In this entertaining TED talk by marine biologist Simon Berrow, once again the plight of sharks worldwide is brought to the fore. He debunks the “Jaws” myths surrounding these amazing creatures and emphasizes the need for more research and conservation.

His tales of difficulties obtaining DNA from the enormous basking sharks off the coast of Ireland, and the ensuing solution, end with his comments, “You always think you might have some legacy you can leave the world behind. And I was thinking of humpback whales breaching and dolphins. But hey, sometimes these things are sent to you and you just have to take them when they come. So this is possibly going to be my legacy - Simon’s shark slime.”

Speaker: Simon Berrow

Originally discovered in 2009, subsequent studies the following year suggested GJ1214b was largely composed of water. At the time, however, scientists were not certain whether the atmosphere they were observing was haze or water vapor. More recently, the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) was used to catch GJ1214b as it crossed in front of its host star.

Artist's conception of GJ1214b passing in front of its red dwarf sun, 40 light-years from Earth. Source: NASA, ESA, and D. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

During transit, the star’s light was filtered through the planet’s atmosphere — and since hazes are more transparent to infrared light than to visible light, Hubble was able to tell the difference between a steamy and a hazy atmosphere.

The result? The spectrum of GJ1214b’s atmosphere was featureless over a wide range of wavelengths — consistent with a dense atmosphere of water vapor.

Calculations of GJ1214b’s density indicate that it contains a much higher proportion of water — and less rock — than Earth, but its size and proximity to its red-dwarf sun make it much different than the watery world we might first imagine.

“The high temperatures and high pressures would form exotic materials like ‘hot ice’ or ‘superfluid water,’ substances that are completely alien to our everyday experience,” says Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) who, along with colleagues, conducted the Hubble observations.

Scientists theorize that GJ1214b formed farther out from its star, where water ice was plentiful, and migrated inward early in the system’s history. In the process, it would have passed through the star’s habitable zone, where surface temperatures would be similar to Earth’s. How long it lingered there is unknown.

GJ1214b is located about 40 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, and a prime candidate for further study by the planned James Webb Space Telescope. A paper reporting the recent results has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.

Local officials confirm claims by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that the killings are the work of armed gangs of Sudanese poachers.

More than 100 carcasses have been found in the park thus far, but continuing gunfire has impeded efforts to fully assess the situation. Reports of orphaned and abandoned elephant calves now threatened by starvation are adding to concerns.

Cameroon shares a border with Chad, which itself shares borders with Sudan and the Central African Republic — both sites of ongoing regional conflict. Insurgents in search of tusks to support arms purchases frequently cross the porous borders, particularly during the dry season.

Against professional poachers, Cameroon’s poorly trained park rangers are ill-equipped to stop the slaughter. The only long-term solution is to curtail international demand for ivory, especially in Asia.

In 2007, the Elephant Status Report of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that there were between 1,000 and 5,000 elephants left in Cameroon. In five short weeks, that population has been decimated.

In the dry climate of southern Spain’s agricultural cork belt near Seville,  a German couple are trying to turn back the clock to a traditional way of farming.

In 1996, Hans-Gerd Neglein and Ernestine Lüdeke bought a 600-hectare (1483 acres) cork and livestock farm, in a bid to create a year-round model for sustainable farming.

Each production element of the farm is interconnected. The philosophy is to work with nature in such a way that each element supports the environment’s natural balance.

Ernestine  said, “We produce biodiversity in the sense that we keep up the number of species in plants and in animals that would disappear if we were producing in an intensive way. The whole food chain is being restored by our way of farming, starting from insects, bacteria in the soil, birds, any rare species and plants and animals is integrated into our management system.”

The Environmental Atlas of Europe is a UNEP-EEA-ESA joint project showcasing communities responding to environmental change across Europe. The films present a series of these inspirational stories about how people are responding to climate change and in so doing, transforming their lives for a more sustainable future.

Produced by Ace & Ace, Denmark, in cooperation with the European Environment Agency (EEA), United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Extreme fluctuations in water level along the Volga river and around the city of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia, are affecting the city and surroundings in various degrees. The city ranks seventh in Russia in terms of industrial output, with the processing industry the most important to the local economy.

