Hey everyone! I am at the Rob Greenfield recycled cabin.
And, no, I did not name a cabin after myself.
I'm at the St. Michael's Sustainable Community.
And the founder, Justin Dolan, is someone
who has been inspired by my work for
quite a few years now, maybe 5 years?
And 3 years ago I visited him and
afterwards he was more inspired and
decided to build a tiny house...a cabin
after me, and designed after the way that
I do my work and the way that I live my life.
So, this tiny house is built out of 95%
second hand materials.
It's inside an amazing food forest and is
designed to work with nature rather than against it.
With using water wisely, using energy
wisely and using the resources around it
in a more harmonious, wise way.
So, today I'm going to give you a tour of
the tiny house. Come on with me. (Acoustic guitar music)
So, as I said, this was built out of
about 95% second hand materials and the most
beautiful part, to me, is the wood.
This is all wood that was left over from
a mill and was going to be thrown out ,
according to Justin.
And it's just the most simple sort of wood cabin tiny house.
It's a very very simple design.
Almost everything, here, is also second
hand material. So there is a table to sit
at, you've got a couch, and then the bed.
So, you know, that's kind of the living area and,
again, the house, itself, has pretty few
materials used to build it.
It's primarily wood and as far as
furniture items in here, it's about as
simple as can be. And all of it together
is about 95% second hand materials.
Oh, also, what size is it?
The inside is about 12 feet wide by about
18 feet long. Making it about 220 square
feet, but it feels very spacious.
And that's because there is not a lot of
stuff the way it's designed.
And then, so that makes it about 220
square feet and the balcony is another
6 feet, which is another 80, or so, square feet.
So, total, including the balcony, it's
about 300 square feet. So pretty small,
but it feels very spacious. You can see
the breeze is coming through here as
well. So, it's 90 degrees outside but
stays pretty cool inside.
Here's the kitchen.
So, I want to talk a little bit about water.
This house does a few great things.
First of all, the water is well water, so
it's not chlorinated, it doesn't have
fluoride in it. It's just pure well water.
(Sound of water running)
Now, in most places, when you have water,
after it goes down the sink it goes to a
waste water treatment plant. (Sound of water running)
This water is grey water. So it actually
stays on site and waters plants that are
food. It waters food plants.
So, a grey water set up. Very basic.
The shower is that, as well, which...
actually, I'll show you the bathroom now
to stick to the water theme.
The bathroom is quite simple.
You got a shower. Again, grey water.
So, the water goes down the drain,
out onto the landscape and waters.
Now the toilet. This is what's called
black water. So this goes to a septic
and then those nutrients also stay on site.
They don't go to a waste water treatment plant.
You'll see the little garbage can, upside
down, I have sitting here.
I don't create garbage in here, so I
don't need a can, but I do need a squatty
potty. So that's what this is. This is
a more natural way of sitting and helping
with the flow. Same with the sink,
grey water. So, that is the bathroom.
So, the other thing, is electricity.
So, this house is not off the grid.
It would be amazing if it was, but the
key, here, is that it uses very little
electricity. You'll see, it's got a
little electric stove. It has a refrigerator.
There are some outlets to charge... there
are a couple of lights, there's some outlets.
But you'll see, there are very few
electronic items in here. There's no wifi
so it's disconnected in that way, which is
really great to be here and be present
without internet and just be where you are.
The good news, though, is that the
electricity here isn't from fossil fuels.
It's actually hydro electric, so I don't
consider that a fully sustainable source
of energy, but it's far better. It would
be considered alternative energy.
So, yeah, that's that.
I'm going to take you out to
the balcony now, which is a pretty
beautiful little spot.
So, it's funny, I have a little bit of a
hard time because there's not really
that much to show here.
It's extremely simple.
But what there is to show, is the outside
world. And that is the food forest and
the edible landscaping. And that's one
of the most exciting things about these
places...this place.
An important other thing is waste.
You know we talked a little bit about
water. We talked about energy.
Sustainable building.
Another one is waste. So, here, I create
almost no garbage. That depends on who
lives here, though. How they decide they
want to live. But one of the most
important things is composting.
So, food scraps, and paper, and cardboard.
All of that stuff is composted, not sent
to a landfill to be actually kept on site
to produce food, so holding in the
nutrients for this food forest.
There are beautiful mango trees out front.
We've got bananas down here.
There are dozens of different fruit trees
in the area. Just a couple days ago there
was...I counted 27 monkeys that I watched
going from tree to tree. So, it's really great.
It's a place where it's actually designed
to work with nature, rather than against it.
