This Bolivian Lawyer Builds Homes For The Poor Out Of Recycled Plastic Bottles...

The Bolivian lawyer or perhaps it should be the Garbage Lawyer Ingrid Vaca Diez, is on a mission to build better homes for the poor.
In Bolivia, nearly fifty percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Housing's a huge problem here as many are unable to live in suitable accommodation.
Once again we see necessity being the mother of invention and with meagre funds and little support, Ingrid creates homes out of the only resource she can find in abundance.
So far she's designed and built ten homes, with six being in Warnes, a town in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and another in Roldan, a town in Santa Fe province, Argentina.
The bottles are filled with dirt, those are her bricks and her houses may use thirty six thousand each. To colour her homes, this resourceful woman uses a combination of expired milk powder, horse manure, linseed oil, cattle blood, cane molasses or just
whatever she can find.
The floors are made from chopped up old tyres.
There's more about Ingrid's mission here in a twenty five minute video.
Perhaps more lawyers will give up their day jobs and build houses for the poor.
The world might be a better place...

The Working Carnivore's Lunchbox...

To my vegetarian friends, please forgive me.
I hope this photo won't keep you awake at nights. I just had to show everyone what the working carnivore might have in his or her lunchbox.
You know, to get them through a busy day
at the office.
It's got everything a discerning carnivore might think they'll need. Or not need.
Now I think I'll have a nice green salad...

China Tells The World A Whopping Big Fish Tale...

How do you like this whopper of a fish tale.
China tells the world through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation that their distant water fishing fleet catch around 368,000 tons of fish annually.
In actual fact say the University of British Columbia who've just completed research into international fishing, China takes about 4.6 million tons, plundering the waters of around ninety countries of their fish resources and about $11.5 billion worth of fish. Nobody really knows how much they take or what arrangements they have with other countries but most of China's catch is taken from the waters around West Africa where so many of that continents poor people depend on their food being harvested from the sea.
China doesn't take all its catch home.
An unspecified amount is sold locally but whatever is going on, China's catch is a huge twelve times larger than they are admitting to.
It's greed on a grand scale.
And greed is destroying our world...

If You Think You've Seen And Heard It All. Have A Look And Listen To The Children Of Paraguay's Recycled Orchestra...

A community like Cateura is not a place you'd normally find a violin.
It would be worth more than a house.
Cateura is a small city in Paraguay that sits literally on top of a massive garbage dump.
It's regarded as one of the poorest slums in Latin America.
Some might also say it's one of the richest. Once again we see a wonderful example of necessity being the mother of invention.
Prospects for the children of Cateura are bleak with drugs and gangs being the easy option.
One day, Nicolas Gomez found a bit of garbage that resembled a violin. He showed it to his friend and musician Favis Chavez. Using other bits collected from the rubbish, the two men made a violin. Inspired, they set about making other instruments.
Nineteen year old Juan Manuel Chavez known as Bebi plays the cello. Beautifully. His cello was made from an old oil can and bits of wood. The pegs are made from an old tool that was used to tenderise meat.
There's a wonderful short video you can watch and more to inspire dreams, here.
The world sends us garbage says the orchestra's director Favio Chavez.
We send back music...

A Man Called Bear And His Gorgeous Little Gypsy Caravan...

What a little beauty.
I found it here on Tiny House Listings.
A gorgeous example of a simple little house
on wheels.
A six foot by twelve foot gypsy caravan built on an original 1905 McLaughlin undercarriage. Well before you say so what, this undercarriage was originally designed to carry glass milk bottles so the ride needed to be as smooth as a baby's bottom.
Woops, wrong simile there.
It's ideal for picnics in the woods but
Maurice 'Bear' Leger has unfortunately had to give up his gypsy lifestyle and life on the road so someone else will be able to enjoy this back-to-basics gypsy caravan. It's got ample storage and of course, a woodburning stove. No insulation though. And yes it's pulled by a couple of horses and Bear has travelled many thousands of miles in this manner.
Two horses pulling a gypsy caravan with a Bear on board. I like the concept... . 

Here's A Cheap And Simple Way To Light Up Your Life...

Most of us take electric lights for granted. Most of us live in homes with windows and skylights that bathe us in light.
For those though who live in shacks with no windows and no skylights a little daylight is more than welcome.
Here's a simple and inexpensive idea that can easily applied in low income houses or spaces that lack daylight or electricity.
The concept is simple. A soda bottle is placed in the roof, half inside and half outside with the lower half refracting water like a sixty watt light bulb. The bottle is filled with water and a few drops of bleach to keep the water clear, clean and germ free for years.
One of these do-it-yourself lightbulbs will be easily installed in an hour. You simply cut a hole in the roof and a piece of roofing material the size of the bottle. Insert the bottle, put some sealant around the bottle to prevent leaks and now, where there was dark, there's light...

Tiny Rustic Inspirational Cabins Communing With Nature...

It's been a few weeks since
I last visited Cabin Porn but there's always
a treat in store when I do.
The folks over there at Beaver Brook thankfully have a wonderful selection of inspirational images to whet one's appetite.
Have a look sometime...