VIDEOS: TIME: Building a Champion Solar Home

Building a Champion Solar Home:
Students at Cornell University build a house completely powered by the sun to compete in the annual Solar Decathlon in Washington

Eco-Tech Museum

Eco-Tech Museum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NUH9OmyTw

[Video] Home Sweet Recycled Home

[Video] Home Sweet Recycled Home
The newest innovation in the "green revolution" is recycled homes. Mark Phillips talks to the resident of a home that has been built entirely out of shipping containers.

Small Strawbale: Natural Homes, Projects & Designs

Small Strawbale: Natural Homes, Projects & Designs
By Bill Steen, Athena Steen, Wayne Bingham

Amazon.com Product Description
This practical guide is filled with rich photos of homes, greenhouses, studios, sheds, open-air structures and more, each pulsating with unique yet subtle creativity. Both a pragmatic construction manual and a philosophical, artistic guidebook, Small Strawbale is an inspirational starting point for a strawbale dreamer, and a great source of information for those who are ready to get bailing.

The Greening Of Greensburg

The Greening Of Greensburg
After nearly being wiped of the map by a killer tornado, the town of Greensburg, Kansas, is rebuilding as one of the nation's completely green communities. Harry Smith reports.

Rebuilding A Green Community

Rebuilding A Green Community
After a tornado devastated Greensburg, Kan., residents and contractors came together to rebuild using green technology. Maggie Rodriguez reports.

[Video] Greensburg's Green Playground

[Video] Greensburg's Green Playground
"The Early Show" gang helps the citizens of Greensburg, Kan. construct a sprawling playground from scratch, which will benefit the community for years to come.

Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook

To help our readers flex their DIY green spirit, we're going to start covering some useful books. First I'm going to start out with this great book about straw-bale construction. If you're not familiar with straw-bale construction, check out Wikipedia for a primer.

Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook
By Nathaniel Corum

Amazon.com Product Description
"This book is a timely and important tool for the empowerment of communities facing housing deficits. The Red Feather project is extremely important; it is truly making a difference."—Jane Goodall

For more than a decade the Red Feather Development Group, a volunteer-based organization, has built and repaired straw bale houses for Native Americans. Somewhere along the way—and this was certainly not the plan—they created an architectural phenomenon: This inexpensive, environmentally sound, easily constructed, and downright beautiful form of building has, for good reason, caught the public's imagination. Here, Red Feather provides a step-by-step, easy-to-follow manual for would-be strawbale builders—indeed, they supply everything you'll need but time, energy, and lots and lots of straw. Informative sections on safety, design, tools, and materials, and case studies picked from over thirty-five Red Feather projects give a comprehensive overview to straw-bale building.

But this book is much more than a construction manual. It is also the inspiring story of Red Feather itself, a tale of community action and cooperation that suggests a can-do solution to the growing housing crisis on America's Native American reservations.