Environmentalists Push for Downsizing … to 200-Sq. Ft. Homes


By Liz Thatcher
November 28, 2012


The environmental movement had an idea on how to cut down your carbon footprint – live in a little house. This movement, often called the Tiny House Movement or micro living, is not new but had picked up steam recently, and not without some media support. However, the media have consistently left out that this idea of living small and downsizing had been pushed by environmentalists long before journalists decided to report on this “trend.”

On the Oct. 22, 2012, broadcast of ABCs “World News,” anchor Diane Sawyer concluded the program with a segment on living small. “And finally tonight, we’re watching a trend here in America and around a crowded world: people ready to live in houses only a couple of feet wide,” she said. That summed up micro living perfectly.

The media have left out one issue about the tiny house movement – that environmentalists are behind it. In 2009, far-left site AlterNet published “Small is Better: Big Houses Are Out and Downsizing Is In” by Kristen Bender. “The best way to be a responsible environmental citizen,” Bender argued, “is to stay in a smaller house or go to a small house because you are automatically consuming less.”

In Jan. 2011, Climate Progress, part of the website Think Progress (funded by left-wing billionaire financier George Soros) posted a blog about tiny living as a way to combat global warming. “Today the trend for the environment-conscious consumer is to live in more modest means,” the post declared, and continued with obvious disdain for consumerism. “When you simply do not have room for a lot of extra junk, you soon find that the idea of buying is simply not a driving force in your life anymore.”

There are a variety of books, blogs and documentaries available on this. One book, “Little House on a Small Planet,” was originally published in 1998. The second edition was updated and republished in 2009. Another book, “The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live,” printed a special 10th anniversary edition in 2009. This idea of living small to help the environment has been around for quite some time. (Radical environmentalist Ted Kaczynski was ahead of the curve. The future Unabomber built his 10-by-12 foot cabin in Montana in1971.)

This movement has been pushed in heavily populated metropolitan areas, like New York City, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. All three cities had proposed micro apartment buildings expected to be built in the next few years to alleviate crowding. But will Americans seeking housing in these cities really want to live in apartments that are 200 square feet or smaller? The size of the average prison cell in America is 70 square feet. One architect is calling for the construction of a house that is roughly ten square feet.

In the Nov. 28, 2012, Style section of the Washington Post, staff writer Emily Wax outlined an entire community of tiny homes in Washington, D.C. in her article “Home, Squeezed Home.” These homes were between 150 to 200 square feet. Wax then stated that this tiny house movement could be the new American dream. “If these affordable homes – which maximize every inch of interior space and look a little like well-constructed playhouse – are the dream, they represent a radically fresh version of what it takes to make Americans happy,” she wrote.

CNN’s iReport online news outlet aggregated all of CNN’s coverage on the subject in Sept. 2012. Two of the biggest perks listed in the blog were saving money and a smaller environmental footprint. The latter is any environmentalist’s dream.

The New York Times has published four articles on this trend since Feb. 2011. The most recent, “One Shed Fits All” by Times reporter Penelope Green, outlined the history of the Zachary House, a house model designed by architect Stephen Atkinson. Atkinson actually gave away the blueprints for his Zachary House but charged to make modifications to his plans. The closer you stick to his blueprints, the cheaper it is to build his tiny home.

The Los Angeles Times also covered the tiny house phenomena in Sept. 2012. Rick Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, stated that the tiny house movement represented a “cultural shift” that proved America’s “super-abundance is a kind of selfishness our county can’t afford anymore.”

The Tiny-House movement is another push by eco-nuts to get Americans to give up comfort and “consumerism.” Living in tiny houses where there is no room for anything means buying less, which – on a large enough scale -- means a crippled economy and shuttered businesses. So such asceticism definitely has its attraction for the “responsible environmental citizen.” Just ask Ted Kaczynski.


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/liz-thatcher/2012/11/28/environmentalists-push-downsizing-200-sq-ft-homes#ixzz2DZE0S26p

Well it would make it easier to give away all your stuff to follow him....

I actually really think they are cute. Not for everyone but
they are really nice and an excellent value.

http://youtu.be/LJLSoUkh1Vs

Seems like going from one extreme to the other.

My apartment is 1020 sq. ft. I don't want a big house but I wouldn't want smaller than this until my daughters are grown and moved out.

I can see your point.

I think their kinda cute too.
A friend built one on a trailer, drives it around his property.
He has a wall heater of some kind and uses a generator now and again.
It's actually pretty nice, and cozy for one or two people.

I thought the trend was towards cardboard boxes!!

While I did some traveling for 8 years, I lived in a 6x10 ft trailer. I still have it and it's still liveable. Heated it in Wa State winters with a coleman lantern.

"Be it ever so humble"...

I like it too.

I build little houses on my Sims games,

similar to this one for my little "single" people.

If there's more than one person in the house they block one another's passage...expecting the other to move out of the way.

wow...........I'm impressed............I used to design trailers, and 6x10 is......well not really big at all. My girl Angel and I live in a 4000 sq foot house, and we both agree...it's WAY too much! (Side note- this is an older house built in the 40's) not a new one!

I might build one.

I like the idea of extremely high efficiency of resources and using
a relatively small amount of very high quality building materials to
make a special environment in a small space. I also like the idea of
being able to load it on a trailer and go mobile.

There is a lot of room for architectural innovation in this concept
of minimal living and I think it would be very interesting to
explore that too.

I could envision trying to acquire a few acres and building a
tine community where I could spend some time with some friends each
of us having a tiny cabin in a picturesque setting. Perhaps with
the cabins designed to integrate well with the landscape.

Sounds like fun.

A similar concept might be viable as a form of inexpensive housing
for those who need low-cost space efficient housing in an urban setting.

have they got Apostle Al on board yet?

This is it.

2x2 construction and 3/8ths plywood/wafer-board. It was wired. Had a small reefer, VCR and TV.

I got the sheet metal from Boeing Surplus in Renton, Wa. It is aircraft grade.

Up top, in the rear, I had a small AC unit for when I was living at a Flea market.

I insulated all the walls, cieling and floor with 1" Styrofoam. When I lit the lantern, I had to crack a window.

When I first built it, I painted a big sun in the upper front sides

I'm pretty sure he'd be into it in principle. He has cut his personal
energy use back a lot at his own home but I don't know if he would be
ready to get really radical. Although with that beard he did start to
look a lot like how I'd imagine the typical owner..



Women who like beards would probably like these dudes!




Gore has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating at his home. All incandescent lights were replaced with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-13-2104219017_x.htm

I have an 8 x 24 travel trailer where the back folds down into a ramp for my Harley and the front folds down into a hard bottom tent. I have put about 35,000 miles on it including 2-1/2 months traveling all over Alaska. The small home people could learn a lot from the travel trailer people. Fold up couches and tables change the use of a room in an instant (and a few pinched fingers).

sure glad we have the Real-Estate to live like that,and that the Property-Prices are conducive to waste Land like this!

Talking about Waste!
Having 300million People live like that would induce a Waste-Disposal-Nightmare!

I would like to see environmentalists put their money where their mouths are. Let them live in such tiny houses for awhile before they try to get others to live in them. Also, let them live with infants and small children in such houses.

Climate Progress, part of the website Think Progress (funded by left-wing billionaire financier George Soros

anyone think that Soros is gonna move into a 200 sq ft house?

Sweet!