Letter from the editor

New Life Journal, April-May, 2005 by Erin Everett

Sustainable building has been an interest of mine ever since my health made living in a nontoxic home a priority. In fact, the first issue ever of New Life Journal was about the Healthy Home. Never have building choices been so important to me than now, while my husband and I are building our own green dream home.

As a veteran of a so far half completed building project, some advice I have to give is to take the time to really manage your project. Don't assume that just because you're hiring a professional contractor you don't have to watch over things: checks and balances are the best. Is the architect checking the builder? Is the builder checking the roofer? Have you taken the time to get quotes from a couple of different contractors for each part of the project?

As the thunk of the nail gun and the scream of the radial saw have become the background music for my life, I have seen more and more materials go into our new house: wood from cedar, locust, cypress, and pine trees, metal mined from the ground, glues and finishes concocted from mysterious combinations of earth's elements. My husband, Adam is one of the builders; he has donated his own sweat and tears to the project, side by side with the other builders. I have agonized over the design and finances and made deals with contractors, contributing my own sacrifices to the project. We have watched in delight as the fruit of Our labors grows on the vine. I can't quite imagine what it will be like to see it in the full ripeness of completion. How will food taste as we're sitting at our table and looking out of those windows at the mountains beyond? How will it feel to lie in bed underneath the slope of that roof? To take a bath in a claw foot tub in our very own house? It's still a dream to me, and I think it will be until it's done and we move in. What a miracle to have space (and closets!!) after a whole lifetime of cramped quarters, of never spreading my wings or luxuriously stretching my toes.

The green building choices we've made have been very important to us. Some of them I feel really happy about, and sometimes we've cut corners that we're not so comfortable with. The issue that's come up for me the most has been the basic problem of consuming. Whether of not we're using pressure treated wood that comes from tree farms of trees from our own land, we're still using up resources. Life is being sacrificed so that we can live more comfortably. To the trees making space for us and sheltering us, to the other resources that build our house's foundation, windows, floors, and roof, I give my thanks.

I hope you enjoy this issue, filled with resources for building and renovating with sustainability in mind. Even if you're just dreaming of the future or updating your current habitation to be more efficient or beautiful, our resources will provide you with what you need. We offer this issue to you with best wishes for happy, healthy living!