Green Thoughts: Small houses make room for change

James Walls
Campus News Editor

For many years the average sizes of homes have been getting larger, due to increased material wealth and, in some cases, simple vanity. However, a new movement has started to rise throughout various areas of the globe, including the United States, England and Japan, to name a few. This “small house movement” is not only striving to leave less of a footprint on the world, but also to bring about a simpler and more affordable way of living.

Small Home Lifestyle

While the average house ranges from 1700-2500 square feet these days, the small house movement encourages homeowners and home builders to decrease the size to 1000 square feet or less. By having an average of 500 square feet for most small houses, the focus is for the person to minimize their lifestyle, keeping what is often little more than the necessities in order to obtain a simpler life.
Still, that is just part of the reason behind the small house movement. With less space come lower electric bills and less energy used, as opposed to the energy wasted to power homes that are unnecessarily large. Therefore, not only do smaller houses fill less space on the Earth, but they also leave less of an impact on the environment.

Photo obtained.
A tiny house in Portland displays the simplicity yet rustic elegance that these small homes-on-wheels offer.

Ready for the Road

While constant fuel consumption is harmful to the environment, having a home that is easily transportable is not a bad thing. That is why some of these small houses have been built on wheels.
The concept of these transportable tiny homes was partially made popular by Jay Shafer, having designed various small houses and having founded Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in 2002. Similar to RVs, these houses are designed to look more like actual houses. To see a list of some of these homes, visit www.tumbleweedhouses.com.

So whether it’s a transportable home or simply a more affordable and environmentally-friendly house that interests you, the option is out there. All one has to do is look for it. After all, it is not too late to think green.