Trench composting simplicity. via livingwind
(via joinakibbutz)
From “An Introduction to the Journal” in Issue 1:
Until very recently, the concept of living in a space 500 sq. feet or less was definitely contrary to the American mainstream in all but the most dense of cities. In fact, from the 1950′s onward, the American home seemed to be ever increasing in size and grandiosity with little regard to the costs to either individuals or the environment. (Per the latest real estate sale information, this trend finally changed in the fourth quarter of last year.)
It wasn’t until the recent decline in housing values, failure of the sub-prime housing industry, and subsequent impact to the broader U.S. and world economies that most people were willing to consider any solution out of the norm when it came to housing options. Now, however, there is an increasing amount of media attention on any form of cheap housing solution. Older inner city homes, yurts, tiny houses on wheel, houseboats, RV’s, log cabins and the like are now featuring on the evening news and regular pieces in the New York Times.
Each of the writers who’ve chosen to be involved with SLJ has their own unique experiences and perspective on the small home movement. We hope you take as much pleasure in discovering these differences as we have in the creation of the issues.
Going forward, we plan to post a new issue every other week on Monday mornings. Each issue will be coordinated by a different writer involved with the project and focus on a specific topic of interest to the small home movement such as different options for housing, challenges with zoning, financing the building a small home, etc.
In the first issue, each of the writers shares a brief bio and explanation of how they came to be involved in the small home movement. In the second issue, we will focus on some of the challenges inherent in downsizing enough to fit into a small home.
At present there are 16 issues available on the web site.
