From Birdhouses to Tiny Houses: Courage Changes Everything

By Linda C. Pope

Linda Pope is a practical environmentalist with a sense of urgency. Her research has led her to understand that solutions are already abundant. What’s needed are doers who can step outside their comfort zones and simply “be the change.” From Birdhouses to Tiny Houses describes one of Linda’s experiments in

• Language: English
• Publisher: Square Root Press LLC
• Release date: Oct 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780997756036

Linda C. Pope

Linda C. Pope has been teaching sustainability, environmental science, and other life sciences at the college level since 1997. She has also taught special programs in science since 2008 for preschool through fifth grade. She completed her undergraduate degree at Goddard College in Vermont where she learned about creative approaches to learning and life. She has a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and a second Masters in Science (Plant Physiological Ecology) from the University of Maryland-College Park. She developed an Individual sustainability course for Portland Community College, in Portland, Oregon. She has lived all over the United States, as well as in England, France, and Algeria. These varied experiences provide a strong base from which to consider sustainability concerns. Working currently with various homeless organizations, she strives to find solutions for this growing segment of our population.

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INTRODUCTION

From Bird Houses to Tiny Houses:

Courage Changes Everything

First, I would like to recommend that you jump to Chapter 22, the last chapter, and read that part first. I have a tendency to want to go in order: this is what we did, and this is what we learned. But even though I write in a sequence, it was all happening at the same time. It was not a linear experience. Even the what did I learn? aspect was happening every day, not at the end as an afterthought. So start at the end!

I have been teaching sustainability classes at Portland Community College in Oregon since 2011. Teachers know how important it is to incorporate hands-on activities whenever possible. It is through implementing some aspect of the material that real learning takes place. To make learning become real, one has to walk the talk, and not be an instructor who just lectures in front of the class and gives exams. It is not easy to plan or develop projects; it’s much easier to just go the lecture route. But the whole purpose of life is continued growth, and by creating hands-on learning projects, the instructor can grow as much as the students.

I used to teach introductory biology courses. The material was fairly uniform from term to term, year to year. I’d look at the syllabus the evening before teaching, and think, Oh yes, I know what I have to do tomorrow. There was little variation, in the lab or lecture. I would always add, What’s in the news today that is related to our topic? but the material was pretty much laid out for all instructors by the school. However, in teaching sustainability, the discussion of ideas and the practicality of their implementation changes constantly. Although much of the material from the 1990’s still holds up and is fresh to many students, for me, and for one or two students in each of my classes, the textbooks don’t tell enough about what’s currently happening. There is a constant need to be able to answer: How did the earth change today? How are we more or less sustainable than we were yesterday?

I attended my first EcoDistricts Summit in Portland, Oregon in 2011. EcoDistricts (originally called Portland Sustainability Institute) provides this description of an EcoDistrict: a comprehensive strategy to accelerate sustainable neighborhood development by integrating building and infrastructure projects with community and individual action (Seltzer, 2010).

The summit ended with an open conversation. I was deeply struck by the comments of one unknown participant: We have just this decade to get everyone in the country to develop a neighborhood plan for sustainability. It takes 20-30 years to implement plans of this scale and we have to have everything changed before 2050 or, due to climate change effects, we will lose control of the weather. (She wasn’t implying that we control the weather now, but that we are contributing to changes in predictability and intensity of the weather and storms.) Many sources have noted more recently that changes are actually happening faster than scientists had originally predicted (Gillis, 2016; Morello, 2012). We may not have until 2050. It is this sense of urgency that drives my enthusiasm to teach classes in sustainability, and to write sustainability guides that are accessible to everyone.

It is in part due to this sense of urgency that I feel it necessary to write this book. We have little to no time to become experts. Instead, we have to become courageous, to just step up to the edge of experience and dive in. More often than not, our mistakes will be minimal, or reversible, and we will get a jump-start at transforming our neighborhoods and ourselves. According to Seltzer (2010), the neighborhood scale is the most important scale at which to change things because the rate of change at the city level is too slow, and although change at the individual scale can happen quickly, it will not cause larger, geographic changes to happen fast enough. Therefore change at the scale of the neighborhood is ideal. It is large enough to have an impact, and small enough to allow experimentation. Since you are reading this book, you are one of the ones we are counting on to bring us together, to make the all-important changes to guarantee the sustainability of our eco-systems, including our civilization. We are all going to have to learn how to make changes at a rate that may not be comfortable. But I can guarantee you that this path will be exciting and memorable!

I highly recommend viewing the lecture by Andrés Duany (2014) on Lean Urbanism. In this video he describes a conversation with Jaime Lerner, the former mayor and urban planner of Curitiba, Brazil. Duany repeatedly tries to find out from Lerner how to implement the massive changes he had made to Curitiba. And Lerner continuously replies, Just start. You just have to start. That is the secret. That really is the key to changing the world. We just have to start. We don’t need to spend all of our time talking and planning. A polished plan with every detail accounted for may not be necessary. Just start. Just start!

Bird Houses

A small project is a good way to begin. The scale of a birdhouse project lets us get our hands on some tools and develop the realization that construction does not have to be that hard. My students and I began by building eco-friendly birdhouses and bird feeders. We used repurposed wood from a Portland, Oregon, business called the ReBuilding Center, which deconstructs buildings and makes the materials available for reuse in new construction (Figure i-1).

