Thanks to our hosts Amanda, Anna and Diego, we just had a wonderful time in Buffalo (and at Niagara falls, here are some pictures). All three of them are very active in their community, organising various volunteer programs.

Amanda bought the house they’re living in for a relatively cheap price, which she started to refurbish. To make it more fun, she joined an initiative called Broken House Club. Over the course of one year, the members of this club visit each other’s houses and help with whatever construction work needs to get done.

Many houses in Buffalo were recently demolished. Like other place we went through in Upstate New York, the city has suffered from industrial decline in recent decades. The current economic crisis surely made the situation worse.

Amanda has been working for a company called ReUse Action that offers to demolish houses in an eco-friendly way. The company started out as a non-profit organisation. It has since become a proper business, which still operates according to a very laudable mission.

In the short video you see above, which we recorded this morning on the breakfast table, Amanda explains a little more about this green way of demolishing houses. She also talks about why the Green Party and her candidate Jill Stein get so little attention in the presidential race.

Recommended listening/reading: NPR invited Jill Stein (Green Party) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party) to answer some of the questions that Joe Biden and Paul Ryan faced in their debate.