The Elf and Ethics

April 22, 2014

...ansition period from hulking Hummers to lightweight human and battery powered vehicles. Is the greater risk I’m taking (by choosing a lightweight vehicle over an SUV) worth the ethical/ecological benefit? If everyone else is driving a big heavy vehicle don’t I need one too? Separating bikes and cars partially solves this conundrum to some extent, but not for transitional vehicles like the Elf. I would not want to see an Elf on a bike path and I’d...

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Protected Bike Lanes

Mr. Homegrown

March 6, 2014

Bikes, Transportation

8 Comments

...ry about fully protected bike lanes like they have in Europe. Far too many bikes languish in the garage because our cities feel like a game of Frogger. Right hooks–what happens when a distracted motorist turns right and hits a cyclist going straight–are one of the main objections to protected bike lanes. This proposal from the George Mason University 2014 Cameron Rian Hays Outside the Box Competition addresses the right hook problem. This type of...

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California’s Drought and What To Do About It

Mr. Homegrown

February 6, 2014

Thoughtstylings, Water and Power

33 Comments

...fe fights with a bikini clad Sting will break out and we’ll be trading our bikes for rides on the over-sized worms emerging from our compost bins. But I digress. Let’s cover what we’re doing at the Root Simple compound. We’ve expanded our drought tolerant plantings over the past few years. These plants use less water and encourage beneficial wildlife. I consider them part of the vegetable garden, in a way. I just made a major change to our laundry...

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Stuff You Learn When the Power Goes Out

Mr. Homegrown

August 31, 2015

Preparedness

25 Comments

...e and lock them unless there is electricity. So I could access our car and bikes, but I had no way of securing the garage which is right on the street. I didn’t want to leave it open, so if we wanted to go anywhere we’d have to take the bus. Clearly, I need to fix this. While I enjoyed our break from the interwebs, I also realized that a lot of information I depend on is now stored in the cloud. If the power had been out for longer I would have ha...

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Saturday Linkages: Passive Cooling, Cats and Three Mules

Mr. Homegrown

September 28, 2013

Saturday Linkages

1 Comment

...film, BIKES vs CARS – WE ARE MANY on @Kickstarter http://kck.st/1f7i1Xj @homedepot @lowes: 2/3 of our food crops need bees! Stop selling bee-killing pesticides! #BeeAction @foe_us http://www.beeaction.org Your Future in Farming & Homesteading: FREE 3-Day Webcast Event! (Oct. 1-3, 2013) http://permaculturenews.org/2013/09/25/your-future-in-farming-homesteading-free-3-day-webcast-event/ … For these links and more, follow Root Simple on Twitter: Fol...

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