Gnidin Konstantin Sergeevich, head of the Upper Volga Basin Department of Federal Agency of Water Resources says, “We have developed a plan for the prevention of floods, aimed at zero impact from flooding on the population.” More studies and research are required to mitigate the effect of extreme high and low waters that increase the risks of drought and flooding.

The Environmental Atlas of Europe is a UNEP-EEA-ESA joint project showcasing communities responding to environmental change across Europe. The films present a series of these inspirational stories about how people are responding to climate change and in so doing, transforming their lives for a more sustainable future.

Produced by Ace & Ace, Denmark, in cooperation with the European Environment Agency (EEA), United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and the European Space Agency (ESA).

by Molly Marquand

Originally published on Izilwane

Where every great city stands today, a natural ecosystem once thrived. London was built on a floodplain of the River Thames; New York was set up on great tracts of oak woodland; and Tokyo, the most populous metropolis in the world, once supported a lush and verdant subtropical forest. Since their ambitious beginnings, cities all over the world have sacrificed natural diversity to become the cultural, artistic and economic centers they are today. The very definition of the word urban excludes notions of nature and rurality, instead conjuring images of industry and skyscrapers. But in an increasingly green-minded world, many cities are working to reverse their reputations and are redefining the concept of urbanity altogether.

The Big (Green) Apple

Take New York City, for example. The Big Apple is home to more than eight million people and covers 305 square miles (790 sq.km). The city is the financial powerhouse of the world and a mecca for arts, technology, and cultural diversity. New York is also one of the greenest metropolises in the country: Not only does it boast the highest levels of public transportation use, but its citizens consume less than half the energy of the national per capita average. Compared to San Francisco, where plastic bags are illegal and municipal composting is the norm, New York far out-ranks the ecologically conscious California city, contributing almost 30 percent less per capita in annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Part of what makes New York so green is its size. The confines of Manhattan Island, an area of only 23 square miles (60 sq. km), have directed development upward in the form of skyscrapers that are now recognized all over the world as the city’s trademark skyline. The apartments Gotham residents call home are notoriously small—and expensive—but are far more ecologically responsible than their lawn, dishwasher and central air-equipped suburban equivalents. The demand for limited space in New York continues to escalate as population levels grow and the pace of development maintains its momentum. For the most part, this isn’t anticipated to change New Yorkers’ habits and the city’s claim to green fame. It may, however, disrupt another aspect of the city’s environmentally friendly nature—namely the unprecedented amount of woods, wetlands and meadows that thrive within the boundaries of this formidable metropolis and occupy some of the most desirable real estate in the country.

Natural New York

New York City encompasses many diverse geologic areas and is home to a multitude of different habitats. When European settlers first arrived in New York Harbor more than four hundred years ago, they found the landscape a verdant patchwork, knitted together by abundant streams, swamps and waterways. One of the most prominent habitat types, the upland oak forest, occupied more than ten thousand acres (2,590 hectares) on Manhattan, covering the island from what is now Wall Street to Harlem. In hot, dry summers, the oak forest became a veritable tinderbox that periodically burst into flame, clearing out snags and dead trees, opening the canopy, and maintaining the plethora of herbaceous species that prospered on the well-lit forest floor. In autumn, pounds of the oaks’ rolling acorns littered the understory, providing food for bears, moose and raccoons, as well as Native Americans. As New York City grew in global importance, however, the wild woods were gradually hacked back. Wall Street, so named for the stone wall that kept the wilderness neatly out, exceeded and bulged over its own confines in a mere matter of years.

Despite having grown to become the most populous city in the United States, a quarter of New York’s area is dedicated to open space. Most visitors to New York make a trip to see the city’s most famous undeveloped area, the iconic Central Park. Opened in 1857 in response to the city’s growing population and an increased need for recreational green space, the park covers 843 acres (342 hectares) and includes ponds, swamps, streams, fields and large tracts of woodland. The park has long been a favorite destination of birders who come to see, among other species, the famous peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) that nest on the buildings along the park’s perimeter. For botanists, Central Park is home to one of the largest remaining stands of American elm (Ulmus americanus), a species that has almost been extinguished since the introduction of Dutch elm disease in the 1920s.

