Archive for the 'Eco-politan' Category

Update on Mireya–and the Eco-politan House

Thursday, April 20th, 2006

A couple of us visited Mireya and her family this past holiday season. We were excited to see how she was doing and whether she had found the ammenities that were included in the design of the house as useful as we had expected.
Mireya told us she had moved in Christmas Eve [...]

Eco-politan in the News

Monday, December 12th, 2005

Our own Sam Vasquez was recently highlighted in the Sacramento Bee for Eco-politan’s work in Mexico! You can find full article by Bob Sylva at:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/columns/
sylva/story/13958255p-14792506c.html
or click here:
Portraits: A Labor of Love

Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 24th, 2005

As today is Thanksgiving Day, I’d like take the time to thank all of our volunteers and sponsors again. Of everything we’ve been through, the thing I am most proud of is your dedication. And the thing I am most thankful for is the generosity of all our friends - for your time, your [...]

The finishing touches

Tuesday, November 1st, 2005

This is a photo of the house as we left it Sunday, October 23. It was our last volunteer drive, a total of ten die-hards were there to hammer out the last of the punch list items. We finished the gypsum work,

and lime washes for the walls. Our compost privy [...]

House nearing completion!

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005

Primo and Rusty have applied a full smooth coat of earth plaster to the interior walls and a lime wash to the exterior walls. There are a few minor punch list items that need to be attended to; aside from that, the house will be ready for the Ramirez family to move into by [...]

Another dash to the Border!

Thursday, September 22nd, 2005

Construction will commence once again this weekend if all goes well. Some of us were scheduled to return last weekend but unfortunately sickness and transportation deficiencies detained them. I am excited about the amount of volunteer who have agreed upon a second tour of duty. I must say our last trip was incredible [...]

What I Saw

Thursday, September 8th, 2005

People in the colonias are mad resourceful. The gardens are amazing, rows of plastic buckets overflowing with plants. One woman had a system where her sink water was piped to water the garden. Tire retaining walls texture the hillsides. The houses are patchworks of whatever hard, flat surfaces people can find, [...]

Strangely attached

Thursday, September 8th, 2005

The progress so far has been described quite well by Lou (thanks). Perhaps I will share some more personal thoughts.
It seems the saying is true. Reality is never quite exactly as expected. No matter how much thought or mental preparation you have for a new or forthcoming experience, there is always room [...]

Building!

Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

Hi all. My name’s Lou, and I spent the past several days down in Tijuana helping the eco-politan team build the house. The entire experience was awesome. Some of us returned last night to get back to our normal lives (work…) but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we wish we [...]

Sweat & Concrete

Thursday, September 1st, 2005

Construction has finally begun! Last Thursday night, two family members and I, took off to San Diego, bought some supplies (Thanks White Cap for the discount!) and crossed the border. When we arrived at the site the retaining wall work was partially completed and there was still a mound of earth on the site. [...]