Effective Living > Mobile Hermitage
Summary. The Mobile Hermitage and owner Gregory Paul Johnson have been featured by various print and television media including: American Profile, Better Homes and Gardens (200608 page 72), CBS Affiliate KCCI of Des Moines, PBS Affiliate WQPT, National Public Radio, New York Times Real Estate, Radish Magazine, and Wall Street Journal Real Estate.
Radio Interviews. Audio is now available for recent interviews with Gregory Johnson on ABC News Australia, National Radio in Ireland, Iowa Public Radio Book Reading/Interview, and Public Radio Interview with Ben Kieffer from February 2007.
Media Coverage. There have been many articles and radio interviews as well as much television coverage. Selected news coverage is listed below in chronological order with the most recent at the top. Some of these news stories directly refer to the Mobile Hermitage, while others include quotations from Gregory Johnson.
- Newsmax Maxlife Magazine, “Home Sweet Home – Downsizing into tiny houses becomes a big new trend,” October 2011. Available in print only.
Continental Airlines Magazine, Idea of the Moment, “The Next Little Thing,” June 2009. “The micro-housing trend, once decidedly on the fringes, has hit the mainstream, in part because of the economic downturn. … Johnson is a leading figure in the micro-housing movement. He’s a co-founder of the Small House Society (SHS) and the Small Living Journal (smalllivingjournal.com), a Web site that launched in March, as well as the author of Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned from Living in 140 Square Feet.”- Writers Voices, KRUU FM Interview with Gregory Johnson, 28 November 2008. “Writers’ Voices with Monica and Caroline warmly welcomes author Gregory Paul Johnson, as well as guest host Steve Cooperman, this Friday, November 28 at 1pm. Steve Cooperman is a former journalist and KRUU show host who is currently involved in numerous community projects. Steve put his own life on a diet about a year ago when he moved into a 500 sq ft cottage with a wood stove, close to the town square, greatly reducing driving miles.” [ Audio | Article ]
- Senior Spectrum, “Tiny Houses – A Big Solution for Retirement Living?,” 18 November 2008. “Living in homes too large for their needs can take an economic, physical and psychological toll on elderly homeowners. The upkeep on large homes can be intimidating, and the financial responsibility can be overwhelming to retirees living on a fixed income. An increasing number of seniors are now finding ‘tiny houses’ a viable solution, which makes their lives much less complicated. … According to Gregory Paul Johnson, director of Resourcesforlife.com and a co-founder of the Small House Society, the collective shift towards small house living is a modern trend.”
- The Greenest Dollar, “Why Live in a Micro Home”, 2 November 2008. “With the uncertain economy and tanking housing industry, more and more people are joining the “mini house” movement. These homes are the backlash against the McMansion movement of today. They’re simple, environmentally friendly, and incredibly inexpensive to live in.”
- WAQY-FM Radio, “Bax and O’Brien” radio show, 17 October 2008. “WAQY-FM serves the Hartford, CT Market as a 50,000 watt station, which not only covers most of Connecticut, but also a majority of Massachusetts as well as parts of Rhode Island. The Bax and O’Brien program has been on the air for the past 13 years, and has been consistently number 1 in the target audience.” [ MP3 Audio File ]
- Providence Journal, “A Small Price to Pay,” 12 October 2008. “Gregory Paul Johnson, a founder of the Small House Society in Iowa City, Iowa, said that the notion of very small houses becoming popular was ‘an absurdity’ five years ago. ‘But there are so many powerful forces at work right now,’ he added, ‘like rising energy costs and the mortgage crisis. I think people want small homes because they cost less to purchase, maintain, heat.’ In July, Johnson, who lives in a 140-square-foot house made by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. of Sebastopol, Calif., took to the road to promote his vision of living small, along with Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed’s founder. The two men drove from Victoria, British Columbia, to San Diego, pulling Shafer’s house behind them on a trailer.”
- Newstalk Radio in Ireland, Moncrieff with Sean Moncrieff, 29 September 2008, 9:20 AM CT. Gregory Johnson was interviewed by Sean Moncrieff of Newstalk Radio, Ireland’s National Independent Talk Radio. [ MP3 Audio File ]
- E-Magazine, “Smaller Living,” September/October 2008, page 59, and on the Resources for Eco-Awareness and Action Page. “Five years ago, Gregory Johnson moved to a 140 square foot home, built on a trailer to comply with local building regulations. He has no electricity or running water and eats mostly non-perishable foods at home, using other facilities to shower, go to the bathroom and do his laundry. Since he sold his car on Earth Day in 2004, he has been using a bicycle to get around. Johnson, who founded Resources for Life and the Small House Society, has turned his experiences into the book Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned From Living in 140 Square Feet (Gibb Smith, $12.95).”
