Craft Medium - Fruit and Fish Skin “Adorned”, (2006) by Jan Hopkins. Cantaloupe peels, orange peels, grapefruit peels, ostrich shell beads, Alaskan yellow cedar and waxed linen. 22” x 15” x 9” …
Chinese Artist Yao Lu
Mountains of Garbage Chinese artist Yao Lu, photographs mounds of garbage covered in green construction nets and digitally reworks them to re-create traditional Chinese landscape …
Toys Upcycled Into Sculpture By Kris Kuksi
Unwanted toys, frames and plastic model kits are recreated into fantastic sculptures by Kris Kuksi. By turning old plastic soldiers, dolls and tanks into sculpture, all that plastic is kept out of …
Continue Reading about Toys Upcycled Into Sculpture By Kris Kuksi →
Vertical Farming
The current 3.3 billion global urban population is expected to grow to 5 billion by 2025. Today our agricultural footprint is the size of South America...what will it be tomorrow? Vertical Farming …
$5000 Budget Bug Out Ride: Honda CR-V
Surviving a disaster of any kind- natural, medical, or human-powered- requires preparation, toughness, and intelligence. Most people who plan for these events do so at home, but home isn't always the …
Continue Reading about $5000 Budget Bug Out Ride: Honda CR-V →
Tiny House, Big Living
One look at this tiny house and you feel as if you are about to enter a doll house! With bright pink walls, Villa Hermina clearly stands out from the rest of the cottages in the area. Situated …
Washing Your Hands – Just Do it, Already!
Why will you not wash your hands? Seriously, it's not that hard. It doesn't take that long. And everyone else in the bathroom is going to give you the side-eye if you don't do it. Also, you need to …
Continue Reading about Washing Your Hands – Just Do it, Already! →
This Tiny, Off Grid Cabin Was Built for Just $300
Building an off the grid, tiny house style cabin is a dream for many Americans, but money is always a huge obstacle to putting up any building. At least, that's the conventional wisdom. Derek …
Continue Reading about This Tiny, Off Grid Cabin Was Built for Just $300 →
Planetsave Considers the Benefits of Living Off the Grid
Despite all the benefits that easy access to electricity allows many of us to enjoy, here at Insteading, we tend to think of "the grid" as an oppressive sort of thing. Instead of glowing light bulbs …
Continue Reading about Planetsave Considers the Benefits of Living Off the Grid →
Reusing Cigarette Butts, Filters, and Ashes
If you ask the average person what cigarette waste like old filters and ashes are good for, most folks would say, "Nothing." But if you believe in sustainability, all wastes have a higher purpose. It …
Continue Reading about Reusing Cigarette Butts, Filters, and Ashes →
ProTip: You Need a Machete
I'll leave out the part where I sometimes pretend to swordfight with it, because that's super dangerous and not OK. Especially since the machete's primary purpose is hacking, and you might think that …
Food Waste & Faith: What Does the Quran Say about Wasting Food?
As you might expect, we've discussed the environmental impacts of food waste on numerous occasions. We've also discussed the economics of sending edible food to landfills, as well as the innovative …
Continue Reading about Food Waste & Faith: What Does the Quran Say about Wasting Food? →
Living in a Dumpster, For a Full Year – Meet the New 1%
Environmental science professor Jeff Wilson believes that American homes have gotten way too big, and way too wasteful, giving people something they don't need at a price that- often- they can't …
Continue Reading about Living in a Dumpster, For a Full Year – Meet the New 1% →
California Passes Neighborhood Food Act
As surprising as it may seem, you actually don't have the right to grow your own fruits and vegetables on your own private property. In some states- Florida, namely- people have been fined …
Continue Reading about California Passes Neighborhood Food Act →
How To Grow Microgreens in Tupperware
Lightweight, waterproof containers are a miracle of modern technology. You might never know how much you'll need a bucket, or a water jug, or a few dozen little plant pots until you don't have them, …
Continue Reading about How To Grow Microgreens in Tupperware →
Engineer Turns Trailer Into Luxurious, DIY Camper
Bill Southworth is not like you or me. That's because when Bill took a long, hard look at this 16' Haulmark cargo trailer, he didn't just see a storage locker on wheels — he saw the foundation for a …
Continue Reading about Engineer Turns Trailer Into Luxurious, DIY Camper →
How To Dig a Fresh Water Well
Access to clean water is essential in any survival situation- and an especially critical issue for homesteaders and survivalists who plan to live off the grid for extended periods. One way to …
Chia Pet Zombies are a Halloween Must-Have
Whether it's brought on by an extraterrestrial pathogen, a mutated rabies virus, or an extra-special Voodoo ritual, we simply cannot wait for a proper zombie apocalypse to get started. That's partly …
Continue Reading about Chia Pet Zombies are a Halloween Must-Have →
