DESCRIPTION:
How much stuff does a person really need? This is a question Dee Williams has been challenging for years, and after a pivotal trip to Guatemala seven years ago, her conclusion was: not much. Dee sold her home, got rid of most of her belongings, and began limiting herself to about 300 possessions -- that was everything from heels and a toothbrush, to a couple of dinner plates and a two-ton jack. She then built a tiny house on wheels, parked it in a friend's backyard, and commenced re-defining her understanding of the basics: community well-being, gratitude, happiness and the compost toilet.

Dee has been featured in the media including, Yes! Magazine, the NBC Evening News, NPR, Good Morning America and TIME Magazine. Her tiny company, Boxcar Woodcraft, won the Washington Governor's Award for Sustainable Practices in 2008 and in 2010, her company, Portland Alternative Dwellings, started rolling out customer-designed little houses and offering workshops for would-be builders.

You can learn more at www.portlandalternativedwellings.com, and you can see a video of Dee's house at www.nau.com/collective/stories/.


About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)