My mother was a rebel from the time she was born in the Midwest in 1913.

My mother’s first degree was in chemistry, and she followed that with a year in medical school…her health was not good and she was unable to finish the program before my father decided to move to Portland, Oregon to set up his medical practice. While she was there, she started oil painting and photography. Her mother taught her how to develop photographs that were blue like blueprints – the chemistry background certainly helped her understand how to create the solutions.

She also loved fly fishing and wore jeans in the 30s.

Since my mother was also a perpetual student and I recall one story about her classes in architecture many years ago. She designed a green home in the 50s that was to be built out of concrete with terrazzo floors sloping to drains, and suspended furniture so you could hose down the interior. Her idea for the windows was to dip rags in concrete for mortar around colored bottles. Her idea was that concrete was inexpensive as a building material and the energy saving for heating and cooling would keep the utility bills low.

She was also a minimalist and she loved mid century modern design.  I remember our second-hand orange fabric-covered sectional sofa and a red area rug on hardwood floors. The walls were white and decorated with a few of the oil paintings that I still have in my home today.

After my parents divorced, she went back to school and completed her masters in bacteriology, and again, her health was not good and she wasn’t able to work. We lived in a small house that she intentionally chose because the axis was northeast/southwest so our home wasn’t overheated with the morning or evening sun.  She opened and closed windows depending on the time of day to control the temperature in the house.

She was an organic gardener before it was widely accepted. We planted fruit and nut trees and worked hard to dig up the rocks from our yard to create beds for our vegetables.  My mother believed in recycling and conservation.  We composted and even conserved electricity and water. To this day, I turn off my faucet after I moisten my toothbrush, and we only turn on lights in the rooms we are using.

Mother also planned her routes so that she conserved gasoline, and did all of her shopping on one day per week. Even in the 50s, she was concerned that the world would run out of oil.

Since she was chemically sensitive, we used biodegradable detergents and cleaning supplies. We reused aluminium foil, paper and plastic bags.

Her experience during the Depression formed her personality and her habits. She didn’t believe in credit, and she saved 50% of the money she received for child support. We could all learn something from her during this economic crisis.

Green design isn’t a new concept to me, and it is great to see that it is becoming more popular. I think of her every day when I do these simple things to conserve. I’d love to hear your stories about green design and what influenced you.

~Gail Doby, Green Design Summit