Compared to the rest of New York City, however, the natural offerings of bucolic Central Park are paltry. Depart from the heart of Manhattan and the same unaltered ecosystems that occurred in the pre-settlement era can still be seen and explored. More than 2,100 plant species can be found within New York City—more than in the entire country of Great Britain—and some of these species are exceedingly rare. Staten Island, the fastest growing borough in the city, is home to the globally vulnerable Torrey’s mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum torrei), a plant found in fewer than twenty locations worldwide. The American chestnut (Castanea dentata), a once-abundant tree in northeastern forests, can still be found in several locations in New York City, as well. The most notable of these occurrences are also on Staten Island, where several individuals have resisted the blight responsible for decimating the species long enough to reproduce and set fruit.

The southwestern edge of Staten Island is home to the globally-rare post oak-blackjack oak community. Situated upon millennia-old exposed sand deposits, the soil of this habitat is arid, nutrient poor and highly acidic. Walking through this ecosystem in the summer, lurid tufts of acid-loving moss flanking the trail and carpets of low fruiting blueberries dominating the forest floor, it is hard to accept this community’s designation as a part of New York City. Similarly, a 134-foot (41 m) tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), rumored to be four hundred years old, resides in Alley Pond Park, Queens, making the usual descriptions of New York City seem erroneous and incomplete. From the glacially scarred rocks that protrude in Riverside Park to the easily flooded areas in Chelsea where ancient underground streams surge to reclaim lost ground, remnants of the city’s past ecological landscape persevere almost everywhere. Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx only recently lost its final Native American inhabitant in the late 1920s. Underground stone larders and rock drawings are still visible where the last tribe of Algonquians settled for their summer camp.

Environmental Changes and Challenges in New York

Preserving the habitat wherein biological diversity occurs requires preserving large amounts of often contiguous green space, a commodity that is in high demand for development in New York City. In 2000, a 3.4-acre (1.38 hectare) property in the center of Manhattan famously sold for $345 million, or approximately $2,300 per square foot. Exorbitant prices belie the area’s robust economic activity and overall desirability. As vacant land disappears and suitable habitat is lost to development, plant populations shrink and become geographically isolated. Separated by vast expanses of concrete, these once-conjoined populations may no longer be able to breed. Reproductive isolation causes the critical gene flow between populations to weaken or even stop, increasing the incidence of inbreeding. Genetic diversity is necessary to maintain species fitness and the essential ability to adapt to new and changing conditions over the long term. As gene flow slackens, the likelihood of genetic divergence, inbreeding depression and extinction increases. And so species vanish, extirpated from the landscapes they have occupied since the last ice age.

In a study by Dr. Robert DeCandido, New York City was found to have lost 43 percent of its native flora since 1925. Of the original 1,357 native species found in the city, only 779 remain. Staten Island, the most floristically diverse borough in the city, has lost 40 percent of its native plant species just in the last century. The majority of these extirpated species were seen in citywide surveys conducted in 1879 and 1930; it is only in the last seventy years, with the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the borough’s subsequent population boom, that these species disappeared. Currently, more than 33 percent of the species remaining on the island are exotic, and despite numerous introductions of alien species, the total number of plant taxa continues to decline.

Conservation efforts face immense challenges under the pressure of New York City’s prodigious urbanity. Even the simplest of well-intentioned management practices, such as blazing trails, create problems. Meant to facilitate public access and enjoyment of the parks, trails act as gateways into forest interiors for invasive species, particularly exotic grasses. The visitors themselves may even enable the advance of exotic species: One study found that as park use and number of visitors increased, incidence of invasive species increased.

The tireless spread of foreign invaders is just one of the problems effective ecological management must remedy. The overall degradation of native soils due to pollution and compaction is one of the biggest, and most difficult to mitigate, threats to native flora in New York City. A number of species rely on fungi found only in intact native soils to survive. Orchids represent the best example of this ecological relationship: The city has lost approximately twenty-four species of orchids that were recorded until 1990. Now, only six genera and six species remain. An exotic orchid, the broadleaf Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), is the only orchid species out of an original twenty-one that currently grows in Manhattan. A large number of ericaceous species (members of the blueberry family), so vital to New York City’s once-dominant upland oak woodland community, rely heavily on Ascomycota ericoid mycorrhizae, fungi found on plant roots, to efficiently absorb nutrients in the soil. The displacement of native soil, in combination with outright habitat destruction, has made the blueberry family one of nine families with an extirpation rate of at least 50 percent.

