This rainwater harvesting vertical terrace is the brilliant idea of Ontario College of Art and Design Student Michael Tampilic and has been entered in the Rocket 2008 Industrial Design Graduation Show and Competition. The terrace connects up with a downspout from your house and stores water in a large tank to continuously water the plants over long periods of time. It does this by using cotton wicks to transport the stored water by capillary action. Not only is this great for saving water in a desert environment like most of us in Arizona live in, but it looks awesome and you don’t have to worry about watering.

Vert is a rain terrace: a rainwater harvester and vertical garden. This project establishes sustainable water practices through the harvesting of rain, and brings the advantages of a living wall to the backyard through vertical gardening. Vert alleviates a homes reliance on public utility systems while beautifying unused vertical space.

More info at the Rocket 2008 page and at Treehugger.com.

Related Post: [Rainwater Harvesting: A beginners guide.]

I’ve never been to Arcosanti, but it sounds like a really interesting place to visit or even live. Have any of you ever visited? What do you think?

Arcosanti was started in the 1970s by Italian architect Paolo Soleri, a spitfire who seeks an alternative to a car-dominant, hyper-consumerist society. With his so-called urban laboratory, Soleri, 88, hopes to eliminate the automobile, promote frugality and create a functional metro center run on the Earth’s resources: food from organic gardens, power from the sun, air conditioning from the shade, building materials from the natural surroundings. Though still a work in progress, Arcosanti in theory offers residents the same amenities as, say, a Manhattanite: housing, commerce, culture and dining.

[washingtonpost.com]

The Green Living Conference on May 3rd was a huge success! The conference featured many local vendors and five excellent speakers and a fantastic lunch provided by That’s a Wrap. Unfortunately Invest Green couldn’t talk due to their compliance not letting them, but you can find out about them here. I’d highly recommend this conference to anyone that wants to learn more about green living. They are holding another conference in November, so be prepared, I’ll announce more about that one when I get more details.

Topics they covered included retrofitting the suburbs for green living, rainwater and gray water harvesting, GM presented on what alt fuel cars they have coming down the line, green building, and what kinds of harmful chemicals are in everyday cleaners and how they affect people. I’ll post a blog covering each topic in the coming days.

Kudos to Greg Peterson of yourguidetogreen.com, Christy Grace, and all the other people that put on this great conference.

Click image to find an Earth Day Event around you.

Learn more about Earth Day and it’s history. [wikipedia]

I just ran across an article on azstarnet.com about Kyle Young, a man that has built his own house, is an organic farmer, and is nearly self sustaining.

A pioneer in the natural-building movement that took off in the late ’70s, Young built his 600-square-foot home in Arivaca entirely from natural materials such as cob and bamboo, creating a weather-proof fortress that is both environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

“Most of the materials came from excavations at the building site,” says Young, now 54. “I just dug in and added a little bit of straw for reinforcement.”

[Read More]