We all have a natural instinct to want to build something (Figure i-2). The birdhouses and birdfeeders given to the students to build were designed with an ecoroof (Figures i-3 and i-4). Eco-roofs provide many benefits in our built environment. According to the Portland Ecoroofs Program: An ecoroof significantly decreases stormwater runoff, saves energy, reduces pollution and erosion, and helps preserve fish habitat. Ecoroofs also absorb carbon dioxide, cool urban heat islands, and filter air pollutants. They increase habitat for birds and insects and provide much-needed greenspace for urban dwellers (City of Portland, 2013). Although most of these benefits are irrelevant at the scale of a birdhouse, students still learned the basics of ecoroof construction for any scale.

Figure i-1. Students selecting lumber at the ReBuilding Center. The materials are obtained from the deconstruction of buildings slated for demolition, a much more sustainable use of materials. Every city should have at least one center where repurposed materials can be purchased.

Figure i-2. We have a natural instinct to want to build. My son and his Dad in 1974 building a birdhouse.

Figure i-3. Students building the birdfeeders and birdhouses from repurposed lumber from the ReBuilding Center.

Figure i-4. The finished feeder with the completed ecoroof.

The birdhouses and birdfeeders were easy first steps. Minimal materials were needed. A carpenter and friend pre-cut the pieces so that all the students had to do was to assemble the house and add the ecoroof materials. There are many free birdhouse designs on the Internet. Some even include directions for ecoroofs (Garden Art Projects, 2016). (Refer to the appendix to see how we did our ecoroof.) It is possible to do this activity in just about any location. We did it in our campus cafeteria where other students could watch what we were doing and ask questions. One thing we learned from this project was that repurposed materials, in this case lumber, may be as much as one hundred years old. Due to the age of the wood and its extreme dryness, the wood was very hard. Holes for nails or screws should be predrilled before construction.

The Planter Benches

After building the birdhouses and birdfeeders for a few terms, the project needed a new direction. The June Key Delta Community Center asked if we would build some benches for their outdoor space. The area just beyond the patio dropped off sharply into a garden space and swale (a low-lying or shallow depression, designed to capture surface runoff water and return it to the aquifer). Community members were afraid guests might step off the edge and accidentally fall into the garden space, and thought that benches would prevent this from happening. This was a good opportunity for us. A clear set of instructions on how to build the planter-benches was found online at KaBOOM! (2016)

Again, repurposed materials were acquired from The ReBuilding Center. This time the Center also supplied a fully equipped workshop for our activities. Other businesses exist that can also provide workshop spaces or tools for do-it-yourself activities, such as hardware stores and community spaces. For example, in Portland, ADX-Portland (http://adxportland.com) provides superior machines of all kinds (woodworking, metal working, upholstery, etc.) to its members, allowing access to tools and equipment that would otherwise have to be purchased.

The planter bench project turned out to be a multi-term project with 2 weeks of class time spent on the project each term. During the first term the benches were built (Figures i.5 and i.6) and delivered to the community center. The second term, the benches were painted with an environmentally-friendly sealer and plants were added (Figure i-7). The third term, we were asked to add a ceramic tiled edge to the planter boxes (Figure i-8).

Figure i-5. Starting construction on the base of the planter.

These benches served their purpose very well. They were extremely well built of solid 2 in. x 4 in. and 4 in. x 4 in. lumber. This also made the benches very heavy. They would definitely prevent falls into the garden space; however, due to the weight, the benches were difficult to deliver pre-assembled. A recommendation for future builds would be to precut all the lumber and then assemble the benches on site. These two projects, the birdhouses and the benches, developed the framework needed to build the future tiny house.

Figure i-6. Adding the final nail to the completed bench. Teams of students were given the plans and then were responsible for determining what was needed in order for the bench to be built.

Figure i-7. Installing the plants in the planter boxes.

Figure i-8. The ceramic tiles around the planter box edge were acquired through repurposed materials at the ReBuilding Center.

The Tiny House

The initial idea for building a tiny house as a project sprang from a faculty in-service meeting, two days before the beginning of the fall term. As with any large building project, most people would like a solid plan with secured financing, clear architectural drawings, acquisition of a building site, and professionals lined up to help with the construction. Although we managed to secure all these items over the following week, we subsequently had several key components withdraw from the schedule. My students and I were in a dilemma. We would have to spend the term just getting all the pieces into place; students in the next term would get to do the build. That represented the safe route.

However, a student stood up and asked the class, Why can’t we just do it anyway? A flurry of excitement filled the room! What do we have? What do we need? How can we get the things we need? Who can work on what? Many lists were made on the whiteboard as students volunteered to follow up with unresolved issues. Very few of the students had any construction experience. But everyone wanted to learn. The safe route had been vetoed. The class decided it would move forward and do what was necessary to make the project happen! The courageous path had been selected. It turned out that the courageous path would provide so many unexpected learning experiences, and many skills that will undoubtedly have future benefits.

The Beginning

The tiny house was to be built for a homeless person and donated to Dignity Village, a collection of over 40 tiny houses for the homeless, located in northeast Portland (refer to their webpage for information). We considered many locations close to Portland Community College where