The cessation of disturbance events, particularly cyclical fire regimes, plays an important role in the character of New York City’s contemporary plant communities. Resinous canopy trees, high summer temperatures, frequent lightning storms and strong winds traditionally contributed to frequent natural fire cycles in the city’s various habitats. Many species found in the oak woodland communities of New York City are fire-resistant, sprouting from stolons, or as in mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), from a protected underground root burl. Because of the city’s high population density, natural wildfire cycles are no longer permitted to occur. Fast-growing invasive species fill tree-fall gaps that create similar forest openings suitable for light-loving species, such as huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) and lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), before natives have a chance to become established. Invasive species also alter soil nutrient and pH levels, thus inviting late-successional species into the forest and encouraging growth of non-native types of woodland vegetation. The resulting landscape is a tangled mess of invasive vines, broad-leaved, quick-growing trees, and a homogenous understory of shade-tolerant shrubs and herbaceous species.

The Natural Resources Group (NRG), a division of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation created in 1984, is responsible for management and preservation of the city’s green spaces. In an effort to preserve some of the city’s more pristine habitat, the Natural Resources Group proposed legislation that would protect ecologically valuable areas from further fragmentation and degradation. The Forever Wild sites, as they are known, are selected based on criteria such as the existence of intact native soils and undisturbed upland forest, wetlands or tidal marshes within the preserve. Sites known to contain rare species or habitat, such as the dwarf juneberry (Amelanchier nantucketensis)—occurring on Staten Island and only a handful of other places in the world—also receive consideration for this extra measure of protection. Globally rare communities, such as the post oak-blackjack oak barrens community, are overseen by the state of New York, rather than the city. Forever Wild sites are not impervious to the problems that plague the rest of the city’s green space, however. Disrespectful, destructive use of these preserves by the public still occurs, and invasive species are present in even these most pristine areas.

Conservation in the Urban Environment

There’s no denying New Yorkers appreciate their open space. Anyone who has seen Central Park on a beautiful summer day knows how much residents value a green slice of grass or the irresistible cool of a sliver of shade. In a city as large as New York, people are both a burden and a boon to native plant conservation. As development pressures continue to increase, so do the efforts of conservation groups like the Torrey Botanical Society and Protectors of Pine Oak Woods. The New York Botanical Garden, a world-class garden and herbarium, has been documenting and conserving urban floral diversity since the 1800s. The garden also provides botanical teaching for the public through classes, field trips and regularly published journals. Activist groups involved in restoration projects, invasive plant removal and citizen agency in New York City’s environmental policies have flourished in recent years, as well.

One particularly successful organization, the NYC Wildflower Week, uses city inhabitants’ natural thirst for the outdoors for an environmental purpose. Helping the public engage with the environment through guided walks and lectures, the organization aims to instill a sense of ownership and pride in city green spaces. Knowing the names, evolutionary history or habitat requirements of the city’s different plants sparks a sense of wonder and encourages stewardship. Topics discussed include native alternatives for the city garden and edible plants of the five boroughs.

One of Wildflower Week’s partners, the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, collects seed from local native plant communities. Some of this seed is cultivated at their extensive Staten Island nursery and used in restoration projects across the city. The rest is packaged into seed mixtures or sent to global seed banks like the one at Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in England. Sourcing local material for restoration projects ensures plants will be as best-suited to the growing conditions of the New York area as possible. Although a species may successfully range from Maine to North Carolina, geographically distinct populations evolve different adaptations to cope with ecological variations such as climate. A red maple (Acer rubrum) from Maine, for example, may not be able to tolerate hot, humid New York summers.

The Greenbelt Native Plant Center also lists a number of species appropriate for green roofs on their website. Greenroofing originally gained popularity due to its mitigating effects on storm run-off and extreme temperature fluctuation. Recently, it has become one of the many ways urbanites are bringing nature back into the pandemonium of city life. Green roofs are also one of the most feasible ways to conserve native species and create green space. Over the past few years, farms and apiaries have taken to the skies, too, growing food and constructing bee hives on otherwise vacant space. A current study on roofs planted with native species reveals the habitat attracts a plethora of insects, including those from the diminishing order Hymenoptera—the bees and wasps. Projects such as The High Line, an abandoned elevated tramway turned public garden on Manhattan’s West Side, are thrusting native plants into the stratosphere of “cool.” In October, as masses of migratory birds wheel overhead in their ancient, timeless ritual, the garden’s fruiting plants provide fuel for their long journey. The garden serves as an important public model, demonstrating the holistic benefits of using ecologically appropriate plants in an urban setting.

