Very Interesting

Hello Possums. Yesterday the hub and I had a meeting with an energy consultant – a young guy with a Scandinavian accent, bushy blonde beard and longish hair, who kept saying “this is not very interesting” or “this is interesting to us” when he actually meant, relevant or useful or efficient (a complete overuse of the word ‘interesting’). But boy did he know his stuff! Not only did he help us plan our energy and hot water production (photo voltaic cells, solar heating) and our water storage system, but he also gave us invaluable advice on how to cut consumption and blend the sustainable features into the house design in the most logical way.Two innovative products that we hadn’t heard of before were the latest version of energy efficient down lights, and the Chilli Pepper. The name says it all (not). The Chilli Pepper is used to prevent loss of water when outlets are at a distance from the hot water service and there is lag before hot water reaches you, during which time you generally just let the tap run. It is a little box of about 25 by 7 by 7 cm, with flexi metal tubes attached to it and a button, and it shunts that cold water back into the system. Once the water reaches the desired temperature, it allows it to flow through the faucet or shower head or whatever. Pretty nifty, eh?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Melbourne vs Chicago.

Hello Possums. If you asked pretty much any Victorian child what the three R’s of sustainable living were, they would be able to tell you.Reduce the amount of waste you make. This includes sensible packaging choices. I like to shop at the fresh fruit and veg markets because things don’t come on foam trays and wrapped in plastic (also the food is generally fresher).Reuse stuff instead of buying something new to do the same job. My parent’s generation were excellent at this. They have the skills to repair virtually anything. The skill to sew was passed down to me, but not my sister. There are fewer and fewer people who can sew or who can just generally wield a tool these days.My father and his sister are still Magpies* as a result of this philosophy. My favorite cousin and I often discuss this trait of our parents’. We do believe that there are limits on the number of broken bits and pieces, plastic bags and ice cream containers that one person needs to save. My aunt hardly has room on her shelves for useful items, because of all the junk she refuses to throw out (that’s another story).I reuse glass jars when I make jam, and plastic containers for the kids’ painting fiascoes, ice cream containers for mixing bowls for play doh, and large glass jars for vases. I repair holes in the knees of my kids jeans by sewing on a patches, and other general clothing repairs. The hubby is handy in minor ways and can repair things made of wood or fibre glass. His dad is handier, has more tools, and can repairs things made of wood or metal. He fixed the handle of my griddle when I burnt the original handle and it eventually fell off, by turning another handle out of wood, encasing the end in metal and welding it on for me! … the father-in-law fixes quite a lot of stuff for us, and the inlaws give me their sewing jobs.It’s not much. We still tend to throw out the toaster when it nolonger works and buy a new one. Repair people won’t usually bother with toasters either, because the cost of labour to repair it would be more than what you’d pay to buy a new one. I can’t help thinking that there is something inherently wrong with the way economic discourses tend to dominate our thinking and our actions. Where are the sustainability discourses? The market price of a lump of metal, does not reflect its value! Nothing short of a societal rethink of values is needed here.Recycle. Now I’m proud to say that in Victoria, most councils provide excellent recycling services. Our household now has more to put in the recycling bin than in the rubbish bin. In our municipality, the rubbish bin provided by the council is half the size of the recycle bin to encourage just that. Our household also recycles food waste as compost. We have two compost bins on the go out the back and we also have chooks, who equate to the best recycling deal I can think of. I never stop marveling that they can turn grass, seeds and our scraps into beautiful, fresh eggs. (And they make great pets. I often hear myself saying hello girls as I arrive home and they run across the yard clucking to greet me – pic of Sally cuddling Chickpea).If any of you are from Australia, you could probably add a thing or two about how the whole country is applying the reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy to water. Some of my friends and neighbours are becoming very inventive with their grey water reuse. Over summer it was common practice for people to shower with buckets on the floor to catch the water, then empty the buckets onto their garden afterwards. There are water saving devices readily available and most people I know have reduced-flow shower heads. Also, research is being done in urban design that includes trial suburbs with the infrastructure to treat and recycle water locally.But, in Chicago recently, I was surprised at the waste generated in the city. Every cafe served us on disposable plates and provided disposable cutlery. Everyone carried around disposable cups, meal sizes in restaurants were twice the size they needed to be – there was so much waste! In contrast, at the San Fransisco air port, I noticed posters up around the place about conserving resources and recycling. So Illinois, what’s your story? In this day and age, there is no excuse: Chicago, lift you game!*The Magpie is an Australian bird that tends to collect things, especially shiny things.

Collapse

Hello Possums. It was a hot day in Melbourne today. A hot north wind was blowing and on my ride home from uni I had to peddle against it.The wind has dropped now. I went outside about an hour ago to hang out another load of washing and all was still. Some thunder clouds were brewing and it was still warm. Unfortunately over the last couple of weeks the pattern has been for the clouds to dissipate and no rain has fallen. Tonight I figured that I would do my bit for the drought and hang out my washing – that way it will rain tonight! (Murphy’s Law, Possums).We are desperately waiting for some rain. In Melbourne we’re in the middle of stage 4 water restrictions.There are rumors that a cold stream of water has been detected in South America and that this heralds the end of El Nino. For those of you not from Australia, El Nino is part of our weather pattern. Instead of getting predictable rain every year like the changes of the seasons, our weather is governed by the El Nino/La Nina pattern. The hot, dry conditions of El Nino can last for years. The end of El Nino would mean rain for Australia.Providing enough water for our cities is not just a geographical problem, but also a political one. In Queensland the Government wants to build new dams. There have been heated protests about which towns should or should not be flooded. I found the arguments against the new dam compelling. Apart from people losing their homes, there seemed to be no evidence to suggest that there would be enough rainfall to fill the dam if built anyway.This is just the tip of the iceberg, Possums. Building more dams won’t save us. Other suggestions to conserve our drinking water supplies have included industry using grey water (for cooling towers in power plants, for example) and rethinking our use of water for hydroelectricity. I have read Collapse, by Jarred Diamond, and am worried that we need to change our practices much much sooner than later. These concerns are not just for our plight during this drought, but also around the world as we face global warming.It is still very hot outside. Hard for the children to get to sleep in this weather. I usually read to them before they go to bed. Tonight we all lay on my bed and finished ‘Rohan of Rin’. Lying down was my idea because I was exhausted after my ride in the heat. It was a great ending to the book. Rohan became the hero of his town and it brought tears to my eyes. The kids now expect me to misty up at these bits. They look across when my voice wavers because they love to tease me about it:Mum, are you crying? laughterNo, of course not, its only a book!Oh yeah, sure! I can tell. You’re crying!Am not! cheeky grinWe read the entire Deltora Quest series prior to Rohan of Rin, all whilst waiting for Harry Potter 7! The wait is driving us crazy! For those of you who are not into Harry Potter, you won’t know that Voldemort is back! Dumbledore is dead!! And it’s not looking good for Harry… Will it mean the end of the Wizarding World as we know it?