Renewable Energy/Appropriate Technologies
Solar cooking! Solar water heaters! Passive solar house design! The dashboard of a car, in the sun, makes a great solar cooker. This is a more environmentally friendly use of the car than driving it! It's also a great place to dry foods and herbs, during the summer (not in the dashboard, just in the car, maybe in a paper bag or net). Cooking with a solar oven is a lot of fun and the food tastes better. You can make "top of the stove dishes", too. Supposedly you can make a simple solar oven with a cardboard box (see Appropopedia, below). Any search reveals a lot of designs. Commercially made ovens (or not) work in winter as well, as long as the wind is not blowing. You just need sun, and at least 3 hours head start. Solar water heaters could be on most houses. The water is so easy to heat this way. One friend leaves a black hose on the hill behind his house, and bathes in a bucket on sunny days. If you heat with wood, the rocket mass heater is something to think about: http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
Caution advised, however. Someone at the Eugene Permaculture Meetup said that a lot of Rocket Mass heater plans were incorrect and would not work. Update 9/7/18: He says there are currently no plans he can recommend, but is working on that. He suggests googling "10 principles of rocket mass heating". More recently, another friend installed one and it works fine. http://www.ErnieAndErica.info There is another rocket stove which is a cookstove, by the way, also efficient and. made from tin cans or large barrels, being introduced in 3rd world countries to save wood. For general information on how to: http://www.appropedia.org Lots of cool stuff here. There are "wikis" for just about everything, and there are several on appropriate technology, this being an excellent one. David Chu was in Ashland (Oregon) for some months and spoke about the real biofuel movement. Making ethanol with corn, which is now being added to our gas in many states (OR and CA, for sure) uses almost more energy than it produces. The law needs to change (see next website). Beets are better, so is garbage! Read Alcohol can be a Gas, by David Blume (try the u-tube videos if the book is too wordy). PROBLEMS WITH BIOFUELS http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6933 WHY TO AVOID PESTICIDES "These sprays, dusts, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes...Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life? -- Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring" MOST IMPORTANT, PASSIVE SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING, SUCH AS: Iranian Architect, Earth-Tube Houses: http://calearth.org/ |
AGRICULTURE
Organic farming went beyond manure some time ago...the exciting new stuff is mineralization, mushrooms, biochar and browsing animals on a controlled, minimal grazing schedule. Also, despite continued claims to the contrary in popular media, we can feed the world now: 10 reasons why organic can feed the world - The Ecologist And the UN agrees: http://www.srfood.org/en/report-agroecology-and-the-right-to-food Responsible Farming and Ranching: Instead of trying to convert everyone to vegetarianism, those who can not or will not give up meat could be persuaded to eat a lot less of it and make it grass fed and free range. "New ranchers" or "holistic ranchers" avoid overgrazing. Instead, they actually restore land that has been damaged (often by overgrazing), by carefully controlling the herds and moving them as soon as the impact is optimal. Not everyone agrees with these ranchers' claims. Particularly, some places are natural deserts, and cannot be ranched without problems. A distinction should be made. Also, we really don't have enough room to feed everyone who eats meat, with open grazing. The way forward will have to be to reduce meat consumption drastically, while insisting on humane conditions for our farm animals, including grass feeding. See The China Study, for an important collection of worldwide studies connecting the countries which eat the least meat with the least incidences of 5 major diseases such as diabetes. I went back to veganism most of the time after reading this, and my health has improved. Odd because it also seemed to improve when I started eating meat 7 years ago!! Food for thought for the paleo craze. "Dr. Rattan Lal, an esteemed soil scientist, ...said a mere 2% increase in the carbon content of the planet's soils could offset 100% of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere. Wow! But what did he mean? How could it be accomplished? What would it cost? Was it even possible? Yes, it is possible, as I discovered. Essential, in fact. The Soil Will Save Us, by Kristen Ohlsen @2014 is my newest discovery on this topic. I saw her speak last month near Portland, and she said the people who predict runaway climate change did not enter soil data in their models! Microorganisms are where we need to focus. RANCHING "Right now, the only possibility of large-scale removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere is through plant photosynthesis and related land-based carbon sequestration activities. " From Carbon Country: How Soil, Food, Animals and People Can Help Fight Climate Change and Create Hope from the Ground Up by Courtney White. Cows Save the Planet (and other improbable ways of restoring soil to heal the earth). @2013 by Judith D. Schwartz. Overgrazing hurts the soil, but controlled grazing (by herding or movable fencing) produces better soil health than next door areas where cows are fenced off. You don't need to be a meat eater to appreciate this. This and many other new ideas to save us from climate disaster. Also very readable. Revolution on the Range @2008 is also good reading about responsible ranching. and see http://www.quiviracoalition.org/, Here's the pioneer, Allan Savory:(Some of his ideas are outdated) http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html And note, from the TED blog dated June 4, 2018 by the TED staff: But some critics have challenged the hypothesis. For example, one recent report argues that any gains from greening after grazing are more than offset by methane emitted by the grazing animals. Liquid Gold It wouldn't hurt to figure out safe ways to reuse an abundant source of phosphorus: human pee. Fresh pee from healthy people is almost sterile, so it's safe to put around the yard, as long as you use different spots. Good for the soil, but of course not directly on leaves or food crops. http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/05/fertilizer-peak-phosphorus-shortage http://grist.org/living/ask-umbra-can-i-pee-in-my-compost-pile/ ...and also, The Humanure Handbook is a MUST READ!! Speaking of stinky stuff, fish farming can be done in an environmentally friendly way: http://www.fishfriendlyfarming.org The importance of mushroms to healthy soil: http://www.archive.org/details/MushroomsCanSaveTheWorld-PaulStamets Stamets' Home Page Also, Mycelium Running and other works by Paul Stamets. Paul Stamets is the leader in the field of mycology. Among other benefits, he has found mushrooms that can neutralize a number of hazardous wastes, and calls for more folks to join the research effort. The often overlooked issue of worldwide mineral depletion in soils and how to reverse it: http://remineralize.org/ FARMING INTERNSHIPS
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