My Sustainable Home

1. A smooth hollow shell with aerodynamic curves,
   Of a high-tech material made easily from nature,
   Imbued with resistance against fire and impact,
   Held gracefully above, to give shade beneath,
   On slim angled frames with small augered feet,
   To minimise its impact on our precious planet,
   Yet anchor it firmly through wind and tempest.

2. A large kitchen/diner with a central round table,
   With space to grow herbs, tomatoes and greens,
   A lounge to relax, read, entertain and converse,
   A tranquil bedroom in which to sleep and dream,
   A place to wash and dry our bodies and clothes,
   A laboratory for projects practical & intellectual,
   A hall with stairs and lift to enter from beneath.

3. A photovoltaic under-skin to a translucent roof,
   Tracking the sun, through the equation of time.
   Intelligent air vents, which self-open and close,
   Harvesting energy quietly, from a varying wind.
   Storing it in batteries to be used when needed,
   Via right and left buses for lights and devices,
   With small turbine back-up & community supply.

4. The roof is curved in an upwardly convex plane,
   To collect most of our water need from the rain,
   And if sufficient energy is available to spare,
   The remainder's condensed straight from the air.
   In a low-rain area where the climate's too dry,
   A bore-hole, stream or lake can our water supply.
   Then, to most of it, recycling we strictly apply.

5. My home must be situated in a beautiful place,
   With inalienable rights to its mean free space,
   Close-in is for growing, not to be encroached,
   Increasingly free as the edge is approached.
   Needs of life produced by robotic automation,
   An area set aside as the sojourner's station,
   All husbanded well with nature's inspiration.

6. Linked to the world by telecommunications,
   Through a global network of human nodes,
   Joined by fibre, ionosphere and moon-bounce,
   And physical visits of amicable reciprocity.
   Keeping in touch, their ideas exchanging,
   Welcome as guests, whenever they pass by,
   A world-wide coterie of cherished friends.

7. Set in a community of anthropological size,
   Of fifty to a hundred neighbouring families,
   With a small school of full-range education,
   Sustained by the collective knowledge of all.
   Sharing resources like lake, river and road,
   No need for a leader: our law is within us,
   We're our collective life-project of success.

8. Yet we all must respect that man is a nomad,
   Moving on occasionally, enhances our lives.
   A home should thus be at least relocatable,
   Preferably transportable by standard means.
   Perhaps, in the future, some means be found,
   To make it to move by itself off the ground,
   And self-navigate to its new destination.

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© 06 February 2023 Robert John Morton | See related essay