’t? If volunteers had extra Geiger counters on hand, they’d hand them out and teach people how to operate them. (It’s easy: you switch it on, make sure one side is facing away from you, then walk around. When you’re done, you plug it into your computer and upload the data to Safecast’s easy-to-navigate website, and a radiation map can be generated.) The volunteers also pasted stickers on lamp posts and fences with the radiation measurements they’d recently taken, along with information about Safecast’s website and live data center.

The process differed sharply with government procedure. Bonner heard from many people that when government-deployed teams would collect measurements, “Vans would pull up with people in Tyvek suits who would [go] into their front yards and walk around with [monitoring] stuff, and then get back in, and drive away. And they’d be like, ‘What the fuck just happened?’ You know? That’s horrifying.”

Safecast decided early that all their data would be open source and designated as public domain so that everyday people and scientists alike could freely and forever access it. They also decided not to analyze the data, and refrained from declaring anything “safe” or “not safe.” Their only mission was to equip people with unfiltered, unedited information. They wanted people to make informed decisions on their own.

“We were saying, ‘Don’t trust us,’” Bonner explains. “‘Look through [the data] yourself. You take the device, you take the measurement, you’ll understand how it works. Trust that, don’t listen to what I’m telling you.’”

As more measurements streamed in, Bonner says, “What became obvious to us right away was that the evacuation areas were completely wrong, because they’d evacuated a perfect radius around the plant — basically a blast radius. … It didn’t take into account the weather or typography or any of that.” Some areas outside the evacuation zone registered high doses of radioactive material on Safecast devices, while some areas inside the zone registered the same as Tokyo — in other words, normal.

Safecast wasn’t the only group collecting data that may have raised the possibility the government-enforced evacuation zone was wrong. Right after the nuclear explosions, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration deployed airplanes to measure the radioactive fallout around the area, flying in a grid pattern to precisely map out the contamination. The NNSA shared that information with the Japanese government, but did not release it publically.

“Whether they looked at that data, whether they didn’t look at that data — it’s debatable and will never be known,” Bonner says. “But what we do know is that they knew what the contamination zone was when they set up incorrect evacuation zones, and they sat on [the information] for four or five months.”

Sean Bonner

“We were saying, ‘Don’t trust us. Look through [the data] yourself. You take the device, you take the measurement, you’ll understand how it works.’” - Sean Bonner, co-founder of Safecast

Only after Safecast and other major organizations started publishing conclusive evidence that contradicted the national government’s actions did things change. “Then they started to readjust the evacuation zones based on what the actual data was,” Bonner says, which was weeks after March 11.

It took more than a year for an independent investigation to wrap up. The National Diet of Japan published a report in July 2012 admitting that all organizational bodies involved in Fukushima Daiichi — including TEPCO, the Nuclear Safety Commission, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry — “failed to correctly prepare and implement the most basic safety requirements, such as assessments of the probability of damage by earthquakes and tsunamis, countermeasures toward preparing for a severe accident caused by natural disasters, and safety measures for the public in the case of a larger release of radiation.” In other words, according to the report: “This accident was not a ‘natural disaster’ but clearly ‘man-made.’”

Regarding the botched recovery efforts, the report stated the prefecture lacked the necessary equipment to monitor radiation. Of the 24 monitoring posts in the area, 23 were either swept away or damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. Communications networks all over the prefecture were damaged to the extent that mobile monitoring posts wouldn’t work, either, and back-up monitoring cars sat idle due to the lack of fuel.

All this created “a very complicated social situation,” Bonner says, “because there was a mandatory evacuation zone, but then [also] an optional evacuation zone.” People didn’t know what to believe anymore. If they chose to evacuate, and their neighbor didn’t, did that look bad on them, or on their neighbor?

Kitaizumi Beach and most of Minamisoma City received voluntary evacuation orders four days following the triple-disaster. Many surfers continued to visit the beach while the area was nearly abandoned. Out of respect for those killed by the tsunami, they agreed amongst themselves to wait for the disaster’s third anniversary before they took their boards back into the waves, in observance of Sankaiki, the traditional mourning period for Buddhists. They watched from the sea wall as the water crested and curled, crashed and foamed, day in and day out as consistently as always, as if the tsunami and nuclear meltdown had never occurred.

