Earlier this week, Thai authorities raided a monastery known internationally for its tiger residents, AFP reports. Instead of being the sanctuary, the Tiger Temple turns out to be a nest of abuse and wildlife abuse, authorities allege.

Nearly 1,000 officers participating in the raid over the last week have already seized dozens of the 137 tigers residing at the temple. Police also discovered the remains of at least 40 cubs in the monastery’s freezers. What the remains are stored for is anyone’s guess, but animal rights groups have accused the temple of turning a blind eye to trafficking the parts for use in Chinese medicine.

In their defense, the monks claim that the allegations are unfounded, and the discovery of the deceased cubs is simply a misunderstanding of temple practices when a cub is stillborn or dies shortly after birth.

Whatever lies ahead for the animals at the Tiger Temple, the future looks bleak for many wild animals, not just because of the inhumane treatment they receive from their caretakers, but the market that places a premium on them not as living creatures but as commodities. Traditional medicine and other consumer products not only China but across Asia put tigers and other species at risk of extinction due to poaching, as the demand for these products can devastate wild animal populations. In this list, we examine some of the animals most in danger.

RELATED: White Bengal Tiger Cubs Make Their Debut: Photos

Sharks

Sharks are caught, dismembered and then tossed back into the ocean to die, either as a result of suffocation or blood loss. Prices for shark fins can reach as high as $500 per pound ($1,100 per kilogram), but the shark’s body isn’t as valuable to fishermen, which is why the rest of the animal is discarded rather than taking up cargo space.

China’s appetite for shark fin soup, often served at weddings and other special occasions, has led dozens of species to become endangered or vulnerable to extinction. Around 100 million sharks are killed globally each year, and some populations have dropped between 60 and 70 percent due to shark fishing, according to the Smithsonian Institution .

Thanks to the efforts of conservation groups, and in particular basketball star Yao Ming, China has over the last decade or so lost its taste for shark fin soup. Yao simply explained what shark finning really is, as the Christian Science Monitor reports .

In 2006 survey data showed that 75 percent of the Chinese public didn’t realize shark fin soup came from shark fins. An additional 19 percent thought the fins grew back. But in 2013, 91 percent of Chinese citizens surveyed said they would support a shark fin ban.

RELATED: Great White Rescued With Shark CPR

Asian Elephants

In Chinese, elephant ivory translates more accurately to “elephant tooth,” which may explain why a survey undertaken by the International Fund for Animal Welfare found that nearly 70 percent of Chinese respondents did not realize that ivory came from dead elephants.

Asian elephants are the largest terrestrial mammals on the continent, weighing up to 5.5 tons (5 metric tons) and growing up to 9.8 feet (3 meters) at the shoulder, according to the World Wildlife Fund . But even though they are individually large, as a population, Asian elephants are shrinking.

At the beginning of the 20th century, more than 100,000 Asian elephants roamed across most of the continent, but their numbers have been cut in half and are still in decline, largely due to poaching for their ivory and habitat destruction. Their range is now limited to a mere 15 percent of its original expanse, the WWF notes.

As elephant numbers have gone down, the ivory trade has boomed, at least that’s the takeaway based on the increase in total weight of ivory seizures. Hong Kong, a major hub of the ivory market, seized a record 8,041 kilograms (17,727 pounds). The city banned the import and export of ivory earlier this year , a move lauded by animal rights groups.

RELATED: War on Africa’s Elephants Exposed in New Documentary

Sea Turtles

Turtles appear in both Chinese medicine and cuisine, and the double duty is putting a strain on their numbers, as Public Radio International (PRI) reports . The reptiles are poached for their meat, used in turtle soup or other dishes; their shells appear in consumer products, ranging from guitar picks to handbags; even turtle bones have a use in Chinese medical treatments.

Sea turtles are an important part of marine ecology, helping to maintain coral reefs and grass beds, the WWF notes . In doing so, they help humans by supporting the area homes to commercially important animals such as shrimp, lobster and tuna.

RELATED: 184-Year-Old Tortoise Has His First Bath Ever

Chinese Alligator

With fewer than 120 individuals left in the wild, the Chinese alligator ( Alligator sinensis ) is the most endangered species in the crocodilian family, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society .

