Rising gas prices essay

You've just finished hoeing your biggest garden ever and would like nothing better than to dive into the nearest pond. Glory be to the pleasures of swimming, splashing or just floating lazily in clean, clear water.

If you don't already have a pond or pool nearby, we have some truly cool news about how you can create a natural swimming pool that uses aquatic plants instead of toxic chlorine and expensive machinery to keep the water clean. These pools use a natural clay or synthetic liner to hold in the water and need to be filled only once instead of being drained every fall and refilled every summer. The best news is natural pools cost only a fraction of an in-ground concrete pool. If you want to make your pool even more sustainable, make it a neighborhood project so several families make good use of this "luxury" item. These swimmin' holes are far more attractive than a big rectangle of turquoise concrete. See for yourself: natural swimming pools.

The same powerful sunshine that makes us want to throw ourselves into the pool in August easily can keep us warm all winter. That's the message in "Build a Solar Home and Let the Sunshine In," our feature story (Page 74) about the astonishing benefits of passive-solar homes. The principles couldn't be simpler: You just insulate your new home well, face a long side of the house to the south, fill it with lots of windows to let in the sun and provide enough thermal mass inside, (brick or tile floors, or large concrete planters) to soak up the rays. The mass in the home absorbs and stores solar heat during the day and releases it at night. You'll be toasty warm and spending little or nothing on heating bills. (And the home's extra insulation also will keep you cooler in the summer.)

With oil and gas prices rising, heating and cooling costs are becoming a larger and larger share of every homestead's budget. We calculated that if energy costs rise 10 percent per year, a passive-solar home in a northern climate could save as much as $400,000 in energy costs over the next 30 years! Why more people aren't already choosing passive-solar home designs, we simply don't know. As the story explains, solar features cost almost nothing to include in just about any style home you might choose. If you're planning to build a new home, you won't want to miss this story.

Barbara Kingsolver returns to MOTHER EARTH NEWS with an essay from her latest book, Small Wonder. A trained microbiologist with a thoughtful, logical mind, she will stop you in your tracks with her compelling essay on the genetic manipulation of living organisms and the importance of good science education. "A Fist in the Eye of God" (Page 51) provides a powerful perspective on the fundamental arrogance and unpredictable danger of presuming humans are wise enough to tinker with the most basic elements of life.