Air Drinking

[Songtsan]

No not actually drinking air, but drinking liquids at home. I was contemplating how much energy/time we waste washing cups and how if everyone practiced 'air drinking' (let me know if you have a better name for it), how much time/energy would be saved. You know, when you tilt the bottle and let the liquid fall into your mouth, without touching the bottle/container...just trying to do the math: if the average person uses 2 cups/glasses per day, that is 14 objects to wash per week. I cannot accurately determine exactly how many gallons of water this will save, or much time would be saved, but I will make a conservative estimate at 3 gallons of water per week per person and 5 minutes time. Multiply that by 6 billion people (I'm not including the youngsters as they may not have the skill to do it), and that is 18 billion gallons of water a week saved, and 30 billion minutes per week saved. I haven't researched the energy cost per gallon, but y'all know that this could be significant! Whose with me!? Air-drinkers of the world unite!

[Vanir Thunder Dojo Tan]

"stealthing" is when you consume something from the bottle without ever touching the bottle to your lips or saliva.


Stealth drinking.

[Songtsan]

I was looking at it like this: when you drink water from a glass, you are 'drinking from a glass,' so if water is falling from the sky, it might be Sky Drinking?

[Songtsan]

I want to tie this idea in with a rain water collection system I am envisioning...water falls on your roof, which flows into your gutters, which gets filtered, reverse-osmosis filtered, ozonated to kill bacteria, and then stored underground. In the kitchen, you have a 'water spout pole' which is basically a multilevel drinking fountain for people of various heights. I will describe it in more detail in the inventions thread in WWW...

[SaiyaMan]

When I was younger, it was called "skying"

[Songtsan]

Nice.

[Nungali]

Errmmm ... I just have glass by the tap on the window sill and use that. After a while when I am doing a load of washing up anyway, it goes in. I dont see how putting a  glass in with the rest (or not) saves anything. 

 

However, you might like this other thing I do; on my way out, I  often stop at the old wooden bridge, jump in the river, have my morning wash (no soap, rinse-gravel scrub - rinse ) and have a big drink while underwater.  

 

No rain,  roof, gutters, , reverse-osmosis filtered, ozonated (it already is ), underground storage,  kitchen or   'water spout pole' .

 

[dust]

What is "saving water"?

 

I've never understood some people's preoccupation with this. "Don't flush the toilet unless you take a dump -- we're trying to save water". "Pleas use water sparingly to save the environment."

 

We all understand the water cycle, right?

 

 

 

 

In some places, clean water is scarce, and I get that, but..in any number of 'developed' countries, water shouldn't be a problem...

[idiot_stimpy]

Breath life into your own being.

[Songtsan]

Its about the energy used to process and clean the water. It has a large carbon footprint. If you care at all about the Earth, pollution, etc you will contemplate this. Factor in the sheer numbers and you will see that we are needlessly raping the Earth for our own convenience and basically laziness. Attachments to form over function creates a big mess. I encourage everyone to focus on sustainability. You have to look at the big picture. What's happening in CA is a prime example. Treat the Earth as you would treat your own body. It makes me sad and I suffer because of how people just act like shit don't matter- 'let's just come here and have fun and who gives a damn if we destroy the playground with our games mentality'

[dust]

Fair enough. I was short-sighted and did not consider the CF from purification etc.

 

http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/water-and-carbon-footprint-household-food-and-drink-waste-uk-1

 

This might not apply elsewhere, but for me.. well, I don't drive, I recycle almost everything (metals, plastics, paper/card, glass, 'organics'), I use hot water sparingly, and apparently the CF from local tap water isn't that bad. So at this point I'm still not going to worry a great deal over my cold water use, I'm afraid.

[zanshin]

Kids call it waterfalling. I don't really wash my water glass that often. If it's just water and no one else drinks out of it shouldn't need much more than occasional quick rinse of the rim. I might reuse my coffee/tea cups a few times without fully washing them too. I did get a rainbarrel. Getting it hooked up this weekend.

[Songtsan]

This is another reason that I dry brush my teeth, using calcium/magnesium powder, which I swallow....the only thing I am lacking is the tooth whitening agents, which probably shouldnt be swallowed....so what if my teeth are a little yellower than others? I haven't had any cavities in years....its the media showing everyone with shiny teeth....I think the dental industry is corrupt really. My girlfriend hasnt seen a dentist in over 15 years, and has no cavities....The ADA can go to hell and the AMA too. We should take the good things they have discovered, and bury the rest of their manipulative ways in the trash heap where they belong......rant rant rant!

[Songtsan]

Let's say the average toilet flush uses 2 gallons (older toilets use from 3.5-7 gallons).....if 200,000,000 Americans practiced 'If its yellow, let it mellow, etc.' and the average person pees 4x/day in their toilets that would be 1.6 billion gallons of water saved a day....the sheer power of numbers of individuals and the effect on the environment is staggering....

 

still havent found exactly what it costs on average to process a gallon of water, energy wise....

[Songtsan]

And then, of course, there is the take less showers approach, which I practice (am I a hippie or what?)....it keeps your skin fro drying out, you absorb less chlorine, fluoride, etc. and you save water/energy costs....

 

I am going to have to start a sustainability thread at some point...

 

If you think about it, as Daoist practices are about conserving energy, not wasting it on the inside, and we all know that as without, so within; and as above, so below, then it simply makes sense to pursue this type of energy cultivation and conservation both internally and externally....this is what Lao Tzu would have said too!