Beginning nearly 7,000 years, humans began encroaching on the alligators’ habitat, converting the land to rice fields. Habitat destruction, wetland contamination, poisoning, poaching and more hit the animals so drastically that the IUCN includes the alligator as critically endangered on its Red List.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the meat of these alligators is considered a cure for the common cold. Its organs are also sold for other alleged medicinal properties, such as preventing cancer.

RELATED: Alligator Kills Burglary Suspect Hiding in Florida Pond

Sun Bears

First designated as vulnerable on the IUCN’s Red List in 2007, the sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ) is the world’s smallest bear species and a native of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. In a matter of a couple of decades, wild populations of these bears have halved, thanks in large part to poaching.

The bears are farmed for their bile, believed to have medicinal properties, even though there’s no scientific basis to support its use in any sort of treatment. Instead of being killed, bear are farmed for their bile, caged up in constraining and downright painful conditions that can lead to infection or worse.

RELATED: Photo of Sickly Polar Bear Signals Tragedy Ahead in Arctic

Rhinos

Rhinoceros numbers crashed in the 20th century as the demand for their horns for use in traditional Chinese medicine contributed to their demise. All five species of rhinos have faced the threat of extinction. Two species, the Javan rhino and the Sumatran rhino, have numbers totaling less than 100 in the wild.

China banned the inclusion of rhino horn for products of medicinal use in the 1990s, and demand has been limited since at least in the People’s Republic. However, as The Atlantic reports , the reprieve given to rhino populations was short-lived.

In the mid-2000s, a rumor spread in Vietnam that ingesting rhino horn cured a politician’s cancer. Largely as a result of Vietnamese demand, rhinos are once again on the brink. Given that a kilogram sell for $100,000 (or $45,450 a pound), a single rhino horn adds up to about $300,000, a hefty price on the head of any animal.

RELATED: Record 1,300 Rhinos Poached in Africa in 2015

Vaquita

The vaquita, which translates to “little cow” in Spanish, is a marine mammal native to Mexico and the world’s smallest porpoise. The porpoise itself isn’t sought after by fishermen, but these animals frequently find their way into gillnets as bycatch. Less than a 100 of them are thought to exist in the wild, all because of China’s demand for the giant fish, the totoaba, The Guardian reports.

The fish bladder, whcih can sell anywhere from $2,500 to $9,400 have been dubbed “ aquatic cocaine “ due to both their price and the appetite for them. Given the price these animals fetch, it’s unlikely that the solution to the vaquita’s woes, permanently removing all gillnets from the porpoise’s territory, will catch on with fishermen.

RELATED: Vaquita Porpoise Nearly Extinct: Only 100 Left

Musk deer

Musk deer are on the decline across Asia, and all because of their musk. The scent gland, or “pod,” that gives the animal is used a range of traditional medicine to treat everything from heart problems to breathing issues, according to the WWF. The musk also appears in shampoos, perfumes, cosmetic, detergents and a variety of other products.

Even though the mush from the gland can be produced artificially, natural musk is still more valued by both manufacturers and consumers, meaning thousands of deer are dying over a simple matter of preference.

RELATED: Hunter or Hunted? Animal Eyes Reveal All: Photos

See more stories like this at seeker.com

How China Asia Fuel Poaching of Endangered Animals was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Sagittarius A* might just be one of the most fascinating regions of our galaxy. Scientists believe this is the location of a supermassive black hole, approximately 4 million times the mass of our sun. There is plenty of evidence that this black hole exists, yet naturally there are still some skeptics out there.

The main reason for the skepticism is that no astronomer has actually directly observed this black hole — nor any black hole for that matter — but that could change very soon.

RELATED: The Race to See Our Supermassive Black Hole

In this DNews documentary, we take a trip to the Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile. This desert is one of the driest places in the entire world, which makes it an ideal location to build the most powerful telescopes on the planet.

However, astronomers cannot easily observe a supermassive black hole with just one extremely large, powerful telescope, they actually need multiple large, powerful telescopes — four to be exact. The Atacama Desert is where The ‘Very Large Telescope’ (VLT) lives and is managed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is here that the happenings of Sagittarius A* can be observed through these four large optical telescopes.

