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Where does a person find a place called home? How do we define it? What does home really mean? What must it have so that a family feels proud of it?...or safe in it? How do we afford such a concept? How large a fortress is needed to feel a sense of space, autonomy, and privacy? Why do we aspire to live in such luxury? And is it really so? How is housing incorporated into the neighbourhood and the bigger picture called environment? | |
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| And how about the neighbourhood? Who is active in planning and creating our sense of community? Who actually knows the neighbour next door or across the street? Who could you go to, on your block, in time of need? When was the last time you witnessed a neighbour assist another erect a fence, or mend a hole in the garage roof, or help out in someone else's garden? What do we mean by being neighbourly? |
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And what measures are being taken to ensure that our structural creations reduce their consumption of non-renewable resources, and include efficient and safe waste management practices? What about concerns for creating interior spaces that don't cause the inhabitants undue stress and dis-ease, from harmful building products, caustic chemicals, adhesives, and many of the common accoutrement we have taken for granted? If it is not our choice (these homes we create) then who has the say in design? What causes our present culture to aspire to these current housing concepts? | |
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| What are we doing individually and collectively to reduce our burden on Mother Earth? What happens to the contents of our garbage cans once it leaves the curb? How often do we give a thought to where the shit goes after we flush? |
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Many questions...I know. Answers? I believe they are in side each one of us, if we are willing to look
... and possibly make a few changes.
Photo of community members building "strawbale" meeting room at the Compost Centre in Victoria, BC. July 12, 1998. |
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