wisewords The south wall of the house is like a greenhouse, where spring
water flows through and provides humidity in the dry, high-altitude air. We used stones gathered from the site for the fireplaces, bath- room and stairs. I’ve also used a number of moss-covered stones in a “living” couch. I grow food in a garden that is wildly productive when cared for.
“Off the grid” is a new term for some people. How do you define it? Off the grid literally means that an individual creates their own power and has access to rain, well, spring or ground water. I believe in being as self-sufficient as possible. Both passive and ac- tive solar energy provides my power and I’m very lucky to have a productive spring for water.
LOVING A SUSTAINABLE LIFE
Heartfelt Perspective from Actress and Activist Daryl Hannah by S. Alison Chabonais
B
est known for her roles in such popular films as Splash, Blade Runner and Kill Bill, actress Daryl Hannah is now busy shed- ding light on environmental issues and working hard to help
improve the way people treat our planet. “It’s just common sense to care about the environment,” she says. “I’ve always understood and valued the interdependence of all life, the idea that whatever we do to the web of life, we do to ourselves.” Dwelling in a small community in the Rocky Mountains, Daryl attends to her ethical-lifestyle website and serves as a positive role model for living a simple, natural and healthy life.
How did you go about designing and building an ecologically sustainable home? My home is a small, recycled barn that was about to be torn down to build a new post office. I salvaged the old barn and carefully had it relocated and bermed into the side of a hill, which faces southwest for optimal passive solar exposure. The sun passes high in the sum- mer for shade and low across the sky in winter to warm the house.
34 Hartford County Edition
www.NAHRT.com
What have been the most rewarding, as well as the most challenging, aspects of achieving your cur- rent Earth-friendly lifestyle? More and more these days, I admire and crave simplification. While filming the video blog for my website,
dhLoveLife.com, I have found it incredibly interesting to learn how many gifts tradi- tional knowledge holds and to discover amazing new innovations. The more I learn, the more I try to adapt to and adopt a simpler lifestyle.
Why do you choose to drive a biodiesel car? I like opting out of the petroleum economy as much as possible, and I love that I can drive on non-toxic waste. Biofuels can be an important part of the solution to the energy crisis we face, but even biofuels can be produced destructively. I co-founded the U.S. Sus- tainable Biodiesel Alliance to help people differentiate sustainable biodiesel from other, “bad news,” biofuels.
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