Rain Water Barrels -- the Art of Collection

Rain barrels are becoming a popular commodity for backyard gardeners. They are an excellent way to reduce the cost of water usage for your lawn and garden. By collecting your rain water, you can save up to 40% of your total water use during the hot, summery months (1) or roughly 1300 gallons of water. Collecting rain from downspouts diverts stormwater away from sewer drains alleviating sewer overflows or localized flooding. It also prevents any unwanted discharges of pollutants in our water systems caused by stormwater runoff. A sustainable win-win.

From http://www.reducethejuice.ca/about-us/the-blue-barrel

Rain barrels come in all shapes and sizes. The most common rain barrels are large 55 gallon PVC drums which are on the more affordable end of the cost spectrum. Craigslist.com has a good amount of people trying to sell off these kinds for up to 25$ or so, depending on the city you live. These drums are great for people who love DIY and putting their personal touch on them. You can easily go online and look up ways to install spouts for cheap and as well design ideas to paint on them (a good video to watch). Then there is the more specialized stores that sell designer barrels that don't even look like barrels! These can cost anywhere from 60$ and up. In the end, a rain barrel is going to do what any rain barrel does which is to hold water. It is a matter of how much you are willing to pay for it.

Picture from Woodland Direct

Some things to keep in mind about rain barrels:
1. Open water allows insects, especially mosquitoes, to get in. Opt for some sort of mesh to cover openings.
2. There is a lack of research in the quality of rain water in a rain barrel. Therefore, the water should not be consumed by human or animal or be used to water your vegetable/fruit garden (2).
3. Water pressure is not going to be as high as what you would get directly out of your spout.
4. You might need a crash course on disconnecting your downspout. An example of one is here.
5. Check with your local municipality for rebates or discounts for rain barrels. For the city of Chicago, there is a rain barrel rebate program if you join the Sustainable Backyard Program: here
6. Make sure your rain barrel is secure at all times.


1. http://www.epa.gov/Region3/p2/what-is-rainbarrel.pdf
2. http://www.extension.umn.edu/environment/00023.pdf
3. http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/182095

Stormwater discharges - where do they go?

Combined sewer systems (CSS) are a remainder of the United State's early waste water infrastructure and are truly relics of the past. In older cities like Chicago, combined sewer systems removed both sewage and stormwater away from city streets. Unbeknownst to city officials then were the environmental or health advantages for creating a separated sewer system for stormwater and sewage. Instead a cheaper alternative was introduced in the form of a single pipe to collect and transport both stormwater and sewage to a waste water treatment facility. In the United States there are 772 communities that use CSS serving 40 million people (1).

Combined sewer system demagraphics in the US (1). 

What's terribly flawed about collecting both rain and sewage in the same pipe are combined sewage overflows during rainfall. A CSS plant is built dependent on the number of homes they have to accommodate, but it did not account for unpredictable climate. During dry times, sewage has no problem moving through the pipe and into the treatment plant. But during heavy rains, stormwater can quickly overwhelm the pipes causing combined sewer overflows (CSO). These overflows are a combination of raw sewage and rainwater that either spills over into rivers and lakes or creates basement backups. Both are a health hazard to humans and animals.

Combined sewer system and overflows (2).

Some municipalities with combined sewer systems are choosing to separate the two, which is no small feat. Many urban cities have realized the inevitability of combined sewer overflows and have opted to separate the two systems early in construction. These separate sewer systems are called MS4's or the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System. Stormwater is now collected in a separate pipe and discharged into a body of water, often untreated. Because of this, residents should be aware that dumping any substance down sewer drains should never be permitted, regardless of a 'No Dumping sign' or not. Also, check out my post on Silent oil spills which is how our motor oil pollutes our water ways.

No Dumping sign in Hoboken, NJ (3).

Curious to know if your city of residence in Illinois has a combined or a separate sewer system? Check out IEPA's website here. For all others, check your respective EPA website.

