Ready To Be Real by Síle Seoige
Oct 3, 2026 · 9 min · 9 segments
In this short extract from my conversation with eco-builder and author Harrison Gardner, he talks about the systems we rely on every day, why convenience so often wins, and the value of having a…
Síle SeoigeHostHow do we build resilient homes that even when the infrastructure fails, when the grid fails, whether it's a storm, whether it's a heat wave, whether it's an oil shortage in the country, whatever it is that's affecting our home and the way that we service that home, how do we have backup systems that are in place that mean that those things are not stressful to us, that we're not suddenly running to the supermarket and pushing people out of the way to get jugs of water? And so this new book is called Heat, Shelter, Water, Food.
And it's really about having a much clearer understanding of how we provide our own basic human needs.
And it's not saying go off grid.
It's saying use the grid, enjoy the grid.
The grid is amazing.
And it's so good when it works.
And hopefully one day, hopefully every year it gets more and more reliable.
But until then...
the people most at risk when the grid fails is the individual homeowners and people when things stop working.
That's us, right? And when it goes really bad, like when we store in Stormy Owen, five days is bad.
There were people down in Clare who had 21 days with no water, no electricity, no internet.
We were having to go and find older people in their homes and check that they were okay, that they had everything that they needed.
And so when you asked earlier, like, what do we do when we're building these new houses and how do we do this? How do we set up for this? That's really what this new book is about.
It's about build the home that is for the future that Ireland's heading towards, but put in all the backup systems and all the ways to make sure that that home is going to serve you and your needs between now and then.
Yeah.
And my guest was saying, if you had me on the podcast 10 years ago and I was talking about the same thing, they'd be saying you're you're speaking to a conspiracy theorist.
Of course.
Yeah, of course.
How do we build resilient homes that even when the infrastructure fails, when the grid fails, whether it's a storm, whether it's a heat wave, whether it's an oil shortage in the country, whatever it is that's affecting our home and the way that we service that home, how do we have backup systems that are in place that mean that those things are not stressful to us, that we're not suddenly running to the supermarket and pushing people out of the way to get jugs of water? And so this new book is called Heat, Shelter, Water, Food.
And it's really about having a much clearer understanding of how we provide our own basic human needs.
And it's not saying go off grid.
It's saying use the grid, enjoy the grid.
The grid is amazing.
And it's so good when it works.
And hopefully one day, hopefully every year it gets more and more reliable.
But until then...
the people most at risk when the grid fails is the individual homeowners and people when things stop working.
That's us, right? And when it goes really bad, like when we store in Stormy Owen, five days is bad.
There were people down in Clare who had 21 days with no water, no electricity, no internet.
We were having to go and find older people in their homes and check that they were okay, that they had everything that they needed.
And so when you asked earlier, like, what do we do when we're building these new houses and how do we do this? How do we set up for this? That's really what this new book is about.
It's about build the home that is for the future that Ireland's heading towards, but put in all the backup systems and all the ways to make sure that that home is going to serve you and your needs between now and then.
Yeah.
And my guest was saying, if you had me on the podcast 10 years ago and I was talking about the same thing, they'd be saying you're you're speaking to a conspiracy theorist.
Of course.
Yeah, of course.
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