World House Radio

Today we welcome Ernesto Fonseca to the program. He is an architect and energy consultant with the The Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, a project initiated by Arizona State University which seeks to promote housing that is affordable, dignified and environmentally and culturally responsive. Ernesto has been integral in the design, build and monitoring of the two homes created by the Stardust Center, the Nageezi House and the Guadalupe House. Both of these homes demonstrate the importance of a whole systems approach to the design of conscientious housing. Today, we are going to look at two systems that are especially important in these homes -- the air handling system and the social system. Air handling is how clean, healthy air moves through the home, providing ventilation, heating and cooling. The social system considers how a home allows for social interaction both within it and outside of it as it connects to the surrounding community. Both air and social interaction are esse

Today we are discussing the waste system of the home. Sustainability is such a buzz word these days particularly as the idea of green design becomes more desirable and more profitable, whether its for the right or wrong reasons. There are many definitions of what it means to be sustainable; many involve our consumption and the waste we create, at the beginning, middle and end of a product's or service's life cycle. Our close, and often problematic relationship with the waste we produce is not a new one. However it has grown to be a bigger issue as the amount of waste we produce has grown exponentially. Our modus operandi to date has been to look to technology to try to solve our waste problems. And while technology has offered some help, it has served as a band-aid solution for a much larger, more complex issue. At the root of it is our deep connection to things, to the objects we buy and keep around us and then tire of and throw out for the newer, better versions that come along. Today I have the pleas

This week we are exploring the intersection of two powerful systems at work both within and outside of the home. Food and identity are intricately linked. The saying, "You are what you eat.", reverberates now more than ever as the food we eat is produced and transported from farther away and made from ingredients that are synthesized and almost impossible to pronounce.A recent article in The New York Times highlights our increasing disconnection to our food system explaining that what you eat has everything to do with how much money you have, particularly when it's cheaper to buy a package of Twinkies than a bunch of carrots. This article also looks at the power of U.S. government subsidies to determine what we and our children are eating - from our choices at the supermarket to those in the school cafeteria.Those who decide to grow their own food are taking back the ability to make the right decisions for themselves - what fruits and vegetables to plant and how to organically grow them. For almost 14 yea

Today we are discussing the spatial system of the home.We welcome a guest who is an internationally recognized advocate of flexible housing. Dr. Avi Friedman has written extensively on the connections we have to the space in our homes and how to make this space more efficient, more functional and ultimately more enjoyable. He is a professor at the McGill School of Architecture in Montreal where he co-founded the Affordable Homes Program. He has authored several books including, THE ADAPTABLE HOUSE and Room for Thought: Rethinking Home and Community Design. Dr. Friedman's work has been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Popular Science and has been featured on the ABC, BBC, CNN and HGTV networks. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Manning Innovation Award and the United Nations World Habitat Award. In the year 2000, he was selected by Wallpaper magazine as one of 10 people from around the world “most likely to change the way we live.”For more information about Dr. Avi

This week we focus on the energy system of the home.Even though humans have relied on the power of the sun as a source of heat and light for thousands of years, it is only recently that solar energy has become a regular topic of conversation when discussing our dependence on fossil fuel burning power. The idea of placing solar panels on the roof once seemed out of reach for most homeowners but advancements in this technology are making it more efficient, more affordable and an increasingly attractive option for offsetting energy costs and selling homegrown power back to the grid. From rooftop panels, to sunlight absorbing house paint to flexible panels that can be worn on clothing and backpacks, tremendous resources are being spent to develop efficient means of harnessing the sun’s rays. Leaving us to wonder: Can solar power be the answer to our energy needs?Here to provide more insight about the future of solar energy is Cecile Warner.Cecile Warner is a Project Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's Na

The theme of this week's show is the mobility system of the home. With the most recent hike in gas prices, daily talk of global warming and climate change, and news about the latest hybrid vehicles, there are many questions about the future of mobility.Today we welcome a guest who is working to understand these issues and plan for the future. Susan Zielinski is the Managing Director of the SMART project, which stands for Sustainable Mobility and Accessibility Research and Transformation. The SMART project is part of The Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society (CARSS) at the University of Michigan. She brings over twenty years of experience working on issues around transportation and sustainability. She spent a year as a Harvard Fellow focusing on New Mobility innovation and leadership. As a transportation planner with the City of Toronto, Susan worked on several successful initiatives and has served on a number of local, national and international committees focusing on new mobility. S

Today we are focusing on the water system of the home. For most of us in North America, accessing water is as easy as turning on the tap. We think little of how the water gets to us and seldom worry about not having the water we need for drinking, cooking, bathing and our other daily activities. It often feels as if we have an endless supply, but in many parts of the world the reality is very different. Accessing clean potable water is a daily concern.Today I welcome two guests to World House Radio who are addressing this issue.Monroe Weber-Shirk who is a senior lecturer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. And Melissa Wrolstad a masters engineering student at Cornell. They are both involved in AguaClara, a project of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Cornell that strives to improve water quality through innovative research, knowledge transfer, open source engineering and design of sustainable water treatment systems.For more information on the

Today we welcome Dr. Mitchell Joachim to World House Radio. He completed his doctorate at MIT in Architecture: Design and Computation. He also has two graduate degrees, a masters in architecture from Columbia University and a masters in urban design from Harvard. And he is the co-creator of the Fab Tree Hab.The theme of this week's show is the construction system of the home. The Fab Tree Hab offers a very interesting alternative construction system. Instead of building, this project offers us the opportunity to grow a home.For more information on Dr. Mitchell Joachim and the Fab Tree Hab, check out the following links:www.archinode.com/www.popsci.com/popsci/whatsnew/0cb1ec816bc3e010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.htmlThe music used in today's program was chosen because the songs had the word 'house' in their titles and because these songs were created by independent artists willing to share their music online for free. The artists can be found on garageband.com a website promoting new and emerging independent music