References:
1. http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/cso/demo.cfm?program_id=5. Accessed on 9/13/13
2. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/media/supp_pol03bc.html. Accessed on 9/13/13
3. http://theboken.com/hoboken/photo-of-the-day-sewer-signage-no-dumping/. Accessed on 9/13/13

Blog Re-post "Syria, Water, Climate Change, and Violent Conflict"

The issue of controlling water has been an issue that catalyzed many wars and conflicts, the earliest war being recorded at least 4500 years ago. In recent years, droughts have seriously affected the Middle Eastern areas that rely heavily on water for agriculture. I wanted to re-post this blog from Peter Gleick where he examines how water scarcity exasperated the already unstable political climate in Syria. Below I posted the first 3 paragraphs of the post and if it interests you please click here for the full blog.

[ There is a long history of conflicts over water – the Pacific Institute maintains an online, searchable chronology of such conflicts going back 5,000 years. There were dozens of new examples in 2012, in countries from Latin America to Africa to Asia.  (A full update for 2012 has been posted.) Access to water and the control of water systems have been causes of conflict, weapons have been used during conflicts, and water systems have been the targets of conflict.

One especially disturbing example of a major conflict, with complicated but direct connections to water, has developed over the past two years: the unraveling of Syria and the escalation of massive civil war there. Syria’s political dissolution is, like almost all conflicts, the result of complex and inter-related factors, in this case an especially repressive and unresponsive political regime, the erosion of the economic health of the country, and a wave of political reform sweeping over the entire Middle East and North Africa region. But in a detailed assessment, Femia and Werrell noted that factors related to drought, agricultural failure, water shortages, and water mismanagement have also played an important role in nurturing Syria’s “seeds of social unrest” and contributing to violence.

Water has always been a scarce resource in the region – one of the driest in the world. Syria receives, on average, less than 10 inches of rainfall annually. All of its major rivers (the Tigris, Euphrates, Orontes, and Yarmouk) are shared with neighboring countries. And Syria, like the region as a whole, experiences periodic droughts. Over the past century (from 1900 to 2005), there were six significant droughts in Syria, where the average monthly level of winter precipitation dropped to only one-third of normal. Five of these droughts lasted only one season; the sixth lasted two. Starting in 2006, however, and lasting into 2011, Syria experienced a multi-season extreme drought and agricultural failures, described by Mohtadi as the “worst long-term drought and most severe set of crop failures since agricultural civilizations began in the Fertile Crescent many millennia ago”. ]

*Peter Gleick is a co-founder of the Pacific Institute, an NGO addressing the connections between the environment and global sustainability.

Silent Oil Spills

Biosynthetic Technologies (@BiosyntheticOil) tweeted a video about silent oil spills last week that caught my attention. When it comes to oil spills, our minds are familiar with major crises that involve oil heavyweights like BP's Deepwater Horizon or Exxon's Valdez. These situations are ones where we point and play the blame game. We know who is responsible and we expect them to take ownership. That is why silent oil spills pertaining to motor oil struck a cord because everyone is at fault. A silent oil spill can occur from various mediums that use petroleum based oil. For example, driving vehicles that leak motor oil or by improperly disposing it will generate a 'silent' oil waste stream that enters our waterways, and eventually our ocean. Biosynthetic Technologies' video puts lubricating motor oil at the center of attention bringing awareness to how we are polluting the earth without even knowing it.

View the video by clicking here

But why is petroleum based motor oil so bad?

The main component in petroleum based motor oil is long saturated, carbon chains, in chemistry we call these alkanes or hydrocarbons. As an organic chemist, the carbon-carbon single bond motif is fundamental, but they are challenging to make or break. This is one of many reasons why petroleum based products (plastic bags, plastic anything) are robust and helpful, but also pollute the environment. Combusting hydrocarbons is how we normally grab energy for their bonds. Their complete decomposition leads to basic building blocks of CO2 (a GHG that contributes to global warming), H2O and energy. 

