Third in a series
Ecology begins at home, Ketchum architect Dale Bates says. Once the bamboo floors and the recycled insulation and salvaged woods are installed, there are still people daily leaving their footprints in your home.
What kind of footprint we leave on this earth is something we always should be asking ourselves. "Green living" is kind of a catchall phrase for doing our best to take steps that we can feel good about. But more specifically, the term describes a manner of living that does little or no harm to the environment or to ourselves. Like a doctor working with a patient, people should endeavor to do no harm.
Since the first description is kind of vague (and a bit shallow), it should come as no surprise that many people think they are "living green" but are actually making little difference.
According to Nancy Taylor, a green-living consultant in Wyoming, to achieve zero energy spent in the home there are a number of options when building, none of which are out of the average person's reach. She recommends using passive and solar heating, building smaller spaces, using recycled and renewable materials and considering the energy (fuel) used in the transport of materials.
A man who practices what he preaches, Bates has been building homes for 27 years incorporating these principles. His company, Living Architecture, is currently working on a myriad of green homes and developments, including the Quail Creek community-housing project, south of Ketchum and east of the hospital.
Bates' work has not gone unnoticed. Natural Home magazine recently named him one of the top 10 green architects in the country. His new home in Ketchum has been built as a test house for even newer ideas. He plans on holding an open house in the near future to show how some of these ideas are put to practice.
"Our take on green is it's great to care about the earth. The root of the word 'ecology' is the science and maintenance of the home," Bates said. "First our bodies, our home, our neighborhood and the world at large. A house is a small microcosm. Material flows through. Everything from energy to food, water, waste, what flows in and what flows out. It becomes a whole lifestyle."
Bates' house is angled for the most effective sun capture, and is heated with 120 solar tubes, rather than traditional solar panels. Two separate "towers" reach higher, the tubes attached to their uppermost slant, which inside is revealed as the master bedrooms suite and an office and a guest bedroom. A sunny hallway connects them.
"Living in the mountains, we need heat, not electricity. These (tubes) heat the entire house, the hot water and a hot tub."
The gas bills will be reduced by at least half, Bates projected. "I did really adventurous things here, because it's a test house."
From the first floor, the color on the stairway mutates subtly as one ascends because of something called the Lazure painting technique. Soothing and surprising, it morphs from a coral into green into blue and lavender. John Stolfo, the artist who did the work in Bates' home, uses a mix of beeswax, casein (milk protein), tree resins and essential plant oils. All natural, Lazure painting is used in health clubs, child-care facilities, houses and other environments where a peaceful integrated interior is sought.
Bates' house is situated on a tiny lot, off a back alley, yet is full of sunlight that seems to softly radiate off the harmoniously washed stucco walls. Because the walls were built with breathable blocks made of recycled material, stacked on top of each other, it feels solid and quiet. The construction managers, Brad Wells and Darren Sweeny, previously associated with Keller Carlisle of Salt Lake City, now have a valley-based business called HighPointe Construction.
"Energetically, it was a job made joyful in the creation," said Bates' fiancée, Feng Shui practitioner Peggy Doscher. Instead of breaking down materials, hammering and sawing, they built it up in an almost Zen-like way, block by block.
There are so many small touches that are a part of the home it's impossible to list them.
The kitchen, with a cork floor, faces east for optimal light. An integrated counter planter in front of the sink means the couple will have greens and vegetables year-round.
"You brush your crumbs on the counter into the plants. That's composting," Bates said.
Indeed, composting is a simple green-living task. Everything except meat can be composted and returned to the earth.
In the center of the living area is a tall column fountain with water dripping down the clay sides and into a pool of rocks. "It humidifies, cleans air of germs and bacteria and creates negative ions from the water breaking over the clay."
The importance of green living is our health, Bates said. "If a plant can't live in a house, neither can you," he said. "They're the indicators of a healthy house."
But how do we live green beyond those issues? What can we do with the life inside our home?
Flooring and furniture can be made with recycled materials or from easily renewable products like bamboo and cork, said an article in Mother Earth News magazine, which regularly covers the green-living trend. There are dozens of types of wood that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
One of the most toxic items in our homes, believe it or not, is the wall-to-wall carpet, Bates said. From the adhesive used to the padding to the chemicals used in the synthetic material, the components can make carpets among the worst culprits in an unhealthy home.