RELATED: Event Horizon Telescope Will Probe Spacetime’s Mysteries

Scientists employ a technique called interferometry in order to utilize the power of these telescopes all together. Usually an optical telescope’s resolution is limited to the size of its internal mirror, but using interferometry with the VLT array makes the possibilities much greater. A powerful computer combines the light beams that come from each telescope creating a virtual mirror that can be as wide as the distance between them.

There’s also another telescope very near to the VLT known as the ALMA: Atacama Large Millimeter Array. This radio telescope has 66 antennas that can be used to study certain regions of space that the VLT cannot reach.

RELATED: Do Black Holes Even Exist?

What’s even more exciting is that in 2015, ALMA became part of a united network of radio telescopes around the world called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which are also connected using interferometry. So basically, the Event Horizon Telescope is a virtual radio telescope that is the size of the entire planet. It is the largest astronomical project to ever exist.

The goal is to use the EHT to observe ‘the event horizon’ of Sagittarius A’s supermassive black hole by next year. The event horizon is the boundary that depicts the limit of the black hole. Beyond that limit, nothing can escape.

This has never been done before and could serve to further prove that this black hole actually exists. However, the astronomers working on the project say that their main goal isn’t to prove the black hole’s existence, it’s to gain scientific knowledge about the nature of space and time. They want to further our collective knowledge about the universe we live in.

Learn more:

PBS: Are Black Holes Real?

BBC: Why the coldest place in the universe is so special

The New York Times: Black Hole Hunters

See more videos and stories like this at seeker.com

The Race To See The Black Hole At The Center Of Our Galaxy was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In a major biotechnology development, a high-profile group of scientists and policymakers this week announced plans to create entirely synthetic human genomes — the genetic “blueprints” for human life.

The announcement, published Thursday in the journal Science, officially launches The Human Genome Project-Write (HGP-write), a proposal to synthesize human genomes from scratch. HGP-write will build on the knowledge of the landmark Human Genome Project (officially HGP-read), which effectively mapped and sequenced the human genome for the first time.

RELATED: ‘Superhero DNA’: Natural Resistance to Serious Disease Found

The first steps of the HGP-write initiative, outlined in this week’s proposal, is to reduce the costs of engineering large genomes, including the human genome. The proposal also calls for an ethical framework for genome-scale engineering.

The project is expected to be enormously controversial. A fully engineered genome could make it possible to create made-to-order human beings with special genetic enhancements — and without parents. But according to the scientists behind the proposal, their aim is much more limited and practical.

By creating synthetic human genomes from scratch, scientists hope to spur rapid development of radical new medical applications, such as growing replacement human organs or engineering cancer resistance. The authors say HGP-write will also accelerate research and development for vaccines, materials, energy sources, disease vector control and nutrition.

RELATED: People With Most Diverse Ancient Human DNA Found

This week’s official proposal follows an invitation-only meeting held last month at Harvard University. That meeting drew criticism for being too secretive, but the team behind the HGP-write proposal now say they will seek public involvement to consider the project’s legal and ethical implications.

The goal is to launch the first phase of the 10-year-project by the end of 2016, with more than $100 million in support from public and private sources. If you’d like to consider throwing in a few bucks, you can review the full proposal at Science.

Scientists To Build Synthetic Human Genomes was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The European micro-nation of Liberland could become the site of the first ever algae-powered city. The 2.7 square mile country, located in the Danube River on a disputed piece of land between Serbia and Croatia, held a design competition to select plans for urban development, Inhabitat reported .

Liberland was founded in April 2015 by Czech politician Vít Jedlička, who is now the country’s sitting president. As a Libertarian, President Jedlička wanted to start a country where the government doesn’t interfere with things like freedom, prosperity and overall happiness. Thanks to harsh restrictions by the Croatian border police, Liberland doesn’t technically have any inhabitants (albeit a waiting list of hundreds of thousands) even a year after its conception, but that hasn’t stopped the president and his team from planning for the future.

WATCH: The Man Who Created a New Nation

RAW-NYC won the design challenge for Liberland with a proposal for a deep green mixed-use city, including building layers that stack vertically to accommodate population growth. This architecture technique, known as Inverted Archaeology, is somewhat revolutionary in that it results in very dense, compact, resilient, self-sufficient buildings. The key to the self-sufficiency is that algae will be grown on the underside of each building, providing a source of clean, sustainable energy.

