Almost Green: How I built an Eco-Shed - James Glave - 2008

Almost Green - James Glave

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 23

 January 23, 2017 

Book 5 - Almost Green: How I built an Eco-Shed
by James Glave (2008)

 Part 1 - Pages 1-204

Reading Time - 4 hours

I picked this book up at a thrift store before Christmas and thought it would be something different than it was. It was interesting, just not what I expected. Author James Glave lives on Bowen Island and in the mid 2000s decided that he wanted to build an eco-shed, a little office for himself, combined with some guest space. He wanted to build it as a Green structure.

After many trials and tribulations, he produced a 280 sq ft eco-shed to the sweet price of $100,000. While I commend the author for building something so eco-friendly, I do wonder at the cost of this structure. Maybe things have gotten cheaper in the last 9 years... but $100,000 is no small potatoes! Something about the project didn't sit right with me. Perhaps it was getting a $70,000 Line of Credit to build the place? Perhaps it was the necessity of getting "clear" lumber for the rafters.

Or maybe it's just the impossibly high hurdle of "going green" that is presented, at least from the financial perspective. Surely there must be easier and cheaper ways for us to lower our carbon footprints?

Next Book

Here Comes Everybody - The Power of Organizing without Organizations

Clay Shirky - 2008