Edited May 9, 2015 by Songtsan

[Nungali]

For me , crapping into a bowl that contains clean drinking water is soooo weird .    I mean, thats good water, and then where does it go ?

 

None of my solutions are for an urban environment , some can be scaled up.  

 

So far I have 2 barrels of  dry composted  ....   'toiletries'  soon I will be able to use it to fertilise a barren section of the garden. The trees and grass will then grow better there and boost everything from growth, insect and animal life and CO2 absorption.

 

A friend from the city admonished me for wasting water at my sink , I had to explain how it goes out to the garden and waters the plants, if I cut back on sink water, I would just have water those plants with a hose.

 

I suppose I could be more efficient  and not have a little tropical garden patch outside the front windows and only have a watered food garden ....  but man does not live by food garden alone   

[blue eyed snake]

So far I have 2 barrels of  dry composted  ....   'toiletries'  soon I will be able to use it to fertilise a barren section of the garden. The trees and grass will then grow better there and boost everything from growth, insect and animal life and CO2 absorption.

 

I would like to know how you compost 'toiletries'. As soon as i'm healthy enough and have my energy-level reasonable I'm gonna try to sell my house and move to a smaller house with a bigger garden in the north of my small country where it's less overpopulated.

 

And this is one of the things I would like to try.

 

I suppose I could be more efficient  and not have a little tropical garden patch outside the front windows and only have a watered food garden ....  but man does not live by food garden alone   

 

neither does woman

[Songtsan]

It is possible to live by food garden alone however, if done right...

[Nungali]

Sorry, I cant, I have to be tending something that I am not going to turn into food, its a thing I have about 'feral pets'  .

 

Feral pets are the best ever and I luv 'em !  ( My ex even busted me for treating her as a feral pet ... and wrote a song about it  )

 

Dry composting toilet.  I have seen a few and there are a lot of them pictured and designs shown  on-line. I have seen a few with big problems so I tried to eliminate all that and the expense. I already had an outhouse so I  set it up in that.

 

I have these wooden boxes with tight fitting lids, big enough to sit on, so I cut a hole in the top of one ( the size midway between the inner and outer size of the toilet seat) the seat is attached to the top of the box. Inside the box is a 20 litre plastic HD bucket, A plastic strip runs around the inside of the hole in the wooden box top, under the seat and goes down into the bucket (to prevent any spillage).  I use  sugar cane mulch as the dry agent ( any dried similar , many use sawdust ) . But some in the bottom of the bucket and on top after usage.

 

Before it gets too full I lift up the wooden box top that the seat is attached to and remove the bucket and empty it into the 'composter'.  Most designs sit you over the composter in the building; expensive, large, cumbersome and eventually it will be needed to be emptied, I have done that once before at a friends place - no thanks.  (I also have a friend that has one over a big plastic barrel, now its full, it is too heavy to move and the idiot the built the outhouse built it around the barrel   ).

 

For the actual composting part ( separating them into two components really cut back on issues, expense, tech ... it just means that about once a week you have to manually empty, but that is pretty easy.

 

The composter is a  large size plastic olive barrel ( I can get them locally pretty cheap,  ) After mucking around a bit I found this is the best minimal set up;  holes in the bottom for drainage, two holes near the bottom that fit a length of plastic drainage pipe with air holes drilled all along it. This sits across the bottom and through the holes for support, its sealed in and the ends are capped with fly wire..  Another one towards the top to let air out; one end with a sealed cap, the other end with an elbow and an upright going up a couple of metres  with fly cap and rain protection. Then the barrel lid screws on to the top.

 

So about once a week I empty the bucket into that and screw the lid back on the barrel, I have 3 of them, 1 is full, 1 half full and one empty. I started about 2 years ago , I am assuming by the time the 3rd is filling the 1st will be able to be emptied. After about a year, it looks and smells just like fresh dug earth (although some rare toxins can last 3 years (like tetanus ), so it  not used on food crops ( maybe fruit trees ? ? ?  , but I would go through a  plant cycle first, i.e. fertilise a crop with it, say nettle and comfrey and then harvest and use that in compost.

 

All up I would say it cost under $200. 

 

....

 

And just about any woman (or even a man) can make one   

[Nungali]

This is pretty cool, eco friendly , 'free energy' .

 

A water powered 'cliff railway' - just the thing to transport things up and down the high escarpment opposite my place, the best spot is next to a water fall. The water is taken in at the top of the falls, used to weight power the cable car down, while its weight pulls up a lighter car from the bottom. Then the water would be released into the stream, where it would end up any way, with no pollution to it.  Then that car is lighter and able to be lifted by the one filling at the top.

 

Love it ! 

 

 

 

 

http://www.cliffrailwaylynton.co.uk/how-it-works/

[zanshin]

Rain barrel is terrific. One storm and full. Garden is popping now too.

[Songtsan]

What are you growing that makes popping sounds?

[zanshin]

Snap peas.

 

It would be sweet if I had popcorn out there.

[Songtsan]

You should just buy a bag of popcorn at the store and pour it on your garden then! P.s. have you tried the Chuao chocolate bars with pop rocks in them?

Edited May 12, 2015 by Songtsan

[Nungali]

What are you growing that makes popping sounds?

 

Poppies of course.