Save Our Planet: Homes Made of Bottles

I love the idea of building homes and other buildings using what some would call garbage. Some places old car and truck tires are used to build the walls, or in some cases, bales of hay, tin drink cans, even plastic or glass bottles, to name just some things. There are actually many different ways of doing this sort of thing.  I have read on the internet about Earthships which are built of tires, bales, bottles, etc. and are fully self contained with their own power supplies, water filtering systems, and such like that. Sadly, here where I live one would not be able to get a building permit to build homes like this.... or at least this has been the rule, but it may be changing now.  I was doing some surfing the net a night or two ago and was surprised to find some links to building Earthships not only in Canada, but also in British Columbia!! Still, so far as I know the community I live in still doesn't allow this kind of building.  I hope I am wrong, or that things are changing and we will soon be cleared to build homes by recycling things that would otherwise end up in land fill locations and other 'dead stuff' storage places.

 The "Inspiration Green" website shows us many photos of homes and greenhouses built with plastic bottles.  Well worth the visit!!

  Just think about this.... take some of these plastic bottles that were once used for water, soda pop, or fruit juice.  Rescue them from streams, streets, garbage dumps, and werever else they may end up.  Where I live we have recycle programs, so when we purchase the drinks we pay extra for the bottles and then when we take the bottles back to the 'recycle depot', we are given a refund.  This can add up to a tidy sum of money if you have many of these bottles to return.  However, I know that not everywhere has these recycle programs.  For example, I occasionally go to Washington state in the USA and the first time I was there, for the Omak Stampede and World Famous Suicide Race, I was shocked at how many bottles and cans were left laying on the ground all around the stampede grounds, carnival rides, vendor booths, etc. It turns out that WA has no recycle program in place for these items, so people just throw them into trash cans that are near by, or onto the ground.  When I think of how they could be used to build homes for the homeless..... wow.
 
I love the colors of the glass bottles used to build this wall:

I found it interesting to see that on this wall different sizes and shapes of glass bottles were used:

On this wall, check out the way they do the corners of the wall:

These 2 photos were taken from inside buildings, showing how the light comes in through the glass bottles:

 This building has inside and outside walls done in bottles, so far as I can tell by this photo:

 You can even make a free standing wall like this in your yard/garden. I love the art work in this wall:

 Entire homes built from bottles that may otherwise have been taken to garbage dumps:

Look at all the detail in this man's home!  Different colors of bottles, or painted after the walls were finished? I think the latter, but I leave it up to you to decide what you think.   Taking a close look I see they were all plastic bottles, likely from soda pop:

If you aren't partial to the look of bottles for your home, you can always cover them up:

 Though personally, I think they can be made to look rather attractive:

A Monastery:

A Greenhouse:

And even chandeliers built recycling empty bottles: 

Here are some ideas for other things that can be built with empty bottles:

A cistern to collect and hold water:

A church:

Ummm, okay, I don't know what this is exactly, but I think it a very interesting work of art:

No doubt it is a lot of work to make these buildings, yet these photos show that it can be a family or community shared project, maybe even a wonderful social experience, and might even be rather fun for some:

 Even a crab can see that an old bottle makes a good home:

 At the end of the day, when you are hot, tired and thirsty, you can always go to the local bar for a nice cold drink:

Trumpeter Swans

On November 10th, I was visiting my Mom in the nearby city of Enderby. We went for a drive to Salmon Arm and on our way there, just before turning from one highway onto another one, in a big field where corn was grown this summer and harvested this fall, we saw a lot of big white birds feeding.  Of course, being the driver, I pulled over to get a good look and to hop out with my camera and take some photos.  My first thought was that these birds were swans, though I did later wonder if perhaps they were some sort of white geese, since they did sort of remind me of the Canada Goose.  When in doubt, GOOGLE IT!  Once I was back home to my computer again, I did a Google search and found that these birds are Trumpeter Swans. 

