The wonderful Art Ludwig of Oasis Design in the US was asked to design and build an ‘eco-home’ for a client. He wrote a letter to the client to explain that he couldn’t take on the project because green ‘add-ons’ aren’t green at all when tacked on to a house that is too big Read more

We are in contact with an English man who has a French property but will no longer be able to live there. He’s happy to give it away to someone who will turn it into the kind of eco-home / low-impact smallholding that he intended. Read more

When discussing war, exploitation, wealth disparities, violence and the apparently uncaring nature of society, a common response is: ‘well, that’s human nature for you’. Is it? Really? Are we that bad? Are we inherently, intrinsically, irredeemably horrible? Read more

In 2012 some households in our village decided to start a pig co-op/club. Living in a Somerset village and with several interested neighbours, one of whom had the space needed, we all got together for an informal meeting Read more

Nestled in, part way down the side of a beautiful valley in Devon, is probably the most interesting, bonkers, chaotic and inspiring workshop I’ve ever been in. Housed inside what was once an open cow shed, this is where long-standing network member, Dean Aggett, Read more

‘Superhomes’ is a project run by our old friends at the National Energy Foundation. In September there are open houses all over the country that you can visit to see what kinds of improvements the owners have made Read more

Here’s an article that I came across recently. It was written by Tim Harford, the ‘Undercover Economist’, who points out that physicists are telling economists that economic growth can’t continue forever because of the exponential function Read more

Our friend Lee has been using a ‘humanure’ compost toilet system, made famous by Joe Jenkins in his book the Humanure Handbook, for over 9 years. I interviewed him to find out how it’s going. Read more

How do we develop cycling from a leisure activity to part of everyday life? I recently went for a bicycle ride with my partner along the Camel Trail in North Cornwall. Read more

Seven years ago, a handsome builder came on a Lowimpact.org ‘how to make biodiesel’ course at Redfield and stole one of our staff. They now live with three children in Cornwall, in an earth-sheltered house that he built himself on his own land. Read more

A group of around 15 of us meet one evening a month, for something we call ‘Philosophy Club’. The topic of this month’s meeting, which happened last night, was ‘is it ethical to eat meat?’ Read more

My name is James Dexter and I am one of the new tenants at Greenham Reach which is a low-impact farming project established in north Devon by the Ecological Land Coop  (ELC) Read more

Do you label yourself ‘left’ or ‘right’, or somewhere in the middle? Do you think the Labour party in the UK or the Democrats in the US, are left-wing parties? Or do you have only a vague idea about what those labels mean? Read more

This blog is about the house that Charlie and Meg built. It’s a straw-bale roundhouse with a reciprocal roof, built in the countryside where they grew up. The exterior can be seen above, the interior below, with Charlie, Meg and sprog in the middle. Read more

It’s widely believed that we have democracies in the West. We’d like that to be the case, but it’s not – because ultimate power is corporate, not political. By ultimate power, we mean the ability to control the direction in which humanity moves. Read more

A quick update on Sharenergy-supported projects and share offers. Firstly some great news – the first wind turbine supported by Sharenergy is now up and running in Dingwall Read more

It’s a quote from an economist invited in to comment about the UK economy on the BBC World Service earlier this week (it doesn’t matter who – this is a point that virtually all economists agree on, to the shame of the discipline). Read more

Western populations have to kept in a state of fear, so that weapons corporations can continue to make huge profits. People of America – this is your latest enemy: Read more

We’ve been approached by a very nice man called Rod Harper, who has never used a computer in his life, and so asked us for help in finding someone to rent his property in the Loire Valley. Read more

If you were asked, could you describe Mercantilism? I dare say you could have a good go at Capitalism and Feudalism. But Mercantilism? And is it worth finding out? I think it is, because it tells us a lot about the system we live under now Read more