The design is different from most traditional vertically stacked buildings like skyscrapers because the horizontal layers are stacked in a staggered format. Not only does this allow natural light to reach every level, but it also makes it easier to walk between levels so residents can see their neighbors on more than just the ground floor, hopefully encouraging a friendlier living environment.

WATCH: How Powerful is Liberland?

In addition to growing algae as a clean energy source, the RAW-NYC design includes integrated photovoltaic panels , a group of solar photovoltaic technologies that can replace certain building materials like windows or roof shingles. The buildings would also have green roofs and rainwater harvesting systems, and all waste would be recycled, including organic, agriculture, and even human waste, which would then be converted to biofuel.

The RAW-NYC team had a very specific goal in mind with their planning process: to create an environment that would allow Liberland citizens of any race, age, gender or ethnicity to have the opportunity to benefit from the financial gains of the project. For that reason, their team was comprised of collaborators from around the world.

“To bring people together from different backgrounds substantiated our ideas and enriched the design process,” RAW-NYC founder Raya Ani told Inhabitat.

RELATED: A Simple Guide to Starting Your Own Country

The winning design is currently being studied by President Jedlička and his team to see if it is actually a viable option for the country. The president told Inhabitat that the green technology and stackable building designs show that Liberland has the potential to become a habitable and self-sufficient country.

“We will further study upon the 1st place project to see if and how exactly it could be introduced in reality. When that’s possible, we want to launch a virtual 3D landscape with building models to help people choose a place to live or to invest in,” he said.

If the design is implemented, Liberland will be one of the first urban developments in the world to be completely zero-waste and genuinely sustainable.

Visit seeker.com for more stories like this.

Liberland Could Become First Country Powered by Algae was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Speaking with a convincing foreign accent represents an entire discipline for professional actors. But some people develop foreign accents involuntarily — and more or less spontaneously. It’s a real medical condition, and it has scientists baffled.

In this DNews video below, Lissette Padilla explores the mysterious phenomenon of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a speech disorder in which people begin involuntarily speaking their native tongue with specific accents or different dialects.

Around 140 cases of FAS have been documented worldwide. In one U.K. case, a mother of two — who has never left Britain — began speaking in an odd accent that’s now lasted for almost ten years. Some think the accent sounds French, others German, and still others hear Italian or Japanese.

RELATED: What is Foreign Accent Syndrome?

After multiple tests and observations, the woman was diagnosed with FAS. In her specific case, the speech disruption was caused by a certain kind of cerebral vasculitis, in which the portion of her brain responsible for speech was not receiving enough oxygen.

Similar brain conditions have been associated with FAS. Many people diagnosed with FAS also suffer from migraines, or developed the condition after having a stroke.

Others appear to exhibit the condition from birth. In the case of one Dutch teenager, his FAS presented as a strong French or Mediterranean accent. Tests later revealed that the subject’s brain was getting reduced blood flow to the expected regions, associated with speech. But the tests also revealed reduced blood flow to the right side of the cerebellum, the region linked to body movement.

These recent discoveries have generated more questions, but they’ve done much to dispel initial skepticism around the phenomenon. These people aren’t faking it. Foreign Accent Syndrome is a genuine speech disorder, just a very weird one.

Can Brain Damage Give You A Foreign Accent? was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Despite a coordinated campaign to convince us otherwise, there is no scientific debate on the issue of anthropogenic climate change. Global warming is real, it’s happening right now, and it’s already producing the first wave of climate refugees.

Photojournalist and multimedia producer Vlad Sokhin talks about his latest project, “Warm Waters.” which chronicles the lives of those on the front lines of climate change, in the video below.

Sokhin’s initial inquiries focus on island nations in the tropical Pacific region known as Oceania. Tuvalu, the fourth-smallest nation on Earth, consists of nine low-lying islands with 11,000 citizens living on just 26 square kilometers of real estate. Rising sea levels and increasingly severe storms have already had a severe impact on the tiny island nation.

“I have seen villages completely destroyed by strong winds and huge storm surges,” Sokhin says. “People have lost their lives and communities have been displaced from places where their families have lived for generations.”

