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Archive for the ‘R4A’ Category

Climate Change + the midwest floods

Posted in food storage, R4A, tomorrow, tagged , , on June 20, 2008| Leave a Comment »

For the past few weeks we have experienced extremes in weather – tornadoes, torrential rains, hailstorms, and floods. Continually I think about the early scenes of massive weather from the movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” Yes, it was a hokey movie, but obviously, part of it stuck with me.

Today I received a news story via email:

“Part of the reason is that the people who write about global warming for most newspapers and TV are not the same people as those who tend to cover weather. In general, the media is covering this as all sort of unconnected events, just regular weather maybe gone a little wacky. But, in fact, the scientific community has predicted for more than two decades now that as we pour more heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the planet will heat up, and that would redistribute water. If you heat up the planet … you evaporate more water, and areas that are wetter will tend to see more intense rainfall and deluges and earlier snowmelts, and all that will lead to flooding. So what we’re seeing is exactly what scientists have been telling us would happen because of human emissions.”
Perry Beeman is an award-winning investigative reporter for The Des Moines Register, and former president of the Society of Environmental Journalists. From his flood-racked city of Des Moines, he told me: “Not even a few weeks before this all happened, we were in the middle of doing a climate-change series that’s going to run over the year. We had two-page graphic talking about the different things that would happen [in Iowa as a result of climate change] and pointing out … that you would expect more torrential rains. What has happened here is consistent with many scientists’ view of what global warming will mean in the Midwest.

Read the rest here: http://www.alternet.org/story/88739/

Yahoo news states that due to the flooding, “Estimates are that 5,000,000 acres of farmland across the Midwest have been ruined and will not produce a crop this year.”

Climate change is happening, and has been predicted, we are seeing larger storms. Remember that climate change changes weather patterns. Yes, places may still be cool or even cold, but weather patterns and storm strength are what is changing.

It may be too late for us to do a lot to reduce climate change from what it is now, but we need to do something to prevent it from getting much worse. This means taht we need to reduce our emissions. Join the Riot4Austerity to gain ideas how to reduce emissions.

It also means that we may not be able to rely on the great agricultural fields of the midwest, but will need to rely on ourselves for a portion of our food supply.

We need to become prepared for any turn of the weather. We need to become self-reliant and not wait for government assistance. We need to learn to work as a community.

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Reviving the Victory Garden

Posted in gardens, Peak Oil, R4A, tagged , on June 19, 2008| 4 Comments »

My past readers (from my old blog) may recall the Revive the Victory Garden campaign.

The idea started here: http://simplereduce.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/revive-the-victory-garden

and proceeded to this: http://simplereduce.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/victory-garden-update/

I did create a website to Revive the Victory garden. There are many reasons to revive the victory garden. Initally it was created in an effort to encourage people to reduce food miles as they pertain to climate change. Simply put, the further the food travels, the higher the emissions – which adds to our overall emissions. However, there are other reasons to create a victory garden – as oil increases, the transportation of food from farm to plate increases in price. In this instable economic period, we can all do more to reduce the amount of money we spend on food. When we grow some of our own food we are less reliant on the system which is highly dependent upon oil.

Another reason to add Victory Gardens has to do with food stability and security. Now that another “500-year” flood has swept through the midwest, we see a need to have our own food security. I traveled through flood ravaged areas a week ago and saw the damage to farmer’s fields. The fields which are used for our food (or fuel) supply were under inches of water. Isn’t it a good idea to have some of your own food available?

Anyway, about the Revive the Victory Garden campaign, I have recently been contacted by NPR’s Good Food program to be interviewed about Victory Gardens. The interview will take place after the 4th of July. I would love to collect pictures from reader’s victory gardens. If you have a food garden that you would like included on the Revive Victory Garden website, please email them to: info [at] revivevictorygarden [dot] org

There is also a forum on the site – dedicated to victory gardens. Please feel free to participate (it is currently very slow).

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Independence

Posted in changes, community, R4A, simple living, tomorrow on May 28, 2008| 5 Comments »

The year of the Riot is almost over. I have decided that although I didn’t quite hit 90% in all areas at all times (one month was great for local food, another for gasoline, and yet another for electricity, but not all combined at all times), I feel compelled to continue.

Why do I like the Riot 4 Austerity? I am learning to become independent.