In that time, the Japanese government continued to guard information and insist on control while activists tried to get their findings out in the world. Bonner says anti-nuclear activists, in particular, would approach areas with Geiger counters and measure a range of objects, “but only tell you about the one that was dangerous.” Unsurprisingly, depending on where you got your news, you likely got a different read on the situation. That still continues today.

“Trust is not a renewable resource,” Bonner says. “If you’re an authority on this and you blow the trust, you can’t just next week again say, ‘Trust us.’”

So when the mandatory evacuation orders lifted in 2016 with official “safe” approval from the government, with legitimately low radiation levels confirmed by Safecast and other third-parties, many people were skeptical. Now in 2020, most of the area’s residents still haven’t returned.

At 8 a.m. on a Friday morning in January, the ocean temperature off Kitazumi Beach is just 10 degrees Celsius, which equals 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Onlookers rub their palms together, exhaling foggy clouds that dissipate in the air. In the water, six surfers bob behind the rib cage-high waves. More are in the parking lot, pulling on thick neoprene suits. Okumoto stands atop the concrete seawall that separates the beach from the parking lot.

He lets the sea breeze soothe his light hangover as he surveys the scene: So much has changed since 2011, yet it’s quiet moments like these, watching the early-morning waves, that remind him that some slivers of life largely stay the same.

During the week, Okumoto splits his time between Fukushima University and meetings with local nonprofits, coalitions, and prefecture and municipal officials, with whom he consults on tourism campaigns, infrastructure decisions, and community-building projects as a financial advisor. After checking in with the surf scene at Kitaizumi, he’s due in the offices of Minamisoma City. He’s planning to introduce the city’s tourism manager to Adam Doering, a Canadian professor from southern Japan’s Wakayama University who researches ecotourism and surf culture.

As the sun lifts from the ocean, surfers alternately enter and return from the sea. Doering tucks his shoulder length hair into a neoprene hood and paddles into the waves. In the parking lot, Okumoto catches up with the rest of the surfers. Floppy wetsuits adorn car doors. Coffee steams. Smiles break into laughter. When one of the few local female surfers, Michi Iizuka, shows up, bundled in a knitted hat and coat and Ugg slippers, Okumoto rushes over to greet her. Iizuka’s eyes are sleepy, but perk up as they walk together to the top of the seawall and the ocean comes into view.

Emma Athena

Surfers preparing to go in the water at Kitaizumi Beach in January, 2020.

Okumoto points to her, says, “She is a great female surfer,” and then pauses, growing serious: “One of the only ones now.”

Iizuka nods. She lives 10 minutes down the street and visits Kitaizumi almost every day, if not to surf, then to watch the waves. “There used to be more women,” she says, heading back to her truck to change into her pink-accented wetsuit and get her surfboard. “Now most [women] live in Fukushima City. They only come here now on the weekends.”

Okumoto nods, aware that the evacuation orders have exacerbated the gender disparity at Kitaizumi’s beach. It’s mostly men who have chosen to return, partly due to the fact that there’s still no international standard for public dose-limits of radiation exposure. It’s generally understood that women (as well as children) have lower radiation thresholds than men, so they have been conservative when making decisions to return, especially after information was hidden and botched following the disaster.

“We want to bring the women and the children back,” Okumoto says. “There is so much here for everyone.”

Iizuka smiles, her eyes softening around the edges. “That would be so nice.”

Okumoto had picked up his hangover the previous night, when he and Doering met with Murohara and a few others in Fukushima’s surf community. Cramming themselves around the dinner table of a wood stove-heated house, they debated the future of Kitaizumi Beach until 2 a.m over homemade Korean hot pot, whiskey, and wine.

They discussed how best to build up Odaka and Minamisoma City’s tourism infrastructure. International ATMs are hard to find in the area, and with many accommodations yet to reopen, so are places to stay. Public information, like signs and bus schedules, is largely written only in Japanese kanji. Okumoto and Doering want to invest in improving this framework while simultaneously trying to lure more surfers and tourists. Murohara, on the other hand, believes that bringing in more visitors will motivate local businesses to become more accessible to foreigners in and of itself.

As a single man who’s lived his entire life in Odaka, Murohara always knew he wanted to return. Others needed financial encouragement. Every evacuee within the initial 20-kilometer evacuation zone received about $77,000 in compensation from TEPCO and the national government. In the 30-kilometer zone, evacuees received roughly $18,000, and businesses received more depending on their value. With this cash, people could buy new homes and set up new businesses outside of the evacuation zone, all while retaining ownership of their old properties in Fukushima. The national government offered to pay for renovations in buildings that had been damaged, or demolish them for free. TEPCO estimates total costs for accident repairs and reparations will add up to $202 billion.

