By Kirsten Dirksen

Ewok-World

In 1974, fresh out of the army (as a Green Beret medic), Michael Garnier went to rural Oregon to try to make a living off the woods. He tried making furniture, fences, pole barns and selling organic, psychedelic picture propellers (to see Fantasy Flakes), but finally it was a treehouse that got him all the attention.

Modeled after the treehouse he had once built for his kids, his first treehouse B&B was completed in 1990 and people began paying to stay. But the county building instructors wouldn't permit it and told Garnier to tear it down.

Instead, he set out to prove it was structurally sound by performing his own stress test. He invited 66 people, 2 dogs and a cat inside (for a total of 10,847 pounds) . The structure held, but the inspectors weren't swayed.

Garnier continued to build 8 more treehouses, but without proper permission to use them as lodging, instead of renting them he asked guests to buy a $75 t-shirt first. Finally,

No doubt Pakistan's water crisis is predominantly a manmade problem. Pakistan's climate is not particularly dry and nor is it lacking in rivers and groundwater. Extremely poor management, unclear laws, government corruption, and industrial and human waste have caused this water supply crunch and rendered what water is available practically useless due to the huge quantity of pollution.

The industrial output and commercial activity of a country is gauged by the per capita consumption of electricity. We are one of the lowest consumers of power in Asia. Per capita energy consumption of Pakistan is only 14 MBTU compared to 80 in China, 110 in Malaysia and 115 in Iran.



In one way or another the entire nation of Pakistan depends on the dams. The water stored in the dams is not only used for the agricultural purposes but also to provide electricity to a nation of nearly 16 million people. After much most suffering to the people of Pakistan, the current government is building more

By Kirsten Dirksen

World's-Largest-Treehouse

Michael Garnier has helped pioneer the craft of modern treehouse construction. His Garnier limb -invented in collaboration with other enthusiasts as an open source project- holds up to 8,000 pounds and allows treehouse builders to create stronger, more durable dwellings in the trees.

When Garnier, who owns a treehouse resort with 9 elevated dwellings, decided to build his own home for himself and his wife Peggy, it had to also be nestled in the branches.

While his B&B cabins in the air are closer to 100 square feet, for his own home he decided to go big. His home is 1800 square feet on three floors. He calls it the world's largest treehouse (not a fact, though he challenges anyone to prove him wrong).

He selected a spot in the middle of a grove of White Oak trees and used 7 trees to support the weight of his home (the largest one in the middle of the home is no longer living, but he manufactured a root system for it so it would still support

If you're looking for a food that divides the health nuts and the farmers' market crowd from the others, kale is probably it.

It's abundant, cheap and super nutritious but the closest many people get to it is the meat counter at the supermarket, where it's often used as a green base to show off the red cuts of beef.

Before we offer recipes for a kale conversion, let's sing its praises: First, it's a superfood, ranking among the foods with the most Vitamin A, Vitamin K and beta carotene. In many climates, it's an easy-to-grow perennial vegetable, and it's available from the winter farmers' market, given it's tolerance for cold weather.

One word of caution: In the Environmental Working Group's ranking of the dirty dozen foods with the highest pesticide residues, which is based on government testing data, kale and other dark leafy greens have often made the list. So it's a good vegetable to buy organic.

But how do you make it taste good? Some people can drink it raw, in a

By Sherry Brooks

Family-Recycling

Living an eco-friendly lifestyle doesn't just happen overnight.

It begins with a few small changes, or better yet, some big ones. We can't always be perfectly green when we are feeling overwhelmed with obligations and our lives are happening at warp speed all around us.

What if, however, this was your new green mantra?

"When I have a choice, I will . . ."

. . . reach for the cold water handle instead of the hot so that the hot water heater does not have to use fuel to heat the new water to replace what was used.

. . .turn the water in the shower off while sudsing and conditioning your hair.

. . . shut the refrigerator or freezer door when pausing for a conversation so that the inner temperature will remain low, not requiring electricity to restore it to pre-wide open temperatures.

. . . refuse a bag and carry the item out of the store in hand or in any handbag, bag or tote that you are already carrying.

. . . eat vegan

Giant pumpkins at the National Heirloom Expo

By Jordan Laio, Networx

I had the great pleasure of attending the first annual National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, CA this past year. There were thousands of varieties of heirloom fruits and vegetables, but some of the biggest attention-grabbers were the giant pumpkins. With the smallest weighing in at a few hundred pounds, those giant pumpkins were a sight to behold. Did you know you can grow giant pumpkins and other giant vegetables at home?

Lest you think the pumpkins are huge because of some special fertilizer or mineral treatment, giant vegetables, like other jumbo crops, just have giant genes. A good indicator of these crops is the word "giant" in their name (like the giant pumpkin and giant flat Dutch cabbage, see below). If you want to be the envy of everyone at your community garden this year, give these oversized crops a try.

While not all these varieties are as dramatic in their size as the giant pumpkin, they are extraordinary in their categories.

by Green Diva Meg

WHY SHOULD WE CARE . . . ABOUT PLASTIC?

Last February Rodale threw down the challenge to a handful of green living bloggers - live "Plastic-Free" for a month. With uncharacteristic arrogance, I jumped into the fray. I, who mostly remembers my reusable shopping bags, uses glass containers for kitchen storage and generally chooses wood, steel or glass above plastic whenever possible; I was sure this wouldn't be so awful. Ok, the rules were fairly clear about not bringing in new plastic into the house. Oh, the denial . . .

My first challenge came when I went to the grocery store to shop for Super Bowl party food. I usually pile up my veggies in my cart without putting them in individual baggies - check. But, there were a couple of items that inevitably came in plastic and it was just impossible to avoid. Well, I suppose I could've tried to find a live chicken and done the butchering myself, but being that I'm a vegetarian and only indulge my family in chicken under duress, that wasn't really an option.

By Toni Salter

Garden-Vegetables

How much do you spend every month on fresh fruit and vegetables?

$200? $300? For some, it may be as much as $500 or $600. Each family is different and depending on how often they eat out and how often they cook at home, the expenditure could vary widely.

Certainly, a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is healthy for you and your family and organics are always the best choice, but every dollar counts, especially in our current economic climate.

If you grow your own fruits and vegetables at home, you could save yourself a lot of money on groceries. Perhaps you have considered a vegetable garden, but don't know where to begin.