Regardless if my attempts to lower my consumption is working on countering climate change or not, my investigation of lowering my consumption has taught me how to become independent of the current system.

I am learning how to do without gasoline for transportation – some of this means that I choose to plan my trips, some if it means carpooling, biking or walking. And sometimes it simply means choosing to stay put.
Finding alternate means to what we usually do help create independence. Yes, as gasoline becomes more expensive, I struggle with costs, but I realize that I have found some alternate means. I am not tied to my car as much as I once was.

I have learned how to do things without electricity. I have learned that I can wash my clothes by hand (and have practiced enough that if it is my only choice, then I will be fine). I can cook my food in a solar oven or on a wood cookstove.  We have become less dependet on TV for a form of entertainment. If we were without electricity for any long period of time there would still be a need to adjust and adapt, but I am a lot closer than I was a year ago.

We have learned to eat foods that come from closer to home, and eating more foods that are home grown, bulk, vegan, or raw. Again, it is practice and learning.

The Riot has encouraged me to become independent from the system that we currently depend upon. Now instead of finding things from a land far far away, I am learning to seek from local artisans, local growers, and local manufacturers. As oil becomes more expensive, these are all things that we need to learn ways to reduce our reliance on the system as it is and look for local communities.

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Slow Washing

Posted in changes, R4A, tips, tagged on May 24, 2008| 11 Comments »

Now that we are living without those items that we consider “time savers” or “modern conveniences”, we now have to slow down and find other ways to do things that we would normally do by machine. This includes washing clothes.

Not long ago, my children would throw their kids onto the laundry room floor and I would pick through it (going through pockets and separating into appropriate colors) and then throw those piles into the washing machine. I would then walk away until I heard the buzzer. Those clothes would then end up either on the line outside or (prior to my line drying conversion) would end up in the dryer. Yup – “time saving.”

Now that we are living without an electronic washing machine, we have to wash things by hand. Believe it or not, I now find it pleasant to wash by hand. Of course, we do have some modern tools to help us with our efforts, but it still does take physical effort.

Washing MachineA while ago we purchased something called a “Lehman’s Hand Washer.” (note: the cost has risen a lot since we purchased it). Since I was living in a modern household, I never got around to using it. We purchased it for our future “low impact” house. Now I have no choice but to use it.

Our first step is to find the dirty clothing and soak it overnight. I was amazed at how well that first step of soaking the clothes removed dirt from clothes.

We place laundry soap (I use earth friendly right now) and water into the washer. I then add clothes. I end up doing a few loads and reuse the water: whites, then underwear/pajamas, shirts, and then play clothes and jeans. Notice the order. Really – how clean do play clothes need to get? They will be dirty again as soon as the kids leave the house!

AgitationWe agitate the clothes for a few minutes (I tell our 8 year old to count to 300 as he agitates the pendulum). The agitation in the soapy water helps remove the soil. In this picture, the top is off so that you can see the clothes in the basin.

rinse tubAfter the clothing is washed, it is put into a tub to rinse. Rinsing may involve plunging the clothes through the water a little. Sometimes in means a trickle of clean water through a hose. Or sometimes we need to use the washboard and then rewash (not often).

wringerThe clothes are then put through the wringer to remove excess water. This is the one thing that I do not allow the children to do. Watch those fingers!

laundry lineThe final stage is to hang on the line to dry. (Of course we fold and put the clothes away after that, but of the wash/dry efforts, it is the last step).

Yes, it does take some time, but when I have all of the children involved, then they are occupied rather than making more messes for me to clean up after.

I am amazed – I had thought that the only way that things could be done appropriately was through modern technology. I think I was stuck in thinking that if something is done by hand, it is inferior to that same thing done by machine. The clothes are actually cleaner by this method of cleaning than they were when I was depending upon a machine. It makes me think of people in my mother’s generation who were taught to believe that manufactured things were better than natural ways to do things – like feeding babies. Many in my mother’s generation believed that to feed a baby, the baby should be fed bottle + formula rather than by breast. Now, of course, we know that breast is best, but formula is available for those who can’t or don’t want to. Similar to that, if the technology is available, it does not mean that it does things better – perhaps it saves time, but it does not mean that it is cleaner.

This experience is encouraging me to rethink the ways that I do things. I grew up with modern technologies – it does not mean that these technologies are the best remedy. Oh, and yes, my clothes are cleaner now than they were with a washing machine!

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