Thanks to the support of all our close friends, our Facebook friends, and folks from around the world who we know only through our Facebook page, The Darfield Earthship, we have moved into 5th place of about 500 entries in the So Nice Green Contest.
I entered the contest because it was really the first contest I’d ever seen whose aim was closely aligned with our values. I loved the fact that somebody, even if it was a commercial company (maybe even ESPECIALLY because it is a commercial company)was going to reward somebody for coming up with an idea that promoted sustainability. I mean, who ever gets rewarded for putting their kitchen waste in a bucket and stirring it every once in a while? Or wanting to teach kids about organic gardening? Or even for being more aware of where our energy comes from?
As all of you who have been voting have noticed, there are a lot of entries that are very short–they don’t even explain what use the money would be put toward. You may have even noticed that some entries have zero votes! I’m a bit stymied by this one, as you’d think that just by entering, you might just click “vote” before you took off never to enter the site again! But, even so, there’s an idea put down in writing for whomever may spend an evening scrolling through the ideas. For the ideas alone, this contest has been good.
My brothers would not be surprised to hear that I can be slightly…competitive. They would be astonished, however, to hear me admit it. It is true that I am competitive. As a younger person I did want to be the best at the things I was good at. I’d like to think that I wasn’t obnoxious about it, though!
I think my competitiveness may have emerged noticeably in the last few weeks. I’ve had some friendly bantering with a lovely young woman from Ear Falls, Ontario. Shauna entered the contest after us, came out of nowhere and shot past us to take us out of 7th! All this time she was monitoring us, since I supplied our Facebook link in our contest entry. Shauna wants to spend the $5,000 prize money to build a greenhouse and cafe in her hometown to provide organic produce year round. Night after night for more than a week Shauna kept working her FB friends list to shoot ahead of us, sometimes by more than 70 votes! And, she was voting for us once a day to boot! For the longest time, we came within votes of tieing her, but it eluded us. Then two things happened (I think). A few of my friends started working their friends lists pretty aggressively, and I THINK Shauna had a few evenings away from the computer. As Chris said, rolling his eyes, “She probably got a life, Sandra!” 🙂 I really hope Shauna can come and visit us one day…or we can find a way to go to Ear Falls when we are in Ontario!
The So Nice Green Contest has been a lot of fun. When I entered about halfway through the contest, I entered knowing that I was going to go for it! Why not? First, I know we have a great idea. (I’m competitive AND do not suffer from false modesty!) During the last 18 months we have had tremendous interest in our earthship. We’ve taught others, while learning at the same time. We are so grateful for the sweat (literally) of all the people who have come to exchange their labour to be part of a sustainable building. About 12 of our initial volunteers have since become fast friends. In return Chris and I have taken time out of construction to show people around, whether they’ve donated time to building or not. Sometimes people arrange this ahead of time, sometimes they’ve just dropped in. In almost every case, we’ve tried to be generous with our time, too.
I know how much interest there is in sustainable building. Our friends, Ann and Gord Baird, of Eco-sense, have pioneered the “showcasing” of modern sustainable building at their cob house near Victoria, B.C. Friends Curt and Kim Robinson, have had lots of volunteers come and help with their cob house near Duncan, B.C. Our friends, Linda and Grant, had Earthship Biotecture come to the Cariboo last summer and build their earthship, bringing almost 50 volunteers into the process.
With this thirst for learning and information, it was inevitable that we were often asked the same questions over and over from each group of people who visited us. For several months I’ve been saying to Chris, “I’d love to have a little sign next to the exposed tire in the utility room that explains the packing of the tires and the plastering process”. And, “Gee, wouldn’t it be great to have a mini greywater system set up for kids when they come so they could see how water gets used, re-used and re-used again?” We’ve gathered so much video on sustainable building that I’ve also wanted a way to have evening get togethers to watch some of them.
The So Nice Green Contest was a great way to go for that goal. In the end it doesn’t really matter if we win the money. There are so many great ideas entered in this contest that I think the money will be well spent wherever the judges decide it will go early in the new year.
But until then…please keep voting for us and be sure to come for a visit!