There are still around 46,000 people who cannot return to their homes. Most of the streets in the towns of Namie and Okuma, which got the worst of the radioactive fallout, remain off-limits as decontamination efforts continue. Sections of Namie did reopen in April 2017, but as of December 2018 only 1,000 of the original 21,000 inhabitants have returned.

Odaka, which used to have 700 elementary school children across four different schools, now only has one school and 60 kids. In Minamisoma City, which never had mandatory evacuations, the population has dropped from 70,000 residents before the disaster to 50,000.

There are innumerable reasons why someone might choose not to return to a previously evacuated area. For the people who left Fukushima, that includes trauma, distrust, fear, and six years spent creating new lives elsewhere. Perhaps most tangible is the fact that, as people evacuated, businesses went with them, and there are now very few employment opportunities for people uninterested in working construction, nuclear decontamination, or decommissioning roles.

Despite the government subsidies available for new businesses, there’s a severe shortage of young workers in Fukushima. Likewise, young workers won’t move to Fukushima because there aren’t enough good jobs.

The prefecture has started building infrastructure for future industries in some of the larger abandoned rice patties and farms, namely robot and drone test fields. And renewable energy initiatives are underway: with the decline in nuclear energy, Japan now depends on foreign imports for more than 90 percent of its energy needs. The Fukushima prefecture has goals to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2040.

Still, for most people, particularly women and young people, opportunities are slim. And that’s exactly where Murohara, Okumoto, and others like Doering think they can help. They believe ocean-based employment, staked in surf-tourism and creating positive connections to the ocean, can give the community a wealth of opportunities to regrow its roots.

It took three years to clear all the tsunami debris from the beach, and then another three to rebuild the bathrooms and parking lot after new construction and zoning policies were implemented in areas that had flooded during the 2011 tsunami. As surfers had done before the triple-disaster, so they did after: gathering for beach clean-up weekends to help prepare the space for the general public.

Emma Athena

“If I go to Tokyo and I ask people, ‘Do you know the name “Minamisoma,”’ they don’t really know the name. But they know ‘Kitaizumi,’ so that’s the real influence it has.” - Takeda Tomoyoshi, Minamisoma City tourism manager

Last July, Kitaizumi celebrated its official, government-sanctioned grand “reopening.” Lifeguards, all surfers, staffed the beach for the first time since 2010. Happy Island Surf Tourism, revived in full force, helped create a “surf experience,” where people could learn how to surf. Murohara, Okumoto, and Doering all reveled in the day. It was a hit. 37,732 people attended, says the tourism office, and around 30 percent were kids.

“It’s a fact of the disappearing trauma,” Okumoto says. Though the trauma isn’t gone, he believes that slowly reintroducing people to the ocean — whether that’s by spreading photos of people at Kitaizumi, or getting them to visit the beach themselves — will accelerate the healing process.

Doering spent Kitaizumi’s opening day interviewing the lifeguards, who felt pressure to make the day run perfectly. Doering himself had only started surfing at Kitaizumi after the disaster, so the grand opening was the first time he’d ever seen families interacting with the waves. When he went back to the beach for a surf a few weeks later, he saw a mom watching her three kids in the water. A lifeguard was giving the children surf lessons before his shift started. He cheered from the beach, wanting to happy-cry in order to diffuse his joy. Slowly but surely, the people were coming back.

After a quick costume change in the beach parking lot — Doering from his wetsuit and into a button-up shirt, Okumoto from his bomber jacket and into a velvet blazer — the two sit down with Minamisoma City’s tourism manager Takeda Tomoyoshi at his office in city hall.

This year, the prefecture declined to offer money to the surf-tourism committee, but some funding has been approved via the municipal government. They’ll use most of it to pay the lifeguards, a welcome contribution to local employment, and hope enough will be left over to entice in a food truck to set up shop at Kitaizumi.

From a municipal perspective, Tomoyoshi understands the PR value of the beach. “If I go to Tokyo and I ask people, ‘Do you know the name “Minamisoma,”’ they don’t really know the name,” he says. “But they know ‘Kitaizumi,’ so that’s the real influence it has.”

