EcoHouse in the News

East Bay Express
March 26. 1999

home sweet home: Ultimate Recycling

Take one shabby war-era house in North Berkeley and add energy-efficient appliances, photovoltaic roofing, garbage composting, a self-composting toilet, experimental gardens, and a library. Include space for workshops, exhibits, and neighborhood meetings. Result: the EcoHouse, a living laboratory for ecological innovations.

To longtime Berkeleyans, the aim of community gardeners and activists to restore the house on the corner of Hopkins Street and Peralta Avenue will sound mighty familiar. The Integral Urban House in West Berkeley cultivated ecological awareness for a decade before closing its doors in 1985. The earlier house played a crucial role in disseminating ecological principles: it hosted 30,000 visitors and 300 classes a year, published a renowned source book, and helped to make Berkeley a beacon for international green activism. Ultimately, the house suffered from its own success as colleges started offering ecology classes and the house lost its main source of funds.

The EcoHouse should be more sustainable. Activists hope it will become a commons for a residential neighborhood that supports two thriving nearby community gardens. To buy and restore the house, the group, led by landscape architect Karl Linn and supported by Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, needs $240,000 by April 2. Having already raised $200,000, they're looking for four more individuals or businesses to loan $10,000 each, at 5 percent simple interest, for two years. By then, they hope to have restored the house and secured the permanent funding required to put the EcoHouse on solid ground.