A 'greener' alternative is using motor oil made from renewable resources. Plant based oils have a better capacity of degrading in the environment because nature has already trained microbes to readily digest them. Even though oil is plant based, oil is oil and combusting it is going to lead to CO2, H2O, and energy. On the upside, since plants take up CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow, when we use them for energy we are essentially re-releasing or recycling CO2.

Where can you purchase renewable, biodegradable motor oil?  

• Green Earth Technology has a biobased line called G-oil. Click here to find their products near you. 
• There is also BioSyn-Xtra made by Renewable Lubricants. They have several products available here. 
• And lastly Lubrigreen, Biosynthetic Technologies' brand is not available in stores yet, but they can be contacted for a sample of their oil here.

References: 

1.Understanding Biobased/Biodegradable and the Industry’s Standardized Tests and Definitions. Renewable Lubricants Inc. link

2. Energy of Combustion, Charles E. Ophardt, 2003, Virtual Chembook. Elmhurst College. link

3. Bio-based oils, Good for equipment and the environment by the Seattle Public Utilities. link

4. Aluyor, et al. Scientific Research and Essay Vol.4 (6), pp. 543-548, June, 2009. link

5. Biosynthetic Technologies, Environmental and Social Benefits. link

Flower Power! Chicago Flower and Garden Show

Last Saturday was the beginning of the 9 day Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. My husband and I went to check it out this past Sunday.  I was absolutely stunned at all of the beautiful flowers! I love flowers. I love them all so much that I can't say that I have a favorite one. Here are some pictures that I took of the place. 

This is the at the entrance. The featured artists here are Emmy Star Brown and Jeffery Breslow. 

The Art of Floral was one of my favorite exhibits. At this exhibit artists took a picture or a classic piece of art and using it as inspiration they made these floral arrangements.

Around the corner was an exhibit called Footwear: Women's Stories, another good one.  All of the items in this collection were of shoes and were made by the Women's Journeys in Fiber. At each shoe was the artist's reasoning behind their piece of work. This one below was made of autumn leaves. 

Then we stumbled across over 50 varieties of tulips in this exhibit called Canvas of Tulips. They smelled so sweet and were absolutely beautiful. According to the program, this exhibit was made up of more than 7000 tulips and were hand planted!! Amazing!

The next few pictures are from vendors, mainly from Marinaro's. They had these gorgeous centerpieces and floral arrangements and sold the most beautiful roses!! I bought a dozen yellow roses from them. 

I die! Look at these colors!

I purchased a batch of these hydrangeas, except mine were blue. The worker told me to water these every other day and to flip the plant around after watering to drain any excess water. Also, it would be a good idea to repot the plant after the flowers have fallen out and only the foliage is left. When repotting, you'd only want to put the flowers in a pot that is about an inch larger than the one it is in now - this prevents the plant from going into shock and dying. A few more pics from the vendors below.

        

A real buttercream cake!

Blue, pink and mustard colored roses

Here is another exhibit called Tablescapes: An Art-Full Table. The tables on display were designed by Chicago's top florists, retailers, designers, and clubs. They were so beautiful, maybe not the most functional table, but its art!

There were other garden exhibits which I didn't mention. There were ones where you could feed koi, others where you can hold insects like a tarantula or cockroach [no pics of these, couldn't get near them for fear I may actually die]. Great place to bring kids. But I have to say, next year I am going to sit in on the talks and demos that they offered. We were only able to sit in the tail end of one talk given by a gardener from the Peterson Garden Project. She discussed how to grow corn in a mound of soil with companion veggies such as squash and beans. I hope one day I'll be able to have a garden of my own!

Post Your Ad then Grab a Drink - The Billboard Water Fountain

The billboard water fountain is one of the coolest, most innovative things I've ever seen. Before I came across this article written by Matt Peckham, I had no idea that Lima, Peru is the second largest desert city in the world -- Cairo being first. It is also Peru's largest city and is a coastal desert situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. Lima sees only about half an inch of rain every year, but because it's so close to the ocean it's very humid averaging around 87% humidity all year round. 