Conclusion

By 2025, two-thirds of the population will live in urban centers. While this may boost public transportation use and help eradicate suburban sprawl, the conservation of city green space will be more challenging than ever. Fortunately for New York City, nature and its advocates are as gritty and resilient as New Yorkers themselves. Native plants and ecosystems reclaim lost ground quickly and have been found exploiting new and surprising niches only available in urban environments. The nutrient poor, thin soils on landfills are underlain with a clay lens used to cap the mound. This mixture of substrate inadvertently creates perfect habitat for, among other things, members of the threatened blueberry family. Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, one of the largest piles of garbage on the planet, is slated to be the site of an equally large native plant restoration project in the newly created Freshkills Park. In only a handful of years, a meadow of native grasses will sway over the landfill’s hump, preventing erosion, providing habitat for ground-nesting birds and sowing ecologically appropriate seed for miles around. New Yorkers will be free to wander the park, run on its trails, and admire its flora and fauna. Perhaps there is no better symbol of the unification of nature and urbanity—and the rewriting of their relationship—than this budding partnership. Instead of mutual exclusion and antagonism, the two entities nurture each other: New growth is literally sprouting from city detritus, and the city, in turn, is richer, greener, healthier and happier because of it.

Photos are copyright protected and cannot be reproduced without permission. Image of Central Park used with the permission of Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 Generic and is courtesy of Patrick Ashley[http://www.flickr.com/photos/patashley/]. All other images are courtesy of Molly Marquand.

Molly Marquand is a gardener, botanist and writer based in New York’s Hudson Valley. She completed her B.A. at Bates College in Maine and received her M.S. from Reading University’s Plant Diversity and Taxonomy program, which is run in conjunction with the world renowned Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in England. Most recently, Molly has been working with various organizations on native plant conservation in New York City. True to her academic background in science all of Molly’s writing and gardening reflect careful consideration of ecology and nature. In her free time she enjoys riding her horse and hiking with her dogs. Molly is the current horticultural editor of Wilder Quarterly.

References

I. Owens, David. Green Manhattan: Why New York is the greenest city in the US. The New Yorker. (October 2004): 11-11

II. New York City Department of City Planning, Population, July 1 2009,

III. McDonnell, M. J., S.T.A. Pickett, P. Groffman, P. Bohlen, R.V. Pouyat, W. Zipperer, R. W. Parmelee, M. M. Carreiro and K. Medley. 1997. Ecosystem processes along an urban-to-rural gradient. Urban Ecosystems 1:21-36.

IV. DeCandido, R. 2004. A first approximation of historical and extant flora of New York City: Implications for native plant species conservation. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 131(3) 243-251.

V. Robinson, G. R., M. E. Yurlina and S. N. Handel. 1994. A century of change in Staten Island flora: ecological correlates of species losses and invasions. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 121: 119-129.

VI. Tyser, R. W. and C. A. Worley. 1992. Alien flora in grasslands adjacent to road and trail corridors in Glacier National Park, Montana (U.S.A.). Conservation Biology 6:253-262.

VII. Lonsdale, W. M. 1999. Global patterns of plant invasions and the concept of invasibility. Ecology 80: 1522-1536.

VIII. DeCandido, R. 2001. Recent changes in plant species diversity in Pelham Bay Park, Bronx County, New York City, 1947-1998. Ph.D. Dissertation, The City University of New York.

VIIII. Palmer, M., Smith, M. Restoring native plant pollinator communities on New York City green roofs. MillionTreesNYC, Green Infrastructure and Urban Ecology: A Research Symposium, March 5-6, 2010

X. DeCandido, R. 2007. Searching for green in Gotham. The Conservationist, December: 12-18.

In Ecosystems, Ace & Ace led us on virtual stroll through a rare and incredibly beautiful, untouched forest in Poland. In Urban Issues, we learned of one Dutch municipality’s answer to flooding and rising sea levels – floating cities!

Susan Colby took us to the Kilimanjaro with the premier of “Eco-Docs“, Ecology Global Network’s new, 52-week television series for China Green Channel International. Guest Contributor and housing designer, Andy Erickson shared his big ideas for small homes and sustainable lifestyles.

