Greeneroo

Cohousing is a concept about shared spaces and living with community. Each day more articles and radio shows discuss the subject of how and where to live, especially as we grow older. What are our choices?  Talk of the Nation, on NPR.org has aired many great shows on this subject.

Update: September 2010 -Cohousing is being planned for Mountain View California.

Co-housing Community Planned for 445 Calderon 

More info, in an article written by Katherine Forrest Local residents are in the process of planning for a new “old-fashioned neighborhood” on a piece of property at Calderon and Velarde. This is a “first” for Mountain View, and it represents part of a growing interest in cohousing nationwide.

There are several projects like this in the United States and other countries. Most CoHousing has tennents that include environmentally and social sustainability. The basic idea is that residents work together to establish a community and cooperative environment. This kind of housing flies in the face of the anonymous apartments and beehive high rises and neighborhoods where no one knows anyone. Of course, creating COMMUNITY can be accomplished in many ways. These developments are build with cooperative spirit and a sense of neighborliness. Residents have their own homes, but there are clubhouses, sometimes swimming pools and open spaces in the basic plan. Joseph Eichler and many other architects have believed that the space you provide works to determine the type of residential experience you end up with. It isn’t a new concept at all, but the idea is a popular one.

In Grass Valley there are two, Wolf Creek Lodge - active adult community and Wolf Creek Commons which is a family community of 32 homes.

In Fresno there is another community. called La Querencia,  of 28 homes, that boasts solar panels on every home.

In Boulder, CO the Architects, McCamant & Durrett Architects have won national design awards for Silver Sage Senior CoHousing.

Exhale Spa’s GRN skin productsare getting a lot of press and coverage in fashion mags. The Spa’s site: http://www.exhalespa.com/spa-healing-therapies/skin-care/ has an extensive publicity list. They have not arrived in the bay area yet. They look like direct competitors to BLISS at the W Hotel.  There are California locations and plans to grow to 20 spas over the next few years, Exhale currently operates 9 properties in carefully selected upscale locations in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and has two additional spas in development. They have great Core Values, but no list of ingredients for their products displayed.  Make sure to check for preservatives, additives, chemicals and dyes…. some of the most “zen” experiences may not be the most holistic or healthy. Stay aware.

We are fortunate to have some great spas in the Bay Area. Personally, I like the smaller places that are devoted to quality and experience, the others often feel too hectic. At Visage Studio, in SF, the owner makes sure you are pampered and is committed to the best customer care,  knowing your skin and your preferences.

Here is another great skin care site, Kimberly Sayer of London. It’s not local, but there is a wonderful page of “Homemade Recipes” that I think you will love. Now what could be fresher than making it yourself? This spa sounds like the perfect customized pampering that I Love.

If you have other local Bay Area spas that have really been perfect for you, please let us know. Reader comments are welcome. Make sure to include location as well as name.

During the curing and evaporating process, paints release their solvents in the atmosphere. Not only does this smell bad, but these VOC make some people sick, contribute to allergies and add to smog and climate change!! The release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) into the atmosphere, is a big deal, and the debate goes on with many contractors refusing to use them because they don’t cover as well as regular paint. On the one hand, there is great improvement in these paints in the last decade AND there is also much more information and access available. So don’t decide, “no” just because you may have heard some complaints and concerns.  Evaluate the current low VOC paints in regard to coverage, endurance and performance and I think you will be switch over.

And remember that VOCs are linked to dizziness, and asthma, and allergies.

TRY water based Latex Paints, with an acrylic resin acting as a binder. They are environmentally friendly – Water based means no more VOCs.  Latex paints have several other advantages over traditional paints, such as washability and coverage.

“Green Paint” refers to the effects of the paint itself AND also the manufacturing process that is followed in order to obtain the paint ingredients. Ingredients like Titanium Dioxide are used in paints for whiteness, and for it’s ability to cover scuffs, marks, maybe even crayon. It provides a greater opacity when it is disbursed in a solvent.

Sounds good… but Titanium Dioxide is manufactured using a sulphate and chloride process where diluted Sulphuric acid is created as a by-product.  -Especially not good for our rivers, oceans, waters.
Titanium Dioxide as an exterior coating, reacts with sunlight causing smog. The International Agency for research on Cancer (IARC), has also classified Titanium Dioxide as an IARC Group 2B carcinogen, which means that it is probably an agent leading to the promotion of cancer in humans. So BEWARE, Titanium Dioxide is widely used. Eco Friendly paints have a major POSITIVE impact on the industry helping us see our choices and how we impact many natural systems including ourselves.

A LOW VOC paint is to be sold at Home Depot and it is lower in cost than most others. Freshaire Choice helps us keep our “inside air” cleaner, considering that the air INSIDE our homes is full of pollutants, doing research on low VOC paint is important. There are many brands and Consumer Reports evaluates the key differences every year, this particular brand is lower in cost.

There are so many “natural” cosmetics that use chemicals, preservatives, dyes and unsafe components or processes. There are many alternatives to these crummy products. It is worth the investigation to find the best AND it is not simply a matter of picking a well known brand or a product line that proclaims “green, natural, organic” etc.

For a quick rule of thumb try this…. Read the ingredient list –  IF you can’t Eat it OR you can’t Spell it THEN leave it on the shelf. This works as a guide, but as the ingredient lists are in “mouse print” and often italics on a colored background [yes of course this is on purpose!] then sometimes I can’t read the individual items anyway.

Here is an alternative. We found this company at the Green Fest in SF – and the coconut skin lotion sample smells great, and would probably be a good topping on ice cream. [NO- don't do that!] Take a look, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised: http://www.100percentpure.com/index.htm 100% Pure has a huge variety. AND it is made locally, in Berkeley, CA. Wow, I am impressed!

It had so many things to see, do, smell, taste. Vendors of food, organic wine, grocers, jewelry, spas, vacations, toys, clothing, iced tea and coffee, bedding, green MBA, activism, music, hemp, financial investing, global issues, crafts, health improvement, green home design, paint, kitchen products, kids clothes, books, solar energy and plug-in cars were all present.  Samples of so many things that I’d never seen and go to try out, it was wonderful.  I am still sorting through all the literature and will add links and comments ASAP. There are green fests all over the US, and the site has radio shows and write-ups about prior events. http://www.greenfestivals.org/

I am enjoying a book that I have from this event, Building the Green Economysuccess stories from the grass roots, by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark, 2007. The authors were at the event.