Rapid city growth, polluted well water, and lack of rain has left the citizens of Lima without a clean, continuous source of potable water. That's when the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru (UTEC) decided they needed to recruit more engineering students to help them tackle this problem and many more like it. UTEC teamed up with advertising agency Mayo Draftfcb Lima to create this billboard. 

The billboard works by using generators powered by electricity to take in the air. The water in the humidity is condensed out and then pushed through a reverse osmosis system. Five generators fill up one tank which stores about 20 liters of water. 

The billboard fountain has brought the much needed exposure to the university, evident in the 28% increase in the number of applicants for 2013. And best of all, it produced thousands of liters of water for the city's 1.2 million citizens! Amazing, I love it!

This is the official UTEC/MayoDraftfcb video:
       


References:
1) Matt Peckham, http://techland.time.com/2013/03/05/finally-a-billboard-that-creates-drinkable-water-out-of-thin-air/
2) http://www.lima.climatemps.com/
3) http://www.limaeasy.com/lima-info/important-facts-and-figures-about-lima
4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=35yeVwigQcc

Connecting Chicago Community Gardeners Meetup

Front of CCGT building

Last Saturday I attended the Connecting Chicago Community Gardeners event at the Chicago Center for Green Technology. An awesome community resource by the way; they have events, tours, and a resource center for visitors. 

The CCCG event started with registration. Registered guests signed in the front area and received a folder with a packet of seeds, pamphlets, and an informational 'how-to' packet on starting a community garden (courtesy of Openlands). I got seeds for snow peas, green bell peppers, and cosmos flowers! :)

Panel Discussion

The first part of the program began with a panel discussion of 5 local gardening experts moderated by radio host Mike Nowak (more pics on the CCCG fb page). Some quick facts that I learned from the panel:

1) Soil tests: This is a must in the city. Lead from lead paint is a major contaminant and is extremely toxic. 

2) Lead tests for soil: Is expensive. A raised bed might be more economically feasible and less risky for exposure. 

3) Use mesh metal can keep the rodent problem at bay. Rats can be a problem in the garden and your compost bin. 

4) Gardening can help reduce violence!! Children get a sense of ownership and learn how to nurture something from a seedling to a plant. 

5) Selling food requires registration. For a community garden to sell food for profit it must follow the Urban Ag ordinance and register to be an urban farm. 

This was followed by a complimentary lunch for registered guests. Then an array of helpful workshops -- 4 to be exact. They all sounded interesting; the topics ranged from water conservation techniques, raising money to getting a community organized for a community garden. I decided on the 'Negotiating Space: The First Step in Growing a Garden'.  

Here is some info about negotiating space for a community garden in the City of CHICAGO, sorry need to emphasize this because the rules here won't apply anywhere else. 

Check list for a CPD garden

1) Gardening in a Chicago Public Park - THE LENGTHIEST PROCESS!

The Chicago Park District has very specific rules and has a 7 step process that you MUST adhere to. But if you are committed and interested, you can view the checklist to the right. If this checklist scares you like it did me, then click on this link to view EXISTING CPD community gardens. 

2) Gardening in a Vacant lots - Michael Hzric spoke about his involvement with developing the Maxwell St. Community Garden on Chicago Housing Association (CHA) land. 

*Side note here: CHA is not a part of the city of Chicago, thus the land they own is not owned by the city. 

Mr Hzric outlined a few points:

1) Mobilize your residents - figure out who is in charge

2) Get support from your community - explain the benefits and get them on board!

3) Get support from the Developers 

4) Contact the CHA Asset Management 

5) Get approval from the local officials: Alderman and District Commander Review

6) Design a layout of your garden 

7) Figure out the insurance and liability issues. 

Again, like the CPD, this is another lengthy process and can only be successful with community support. 

3) Gardening on Private Property - This is probably the easiest way to start a garden because most of the time you will only need to speak with the property owner and get consent. You might want to research getting liability insurance and maybe a written contract to help make sure you layout the boundaries. Note: Since it is on private property, you are at the mercy of the land owner. 

