Since the mid 1980's the Dervaes family has transformed their home into an urban homestead. Eco pioneers, Jules Dervaes and his family, have taken upon themselves to be the change they wish to see by living the solution. Their sustainable urban homestead has demonstrated to others how to live a low impact lifestyle by reducing one’s carbon footprint.
Is it neat, or is it slightly odd that in this Los Angeles community -- it's called Pasadena -- a suburban mix of nice restaurants and well-tended front lawns, there is a home wedged in with the other houses where the entire front yard is edible?
Melting ice caps, unchecked global oil consumption, mind-boggling volumes of trash accumulating in landfills — the problems facing our planet are so overwhelming, it’s tempting to tune them out. They’re just so big.
URBAN FARMING: Jules Dervaes and three of his adult children live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. “This is our form of protest,†says Dervaes, who is 60, “and this is our form of survival.â€