Thanks to Murohara and Okumoto, the Japanese national shortboard and longboard championships will take place at Kitaizumi in June, the first major competition held there since 2010. Murohara says more than 600 competitors have already registered. And though the Olympics won’t venture up there, Happy Island Surf Tourism plans to capitalize on the attention that Japan and surfing’s Olympic debut have received.

Over the last year, through his international business connections, Murohara has brought surf industry executives and professional surfers to his manufacturing factory and shown them the highlights of Fukushima and Kitaizumi. M.S.P. now sponsors 10 competitive surfers.

Even if surfing’s economic contributions to the region are small, they are something in a town that not long ago had nothing. Perhaps even more powerful is the surf-related imagery: kids playing on the beach, families experiencing the water, lifeguards keeping people safe, all of which will gradually replace the photoshopped flowers and sensational headlines. Fukushima is on a journey for spiritual healing as much as economic, and surfing happens to offer a little bit of both.

Shortly after the triple-disaster, Okumoto says he hiked up the craggy cliffs south of Kitaizumi Beach. People set up a village there, on top of the bluff, about 5,000 years ago. They called themselves “Kaidzuka,” which means “shell hill” — they ate shellfish, Okumoto explains.

“The ancient people were very smart,” he says, reminiscing, looking up that way while standing on Kitaizumi Beach. “They know the strength of nature.”

Like the shrine by the playground on the hill behind the beach, the vast majority of shrines along the coast were spared from the tsunami, all built on hills in locations chosen hundreds or thousands of years ago.

When he stood on top of the bluff in the wake of the disaster, Okumoto peered straight down at the ocean, still processing its capacity for both violence and peace. For the first time in his life, he had seen the sea, the cliffs, and the sand without the cement seawalls; the section had been destroyed by the force of the waves.

“I suppose ancient people saw this scene,” he says, trailing off.

The sunsets at Kitaizumi Beach are soft and subtle, facing east into the infinite Pacific sprawl. The darkness gradually crawls up the sky, like an ombre curtain rising, and when it’s done, it’s day again.

That’s the beauty, isn’t it? Okumoto says, “The waves will always come.”

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mccarranhandymanservices-blog · 5 years ago

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 6 years ago

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As Tiny Homes Spread Across the Nation, They’re Getting Bigger—and Pricier

Bela Fishbeyn

It wasn’t exactly a comedown when Spencer Wright, 31, and Bela Fishbeyn traded in their cramped Bay Area apartment for a 300-square-foot house a little more than two years ago. In fact, it’s actually been an upgrade in every way.

The home they bought for just over $100,000 in the Santa Cruz mountains in Boulder Creek, CA, wasn’t made for a hermit. Designed and built by New Frontier Tiny Homes, it has a king bed on a hydraulic lift for storage underneath, a walk-in closet, an outside deck about the size of the house, and an art installation made of reclaimed wood from 1767 Designs.

“The smaller the house, the more attention you can give to each little detail,’’ says Wright, a stay-at-home dad. He and his wife, the executive managing editor of the American Journal of Bioethics, wanted to experiment with a different way of living. “The goal was to make it so nothing would be missing.”

The tiny house movement grew out of the simplicity movement of the 1980s and 1990s. The goal was to build ultracompact houses (preferably without professional assistance) for next to nothing in someone’s backyard, to reduce consumerism and debt and return to a simpler way of life. But over the last 10 years, tiny homes have evolved—and they’re not so simple anymore. Buyers are increasingly seeking larger dwellings with top-of-the-line appliances and high-end finishes, and having builders do the labor for them.

Many of these units are now outfitted with stainless-steel appliances, built-in TVs, and elaborate cabinetry, says Mark Stemen, a geography professor who teaches sustainability at California State University in Chico. Luxurious tiny homes with composting toilets, solar panels, and insulation for year-round living can now go for more than $200,000.

More tiny home communities are opening across the country, as television shows such as HGTV’s “Tiny House Hunters” have led to a boom in popularity for little house living. These units typically top out at about 400 square feet. And now that more builders are getting into the game, and lenders are helping buyers get loans for the properties, prices are shooting up. Folks are also using them as vacation homes and renting them out when they’re not around.

“The tiny house movement is expanding to meet the desires and needs of the people who are in it and joining it every day,” says Coles Whalen, marketing director of Simple Life. The Jacksonville, FL-based developer is creating tiny home communities in the South. It recently unveiled a more expensive, nicer two-bedroom “tiny” home model that is about 540 square feet.