With that I'll leave you some links that I jotted down during the course of the event - Most of these pertain to the City of Chicago:

Green Corps  

Slumbusters Garden

Peterson Garden

CPD Kilbourn Garden program

Free Seeds - America the Beautiful

Hort Corner

Nutrition Program: Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children

NeighborSpace

Food Pantry: Ample Harvest and Chicago Food Bank

Gardening for Kids

Chicago Composting Website

Our Generous Garden - A gardening book from a child's perspective

Good Ag Practices: An event on April 21

Mulch supplier: Lake Street 

Chicago Permaculture - eco-design

Chicago Park District Advisory Council

Community Gardens Galore!

I love, love the concept of community gardens! You're outside, mingling with your fellow neighbors, working under the sun with sweat on your back. Its such a satisfying feeling of growing a wee little seedling into a delectable dinner salad. And it brings us back to our farming roots and to see how it was done back in the good ole’ days. 

Picture taken from here

As I was brainstorming today (ok, dreaming) about opening up my own community garden and I saw that there are over 600 Chicago area community gardens! I tell my husband this; he wonders aloud why he has never seen one. I think to myself that I haven’t either. And then after some research I learned why many of the Chicago area community gardens are outside of a large pocket in Chicago. Vacant land in this pocket is not cheap; most of it is being sold to future homeowners who want to build their own home. The land may be expensive, but a community garden there could be the most beneficial and reap the largest rewards. 

Are there any Chicago landowners in the Lincoln Park area willing to donate some land space for a community garden? Bueller? 

I’m so excited about community gardens that I rattled off a few things that are great about them:

1) They provide a sense of ownership and responsibility for the people that take care of them.

2) It is a wealth of knowledge. From agriculture/horticulture to biology and ecology! You can even throw in a little vermicomposting bin that will make the kiddies squeal with delight (or disgust).

3) Food! How could we forget this? When I was a grad student at UC Davis, I encountered community gardens everywhere. There were outreach programs where gardens could be planted in lower income areas lacking a regular supply of fresh fruits and vegetables and gardens planted at schools. I saw communal gardens in people’s backyards, even chickens!

4) Its organic! Or at least for the most part depending on how you treat your plants – but that’s just it! It is how YOU treat your plants and you know what you did to them. Keep in mind, there has been recent scrutiny about ‘organic’ produce testing positive for chemicals and pesticides. 

5) They make a great use of space. Voila! Vacant lot into an urban oasis! That’s not an eyesore, but an eyecatcher!

6) It makes you, and possibly even your kids, eat more veggies,. Eating raw veggies help ward of obesity, illnesses, and provides a ton of essential vitamins and minerals that you know your bag of veggie chips won’t give you. Even though they are baked.

These look so appetizing! Picture taken from here

To be honest, I have never been successful with planting anything that sprouted into something that I ate. Nor has any plant of mine ever survived more than a few months without withering away and dying in my hands. I’m pretty positive that if this was the 1850’s and I was living off my land, I would die from hunger. That is why this Saturday I will be joining other Chicago-based gardening enthusiast in a community gardening meeting and hopefully be able to connect with a garden in need of a gardening newbie like me. They have a wonderful Facebook page here.

Some gardening challenges that will be discussed at this meeting are:
1) Water conservation: How will we conserve water in an era of drought and increased water bills?

2) Where can we get mulch, compost and tools?

3) How can we attract young gardeners and keep new gardeners engaged?

4) How can we train the leaders of tomorrow?

5) Can we coordinate neighborhood garden tours so we can all see each other's gardens? 
6) Most importantly, how can we ensure a bounteous future for community gardening in Chicago?

Would love to hear any suggestions so I can contribute!

#StrikeWithMe - Matt Damon's Strike!!

I just saw this article on TreeHuggers about Matt Damon's boycott on using the bathroom...