- New York Times, “The Next Little Thing?,” 10 September 2008. “Gregory Paul Johnson, a founder of the Small House Society in Iowa City, said that the notion of very small houses becoming popular was ‘an absurdity’ five years ago. ‘But there are so many powerful forces at work right now,’ he added, ‘like rising energy costs and the mortgage crisis. I think people want small homes because they cost less to purchase, maintain, heat.’ In July, Mr. Johnson, who lives in a 140-square-foot house made by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company of Sebastopol, Calif., took to the road to promote his vision of living small, along with Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed’s founder. The two men drove from Victoria, British Columbia, to San Diego, pulling Mr. Shafer’s house behind them on a trailer. (Tiny houses, which rarely have foundations, are often built on trailers.) Along the way they stopped to hold workshops and give (very brief) home tours. Some events drew hundreds of people.” [more…]
- Gazette.net Maryland Community Newspapers, “Tight Quarters,” 10 September 2008. “Gregory Paul Johnson at Resources for Life and the Small House Project lives in a 140-square-foot house and has spawned a community looking to do the same, helped along with a list of resources on his Web site that lists designers and builders who can help build and outfit a smaller dwelling.”
- Public Radio, WSUI, “Live from Prairie Lights” 11 July 2008. After the Mobile Hermitage open house, Gregory Johnson was interviewed by Julie Englander of WSUI (Public Radio) at Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City. He read from his book Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned Living in 140 Square Feet. Photos are now available from the day’s events. [ MP3 Audio File ]
- New West Magazine, “The Big and Little of Western Building,” 20 May 2008. “Johnson lives in a two-story, 7-by-10-foot microhome, warmed by a boat heater in Iowa City, built to be a ‘rustic retreat’ allowing him to basically be on vacation every day.” [more]
- Redfin San Francisco Sweet Digs, “Small is Better,” 23 April 2008. “I realize that the trend toward larger homes overtook the population in the last decade. This is evidenced all around my neighborhood, where small cottages once resided now stand concrete and stucco behemoths.” [more]
- The Hawk Lounge, 12 March 2008. “The size of a single-person room in Burge Hall (dorm) is approximately 172 square feet. For a lot of people that’s just too small and it would make for a very crowded and uncomfortable living experience.” [more]
- Shedworking, 12 December 2007. “Membership is absurdly cheap (the price of a cup of coffee) and there are plenty of links from the site worth following. Well worth a browse.” [more]
- Eric-Amy.blogspot.com, 30 November 2007, Who is the Modern Day Thoreau?. “Everyone who has taken American Literature in High School knows about David Henry Thoreau. Thoreau did the unthinkable and tucked himself into a 150 sq. foot cabin on Walden Pond in the 1840s and ever since has been the poster boy for simple and efficient living. Who do you think is the modern day Thoreau?” [more]
- Gather.com, 13 November 2007. “Gregory Paul Johnson, President of the Small House Society, lives in a 140-square-foot house in Iowa City (see photos top and watch video). Gregory actively promotes R&D into affordable and ecologically-responsible small houses.” [more]
- Arquitetura & Construção October 2007, page 22. The Mobile Hermitage was featured in this Brazilian architectural journal. (20071030tu1729)
- Shedworking, 18 October 2007. “…the Mobile Hermitage, a freestanding movable miniature house that operates entirely from battery power, owned by Gregory Johnson (no relation) who uses it as the HQ for Resources for Life.” [more]
- Xinmin Weekly, China. Gregory Johnson was featured in the September 3 edition of Xinmin Weekly of China. (20070913th1458)
- AARP Bulletin, August 2007. Gregory was interviewed for an article about smaller simpler living in the AARP Bulletin. (20070824fr)
- AOL – Mini Size Me: Top ‘Tiny’ Trends. The main AOL.com website featured a story on tiny trends featuring the Small House Society as the third of 13 national trends toward smallness. A link was provided to Gregory’s website and the site received over 50,000 visits that evening. (20070801we2109)
- Daily Iowan, 18 June 2007. “Tiny Footprints” (page 5A) is an article about the small house movement that explores the phenomenon of authors writing about smaller and simpler living. Gregory Johnson and the Small House Society are mentioned. (20070618mo1139)
- Business Shrink, 10 June 2007. Gregory Johnson was interviewed by Peter Morris, the Business Shrink, on his popular radio talk show. (20070610su1718)
- Iowa Alumni Review, June 2007. This is an article about Gregory Johnson, Small House Society Facilitator. (20070607th1213)
- Shanghai Morning Post, 13 May 2007. Gregory was featured in the Shanghai Morning Post which reaches a readership of 500,000 people in China. See photo from article below. (20070528mo1853)
- Reader’s Digest Best of America – Top 100. Gregory was interviewed by Reader’s Digest for their best 100 initiatives in America article. May 2007 issue, page 143. (20070429su1726)
