Gateway to Sustainability

By Kimber Ray For Patrick Ironwood, the point where the Sweet Gum Gateway home ends and the wild lands of the Cumberland Plateau begin is blurred, with the sweeping porch and edible landscape of Sweet Gum elegantly blending with the natural environment. Sweet Gum is just one of many such exemplary homes at the Sequatchie…

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Growing Community in the New River Valley

Story and photos by Molly Moore From a curvy, two-lane road roughly four miles from downtown Blacksburg, Va., Arlean Lambert’s property is easily recognizable. Three solar panels are mounted by a pond in front of her ranch-style home. A verdant perennial garden alongside the home, flanked with a trellis covered in hardy kiwi, completes the…

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These Green Houses:
Green Building 101

By Jeff Deal Green building might just be the world’s oldest construction style. Caves, lean-tos, waddle and daub, mud brick, stone pyramids and temples, wooden post and beam, Devonshire Cob; all are green building styles, some dating back more than 5,000 years. While there’s not much new under the sun, the resurgent appreciation of these…

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A Rush of Clean Energy at Pine Root Creek

By Jesse Wood Just as kayakers and farmers love rain during a drought, so does Richard Cobb. “I just constantly hope for rain,” Cobb said. Cobb installed a 5-kilowatt microhydro system on his Mitchell County property in Buladean, N.C. in the late 1990s. Though he is environmentally conscious—green construction is his day job—Cobb’s primary motivation…

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