Emergency Water System Holds 100 Gal. in Your Bathtub
Whether it's a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or a zombie apocalypse that strikes your area, one constant will be your need for water. Most disaster preparedness sources will tell you that you need 1 …
Continue Reading about Emergency Water System Holds 100 Gal. in Your Bathtub →
Cape Coral, Florida: Go Off the Grid, Go to Jail
Robin Speronis lives in a modest home in Cape Coral, Florida- and she's living in a way that many environmentalists and preppers would call ideal: 100% completely removed from the city's electrical …
Continue Reading about Cape Coral, Florida: Go Off the Grid, Go to Jail →
DIY Hand Sanitizer That’s as Good as Store-bought
Keeping minor cuts and scrapes clean and avoiding infection is just as important as steering clear of disease-carrying mosquitoes in a disaster/survival situation. More often than not, it's the little …
Continue Reading about DIY Hand Sanitizer That’s as Good as Store-bought →
Top 7 Tips for Legally Taking Video of Police
While it was always Constitutionally legal to record police officers without their consent, it wasn't until a May, 2012 ruling by a Federal Appeals Court that it was incontrovertibly legal. That …
Continue Reading about Top 7 Tips for Legally Taking Video of Police →
How Much Water Do People Need to Drink in a Day? (w/ Video)
Do you know how much water you'll need to survive if you're ever caught truly off-grid? The US government says you need 1 gallon of water, per person, every 3 days, just to survive. Their recommended …
Continue Reading about How Much Water Do People Need to Drink in a Day? (w/ Video) →
Families Getting Fined for Growing Food Gardens
More and more people are turning to the "grow food, not lawns" movement for a variety of reasons. Some of us are urban farming revolutionaries, some of us are preppers, and some of us are just …
Continue Reading about Families Getting Fined for Growing Food Gardens →
DIY Tip: Turn an Old China Cabinet into a Fresh Egg Apartment
We all love the idea of growing our own. Sometimes that's vegetables or microgreens, sometimes it's rabbits, and- on rare occasions- that can even mean grubs and maggots. When it comes to poultry …
Continue Reading about DIY Tip: Turn an Old China Cabinet into a Fresh Egg Apartment →
Tiny House Made from Big Dumpster
There's dumpster diving, then there's this- which, maybe we should call dumpster dwelling? Taking a page from both Gary Pickering's efforts to build small shelters for homeless people and the tiny …
Zeer Pot Refrigerator Keeps Food Fresh Without Electricity
So you've got your homegrown vegetables and yard-bred rabbit yummies all ready to be canned and dried. Some of it, though, you'll want to eat fresh- but you'll have a narrow window to do so, …
Continue Reading about Zeer Pot Refrigerator Keeps Food Fresh Without Electricity →
Florida Law Makes Living Off The Grid Illegal
If you're in Florida and hope to live a more sustainable lifestyle free from the influence of energy companies and massive agricultural conglomerates by adding solar panels to your home, harvesting …
Continue Reading about Florida Law Makes Living Off The Grid Illegal →
DIY Teardrop Trailer for Camping and Survival
This isn't the first time I've covered DIY teardrop trailers. Over on Gas 2, we even published a how-to manual from Mechanix Illustrated a while back. This, though, is the first time we've seen one of …
Continue Reading about DIY Teardrop Trailer for Camping and Survival →
DIY Prepper Project: Build Your Own Motorhome (w/ video)
One of the topics that regularly comes up on the prepper/post-collapse pages I frequent is the bug out vehicle. Almost no other topic brings up more diverse and "energetic" opinions than what the best …
Continue Reading about DIY Prepper Project: Build Your Own Motorhome (w/ video) →
Camping: the Kahuna Camping Kayak Concept
What you're looking at here is a pretty novel outdoor sporting concept called the Kahuna - a lightweight composite-bodied outrigger kayak that's ready at a moment's to put you up for the night when …
Continue Reading about Camping: the Kahuna Camping Kayak Concept →
Gary Pickering Builds “Tiny House” Survival Pods for the Homeless (w/ video)
Gary Pickering is making the world a better place by donating a number of self-built, portable 'micro-houses' to Utah's homeless people in an effort to help them survive the area's harsh winter …
DIY How-to: Build a $300 in-Ground Greenhouse (w/ plans)
Farmers have been trying to extend the growing season of their crops for hundreds of years. So far, the greenhouse has been the dominant technology, since it doesn't usually require electricity to …
Continue Reading about DIY How-to: Build a $300 in-Ground Greenhouse (w/ plans) →
Blast From the Past? Las Vegas Home Features Epic Bomb Shelter! (w/ video)
Remember "Blast from the Past", that late-90s cold-war parody/rom-com that starred Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone and told the story of a family that built a lavish underground bomb shelter …