In Ecology Kids, Discover the Forest and the Ad Council encouraged kids (and their families) to take a break from the digital world to reconnect with nature and themselves.

In Inner Ecology, Mikhaila Stettler helped clear the air of the often conflicting and confusing nutritional information that has left many of us in a fog — and no healthier. In Eco Tipping, Lisa Rosen encouraged us to adopt a more eco-friendly laundry routine. In ecoView, Dr. Kristine Kevorkian asked, “Who owns nature?” and discussed the sense of loss some feel in the face of environmental degradation. And in Shop Ecology, Libby Woolems debunked some misconceptions about the vegan lifestyle.

In Oceans, Christopher Bartlett explored the dilemma fishermen face when catches decline, and the differences in adaptability between fishermen in poor countries compared to those in wealthy nations.

On Ecology Campus, we welcomed the newest International Dark Sky Park – one of only 10 in the world. Deborah Harter Williams also filled us in on several upcoming opportunities: a chance to study Tropical and Aquatic Ecosystems in Panama, and a series of regional green-jobs conferences coming up this spring.

Here at Ecology Today, we launched our collaborative effort with China Green Channel International to bring environmental programming to China Educational TV, and announced our featured partnership with the mobile, social news network, Flud.

Fuel-salvage operations at the site of the Costa Concordia shipwreck finally got underway. And using an instrument designed to search for life on Mars, scientists discovered anaerobic organisms beneath the Atacama Desert.

“World Water Monitoring Day” officially became a year-round event, changing its name to “World Water Monitoring Challenge,” and this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count got underway. The count runs through February 22, so there’s still time to grab your field guide and binoculars, and get your citizen-scientist on!

Small house showing basement and first floor.

The Beginning of the Dream

The little dream home at the end of a quiet lane needed fixing, but was affordable. A half acre of rich, dark soil and a bright sunny exposure came with the small house. Not only was it a place to grow organic food, but a place to cultivate my values and ethics around a sustainable lifestyle. My motto was “Live simply and get happy,” and I was living my dream. I knew that small, efficient buildings made sense on so many levels, and that someday I would design and build small homes that would include my values and common sense.

The first cottage became a true experiment, leading to a curiosity for building small homes, filled with sensible and functional ideas.

These experiments started with a small structure for my faithful garden rototiller. It needed shelter, so I designed a garden shed and built it with recycled materials that included graying lumber and old wood windows. The shed was a success and a little charmer, and I wondered, “What’s next?”

Developing the Dream

Research into products and methods helped guide my values to offer a standout, small home built with quality materials and pride of workmanship. I wanted to give people the choice of small, quality homes for a sustainable lifestyle instead of large, over-sized boxy houses.

The space-saving efficient kitchen with reclaimed wood cabinets

The thought of making my own home from the ground up with environmentally conscious thinking was infectious. It changed my entire way of thinking. The ideas soared, thinking of what I could contribute to a better housing style for the world, while blending in new, efficient materials and construction methods.

Appropriate-sized smaller homes screamed practicality, and many folks with larger space-wasting houses became excited to see my ideas of compact and quality housing alternatives.

People enjoyed thinking of the amenities these small homes would offer; space saving ideas, energy efficiency; lower taxes; smaller utility expenses; reduced environmental impact; passive solar features; permeable brick parking surfaces. And the list went on.

A Small Home with Big Ideas

I sold that first little dream cottage where my ideas of appropriate smaller housing began and started the small new dream home I had been designing. The research and experiments with new methods and materials became a rewarding reality.

My designs don’t have extra baths or unused bedrooms. They use environmentally friendly features like Blow In Blanket (BIB) insulation and roofing material that is “Green” and doesn’t add to the community’s heat island. The windows are thermal pane with a “U” value exceeding the building code’s requirements, and add to the heating- and cooling-efficient envelope.

Trim wood is often milled from the trees on the site, a wonderful feature to admire and talk about with friends. The economics of milling and using your own trim lumber can pay off with large savings.

That first home embraced the site with minimal environmental damage. Its tidy, well-thought-out features I had designed and constructed left the feeling of rightness, not using too much of the world’s resources, yet just enough in a thoughtful way.