- Wired Magazine. Tiny homes meet high tech with the Micro Compact Home. The Small House Society is mentioned in this 24 April 2007 article with a quote by SHS facilitator Gregory Johnson. (20070427fr1017)
- The Christian Science Monitor. Gregory was interviewed for this thoughtfully written article that examines the history, beauty, and value of smaller homes. The article is available in the online and print versions for Friday, 20 April 2007. (20070420fr0952)
- The Chicago Tribune. Gregory was interviewed for an article in the Chicago Tribune on April 13 that featured the Small House Society in a writing about smaller home construction. (20070417tu0912)
- KWWL NBC Channel 7 Waterloo, Iowa. On March 29, 2007, KWWL briefly covered the Small House Society in an interview with Gregory Johnson. (20070425we1135)
- The Toronto Star. Referencing the Small House Society, the March 17, 2007 issue notes that as “… city planners, environmentalists and developers begin to question the sustainability of super-sized homes, there are a growing number of people asking if bigger really is better.” (20070502we2206)
- Great Lakes Radio Consortium – The Environment Report. This is a nice radio segment and article. (20070608fr1758)
- The Age – Australia. “Is bigger really better? The great house-size divide” by Alex May. (20070316fr)
- Sydney Morning Herald. “Is bigger really better? The great house-size divide” by Alex May. (20070315th)
- ABC News Australia, ByDesign with Alan Saunders, 10 March 2007. Jay Shafer and Gregory Johnson were joined by Matt Adams in an interview with Alan Saunders, the host of ByDesign. The show aired in Australia on Saturday at 9:00 am, 10 March 2007. “By Design is a program about how we shape our world – a vibrant show about people and the things that surround us. From the cities and buildings we live in to the cars we drive and clothes we wear, the program deals with architecture and material culture, the politics of the built environment and design – all through the prism of our daily lives. It explains how, through the creative process, human ideas take on tangible form and designers reinvent the world to keep pace with its changing needs and desires, lifting the quality of our lives. The program explores how design — the way things look, feel and function — reflects social change; what the decisions we make as consumers of architecture and everyday objects tell us about who we are.” [ MP3 Audio File ]
- American Profile Magazine ran a very nice feature story about small living that includes photos and quotes from Jay Shafer, Shay Salomon, and also Gregory Johnson of the Small House Society. (20070306tu2118)
- The New York Times. The Friday, February 16, 2007 edition of the New York Times features Jay Shafer, Gregory Johnson, and the Small House Society in a comprehensive story about the small house movement. (20070216fr1603)
- PBS Affiliate WQPT featured Gregory Johnson and the Small House Society. Click here to view the video now. Photos from the interview are available online. (20061106mo)
- Radish Magazine. The January 2007edition of Radish magazine featured a cover story artice on Gregory Johnson, Director of Resources for Life. The online version of the article has 84 additional photos for viewing or purchase that are of excellent quality. These high quality photos can be ordered as downloads, prints, or placed on a variety of products including coffee mugs, t-shirts, mouse pads, key chains, puzzles, ceramic tiles, hockey pucks, and more! (20070105fr2142)
- New York Times, Real Estate Section, “Living in the Round – Downsizing, Seriously” article page 2, 10 September 2006. “For most Americans, bigger means better when it comes to home size. But for a small number of people, the extreme opposite is true. They prefer to live in tiny dwellings that are to normal-sized houses what bonsai are to trees: miniaturized but not diminished. These super-downsized homes are eco-friendly, affordable and built with an extraordinary attention to detail.” [more]
- New York Times, Real Estate Section, “Downsizing, Seriously” by Hanna Bloch, 10 September 2006. “Gregory Paul Johnson, 42, has been living comfortably for the past three years in a 140-square-foot house on wheels in Iowa City that cost $15,000 to build.” [more]
- Voice of America, 30 August 2006
- Time Magazine, 21 August 2006 (pages 46-47)
- Better Homes and Gardens, August 2006 (page 72)
- Yahoo Weekend Finance, 23 June 2006
- Wall Street Journal, Real Estate Journal, 14 June 2006 (Print Friendly Version)
- Associated Press, The Quad City Times, 5 June 2006 (Print Friendly Version)
- San Diego Union Tribune, 21 May 2006. (Print Friendly Version)
- National Public Radio, All Things Considered, 15 May 2006
- Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Gazette, Front Page Story, 28 April 2006
- Kansas City Star, 23 April 2006 (PDF, reprint of Columbia News Service Story)
- Miami Contra Costa Times, 16 April 2006 (reprint of Columbia News Service Story)
- EcoReality Blog, 6 April 2006 (reprint of Columbia News Service Story)
- New York Times, Real Estate Walk Through Section, 4 April 2006
- Chicago Tribune, 31 March 2006 (PDF, reprint of Columbia News Service Story)
- Columbia News Service, 14 March 2006
- CBS affiliate KCCI Channel 8 in Des Moines Iowa featured a story about Small House Society Coordinator, Gregory Johnson and his home The Mobile Hermitage.
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