“It’s adapting to accommodate the needs of people who are tired of spending money on square footage they’re not using, but they may want slightly more” room, he says.

Spencer Wright and Bela Fishbeyn’s tiny house was outfitted so that nothing would be missing.

Tiny homes experience square-footage creep

Over the last decade, tiny home companies have seen a rise in folks seeking larger tiny homes.

The plans, shells (exterior structure minus windows and doors) and completed homes sold by Tiny Home Builders used to be, well, small. Standard tiny homes used to be about 20 feet long and 8 feet wide. But now the Cumming, GA-based company is seeing more customers ask for 30-foot plans and shells. Owner Dan Louche is even fielding calls for 40-foot models.

That’s prompted him to ask, “Are you still interested in a tiny house?”

The traditional, do-it-yourself 20-foot tiny homes can cost $15,000 to $20,000, including materials but not counting labor, says Louche. Those who buy pre-made shells then have the plumbing and electrical systems installed.

Twenty years ago, Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. in Colorado Springs, CO, would sell 9-foot by 10-foot houses that weighed about 7,000 pounds, says Pat Clancy, the company’s office manager. Now, they’re offering 30-foot-long abodes that need a special trailer to handle the 18,000 pounds. They’re built in the company’s manufacturing plant.

The company is certified and inspected by the RV Industry Association, in part to help buyers access insurance and financing. Buyers can now finance a tiny home ranging in price from $435 to $630 per month with a 15-year or 23-year term, based on a purchase price of $70,000 to $90,000, according to the company’s website.

The introduction of professional builders and manufacturers has allowed prices to stabilize at around $65,000 to $75,000 for a standard 28-foot finished tiny home, Tiny Home Builders’ Louche says. Anything priced higher than that is typically a lot swankier.

Buyers with money to spend are also working with design teams to customize their dream tiny homes. Tiny Heirloom, in Portland, OR, is selling abodes with motorized decks that retract in 30 seconds. These can go from $89,000 to $220,000. Some models are bought by companies like IKEA looking to showcase the latest tiny trends or by investors looking to rent them out.

But the actual cost of setting up a tiny homestead can actually be much higher, as folks still need to have land to put them on. That can be a challenge where there are unfriendly local zoning laws.

“They’re appealing to someone who is willing to pay for that,’’ Louche says.

The Elm is a Tumbleweed Tiny House starting at $76,000.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.

Buyers are turning fancy tiny homes into vacation properties, rentals

Tiny homes still make sense for folks on a budget, even those looking for a more affordable second home. That’s what Chip Hayes was thinking when he developed the Retreat at Deer Lick Falls near Monteagle, TN. The 48-home, gated subdivision features a waterfall, a communal fire pit, and lots of hiking trails nearby. Homes range from 400 square feet to just over 500 square feet.

Hayes had built second homes on Cedar Lake and Tims Ford Lake. But those normal-sized homes ran around $300,000.

“Even if you can afford $300,000 for a vacation home, do you want to pay that?” he asks.

The homes at the Retreat at Deer Lick Falls with land start at $100,000. There’s an additional $95 per month in homeowner association fees for landscaping and mowing. The subdivision sold out in two and a half weeks, Hayes says.

Real estate agents Jack Miller and her husband, Harlen Crossen, of Brentwood, TN, snapped one up right away. They spent $200,000 for a 550-square-foot house on 2 acres of land.

It’s roomy enough for a bedroom plus a couch that folds out into a queen-sized bed, enough space for a family or guests. The house has birch and cedar shingles outside, shiplap instead of drywall indoors, and granite countertops.

“It’s like Ralph Lauren got ahold of the cottage and shook it,’’ says Miller. Crossen loved the place so much he decided to become an on-site sales agent for the development.

The two hope to enjoy the place on the weekends and rent it out as well.

That’s also what Wright and Fishbeyn are doing in California. They lived in their tiny home for more than a year before putting it on Airbnb. Guests can now rent it out for $235 per night.

“Everybody can’t afford a $1.5 million second home,” says Miller. “But a lot more people can afford this, particularly if they can generate income for it.”

The post As Tiny Homes Spread Across the Nation, They’re Getting Bigger—and Pricier appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/as-tiny-homes-spread-across-the-nation-theyre-getting-bigger-and-pricier/

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tripstations · 6 years ago

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World’s top 10 sustainable places to stay revealed

Travel is not just about seeing the wonders of the earth but understanding our impact upon it. With increasing frequency, people are looking to make the shift from “tourist” to “conscious traveler” by finding ways to maximize positive impacts on the locations they visit. Making thoughtful choices about how, when, and where you go on a vacation can make a significant difference. So, this Earth Day, travel experts analyzed over eight million traveler reviews from last year to find the key hot spots for eco-travelers.

