Island Life

After we moved to Vancouver Island I started commuting from Duncan to Langford to work in sales for a large building supply company. This job made it possible for us to purchase a house in Cowichan Bay that had been in need of love for many years and was not getting it. The older gentleman who owned it previously had just passed away and we bought from his daughter. This was the beginning of a 3 year renovation project to take this house from it's status as the "nag of the neighbourhood" to one of the nicest homes in the neighbourhood.
As mentioned, I was working in building supply but knew this was not what I wanted to do when I grew up. But what I wanted to do or felt I should do was not readily apparent to me. This was another in a long line of jobs that I took to pay the bills but did not make me feel fulfilled or give me joy.
Far from it.
What this job did do was introduce me to alternative building products that were becoming available to the industry that are greener then what had been used to this point.
I learned about new window options, finger joint studs, green board etc. These products were just the beginning of my education into green options available to homeowners and builders that may cost more (or some did at this point)  but were environmentally responsible choices.
When I could afford them, I used these products in my home renovation. Not all of these new green products were more expensive then the older conventional building items traditionally used, but any change can be a hard sell.
I was working predominately in window sales for this company and had an uphill battle convincing builders that the better, more expensive windows were worth investing in for their spec homes as they would save the homeowner more in heating bills then cheaper less well engineered windows.  Builders, I learned did not want to spend a nickle more on a better product unless they had too. According to the builders, the prospective home owners would not know whether the windows were better or not, as they would only be gushing over the fact that their new  home had new windows.
I did not agree.
Changing the way folks looked at new homes and green building products started to become more and more important to me.
I needed to know more so I could help change peoples perceptions of what was worth spending money on in building products, and what was not.

Beginnings

When my wife and 2 year old son left Calgary 10 years ago it was in response to the events of 9/11. We knew that leaving was not going to change what happened but we felt we had to use those events do make a life change.
I had been in the film and stage business for 16 years and did not enjoy it anymore due to the ego's and constant back-stabbing that occurs in any career that has lots of money involved. The film business is worse then most, it appears.

This was the beginning of my transformation.

I had also spent most of my life with friends who worked in or were involved in the oil and gas industry and made tons of money doing that. That lifestyle, while alright for them, was not what I wanted for me.
I lived in a fast paced, oil fueled city where the prevailing attitude was quantity not quality and I wanted a life that was the other way around.
It was time to find if there was another way.

We sold our Calgary home and bought one near Edmonton where we spent 18 months before we shook our heads and decided to get out of the cold snow-filled Alberta winters. The last winter there was the clincher as it started snowing in November and was still falling come May. I couldn' t find a place to put the crap.
After we decided to leave the winter weather behind we made the move to Vancouver Island as we had spent a short time here mid 90's and knew what to expect.
The lifestyle on the island was much slower and seemed to embrace a more ecologically friendly way of doing things.
The difference between the Island and Calgary couldn't be more different. Had I finally found a place where they embrace quality of life over quantity?
It sure looked like it.
I started to notice more recycling going on and folks were talking about bio-diesel (I had no idea what that was).
I knew we were in the right place and I had much to learn.