Archive for the ‘sustainability’ Category

December 22, 2016

14 of my Favorite Things About Portland, Oregon

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In early 2013 Portland was like a new love interest that I had fallen hard for. I was enamored with just about everything in the city. I gained 10lbs just cause I wanted to try all the food and I couldn’t get enough of the Blue Star Donuts, the Waffle Window and Lauretta Jeans Pie Shop. I traipsed around the city taking photographs of the gorgeous flowers, the beautiful bridges, and the many group bike rides I went on. Four years later, just like any love interest, the shine has worn off and I’ve settled into a calmer, less…

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September 18, 2016

Charles Eisenstein on “Interbeing”

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet “The definition of love is self love, expanding the definition of self to include other.” This captures the essence of what philosopher and author Charles Eisenstein had to say at the First Congregational Church in Downtown Portland last month. Eisenstein’s talk served as a shot in the arm for weary activists in the audience of the event organized by The City Repair Project. Eisenstein began by lamenting the world we live in. It “is set up against the path that makes our hearts sing,” he said. For one it measures the kind of work that men do and invalidates…

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Tweet In our private property culture, community property is considered un-American and is akin to socialsm or communism. But despite the national rhetoric of every man for himself and pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, the reality is, we all need each other at the end of the day and we can’t go far without the help of our community. We all need a helping hand sometimes, whether that be because we’re just starting a baking business and we can’t afford our own commercial kitchen, or because we simply can’t afford to buy our toddler the latest toys, just to…

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October 22, 2015

5 Reasons to Build an ADU

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet [I originally wrote this article for the Communitecture blog, where I work as an architect.] What do accessory dwelling units (ADU) have to do with Portland’s state of emergency for housing? Everything. Accessory dwellings are the great compromise between adding density and preserving the single-family fabric that Portlanders have come to love and depend on. They are a great answer to adding housing options in the city without giving up much of the character that makes Portland what it is. [Side Note for Those Not Familiar with ADUs: What the heck is an accessory dwelling unit? It’s what a…

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Tweet It’s not easy to be a Muslim in America. After 9-11 Muslims have been a target of discrimination and suspicion and have been painted as “anti-American”. As recently as last month there was an armed anti-Islam demonstration at an Arizona mosque. Continued violence perpetrated by extremists around the world has put Muslims in America, who themselves have nothing to do with that violence, in a position of constantly having to defend themselves and their religion. I was raised as a Muslim, but no longer practice. But my family still does and I very much still feel connected to the…

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Tweet If you’ve seen the curvy and colorful cob structures around the city of Portland, chances are good that you’re seeing the work of the Village Building Convergence (VBC), an annual placemaking festival organized by City Repair which is celebrating its 15th year. The 10-day festival is underway this week and its going stronger than ever. It’s main mission is to facilitate hands-on volunteer labor towards making various community-building projects around the city become a reality. This year’s projects include 22 intersection painting projects, 8 landscaping/gardening projects and 9 building projects, such as making earthen plaster walls for buildings, cob…

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February 23, 2015

Architecture as if People and the Planet Mattered

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Last week I watched a Peruvian documentary on the lives of local musicians called I’m Still, screened as part of the Portland International Film Festival. It displayed stunning imagery of mountain-top villages in remote areas of the country where indigenous musicians played their violins, harps and guitars and sang folk songs. I was struck by the indigenous architecture of these villages, which comprised of hand-built stone masonry walls and clay tile roofs. They were beautiful buildings built by families generations ago, perfectly scaled to Peruvian human proportions and completely fitting of Puruvian native lifestyles. Moreover, they blended in with…

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Tweet       *Join us for a tour of this amazing, one-of-a-kind cob structure on January 10, 2015 at 11am. See the end of the article for more information.* Artist Dan Reed Miller built a tiny house before tiny houses were all the rage. Inspired by Thoreau, Dan wanted to see if he could live simply in the city without the clutter and extra things that come with modern living but just aren’t necessary. In 2006, he got a chance to experiment with the idea. His friend Debbieanne had just bought a house in the quiet north Portland neighborhood…

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Tweet Today’s article is by guest contributor Jonce Walker. Jonce is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor and a Sustainability Consultant for Terrapin Bright Green in NYC. In the 1950’s, the arid climate of Phoenix, AZ created a haven to recover from the respiratory challenges associated with colder, wetter places in the United States. Coupled with warm winters and the chance to retire in inexpensive housing, the Valley of the Sun became a powerful draw for many Americans starting new lives after the war. However, after 60 years of breakneck development, several climate change-related challenges are beginning…

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November 05, 2014

5 Things I Learned from Enrique Peñalosa

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Enrique Peñalosa is the former mayor of Bogota and he has become famous for putting in place radical equity measures such as restricting private car use and installing hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. Some of his most well known accomplishments during his tenure as mayor of Bogota are organizing the first city-wide Car-Free day in 2001 where a city of 6.5 million people banned cars from its streets, opening up public spaces for all people to walk, bicycle, and enjoy the city and bringing a very successful Bus Rapid Transit system to…

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