A friend offered to buy my dream cottage, which set my building pattern. My small home philosophical footprint grows with each new foundation.

Number Eight

My eighth hand built home has just been completed. I’ve refined my knowledge, design features that make building small square footage homes enjoyable, rewarding and affordable.

Some of this home’s key features, besides a small footprint, are a stacked design that uses a basement foundation for a heated shop/studio space. That heat column works its way up through the house, warming the main floor and third floor loft.

Get Away Spaces

The narrow stairs leading to the loft provide storage space below

Small homes become very livable with “get away” spaces. The studio basement is in its own world, just steps below the main living floor. The main floor serves the efficient home functions of eating, sleeping and entertaining, as well as housing the bath and laundry.

The house, with its high-pitched roof has another “away space” feature; a loft with standing headroom. This area provides office and occasional guest sleeping space. The loft area, spanning half of the lower floor, did several useful things. First, it’s fun to look down on the kitchen and living room from above, but there is more. From below, the main floor feels bigger and airier. The big, natural beams and vaulted ceiling make the living area of the small home engaging and cozy. The heat flows easily up to the loft space and is returned quietly with a ceiling fan.

Because the loft is less than 200 square feet, the code for stair access did not apply and I was able to create a narrower (2 foot wide) and steeper staircase. The compact staircase saves floor space below, which is filled with a built in bookcase and provides useful storage under the stairs.

The loft floor built of tongue and grooved flooring makes a beautiful ceiling for the bedroom and bathroom located below, doubling in service and saving in construction time and cost. This feature of an open beam bedroom ceiling with exposed beams is a pleasure to admire.

The cozy, efficient living space

Wood heat was considered, but current, local building codes require room heat to be thermostatically controlled. Compact electric wall heat was chosen for primary heat. It’s practical and inexpensive, and in the Pacific Northwest, electricity is provided from a clean hydro source.

The foundation was laid with passive solar in mind. The south-facing porch is over the passive solar heated room below. This glass-enclosed area collects heat during the day and the sunroom’s brick floor helps retain some heat overnight. That simple, enclosed space doubles as a greenhouse for growing vegetables, which adds to the self-sufficiency of the home. Warming the lower south face of the home with passive solar heat is a bonus of good site layout and design.

This solar heat source could be maximized with more than just an attached greenhouse sunroom. There are many efficient, heat-collecting devices available, with only budget setting the limit of innovation.

The electric water heater is situated below the kitchen floor in the basement studio, providing two big benefits. Its ambient heat simply adds to the warming of the studio, while the location directly below the bathroom and kitchen plumbing mean hot water right away.

Yard Possibilities

Small homes mean large yard possibilities, and with the daylight basement studio at yard level, that backyard becomes an inviting extension of the studio space. A home built above a basement means a view from added height, which increases the feeling of spaciousness. The upstairs office window in the loft feels like a lookout tower with a view beyond the lot’s fenced boundaries, which in this house, extends out to the local forest. The yard is unfenced at the end, adding a big forest feel.

The access to this home is towards that quiet forest view. It is also the south, sunny side away from the prevailing winds. A unique bridge walkway joins the parking area with a generous 8 x 20 foot covered porch, creating an inviting entrance.

The peaceful and sheltered atmosphere of the sunny porch above the back yard is a joy to share with guests, or simply a place to  relax.

My homes allow owners to live a sustainable lifestyle in a compact and efficient small home, full of big ideas.

Andy Erickson is a sustainable housing designer and builder in Port Townsend, WA. He can be reached at Andy Erickson

All photos courtesy Andy Erickson

Kilimanjaro, To the Roof of Africa leads Ecology Global Network’s 52-week “Eco-doc” television series for China Green Channel International (CGCI) in China, premiering Sunday, February 19, 2012. The film, shot in large format, follows five intrepid trekkers and their guide, who climb the majestic mountain.

The group includes two youngsters, Hansi Mmari (12) from Tanzania and Nicole Wineland-Thomsen (12) from the United States; Roger Bilham, a geologist; the writer and historian Audrey Salkeld, who is older than the rest of the group; Heidi Albertsen, an artist and Jacob Kyungai, their Chagga guide. The group spends a week climbing from the plains, through five ecosystems, to reach the peak of the 19,340 ft (5,895 m) mountain.
 

