Eve’s Garden is an organic Bed and Breakfast and Ecology Resource Center, located in the beautiful high mountain desert of West Texas, at the gateway to
Big Bend National Park, in
Marathon, Texas. Eve’s Garden is a research level organic gardening demonstration site and an urban hacienda, combining to provide a comfortable Bed and Breakfast environment and a conversational forum to address issues regarding the ecology we live in.
Every effort has been made to combine elements of “art”, “architecture”, and “ecology” in the layout and construction of this unusually progressive piece of work. A large amount of recycled content, strawbale buildings, paper adobe/fiber cement buildings, high Mexican contemporary color treatments, and a focus on locally produced food, conspire to create an aura of thoughtfulness.
“Thoughtfulness” — this is our goal — to motivate our guests to pursue the projects they have in their minds, and recognize that they can make a difference.
We, Clyde T. Curry and Kate Thayer, invite you to come and share your vision for the future and to see our work. Enjoy a stay at our Bed and Breakfast, join the FORUM on our website, and survey our environmental links.
We invite you to get involved, because “we” are the “they” in “they need to do something”.
Environmental Links
- livinginpaper.com — a detailed, up-to-date source of information about using waste paper for affordable, sustainable housing.
- Northern Greenhouse Sales — supplier of polyethelyne coverings for our greenhouses.
- Acres U.S.A. — the only national magazine that offers a comprehensive guide to sustainable agriculture.
- Earth Policy Institute — dedicated to building an environmentally sustainable economy: an "eco-economy"
- Worldwatch Institute — dedicated to informing policymakers and the public about emerging global problems and trends and the complex links between the world economy and its environmental support systems
- Natural Home Magazine — the magazine for earth-inspired living
- OrganicGardening.com — companion site to Organic Gardening magazine
- Mother Earth News — the Original Guide to Living Wisely
- Abundant Life Seed Foundation — promotes the genetic diversity of plants through the use of open-pollinated seed.
- Seeds of Change — the original and largest 100% organic seed company
- Sierra Club — America's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization
- Center for Ecoliteracy — dedicated to fostering a profound understanding of the natural world, grounded in direct experience, that leads to sustainable patterns of living
- The Globalist — covering the human dimension of globalization
- Regional Alliance for Information Networking — bringing you Technology that Works for People
- Occidental Arts and Ecology Center — a non-profit educational center and biodiversity focused farm
- Organic Alliance — promotes the environmental and economic benefits of certified organic food production to farmers, processors, distributors, retailers, and consumers
- foodsystems.org — Berkeley based "revolution in food" group, school gardens, etc
- AlterNet.org — a mix of news, opinion and investigative journalism on subjects ranging from the environment, the drug war, technology and cultural trends to policy debate, sexual politics and health issues
- Southwest School of Botanical Medicine — an incredible identification site for medicinal herbs
- Talamanca Discovery, Costa Rica — responsible and organic tourism in Talamanca, Costa Rica
- The City Repair Project — a group of citizen activists in Portland, Oregon building a more community-oriented and ecologically sustainable society; projects showcase the aesthetic, environmental, and economic benefits of building with natural and reused materials.
- Sustainable Building Technical Manual — from the Clinton era U.S. Department of Energy's Operation Fresh Start project and Public Technology, Inc.; shows how to design, operate, and maintain environmentally friendly buildings
- Sustainable Building Sources — lots of information about green building
- SustainableBusiness.com — Business, Environment, Clean & Green Technologies.
- The Sustainable Building Sourcebook — created by the City of Austin's Green Builder Program
- Oikos — devoted to serving professionals whose work promotes sustainable design and construction
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Green Buildings
- Development Center for Appropriate Technology — working to remove barriers to more sustainable building and development
- Renewable Energy Policy Project — information about renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainability
- Sustainable Architecture, Building and Culture — what the BBC Education Web Guide has to say about Sustainable ABC: "This is a comprehensive links site that allows you to tap into a wealth of Web resources on environmentally-inspired building techniques, technologies, architecture and engineering. For those interested in cities particularly, there are links to eco-village and city community sites as well as links to pages on bioregional planning, appropriate technologies, permaculture, etc."
