A science experiment during a summer class for schoolteachers led to an "aha" moment that has changed my life. Most of us are too busy to notice what I learned: that the sun travels on a low-altitude path in the winter and a high path in the summer. So what?
Using this ancient wisdom from the past, you can drastically cut your heating and cooling costs without weird gadgets and stuff on your roof. It's a secret, though. If the word got out, certain houses would be very difficult to sell, while others would skyrocket in price.
What's the secret? Passive solar design. No, this doesn't mean odd-looking houses with too many windows, or expensive contraptions that nobody understands. It involves simply facing the long side of the house south, having minimal windows on the east, west, and north, and using good insulation. Ancient Greek cities were full of similar houses thousands of years ago.
Can something so simple really make a difference? Yes! When we had a big ice storm and power outage in the Carolinas a few years ago, sunshine streaming in from our windows on the south made our house nice and cozy while others struggled to fill their kerosene heaters. At night, we closed thick curtains to keep the heat inside.
Choosing between a cold, dark house with high utility bills and a warm sunny one with low bills shouldn't be so difficult, but there are several obstacles. First, there are very few of these good homes on the market. Checking the house orientation with a compass, my husband and I looked at more than fifty homes before buying our present one. Realtors claimed to have never heard of passive solar orientation.
Second, homebuilders still put up oversized McMansions instead of smaller, smarter houses like these. We think we need bigger houses as a status symbol and to hold all our stuff, but with rising interest rates and enormous utility bills, this trend could grind to a halt for all except the rich.
Third, older homes built during cheap energy times are hard to retrofit, and will be abandoned like gas-guzzling cars if home heating bills continue to escalate. Some energy saving strategies can only be implemented during the construction process. For instance, slab foundation homes are much warmer with below grade and perimeter insulation. Windows need good caulking and sealing with insulation before the sheetrock is installed. To retrofit these homes would require tearing out the insides of the home and rebuilding.
Public perception is another problem. Early solar home designs were too extreme for easy resale. My husband and I built a "direct gain" home in 1979, with 34 windows on the south, and enjoyed living there almost 10 years. We loved how the low-angled, hot winter sunshine reached at least 10 feet inside on our brick floor when temperatures were below zero in the harsh Kansas climate. After a job transfer, it was on the market three years. Our pleasant home finally sold for $30,000 less than it cost.
The next home we built 20 years later was a small ranch style with 2x6 walls loaded with insulation and low-e double-paned windows, mostly on the south side. When we moved, it sold in one month despite a very poor real estate market in that area.
Affordable, conventional appearance, efficient windows and superinsulation are the future of passive solar design if it is to become more widely accepted. Taking advantage of free sunshine during the winter and using better insulation and window coverings can lower heating bills. With the popularity of mobile homes, maybe we should start by taking the simple step of making sure they all face the right direction.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Nature Connections Vital
My parents used to tell me to go outside and play, but nowadays children are playing indoors more than ever.
Computers, television and video games, plus the fear of perverts and threats like skin cancer, Lyme disease and West Nile virus have drastically curtailed children's access to nature.
What happens when children lose their connection to nature? A 2002 British study reported that 8-year-olds could identify Pokemon characters far more easily than they could name "otter, beetle and oak tree." An awareness of and appreciation for the natural world is turning out to be more important for children than we thought.
Today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world, says child advocacy expert Richard Louv, even as research shows that "thoughtful exposure of youngsters to nature can ... be a powerful form of therapy for attention-deficit disorder and other maladies." Louv is the author of the new book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder."
New research shows that getting outside and interacting with nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education is thought to stimulate creativity, improve test scores and develop problem solving skills.
How did we get so disconnected from nature? Blame it on the media, which overwhelms us with horror stories on the nightly news. Louv talks about the mythical "stranger danger" missing children issue, pointing out that about 200 incidents a year happen, about the same as before the whole media frenzy on missing children began.
Children are being scared away from playing in the woods, walking to school or biking alone in their neighborhood. Terrified parents are just trying to protect their children, but in the process, nature deprivation is wreaking havoc on physical and psychological wellbeing.
"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth-grader.
For 10 years, Louv traveled across the country interviewing children and parents in urban and rural neighborhoods about their experiences in nature.
Children study the Amazon rain forest in school, but don't know names of plants in their own backyards. Nature has become an abstract subject instead of a multisensory experience.
Gathering thoughts from parents, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and other concerned parties, Louv argues for a future in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply -- and find the joy of family connectedness in the process.
In "Last Child in the Woods," Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply -- and strengthen family ties during the process.
Richard Louv has been a columnist and member of the advisory board for Parents magazine and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. He is an adviser to the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award program and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. He founded Connect for Kids, the largest child advocacy Web site. He writes a column for the San Diego Union-Tribune and is the author of six other books about family, nature and community.
Computers, television and video games, plus the fear of perverts and threats like skin cancer, Lyme disease and West Nile virus have drastically curtailed children's access to nature.
What happens when children lose their connection to nature? A 2002 British study reported that 8-year-olds could identify Pokemon characters far more easily than they could name "otter, beetle and oak tree." An awareness of and appreciation for the natural world is turning out to be more important for children than we thought.
Today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world, says child advocacy expert Richard Louv, even as research shows that "thoughtful exposure of youngsters to nature can ... be a powerful form of therapy for attention-deficit disorder and other maladies." Louv is the author of the new book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder."
New research shows that getting outside and interacting with nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity and attention deficit disorder. Environment-based education is thought to stimulate creativity, improve test scores and develop problem solving skills.
How did we get so disconnected from nature? Blame it on the media, which overwhelms us with horror stories on the nightly news. Louv talks about the mythical "stranger danger" missing children issue, pointing out that about 200 incidents a year happen, about the same as before the whole media frenzy on missing children began.