From Rain Forest to Tundra

Senecio Kilimanjari stand near Barranco Camp

Kilimanjaro is the largest freestanding mountain in the world, and the tallest mountain in Africa. Standing proud above the savanna that surrounds her, Kili is shrouded in myth and legend, as well as mist. No one is sure where the name came from, with several origins open to debate. And although the mountain is in the heart of Africa, with all its claims of vast herds of animals, Kilimanjaro is best known for its diverse flora, rather than its fauna.

As the trekkers make their way up the mountain, we hear their impressions of the great Kili. We learn about the amazing flora on the slopes and the difficulties they experience, climbing in the ever-thinner air.

The climb tomorrow is the biggest challenge, and it requires stamina and strength of heart. They won’t know if they have it until they need it.

- Jacob Kyungai

Nevertheless, the most lasting impression is of the beauty and the grand scale of the place, and come to understand why so many people dream of climbing the great, shining mountain.

And why so few actually climb her.

The Ecosystems or Zones

Depending on the source, there are either five or six ecosystems on Kilimanjaro.

Cultivated Zone and Forest

The savannas forming the surrounds of the mountain are vast and home to an array of animals and plants, although the biodiversity is diminishing rapidly as civilization encroaches into these traditionally wild lands.

Most animals of Kili live in this zone. The ubiquitous monkeys, both Blue and Colobus are ever present. Civet cats, Olive baboons, mongoose, leopards and servals are also in the zone but seldom seen, as is the nocturnal bush baby.

The Chagga people inhabit the local area surrounding the base of the mountain and have successfully farmed the area using agricultural methods practiced for centuries. The main food crop is bananas, from which they brew beer (mbege) and are also used extensively in their cuisine. The Chagga are best known for the Arabica coffee, the primary cash crop.

Forest Zone

The forest zone is between about 1,800 m and 2800 m (5,900 –9186 feet) and is where the majority of the animal life of the forest exists. And it is the wettest, receiving more than 2,300mm (90 inches) of rain a year.

Heath and Moorland 2800m-4000m (9186 – 13124 feet)

Immediately above the forest lies the alpine heath zone. This zone is also called the mist zone. Temperatures here drop below freezing. The area is predominantly grasslands, with spectacular red hot pokers and proteas blazing the way. Animal life is scarce here, but the occasional large mammals sometimes make their way up the mountain from Amboseli National Park. More visible are the small herds of grey and red duikers, eland and bushbuck.

Above the heath zone, lies the moorland, a sunny area but still in the freezing zone, with rainfall down to about 525mm (21 in.). This is the zone of the iconic tree or giant groundsel (senecio) which dominate the landscape.

Alpine desert 4000m-5000m (13124 -16405 feet)

Very little grows in this zone, just a few everlastings. The temperatures remain well below freezing and rainfall is greatly diminished.

Ice cap 5000m-5895m (16,405 – 19342 feet)

Don’t expect to see any life forms on the rim of the crater. It is dry and barren and freezing.

But the view from the rim?

Priceless.

Carolina Chickadee, 2010 GBBC. Credit: Ken Childs, TN

Participants count birds at any location they wish for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, then enter their tallies at www.birdcount.org. Anyone can participate in the free event, and no registration is required.

Last year, participants submitted more than 92,000 checklists with more than 11 million bird observations. These data capture a picture of how bird populations are changing across the continent year after year–a feat that would be impossible without the help of tens of thousands of participants.

Brown Pelican, 2010 GBBC. Credit: Bob Howdeshell, TN

“This is a very detailed snapshot of continental bird distribution,” said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Imagine scientists 250 years from now being able to compare these data with their own. Already, with more than a decade of data in hand, the GBBC has documented changes in late-winter bird distributions.”

To learn more about how to join the count, get bird ID tips, downloadable instructions, a how-to video, past results, and more visit www.birdcount.org.

Red-shouldered Hawk, 2010 GBBC. Credit: Shane Conklin, MA

The count also includes a photo contest and a prize drawing for participants who enter at least one bird checklist online.

“This count is so much fun because anyone can take part–we all learn and watch birds together–whether you are an expert, novice, or feeder watcher,” said Gary Langham, Audubon’s Chief Scientist. “I like to invite new birders to join me and share the experience. Get involved, invite your friends, and see how your favorite spot stacks up.”