Lake View From Our Cottage |
I moved away from the city to live in cottage country after I
finished high school, and I eventually earned degrees in both Environmental Geography and
Education.
However, after graduation, my life unfolded in such a way
that neither an environmental career nor a teaching career would be part of it for a long while.
Now, many years later, I'm grateful to have the opportunity to
develop a business that reflects my personal values, and hopefully will help other people to act
on their own concerns for the environment.
Why Eco Home Tips?
The concept of this website fits with my philosophy of life -
travel softly on this earth and leave as little impact as possible. While I have always done my
best to incorporate this outlook into my day to day life, I have also become accustomed to
various creature comforts which I'm not willing to give up.
On top of that, the home we're planning to build will be our
retirement home. Besides designing and building for energy efficiency and water conservation,
we want to incorporate quality, convenience and efficiency so that we can go on living in this
home as long as possible.
So, while I appreciate the energy and ingenuity of those who
build eco homes using cob, straw bale, rammed earth or other such hands-on and
earthy methods, that's not really the direction I'm going with my current project.
At this point in my life, my priorities are different. I no
longer have the physical stamina to build or maintain such a dwelling, as much as the idea of
building my own home from simple materials still fascinates me.
Our building lot is narrow and slopes eastward down to the
road. It's in a subdivision with fairly rigid "mainstream" design restrictions. However, we can still
incorporate many eco-friendly design features such as passive solar, earth sheltering, "green"
building materials, and native landscaping.
And of course the appliances and fixtures we choose will be as
eco-friendly as possible too. But first things first. We'll begin by choosing our floor plan
and building materials. We're hoping to build in the summer of 2009, so expect frequent additions
to the site as we progress throughout our planning stages.
I hope you find the information and products on this site helpful and inspiring. I make every effort to keep the site current and the information accurate. If you notice an error or omission, please
and let me know so I can fix it.
Nancy Harrington
EcoHomeTips.com
Our family cottage in Ontario's "cottage country" was the perfect place for me to spend summers as a kid. Growing up in a suburb of Toronto, it was like traveling to a different world!