Lloyd Alter

Small House Designs from CMHC

I just discovered in my basement one of my favourite books from when I was in school and in architectural practice. I always loved modern designs from the 50s and the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation of Canada produced a volume with hundreds of them in the sixties at some point. Here is a sample of one from a pair of Vancouver architects. Full pages below the fold; click on the images to see them fullsize.

Azure: Growing Up

Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.” It turns out that his suggestion is also a good idea for creating handsome buildings. Green facades and living walls are outpacing green roofs as the environmentally correct way to wrap a structure.

-That is the start of the cover article in the May, Green edition of Azure magazine. Read it all here, although it looks far better in print.

Cottage Life: Who you gonna call?

Susan Nerberg wrote an excellent article on renovating and building cottages and interviewed me. I wish it was online, it is a useful article; Cottage life is missing the canoe here. ::Cottage Life

My Famous Outhouse

There is a British website devoted to sheds, and those who work in them, called Shedworking; they have a weekly column on outhouses. I submitted mine and was their first subject! Read on at ::Shedworking

Washington Post: Some Things Aren't as Green as They Seem

Green really is the new black: Goods from food to fashion are becoming environmentally trendy. The downside? Many products and services appear Earth-friendly but aren't much different from their conventional counterparts. While there are many shades of green -- and it's impossible to avoid consuming the planet's resources -- it helps to know how to separate fact from fiction.

Here, a few tips to avoid greenwashing.

Don't take the company's word for it."The key thing to beware of is the word 'green,' " says Lloyd Alter of TreeHugger ( http://www.treehugger.com), a Web site devoted to covering all things planet-friendly. "Amazon recently ran a series of ads for cordless and electric garden tools under the heading 'Think Green,' even though people have been gardening for hundreds of years without electric leaf blowers. It may be marginally better to use an electric mower instead of a gas one, but the only green mower is one that you push." Washington Post

Korea Times: Corporate Greenwashers Trick Consumers

Despite all the environment-caring fuss, it's, still, all about the business, experts say.

Corporate goliath GE's company-wide ``Ecomagination'' initiative, which develops high-efficiency incandescent light bulbs, has also been under criticism, as environmentalists argue that GE should cut incandescent bulb production altogether and focus on fluorescent bulbs instead.

Another major greenwasher, GM, has been noted as an award-winning deceiver for depicting an SUV on a melting polar ice, happily co-existing with artic species, which ironically, are what the car is killing through carbon emissions.

``A lot of companies are taking small steps toward environmental sustainability and their marketing departments are turning them into huge steps,'' Lloyd Alter, a Toronto-based sustainable architect and developer who writes for the environmental blog Treehugger. Korea Times

Interview in National Post

photo by Peter Redman

We were interviewed by Vanessa Farquharson of the National Post:

He's been referred to on TreeHugger.com as "an excitable, ageing, metrosexual architect"; other visitors to the Web site have asked if he ever stops complaining about his city. Indeed, over the course of writing some 1,500 posts about everything from the death of the city's BikeShare program to the Bag It Back initiative and what he calls "the insanity that is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario," Lloyd Alter has become the unofficial online voice of Toronto in all things green--and it's one that, most often, is highly critical.

"I'm known as the person who should cheer up and smile occasionally," he says, with a grin, over a cup of fair-trade espresso at the Choco-Sol cafe on Bathurst Street. "I'm always critical, and yes, sometimes nasty. But there are some wonderful things about Toronto, too. The energy coming up from young people like the guys at Spacing and New Mind Space is great, as are our neighbourhoods. And the Green Bin program is fabulous."

Sustainable design is more than just green talk

I was also interviewed by the CBC this week, for an article on green design, and listed as the creator of Treehugger, which alas, I am not.

Lloyd Alter, an architect based in Toronto and creator of the environmental site treehugger.com, is a keen observer of the latest sustainable design trends. He cites a few sustainable resources that are making headway in consumer markets.

"There's a huge uptick in the amount of bamboo furniture, wall coverings, drapery and fabrics," he said.

Products made from locally sourced, sustainably harvested wood are also gaining momentum, Alter added. "Buying a locally cut FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] sustainable maple floor is better for the environment than using a [green product] shipped from Asia. You can even find FSC-certified wood at Home Depot."

Flooring products made from linseed oil and cork are also getting a thumbs-up as a sustainable choice. "Vinyl uses an incredible amount of chlorine and hydrocarbons to produce, and when it's recycled it releases dioxins," Alter said. Read the article here

Greenwashing on CNET

I was interviewed about greenwashing on CNET.

When retail king Wal-Mart Stores started rolling out one pro-sustainability initiative after another, environmental bloggers and pundits were at first stunned.

"We've all been talking about it," said Lloyd Alter, a Toronto-based sustainable architect and developer who blogs at the environmental news and lifestyle blog Treehugger.

"It's what I call the 'October Surprise.' A year ago in October, when (Wal-Mart CEO) Lee Scott made that announcement of things that he was going to do, I was really skeptical, and I continue in some ways to be skeptical. Yet I'm constantly surprised and impressed when nearly every week another new (environmental) initiative comes up," Alter said.

Indeed, Wal-Mart has been planning a range of new programs, from renewable-energy campaigns to sustainable-electronics awareness promotions. And the most surprising part, for environmental bloggers like Alter, is that Wal-Mart seems to be for real. Read the rest at CNET

On Convenient Truths: Interview

I am interviewed again by City TV's Amber MacArthur, about  Treehugger's Convenient Truths video competition.  The interview took place in the  charming new cafe  The Smith, on Shaw just north of Queen Street. Watch City TV