BEFORE GREEN




     Once upon a time, (before most of you were born) I helped a friend of mine build a mobile home.  It wasn't what conventiional wisdom of the time would view as a mobile home.  It all happened by accident, or perhaps fate, I don't really know.  I was hired by a gentlemen I met to tear down an old barn that was in disrepair.  His wife was tired of looking at it, and her, being a social climber claimed it was an eyesore.  It did nothing for her self image, and thus, it was destined for removal.  

     Since the job was too big for one person, that being me, I called upon a friend for his assistance.  We drove out to the job site the following day, and slowly started the process of dismantling the structure.  In the process, we found out that the barn was built with square nails, hand hewn timbers, and pegs.  It was a slow going, and we put pieces in different piles so we knew what we had.  As time went by, the barn came down.  When it came to the heavy beams, we hired a crane to do the job.  At long last, the job was compleated, and the barn lay on the ground.  My friend saw a couple of large beams and decidded to keep them along with some other pieces.

    The end result was, we got paid, everyone was happy, except my friend, (he was exstatic).  After the completion of the job, the beams were cut to my friends size with a chain saw, and another project was started.  This happened to be his new home.  I was busy getting rid of the lumber from the barn and was out of touch for a week.  I went over to Jims place and he was busy.  He had mounted an axle front and back and had the beams locked together.  It was a nice start, and he showed me his plans for the rest of his home.  It was twelve feet wide and sixteen long.  Everything was planned around 4x8 sheets of plywoood.  Twenty two sheets of plywood for the whole place.  minus door, and windows.  We lalid the floor and sill, then the walls.  The roof was seven feet on the back side and eight feet on the front.  It went up fast, and we were so proud of our labors.  There was a camper that had been in a wreck, and the owner wanted it gone.  We hauled the camper to Jims place where we used the stove, fridge, sink and anything else we could use, including the toilet.  The inside was wired for both DC and AC.  An auto wrecking yard provided the lights from the wrecked cars.  The lighting was all indirect, a transformer let us select which mode we wanted to use.  Storage tanks were used for the fresh water and grey water. Jim used a small pump and a water hose to pump water into his tanks when needed.  A small bathroom was built with a shower, It turned out to be a cozy but small abode, and all of the furniture was built in or fixed to the floor. As a means of storing electricity, we took a generator from a car and a 5 hp lawnmower engine. Wiring them to the battery pack of six, he only had to run his generator once a week for about 30 mins.  We had quite a party when all was said and done, and it was easy enouogh to tow behind a pick-up.

     This was my very first experience at "going green" or "recycling".  It was fun and exciting, and something I'll never forget.  Simce that time, I have used materials thrown away for an easy and comfortable lifestyle.
Currently living in an older condo, I am using discarded styrofoam to insulate my windows from the cold.  It works extremely well.  Discarded building materials allow me to build shelves and a computer table, and other things that I find myself needing.  By building things myself, everything is to my desires, and size.  I enjoy working with my hands, and  the completion of my projects is quite a satisfying.  Certainly not top of the line, just functional, and everything I build is Made in America, LOL.  Going Green as it's called today, is just a smart way to do things.  It doesn't take a lot of money, unless you want it to.  Going Green can be what you want it to be for you.  As has been said, it just takes one small step, and your jouorney begins.  After all, you only have a lifetime.  Many folks today are realizing that less is more, and are downsizing because they want to, not because they have to.  Going Green is a conscious decision, the level of involvement is another concious decision.  No one is going to twist your arm.  Going Green shows others the level of intelligience that you have toward life, and the respect you have for life.  We are caretakers, nothing more.  How good are you at taking care?

Written by Smokey Miller
2010-01-07