Continue Reading about Blast From the Past? Las Vegas Home Features Epic Bomb Shelter! (w/ video) →
SunOven: the Ultimate Off-the-grid Cooking Tool for Post-apocalyptic Foodies (w/ video)
Solar ovens are long-lasting, zero-emission cooking tools that use no fuel - making them perfect for both off-the-grid cooking and developing countries that don't have access to a reliable grid to …
Renzo Piano Builds a Haute Shiver Shack For Off-the-Grid Singles
Italian architect Renzo Piano has come up with a small, simple-living home design that is less of a shiver shack and more of a one-person, off the grid castle - and, if you’re in the market for a …
Continue Reading about Renzo Piano Builds a Haute Shiver Shack For Off-the-Grid Singles →
How to Make Your Own Concrete Tamper
Our Earthbag Building Workshop is about to kick off tomorrow, and I spent the day doing some last minute preparations with our instructor, Scott Howard of Earthen Hand Natural Building. A big …
Continue Reading about How to Make Your Own Concrete Tamper →
Sustainability 101: How To Build A Solar Oven
In most homes and apartments, cooking takes place on a stove, in an oven, or, on those nights when you're just too tired to think, in the microwave. But these aren't the only ways to prepare a meal, …
Continue Reading about Sustainability 101: How To Build A Solar Oven →
5 Successful Reforestation Projects
Between the Arab Spring, the weird weather, and, well, the Casey Anthony trial, you may have missed the fact that 2011 was proclaimed "The International Year of Forests" by the UN General Assembly. …
Continue Reading about 5 Successful Reforestation Projects →
The Greenpeace Australia GMO Wheat Action: A Sad Day For Bread. A Sad Day For Science
On July, 14, three Greenpeace activists dressed in hazmat suits scaled a fence, and used weed whips to destroy a GMO wheat experiment in Canberra, Australia. The experiment was being conducted …
Best Fruit Trees for Seattle
At my permaculture design course last weekend the guest speaker was Douglas Bullock, of the well-known Bullock Brothers Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island. Douglas was lecturing on the …
Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Home Solar Systems
When someone mentions living "off the grid," what do you picture? Most people see a remote location with a small, ultra-efficient house and no one else around for miles. For many years, this was …
Continue Reading about Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Home Solar Systems →
A Vision For Truly Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Farming
Many responsible consumers would like to be able to buy fruits and vegetables that have been raised in a sustainable manner, and many retail and food service entities want to be able to respond to …
Continue Reading about A Vision For Truly Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Farming →
A Surprising Reason We Don’t Farm As Sustainably As We Could
I recently posted a description of a highly sustainable form of row crop farming that combines high productivity with low environmental impact. This is not just a theoretical vision but something …
Continue Reading about A Surprising Reason We Don’t Farm As Sustainably As We Could →
Tuna Truths: The Pros and Cons of Canned Tuna
Growing up in South Dakota, I thought there were two kinds of fish. Trout and tuna. Trout were flappy and fun to catch, with beautiful rainbow-colored skin that my mom always complained about …
Continue Reading about Tuna Truths: The Pros and Cons of Canned Tuna →
Five Key Limitations of Organic Farming
(updated 8/22/11) Yesterday I posted about what I believe to be the five best things about Organic farming. These are attributes that I seriously believe are good ideas for how we should farm, …
Continue Reading about Five Key Limitations of Organic Farming →
The Five Best Things About Organic Farming
I have posted a number of blogs and documents over the past two years that address some of the common myths about Organic farming. From that, one might conclude that I am “anti-Organic,” which I …
Continue Reading about The Five Best Things About Organic Farming →
Why World Food Prices May Keep Climbing
In February, world food prices reached the highest level on record. Soaring food prices are already a source of spreading hunger and political unrest, and it appears likely that they will climb …
Continue Reading about Why World Food Prices May Keep Climbing →
US Organic Farming: Digging into the Numbers
In 2008, the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the USDA (USDA-NASS) conducted a first-time, in-depth survey of the US organic farming sector. A summary was published in 2010 from which it is …
Continue Reading about US Organic Farming: Digging into the Numbers →
Topsoil: Civilization & Foundation Eroding
By Lester R. Brown The thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet’s land surface is the foundation of civilization. This soil, typically 6 inches or so deep, was formed over long stretches of …
Continue Reading about Topsoil: Civilization & Foundation Eroding →