There has been too much confusion around whether we should be wearing masks while in public during the pandemic. I’m in the “Yes” camp, and I’ve noticed that all the doctors I’ve talked to are in the Yes camp too, no matter what politicians and public officials have been saying.

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Once you start seeing something, it’s suddenly everywhere  (and it doesn’t help that people keep sending me examples). After noticing that we seem culturally obsessed with our colonial settlement of this city/province/country/continent right now, and that this pioneer DIY craft style has spread as far afield as Brisbane and Berlin, based on what people have written me, I feel compelled to keep collecting it.

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An abridged version of this essay has been published in the May/June 2015 issue of Briarpatch Magazine

I am probably as bored of casual hipster-slagging as you are.

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The post Settler & pioneer “heritage hipster” styles in the age of Idle No More, Chinatown gentrification, &c. appeared first on Ouno Design.

Why aren’t we using building materials like Aerblock instead of wood? Habitat Forum 1976 alumni Michael Baron is involved in manufacturing this safe, lightweight, storm-proof, insulating, healthy-air concrete material that mimics ancient pumice building blocks.

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You may have had to be there. In the 70s.

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It is hard not to view this frozen waterfall as an artwork, but it only functions as art inadvertently. Its effect is quietly visceral, though, a response I don’t have to art often enough.

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Buy Nothing Day was launched by Vancouver’s Adbusters Magazine.

“The journey towards a sane sustainable future begins with a single step. It could all start with a personal challenge, such as this: make a vow to yourself to participate in Buy Nothing Day this year.

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Why don’t we do this kind of thing anymore? You saw it a lot in the 1960s and 70s—speakers embedded in display shelves or on a wall, as part of the decor.

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Above: Farm house in Keldur, Iceland. These are “earth sheltered” houses, an ancient form of passive solar, sustainable architecture. It’s the practice of “packing earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss and maintain steady indoor temperature.”

From Wikipedia: “A sod roof or turf roof is a traditional Scandinavian type of green roof covered with sod on top of several layers of birch bark on gently sloping wooden roof boards.

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“This would have been a great heritage rescue! The “3-Room Stump”—from top-left to bottom-right: Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen—was located at what is now 26th & Prince Edward before 1910.”

Via the Vancouver Heritage Foundation

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