RELATED: Why Nobody Cares About Climate Change

The situation in Tuvalu is so dire that around a fifth of the nation’s population has already left to seek refuge on larger islands. Sokhin considers these Tuvaluans to be the planet’s first genuine climate change refugees.

And he predicts there will be many more.

“The island nation of Kiribati, for example, is facing the threat of rising sea levels,” Sokhin says. “The government bought some land in Fiji recently where its residents will be relocated in the event sea levels rise to the point that it drowns this Pacific island nation.”

Sokhin adds that climate change refugees will face many of the same difficulties as traditional refugees.

“If they move to Fiji, Kiribati people will not have the same rights as Fijian citizens,” he says. “They won’t be able to vote, they will always be seen as immigrants, and they’re at high risk of losing their national identity.”

In the near future, the climate refugee crisis won’t be limited to small Pacific islands, either. Current sea level projections indicate that, within 100 years, more than 400 U.S. coastal cities will be facing the same problems as Tuvalu and Kiribati.

“Some climate scientists predict that by the end of the century places like Miami, Amsterdam, Hamburg or Lisbon could be affected by rising sea levels,” Sokhin says.

“If this becomes a reality, it won’t only impact these areas environmentally — but culturally and politically, as well. The struggle for resources, land, food and fresh water may cause local and global conflicts, It’s clear that it’s the greatest issue that we will be facing soon.”

Which Countries Already Have Climate Change Refugees? was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Kelly grew up in South Los Angeles where gang violence was a regular part of life. Her older sister was consistently involved in gangs and it forced Kelly to witness a lot of violence at a young age. Her parents decided to move the family to Mexico to keep their daughters away from the unwavering influence of gangs.

Kelly never felt quite at home in Mexico and begged her parents to go back to L.A. so she could continue her studies. She always knew she could get a better education in the U.S. Her parents finally agreed to let her return, but it wasn’t at all how she’d imagined it.

Back in L.A., Kelly stayed with relatives but they didn’t have the means to give her a stable home life. Her bed was a blanket in the corner of a room, and she wasn’t allowed to turn on the lights after dark, so she studied by flashlight every night.

RELATED: How Powerful Are America’s Street Gangs?

With the world seemingly against her, it might’ve been easy for Kelly to give up. She admits she was mad about the hand she was dealt, but somehow kept telling herself it would get better. “At first, I was just angry and upset that I had to go through that, and I thought, at that moment, ‘You’re going to be in college and it’s going to be better for you,” Kelly says.

Thankfully all that hard work has paid off. Not only is Kelly 2nd in her class, she is also the recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship, which means she will have her undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral education completely paid for. She’s currently deciding between attending U.C. Berkeley or Wesleyan in the fall.

Kelly is also very active in extracurricular activities like ROTC, leadership council and the prom committee. This year she was chosen to participate in TLC’s Say Yes to the Prom, a program that selects young women in need and gives them a very special prom night. They get to go shopping for the perfect dress and accessories, and their hair and makeup are done by professionals before the big event. The goal of Say Yes to the Prom is to help young women build the self-confidence they need to continue doing great things in the world.

Thinking about her future is what always inspired Kelly to keep going, even when she felt like giving up. Her parents, and especially her grandfather, always encouraged her to do well in school. Of her grandfather she says, “I just want to make him proud and show him that I made it, once I become someone.”

Watch the latest web documentary from Seeker to learn more about Kelly’s story:

From Gang Violence to Prestigious Scholar was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There’s a fight going on in the middle of the western U.S. that has the White House, the oil industry, the media, and the Armed Forces all very unhappy. And it revolves around a chicken…. the prairie chicken to be exact.

Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service labeled the prairie chicken a threatened species because their habitat is currently being destroyed by multiple sources. Land development, oil drilling, and the grazing of livestock are all taking the prairie chicken’s home away. There are only about 30,000 of them left in the entire country.

RELATED: Does Killing a Lion Make You a Man?

The fact that the chickens were labeled threatened isn’t quite as serious as if they had been labeled endangered, which angered conservation groups. They were convinced the land usage restrictions wouldn’t be enough. On the other side, energy corporations believed the restrictions were much too limiting. A coalition of energy companies decided to take the fight to court, but the prairie chicken champions fought back, initiating a lengthy legal battle.

