Post Archive by Year

By Brian Skeele, on June 20th, 2011 What would you include in a Sustainable Urban Village in Santa Fe, that made it so great, you’d move in?! The September issue of the Green Fire Times is going to be a compilation of ideas and visions, and you’re invited to contribute! Download the flyer here. Download tri-fold brochure here. (two sided …

Beyond Bartering-tapping into human ingenuity By Brian Skeele, on July 21st, 2011 Volunteers earn these Time Dollars by doing things for others, such as making them jewelry or baking them pound cake. Edgar Cahn was lying in a hospital bed recovering from a heart attack, when the inspiration came through. He created timebank usa, and a tool for honoring everyone’s …

2nd of 29 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR WELL DESIGNED HOME AND NEIGHBORHOOD By Brian Skeele, on April 14th, 2011 I’ve started a list of good ideas that come about if we rethink the functions and interplay of our home and its neighborhood.  So far I’ve got 29 killer (If I do say so myself)  ideas.  The first 7 …

By Brian Skeele, on March 19th, 2011 It grows in marginal soils. It’s fibers are really tough. 19th century sailing vessels made their sails and rope with industrial hemp. I’ve heard blue jeans made of hemp don’t wear out, they wear in. The excuses we are using to not grow hemp, are bogus! It’s time we stop being run by …

BioChar-Carbon Sequestration and Soil Fertility By Brian Skeele, on March 19th, 2011 Black Soil, biochar, a special kind of charcoal, has been discovered in the Amazon jungles, as well as in Japan.  Tierra Preta,  as it is also called in Brazil, has amazing properties.  In the midst of large amounts of rainfall, where large quantities of biochar have been introduced into the …

By Brian Skeele, on April 6th, 2011 My wife is a HGTV addict.  I get hysterical and start frothing at the mouth at the “flip this house” kind of mentality I see on shows…I’ve learned to not watch, and make her put on the headphones. In the Post Flip this House Bubble era, I see an entire industry, from builders and …

By Brian Skeele, on April 6th, 2011 My wife is a HGTV addict.  I get hysterical and start frothing at the mouth at the “flip this house” kind of mentality I see on shows…I’ve learned to not watch, and make her put on the headphones. In the Post Flip this House Bubble era, I see an entire industry, from builders and …

By Brian Skeele, on April 20th, 2011 Social Business. Whereas a charity dollar has one life, a social business dollar returns again and again, spreading the benefit of the social good. The poorest of the poor are lifting themselves up through entrepreneurism backed by a knowing of the unrealized human capacity that lies in each of us, all 6+ billion! …

By Brian Skeele, on May 19th, 2011 Once upon a time, in a far off corner of the world…..People would pilgrimage to Santa Fe New Mexico and stare in amazement at what the ancients had created.  Right up there with Machu Picchu, Stonehenge, and Chaco Canyon, perched on the old landfill, set one of the testaments to the creative ingenuity of man. …

By Brian Skeele, on March 20th, 2011 I think that says it all!  “If it ain’t Fun, it ain’t sustainable!” I can get overwhelmed by the immensity of it all; the Impending Bummers, the complexity of all these systems within  systems, trying to figure out how we are gonna learn to collaborate on such large scales, when we’re so busy …