Matt Damon, an advocate for fresh water and clean sanitation for all, is the co-founder for Water.org. If you're wondering why anyone would boycott using a toilet, check out my blog post Composting Toilets? for a little background information on Western toilets.

You can support his strike by signing up here! Go Matt Damon!

Desertification

When I think of desertification I imagine the dusty sand dunes in the Sahara or Gobi desert where sustaining human life is daily struggle. And I'm not that far off...

Picture reused from this link

Did you know that Egypt used to have fertile land caused by the annual flooding of the Nile around the time of the ancient Egyptians? But in recent years, Egypt's food production is affected by desertification.

Desertification is a serious degradation of land resulting from a damaged ecosystem that can no longer sustain human development. Land that is in arid areas are most vulnerable. Associated as a man-made problem, desertification has been interlinked to poverty and hunger, and can can cause social, ethnic, and political strife.

Excessive grazing of livestock, poor farming techniques, and deforestation deplete the land's natural vegetation covering causing the soil to erode, become too salty (salinity), and to lose its fertility. To exacerbate the issue even more is climactic changes such as erratic rainfall and long droughts. Excessive and intense wild fires burn natural vegetation and degrade the land. In addition, there is a loss of biodiversity as well as the loss of capacity to sequester carbon emissions.

It hits the inhabitants the hardest in developing nations where many depend on the land for basic survival. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization desertification affects more than 1.2 billion people in over 100 countries. Desertification also threatens over 4 billion hectares of land - roughly a third of the Earth's land surface!!

The increased demand in food caused by an expanding population makes this an even more pressing problem - there are more mouths to feed using less arable land, putting stress on the land and increasing poverty and hunger. Before you brush desertification as a problem associated with developing countries, don't forget about the Dust Bowl in America. It's considered the worst man-made ecological disaster occurring in the 1930's. [On a side note - PBS is broadcasting a special encore of the film The Dust Bowl by Ken Burns airing on April 23 and 30, 2013 - click HERE for more info and to watch their trailer!!]

Credits: Arthur Rothstein; The Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

Prevention has been shown to be the best method of handling desertification for land that is still salvageable. On the other hand, Restoration is the key for land that has already been damaged. Restoration is not as easy as planting a bunch of trees, according to Menz, Dixon, and Hobbs, it involves assisting the recovery of a damaged or destroyed ecosystem. The cost of restoration multiplies when you include the cost of purchasing seeds, water and irrigation systems for large areas of land.

The three researchers from Australia outline the to-do's and not to-do's for large scale eco-restoration in the latest Science article. They propose a four point plan that identifies troubled regions and to showcase the social and economic benefits of a restored ecosystem for political incentive. They call for more research, as well as collecting and disseminating knowledge. Without more research, restoration can threaten ecosystems when they are improperly planned for. The authors mention China's Great Green Wall a Chinese afforestation program where native ecosystems have been compromised by planting non-native tree species in areas that naturally have no forest.

Anyway - here is an awesome video that is very informational about desertification by GoodPlanet


Much of the information about desertification was taken from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Board, their assessment can be found here.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year folks! I can't believe how the years are just flying by now. The days are long but the years are short. Now that we've been settled in the city of Chicago for about 2 1/2 months I feel that I can return to my composting ways. My makeshift composter that I had made last year from a laundry hamper has been curing for the past few months in my in-law's backyard. As a novice composter, I didn't take into account of moving (again) or these cold wintry months where decomposition takes twice as long. The design of the compost was also poor because of its rectangular shape and open top, it was hard to stir the compost. I've just been browsing on the internet today and found a great blog called enviromom. Its written by two mom's who have taken on the challenge to greenify their lives and family. There was a short post and a video about the way their families compost, which was ingenious! One family uses the Earth Machine (which I am about to purchase) while the other family buries food scraps in their garden. I am loving their blog and their ideas! Here is their composting post.

Anyway, it's a new year and I wish everyone a happy and hopeful one! My new years resolution for this year is to 1) always have hope for the future and 2) work on building better and stronger relationships. What are yours?