Children are being scared away from playing in the woods, walking to school or biking alone in their neighborhood. Terrified parents are just trying to protect their children, but in the process, nature deprivation is wreaking havoc on physical and psychological wellbeing.
"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth-grader.
For 10 years, Louv traveled across the country interviewing children and parents in urban and rural neighborhoods about their experiences in nature.
Children study the Amazon rain forest in school, but don't know names of plants in their own backyards. Nature has become an abstract subject instead of a multisensory experience.
Gathering thoughts from parents, teachers, researchers, environmentalists and other concerned parties, Louv argues for a future in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply -- and find the joy of family connectedness in the process.
In "Last Child in the Woods," Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers and environmentalists who recognize the threat and offer solutions. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply -- and strengthen family ties during the process.
Richard Louv has been a columnist and member of the advisory board for Parents magazine and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor. He is an adviser to the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award program and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. He founded Connect for Kids, the largest child advocacy Web site. He writes a column for the San Diego Union-Tribune and is the author of six other books about family, nature and community.
Purple Coneflower
After living in Kansas almost ten years, I learned to love the tallgrass prairie and its perennial wildflowers. Millions of buffalo once roamed these prairies, grazing on grasses and flowers almost tall as a man. One of these native prairie plants, the purple coneflower, has been successfully exported to North Carolina.
With the appearance of a large, magenta-pink daisy with an orange-red center, purple coneflowers are not really purple. They have long-stemmed blossoms and lance-shaped, dark green leaves. Long-lasting as cut flowers, the center cones look good in arrangements even when the petals fall off.
Beautiful yet resilient, the coneflower is easy to grow from seeds or root divisions. I started mine from seed saved from my original plants in Kansas. Being a prairie native, it is also drought resistant, making it ideal for low-maintenance flower gardens. Attractive to wildlife like butterflies and bees which feed on nectar from the daisy-like flowers, small birds also enjoy feasting on the mature seedheads.
Native Americans used the dried roots of coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, for medicinal purposes, and now echinacea has once again become a popular ingredient in over-the-counter cold and flu remedies.
Reaching three to five feet tall, coneflowers do well in sun to partial shade in well-drained soil. In the fall, the tops of these perennials will die down to the ground, while the root system persists through the winter. In the spring the plant grows a new top from it roots, and this is the best time to divide a clump of coneflowers.
Compared to some perennials, which flower for only a few weeks each year, coneflowers are hardy perennials which can bloom from May until frost. They are ideal as tall background plants in a perennial border next to a fence or hedge, in a butterfly garden, or as the center in an island bed surrounded by shorter plants. If you are planning a perennial border, space coneflowers 18 to 24 inches apart. They look nice with companions like black-eyed susan, coreopsis, Shasta daisies, salvias, butterfly bush, lantana, or purple fountain grass.
When deadheading the flowers, cut entire flower stems right back to the main growing part. Dried seedheads are also attractive left on the plant. Be patient: more flowers are produced the second and third years.
Periods of standing water on the soil are damaging to perennials both in summer and winter. In heavy soils, add liberal amounts of organic matter to ensure good internal soil drainage. If external drainage is poor, consider raised beds.
Maintain a good fertilizer program from spring to fall, heaviest during the flowering period. Use a formula high in Phosphorus or a Bloom Booster, every two weeks. Shorter varieties, as well as white and yellow coneflowers, are now available. Some of them are even more drought tolerant than the original prairie wildflower.
With the appearance of a large, magenta-pink daisy with an orange-red center, purple coneflowers are not really purple. They have long-stemmed blossoms and lance-shaped, dark green leaves. Long-lasting as cut flowers, the center cones look good in arrangements even when the petals fall off.
Beautiful yet resilient, the coneflower is easy to grow from seeds or root divisions. I started mine from seed saved from my original plants in Kansas. Being a prairie native, it is also drought resistant, making it ideal for low-maintenance flower gardens. Attractive to wildlife like butterflies and bees which feed on nectar from the daisy-like flowers, small birds also enjoy feasting on the mature seedheads.
Native Americans used the dried roots of coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, for medicinal purposes, and now echinacea has once again become a popular ingredient in over-the-counter cold and flu remedies.
Reaching three to five feet tall, coneflowers do well in sun to partial shade in well-drained soil. In the fall, the tops of these perennials will die down to the ground, while the root system persists through the winter. In the spring the plant grows a new top from it roots, and this is the best time to divide a clump of coneflowers.
Compared to some perennials, which flower for only a few weeks each year, coneflowers are hardy perennials which can bloom from May until frost. They are ideal as tall background plants in a perennial border next to a fence or hedge, in a butterfly garden, or as the center in an island bed surrounded by shorter plants. If you are planning a perennial border, space coneflowers 18 to 24 inches apart. They look nice with companions like black-eyed susan, coreopsis, Shasta daisies, salvias, butterfly bush, lantana, or purple fountain grass.
When deadheading the flowers, cut entire flower stems right back to the main growing part. Dried seedheads are also attractive left on the plant. Be patient: more flowers are produced the second and third years.
Periods of standing water on the soil are damaging to perennials both in summer and winter. In heavy soils, add liberal amounts of organic matter to ensure good internal soil drainage. If external drainage is poor, consider raised beds.
Maintain a good fertilizer program from spring to fall, heaviest during the flowering period. Use a formula high in Phosphorus or a Bloom Booster, every two weeks. Shorter varieties, as well as white and yellow coneflowers, are now available. Some of them are even more drought tolerant than the original prairie wildflower.
Baby Boomers on the edge of a cliff
How do you make retirement decisions in this economy? Do we dare consider doing without a regular paycheck?
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