- U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and renewable Energy Program
- www.WINDPOWER.org — information about wind energy from the Danish Wind Industry Association
Other West Texas Resources
- The Big Bend Gazette — an independent monthly news publication about the culture, arts, and ecology of the Big Bend
- Marathon, Texas: Gateway to the Big Bend — presented by the Marathon Chamber of Commerce
- The Alpine, Texas Home Page — presented by the Alpine Chamber of Commerce
- Big Bend Regional Sierra Club — working to protect the unique beauty and integrity of the Big Bend region
- Big Bend Birders of the Trans-Pecos of West Texas — representing all levels of experience and interest in the wild bird life of the Big Bend Country
- Native Plant Society of Texas, Big Bend Area Chapter — promoting the conservation, research and utilization of the native plants and plant habitats of Texas, through education, outreach and example
- Big Bend Ranch State Park — over 280,280.58 acres of Chihuahuan Desert wilderness, that extends along the Rio Grande from southeast of Presidio to near Lajitas in both Brewster and Presidio Counties
- Big Bend Astronomical Society - working to preserve good views of the stars from West Texas (note that West Texas is one of the darkest areas of the continental U.S.)
- McDonald Observatory — located in the Davis Mountains and operated by the The University of Texas
A Vision for a New Civilization
If we are to create a Paradise on Earth we will have to change the way we live with ourselves.
In developed countries, the high cost of living requires that we earn lots of money.
If we work hard and earn a lot, then something must be produced with that effort.
If goods are produced, they must be consumed or else we will have no work.
If they are consumed, natural resources must be used.
If natural resources are used excessively and not recycled, as they presently are, then the earth is wasted.
Therefore a high standard of living, based upon mass consumption and minimal recycling (our present design) inevitably leads to the destruction of the ecosystems that we rely upon for our survival. If undeveloped countries follow our path, the destruction of the ecosystems we depend upon is assured.
If we can eliminate the high cost of living, then we can live more sensibly on the Earth. In the past, a simpler lifestyle meant a low quality of life, but does it really have to be?
read more at planetaryrenewal.org
News Forum
Lone Star State generates nearly a fifth of electricity from wind power
Texas set a new record for US wind energy generation late last week when at 6:37am on Friday wind turbines provided 19 per cent of the electricity mix – the equivalent of 6,272MW - to its main grid.
The figure, which did not include power generated in its windy Panhandle region, is expected to increase significantly in the coming years as the state plans to invest nearly $5bn on increasing the number of transmission lines in the state supporting new wind farms.
Continue Reading Texas breaks US wind energy record
Posted by Paul on March 12, 2010
Matthew McDermott
New York, NY
treehugger.com
March 13, 2009
It’s no secret by now that I’m always recommending that giving up meat eating entirely (or at the minimum, becoming a weekday vegetarian) is one of the strongest personal steps that can be taken towards reducing you personal carbon footprint, as well as your ecological footprint more broadly. At the Copenhagen Climate Congress, Elke Stehfest of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency presented additional evidence that a vegetarian diet, or one at least that radically reduces meat consumption, can have massive climate change mitigation benefits:
Continue Reading Vegetarian Diet Could Cut Climate Change Mitigation Costs by 70%, If Enough Of Us Make the Switch
Posted by Paul on November 18, 2009
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
The New York Times
October 23, 2009
STOCKHOLM — Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.”
“Right now, I don’t know what this means,” said Ms. Bergstrom, a pharmaceutical company employee.
But if a new experiment here succeeds, she and millions of other Swedes will soon find out. New labels listing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of foods, from whole wheat pasta to fast food burgers, are appearing on some grocery items and restaurant menus around the country.
People who live to eat might dismiss this as silly. But changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives or doing away with the clothes dryer, scientific experts say.
Continue Reading To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates
Posted by Paul on October 23, 2009
By Felicity Barringer
The New York Times
July 30, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO — Returning to their ranch-style house in Sacramento after a long summer workday, Jon and Kim Waldrep were routinely met by a wall of heat.
“We’d come home in the summer, and the house would be 115 degrees, stifling,” said Mr. Waldrep, a regional manager for a national company.
He or his wife would race to the thermostat and turn on the air-conditioning as their four small children, just picked up from day care, awaited relief.
All that changed last month. “Now we come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” Mr. Waldrep said.
Continue Reading White Roofs Catch on as Energy Cost Cutters
Posted by Paul on July 29, 2009
By Andrew Martin
The New York Times
March 22, 2009
Anaheim, California — AS tens of thousands of people recently strolled among booths of the nation’s largest organic and natural foods show here, munching on fair-trade chocolate and sipping organic wine, a few dozen pioneers of the industry sneaked off to an out-of-the-way conference room.
Although unit sales of organic food have leveled off and even declined lately, versus a year earlier, the mood among those crowded into the conference room was upbeat as they awaited a private screening of a documentary called “Food Inc.” — a withering critique of agribusiness and industrially produced food.
They also gathered to relish their changing political fortunes, courtesy of the Obama administration.
“This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.”
Continue Reading Is a Food Revolution Now in Season?
Posted by Paul on March 26, 2009