Delving deep into sentiment, the global data showed the 10 best places to stay around the world, as reviewed by Expedia travelers. From boutiques with beehives and resorts with rainwater recycling, to grand urban retreats with solar cell power, many of these amazing places show that luxury and sustainability are not mutually exclusive. Additionally, the experts highlighted the top countries with the best reviewed eco-conscious accommodations, with the USA topping the charts.

Top 10 eco-friendly stays

1.Sandos Caracol Eco Resort, Mexico 2.Nomad Hotel Roissy CDG, Paris, France 3.Siloso Beach Resort, Sentosa, Singapore 4.Habitat Suites, Austin, Texas 5.Pakasai Resort, Krabi, Thailand 6.PARKROYAL on Pickering, Singapore 7.The Green House, Bournemouth, UK 8.Listel Hotel, Vancouver, Canada 9.Hotel Verde, Cape Town, South Africa 10.Sherwood Queenstown, Queenstown, New Zealand

Top 10 sustainable countries around the world

1.USA 2.Mexico 3.Canada 4.Australia 5.UK 6.Costa Rica 7.Thailand 8.New Zealand 9.France 10.Italy

Sustainable travel is the perfect opportunity to show Mother Earth and fellow inhabitants how much you care.

1. Sandos Caracol Eco Resort – Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Situated between dense jungle and the blue of the Mexican Caribbean coast, this Rainforest Alliance-certified destination is among the highest-rated by travellers for the multitude of positive impacts it offers.

•Extensive policies governing waste management, resource consumption and natural conservation

•Opportunities for guests to engage in ecologically sustainable practices: eco-tours, cruelty-free animal interactions and beach meditation

•A commitment to the community, reflected in celebrations of local indigenous culture, on-site markets that support local artisans, and local partnerships to improve area schools

2. Nomad Hotel Roissy CDG – Paris, France

Located five minutes by car from Charles de Gaulle airport, the Nomad Hotel Roissy CDG boasts Scandinavian-inspired design, tech-enabled customisable room layouts and a mission to “to reduce the ecological impact of these buildings to a minimum, at every stage of life, from design to operation”—making it the perfect accommodation for digital nomads with green leanings.

•Rigorous standards for creation/loss of heat and a low total annual energy consumption, supported by green (living) exterior cladding, solar panels, air handling units

•Proactive efforts to neutralize water impact through use of rainwater collectors

•Use of sustainable materials, including PEFC wood, carpets made from recycled fishing nets, recycled stone and glass shower units

3. Siloso Beach Resort, Sentosa – Singapore

Just off Singapore’s south coast lies Sentosa Island, a haven whose southwest coast is the home to the Siloso Beach Resort. Steps from the sandy beaches of the South China Sea, this award-winning eco-resort has taken special care to integrate the surrounding habitat into its design by prioritizing open spaces and preserving established natural features like mature trees and flowing springs. The result? A uniquely organic take on a luxurious beach resort experience.

•200 original trees preserved (and 450 planted) on-site; landscape pool fed by underground waters and built according to natural terrain formation

•72% of the resort is open-air—and activities including cycle tours, hikes and other eco-adventures

•Operations keep ecological impacts top-of-mind, emphasizing locally-sourced foods, limited use of plastics, and reduced energy consumption

4. Habitat Suites – Austin, TX, USA

Habitat Suites, a sustainable gem in the heart of Texas’ most progressive city, boasts a 30-year track record of forward-thinking environmental stewardship. Habitat Suites has been a charter member of the Green Hotels Association since 1991—and won an Austin Green Business Leader Gold Award in 2018.

•Widespread use of alternative energy, including solar panels, solar thermal and electric vehicle charging •On-premises organic fruit and herb gardens; clean, local and organic food options

•Use of plant-based, zero harsh chemical detergents for cleaning; bio-safe guest shampoos and detergents; hypoallergenic suites that include live potted plants and windows that open for access to fresh air

5. Pakasai Resort – Krabi, Thailand

Spa treatments, boxing and cooking classes plus plenty of space for lounging by the pool—the Pakasai Resort delivers on everything you’d expect from a tropical Thai resort, then sweetens the deal with an impressive list of sustainability efforts. “Krabi’s Greenest Resort” was the first in the area to win an ASEAN Green Hotel Award (2014).

