Footprints and Ripples

West County Gazette
September 2005
by Stacey Meinzen

An "ecological footprint" can be defined as the measurement of the use of natural resources by people. According to RegionalProgress.org, the Bay Area's residents have a per-capita "Ecological Footprint" fourteen percent lower than the rest of the United States. Although the region's average Ecological Footprint is only 20.9 acres per capita compared with the nation's average of 23.6 acres per capita, this footprint is still 4.5 times too large. If everyone lived like a resident of the Bay Area, we would need more than 4.5 Earths to maintain our current lifestyle.

Jay Shafer is a tiny home builder. He first embarked upon the mission of creating a tiny home because of environmental concerns and his desire to avoid the upkeep required to maintain a larger residence. Jay's homes are not only a beacon of functionality, but also of style. With a Masters in Fine Art, Jay's artistic talent is apparent in all of the tiny homes he has designed. The home he currently inhabits has corrugated metal siding with red trim and measures in at 75 square feet, which is smaller than many people's bathrooms. The porch and awning fold up for added convenience.  The Oscoz interior features a retractile table and vanity, a desk, 100 cubic feet of storage, a cathedral ceiling, a six gallon water heater, a shower, toilet, stainless steel counter, refrigerator, sink, heat stove, a double burner, and a vented sleeping loft for two. Jay's first tiny home, which he called "Tumbleweed," was 100 square feet. Built in 1999, he lived in that house for five years before downsizing to the 75 square foot home that he currently inhabits. While Jay's house is perfect for all of his needs, he builds custom homes that fit the particular needs of each of his clients both from a functional and aesthetic viewpoint. Jay's tiny homes are inspirational not only because they leave a much smaller ecological footprint than the average Sonoma County residence, but also because of their intelligent usage of space and the absence of debt.

Trathen Heckman is Executive Director of "Daily Acts," a Sonoma County non-profit dedicated to sustainability. Daily Acts' prophetic zine, "Ripples," calls on humanity to reduce its ecological footprint by shifting towards a lifestyle of daily actions that help and heal humanity and the earth instead of engaging in the current societal norms of heavy consumption, waste, and massive debt. In addition, Daily Acts sponsors the, "Sustainability Tours," which highlight visionaries like Jay Shafer around the county who are finding solutions to today's environmental problems. At the tours, Trathen talks about the ways in which our daily actions ripple out into the world in either positive or negative ways, and he gives his audience concrete and viable solutions for reducing their ecological footprint.

Trathen brought Jay Shafer's house to the members of Daily Acts one Tuesday night in late June when he organized a tour through Jay's tiny home in order to shed light on the idea of making better use of the space we inhabit. While the Daily Acts crew is a group that considers itself savvy about the principles of sustainability, that Tuesday night in June, many in the group experienced shock and awe as they realized the small size of their true spacial needs. Jay Shafer showed everyone what "treading lightly" really means and brought new meaning to Trathen's message of daily actions that ripple across the planet. The occasion showed all present that the homes we inhabit are the place our feet walk most, thus, the smaller the home, the less footprints of consumption will ripple out to scar the planet.

For more information on Daily Acts and the Sustainability Tours, go to www.daily-acts.org.

For more information on Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, go to www.tumbleweedhouses.com.