According to studies cited in the Safer Products Project Web site, pesticides tracked from outdoors, dust mites and bacteria hide out in rug fibers, creating allergic reactions that can make a person sick without knowing the cause. Instead, Bates said, if you must have carpeting, use area rugs and insist on natural fibers such as 100 percent wool, sisal, hemp, seagrass, raffia, cotton and jute.
As Italian ladies seem to have always known, airing rugs outside once a week is a necessary task. It allows them to bake in the sunlight's sterilizing ultra-violet rays.
Look under the sink. As reported by The Green Guide Web site in 2003, many household cleansers not surprisingly are crammed with toxic substances such as phthalates. These chemicals are hormone distributors and have been shown to cause birth defects and liver damage in animals, according to a report in 2002 on nottoopretty.com, an online source for finding health-conscious products.
In 2003, the European Parliament prohibited the use of the phthalates DEHP and DBP in cosmetics. Here in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control found high levels of phthalates in women 20 to 40 years old and suspected cosmetics might be the culprit. After testing hundreds of products, the culprit list looks like a supermodel's shopping cart. Everything from Dove solid antiperspirant to Calvin Klein Eternity perfumes had phthalates in them.
There is, surprisingly, an Environmental Protection Agency loophole that says a product marked as non-toxic isn't required to list its ingredients. Therefore, many products contain toxins, like phthalates either in the form of additive fragrance or in their plastic containers, without the consumer being at all aware.
It all comes down to lifestyle, as Bates said.
According to the National Recycling Coalition, 5 percent of the world's population lives in the United States, but Americans produce 50 percent of the world's waste. When you consider that statistic you might find yourself horrified, alarmed and embarrassed. But there are things all of us can do, whether it's building a brand new home like Bates' or making adjustments on some simpler issues.
Buying a car that hopefully gets more than 20 miles to the gallon is an admirable concept, but it's easily negated by driving everywhere all the time even when walking or biking are more reasonable options.
A third of one's life is spent in bed, so it's vitally important for your health that bed linens, mattresses and pillows are made of natural materials, Taylor said at the Sun Valley Mountain Wellness Festival in May. They should ideally be made of untreated organic fibers. Much of the bedding available from major retailers is made from polyester and permanent-press sheets are treated with formaldehyde. This is not a nice thing to be sniffing all night long. Waking with a headache or a stuffy nose is the usual reaction.
Another obvious green-living tip is to buy certified organic and Fair Trade-certified foods. These items usually cost more than their non-natural counterparts, so if it's possible, grow your own produce, without chemical fertilizers. Instead, try using microorganism spray, something that is available here in the valley from Whitehead Landscaping in Hailey. This compost-tea spray restores living microorganisms to the earth that chemicals have killed and works naturally against weeds. Also, the natural produce is widely believed to taste much better.
After a good day spent in a garden, clothes get thrown into a washer and dryer. It's never been simpler to work this to our advantage. Appliances now come with an EPA Energy Star identifier. This is an easy way for consumers to find top-performing appliances. The EPA says the more than 630 Energy Star-rated products sold have resulted in a $5 billion-per-year savings for consumers and business.
Just changing light bulbs with incandescent or small-coil fluorescent bulbs, which last much longer and use much less electricity, can save almost $50 over the life of the bulb.
When possible, paint and coatings, adhesives and sealants, and composite wood products should be low VOC products. In Bates' house, he has used natural beeswax stains on all the wood. There are no petroleum products used at all.
Consider asking Idaho Power about alternative sources of energy. Some states have a program to "buy" your unused electric energy from you if you're using wind or solar heat.
One of the simplest tips for green living is to shop locally, especially at farmers' markets, for fresh, healthy produce. Again, natural produce often tastes better, and you can support local businesses while not paying for extra freight.
In the long run, living green is simply acting according to your best instincts, Bates said.
"If you don't feel differently, it's all theory," he said. "And if you don't see the difference on your energy bill, it's all talk."
Dale Bates is enjoying his "green" house, which features, among other new concepts, a central water fountain to add humidity in the home.