•Resource conservation efforts include rainwater capture and greywater recycling, energy efficient lighting, biogas production and reduction of plastic use

•Careful attention given to reducing carbon emissions through waste minimization program and collaboration with the local community and local organizations

•Guests are encouraged to make their stay even greener by joining the #GreeningPakasai campaign, which incentivizes visitors to make low-carbon choices around food, transportation, linen services and local activities

6. PARKROYAL on Pickering – Singapore

With 15,000 square metres of greenery and a cutting-edge design, the PARKROYAL is equally impressive in what it does and doesn’t do. This LEED-certified masterpiece saves 32.5 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water annually and could power an estimated 680 households with the energy saved by its conservation efforts.

•Highly regulated resource consumption through employment of light, motion, and rain sensors

•Solar cells and rainwater collection mean zero-energy maintenance of the 15,000 m2 sky gardens

•Thoughtful construction processes reduced concrete (and associated waste and energy expenditure) use by more than 80%

7. The Green House – Bournemouth, UK

Equally suitable for weddings, self-care weekends and romantic getaways, every detail of this eco-hotel has been designed to help guests feel great while doing good. That ethos touches every facet of The Green House, from the building’s renewable energy production and Forest Stewardship certified, UK-crafted furnishings to the on-site restaurant’s adherence to local sourcing and high animal welfare standards—the company car even runs on bio-fuel from the kitchen’s old cooking oil!

•The use of earth-friendly cleaning products and efforts toward energy conservation

•Staff are trained in the ethos of sustainability and are encouraged to find new ways to improve the Green House’s efforts

•Environmental efforts extend to the exterior grounds, including bird and bat boxes (to provide a safe place for breeding) and rooftop beehives that produce honey

8. The Listel Hotel Vancouver – Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Listel Hotel dedicates itself to both environmental responsibility and the arts. The hotel provides a location to elevate local and international artists—including a gallery dedicated to First Nations artists from the Northwest Coast—while participating in the city of Vancouver’s “Corporate Climate Leader” program, setting an example for sustainable tourism efforts across the globe.

•Responsible food practices including membership in Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise sustainable seafood program and a commitment to offering local and sustainable food and wine

•Conservation efforts including 20 solar panels, a state-of-the-art heat capture program (reducing the hotel’s natural gas use by 30%) and water reduction and air quality programs

•Adherence to a 100% Zero Waste policy since August 2011

9. Hotel Verde – Cape Town, South Africa

“Sustainable by design, stylish by nature” is the modest motto of Cape Town’s Hotel Verde. The first hotel in Africa to offer 100% carbon-neutral accommodation and conferencing, the Cape Town Verde has earned an extensive list of international accolades (LEED Platinum certification and a 6-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa) for its extensive adherence to sustainable practices.

•Restoration of the surrounding wetlands now supports indigenous water-wise vegetation and a healthy population of Cape honeybees—as well as an ecotrail, outdoor gym, and eco-pool for visitor use, plus on-site edible food gardens and aquaponics

•Energy efficiencies include photovoltaic panels on the roof and north-facing facades, wind turbines, energy-generating gym equipment and geothermal heat

•Commitment to social responsibility through sustainable procurement practices, waste management and community involvement

10. Sherwood Queenstown – Queenstown, New Zealand

Sustainability and connection with nature are behind every detail you’ll encounter at the Sherwood Queenstown, a boutique hotel perched on three acres of alpine hillside overlooking Lake Wakatipu. The Sherwood operates based on the belief that “a simple respect for nature lies at the heart of any sustainable practice”. The hotel’s orchards and kitchen garden supply its award-winning restaurant; most rooms offer sweeping mountain or lake views, and all are outfitted with South Island wool blankets and locally-sourced beverages. Mornings start with optional yoga sessions, followed by hiking, mountain biking, skiing or snowboarding.

•A focus on materiality selection that integrates the building with the landscape, while employing upcycled fixtures, fittings and furnishings

•Conscious choices about energy generation—the Sherwood is one of the largest private solar installs in New Zealand and currently generates enough electricity to return surplus to the grid

•Selection of food, wine, beer, spirits, and other consumable products that are local, natural, healthy, ethical, seasonal and sustainable in their production and use

Travel News | eTurboNews

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