Justin and the community here,
St.Michael's Sustainable Community, they
want to bring more and more animals onto
this land and make it a natural refuge for them.
So, I know what some of you up there in Canada
and Northern United States are thinking.
Well, some of you are thinking you want
to get down here, but a lot of you are
thinking "Great, well you can do this
because it's a warm climate."
This is designed for the climate that it's in.
If you look at your area you will see
underground houses, you will see
earth ships, you will see straw bale houses.
You have to design for where you live.
There is a YouTube channel that I really
recommend called Exploring Alternatives
if you want to see situations that are for
that environment. They cover a lot of
different environments.
But, I want to talk a little bit about
solutions. So, what are the solutions
are the solutions that you can learn here?
And what are the solutions that you can do at home?
So, I'm going to share 8 different
solutions that can be done in any climate
around the world. Number 1, build
with second hand materials, like this
place. 95% second hand, repurposed items.
So, building with second hand items.
Number 2, and that is, furnishing with
second hand items. Things like the thrift
store and Habitat for Humanity.
Places where you can buy things second hand.
Garage sales, getting things from friends
from their overflowing garages.
So, second hand materials.
I'm going to talk a little bit about water
now, so number 3 is grey water.
Whether you're in the city or the country side...
if you're in a high rise apartment that's
a different story but for a lot of people
grey water can be done very simply.
The sinks, the showers and laundry is one
of the easiest places to start.
Just sending your laundry, using
biodegradable soaps, out to landscaping.
Now, you can also just have a bucket in
your shower, so that that extra water,
you can use that to water the plants and
you could, feasibly, carry that down from
the upstairs apartment down.
Or use that for your balcony.
Of course just using water wisely,
reducing the amount of excess water in the first place.
And then number 4, rainwater harvesting.
This is something that millions and
millions of us can do. Whether we are in
the desert, that's were it is the most
needed, or in a tropical climate,
everywhere we are we can do
rainwater harvesting.
Number 5 is edible landscaping.
So, not planting plants that really don't
provide any benefit except beauty, but
instead, planting plants that provide
food and medicine and they are also beautiful.
So, edible landscaping. Food forestry.
Front yard gardens. Window sill gardens
or balcony gardens. Growing food instead of lawns.
Those are things that so many of us can do
whether we are in apartments or we are in
residential areas, big houses.
There's always ways to grow a little food
and design our systems based on growing
food, rather than plants that are not
benefitting us in as nearly as many ways,
or the critters around us.
And now, if you don't have space, then
joining a community garden is something
that you can do. Or finding a friend who
has space and growing food there and
sharing it with them.
Number 6 is composting. Food scraps,
yard debris like leaves and sticks and all
of that, cardboard, paper, all of these
things can be composted to create
fertility rather than sent to the landfill.
Number 7 is reduce energy usage.
Before you even start talking about
alternative energy, first, look at how
much energy you're using and get rid of
all the extraneous ways that you don't
really need. So, drastically reducing
energy usage and then switching over to
alternative energy. Now, in a lot of
places, what you can do, is you can
actually join an energy co-op where you
actually have alternative energy through
the grid, but you're supporting rather
than the fossil fuel energy.
So, it doesn't require any infrastructure
you just change over your bill to a
source of renewable energy.
And then, lastly, number 8. And that is be
happy with what you have.
Simply need less.
When you need something, ask yourself
"Do I really need this or do I just want this?"
So, simplification. And that is the
solution to so much of this. Not needing
things nearly as much in the first place.
Most of us watching this video, well,
most of us already have enough and
we don't really need much more.
So, those are 8 tips. We're talking about
solutions. Thing that you can do
whether you're in sunny Costa Rica or
sunny California, or you are, right now,
sitting in freezing cold Montreal.
Wherever you are, these are 8 things that
can be done. These are solutions.
So, if you got a lot out of this video,
then I definitely recommend subscribing
because there is a lot more to come and
if you want this video to spread and you
want this information to spread, then
comment and like this because that gets
this into the algorithm for YouTube to
get it out there. And also, ask questions
as well and, yeah, so of course, share it
with friends and family, too. People that
you think can be inspired by this and will
make a positive change.
So, with that being said, it's great to be
here. It's wonderful to spend a little
time with you all. I hope you enjoyed the
Rob Greenfield recycled cabin and,
of course, you can stay here!
You can rent this place, too.
I don't own this place, I don't manage it.
It's just named after me, but
St. Michael's Sustainable Community runs
it and you can rent this, along with other
cool places. I love you all very much and
see you soon! (Acoustic guitar music)
Subtitles by the Amara.org community