In September of this year, after months of fighting in court, a judge actually overturned the prairie chicken’s ‘threatened’ status, which is sure to make the battles continue for much longer. But if you don’t have a vested interest in oil, the army, or conservation, why should you care about the prairie chicken? It’s definitely not the most interesting animal population that’s currently in decline, or even the cutest.

What it comes down to is that the prairie chicken is actually more of a symbol. America’s western frontier is full of wildlife — prairie dogs, foxes, sand dune lizards, burrowing owls — and they’re all being affected by the changes to their habitat. It’s a balanced ecosystem that’s on the receiving end of competing interests. It’s just one of many scenarios where money and power are fighting land conservation.

Read more about the prairie chicken:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife News Release

The Center of Biological Diversity

Why The U.S. And Big Oil Are Fighting Over A Chicken was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1,215 rhinos were poached for their horns in 2014. Rhino horn is often used in Asian countries in various homeopathic medications, and owning one is seen as a status symbol. But if the species continues to be hunted at this rate, it’s likely that rhinos will be completely extinct in 5–10 years.

RELATED: Rescuing Imprisoned Moon Bears in Vietnam

Matthew Markus and George Bonaci want to change that. They’ve started a bio-tech company in San Francisco called Pembient that can 3D print rhino horns. These 3D printed horns are exactly like real rhinoceros horns in their structure and chemical makeup, and they even have real rhino DNA inside them.

“In terms of physical properties, the density, the hardness, all of that, it’s identical,” says Bonaci. “It is spectrographically identical. If you took it to a lab and had them test it, it would come back as rhino horn. If we did a DNA test, it would come back as from a rhino.”

Rhino horns typically sell for about $60,000 per kilogram, making them more expensive than even the most costly illegal drugs, such as cocaine. For poor poachers in Africa, this often means that selling one rhino horn can feed their family for several years. Pembient plans to sell their lab printed horns to these poachers at a hugely discounted price so the poachers can then sell them to the black market. They still make money to feed their family but without killing off the rhino population.

George’s hope is that this technology will be able to completely save the species from extinction. In fact, he believe it just might be their only hope.

Watch more Seeker:

The Man Creating the Whole Foods of Weed

Read more about Pembient:

Discovery News: 3D Printed Synthetic Rhino Horns Could Save Rhinos

The Guardian: Can we save the rhino from poachers with a 3D printer?

Fighting Rhino Poaching With a 3D Printer was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When her marriage ended, it might have been easy for Kelley Lewis to sink into depression. Left with three small children to raise and her own business to run, she felt her options were limited. But rather than giving in to that hopelessness, Kelley decided to take control of life and build her dream home… Or more accurately, a very tiny version of her dream home in the form of a 192 square foot, off-grid home in the middle of the woods.

RELATED: Living Off Grid is Harder Than You Think

After doing some research, Kelley fell in love with the tiny home movement. She bought a 1.3 acre lot in the woods, on a lake near South Vienna, Ohio. She resourcefully used a tax refund to hire someone to build the post and beam frame, but she’s built nearly everything else in the house with her own two hands. Picking up tips from YouTube videos along the way, she’s installed insulation, a wood burning stove, and built a composting toilet in the bathroom all on her own. She also tries to be as green as possible in the process. Nearly everything she’s built has come from recycled materials.

Kelley wants the experience of building this tiny home with her kids to be just as important as enjoying the finished product together. She knows how common it is for most children to learn carpentry and building from their dad or another male figure, so she thinks it’s pretty unique that they get to learn it from their mom. Kelley also knows how easy it can be to always want more from life, and to constantly consume. It’s much harder to really appreciate what you already have and be okay with it.

That’s the biggest lesson she wants her kids to get from this adventure. Their tiny home has grown to represent so much more than just a house. It’s about figuring out what’s really important in life and putting all of your energy and concentration into it.

Check out more Seeker videos:

You Can Live Without Producing Trash

Read more about Kelley and her tiny, off-grid home:

Columbus Dispatch: Mother of Three Builds Tiny Dream Home for Her Family

Follow Kelley Lewis on Facebook

The Tiny Home Built By A Bad-Ass Single Mom was originally published in Seeker on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.