If I had been alone with time my own, I would have driven to different location so I could get all the birds and field into one shot and without the hydro/phone lines, though with Mom along and needing to be somewhere, I just took shots where I could get them.  I don't know how many birds are in this field, though I would say well over 200 of them.  Not only are there all the Trumpeter Swans, there are also Mallard Ducks feeding among the swans. 
 

 

Yesterday, I was visiting my Mom again and happened to notice a photo in the local newspaper of the field full of swans.... but the caption called them white geese.  This called for further investigation on the internet.

The "Hinterland Who's Who" website tells much about the Trumpeter Swan, it's breeding and feeding habits, where it lives, etc. Under "Description", it says:

Adult Trumpeter Swans Cygnus buccinator are large birds with white feathers and black legs and feet. The feathers of the head and the upper part of the neck often become stained orange as a result of feeding in areas rich in iron salts. The lack of colour anywhere on the swans’ bodies distinguishes them from other white species of waterfowl, such as snow geese, which have black wing tips.

The male swan, or cob, weighs an average of 12 kg. The female, or pen, is slightly smaller, averaging 10 kg. Wings may span 3 m. Young of the year, or cygnets, can be distinguished from adults by their grey plumage, their yellowish legs and feet, and until their second summer of life, their smaller size.

The shape and colour of the bill help in identifying the Trumpeter and Tundra swans in the field. Trumpeters have all black bills; Tundra Swans, formerly called Whistling Swans, have more sloping bills, usually with a small yellow patch in front of the eye. If this patch is missing, it is quite difficult to distinguish between the two birds unless the voice is heard. At close range, an observer should look for a salmon-red line on the lower bill.

Now, if you look at some more of my photos, you will see these birds do not have the black wing tips of the Greater Snow Goose, nor do they have that goose's "pinkish feet and bill".  (To see larger views of any of the photos, just place your mouse on a photo and click, then click on the different thumbnails to see the larger photos.)

Notice the Mallard Duck (male) in this photo.  It appears very small compared to the size of the swan.

Note the Mallard Duck (female) in this photo, again giving an indication of the size of the swan.   The Trumpeter Swan is even larger than the Giant Canada Goose, which can weigh up to 8 kg.

Though you can see the bills in most of these photos, I find this one has the best view of the shape of the bill.  These grey birds are the young Trumpter Swans that have not yet gotten the white feathers of the adult.

Photos I copied from the "Hinterland Who's Who" web site:

Greater Snow Goose

Trumpeter Swan

The shape of the bill of the Trumpeter and Tundra Swans.

(You can see the bill is the same shape as the birds I photographed last month.)

My home over looks Swan Lake which apparently was named from having swans on it.  In over 22 years, I have not seen even one single swan on this lake. In fact, in my 50+ years of life, I have never seen swans that were not in parks or zoos.  When I read the Hinterland article I discovered why this is:  Europeans hunted and harassed the swan to the point where in 1933 there were only 77 Trumpeters breeding in Canada and 50 breeding in the United States. Today, as a result of an intensive international conservation effort, there are about 16 000 wild Trumpeter Swans, and the species is no longer considered in danger of extinction. 

Except for people, wild Trumpeters have few natural enemies. ......  The most serious threat to the continued well-being of the Trumpeter Swan is the loss of habitat resulting from expanding human populations.

Now you can likely understand my excitement and joy at seeing this flock of over 200 Trumpeter Swans.  I hope to one day see some back living and breeding on Swan Lake.

Competing with an Injured Horse?

I was over visiting Claire at Claire's Garden and saw this post. I 'borrowed' it for her, including her fabulous photo, so I could further the cause. Competing on an injured horse that is doped up on pain killing drugs will only further injure the horse. Nothing is important enough to do that!

SAY NO!!

This site has a petition against allowing horses to be used in competition if they are on Bute or other painkillers. Please add your name if you think competing on an injured horse is wrong.