Blog Action Day: Local Veggie Boxes

As you may or may not know, today is Blog Action Day. (thanks earthchick!) The 15 of October is a day for bloggers to all write about a very important topic: our environment.

A fair chunk of posts on Exeterra are already about the environment, but it's time for another :)

This Saturday I went with some fellow members of the Green Society to Shillingford Organics, a local organic farm on 200-something acres. We had a great time getting a tour of their low-impact methods and trying our hands at farm work. We pulled dock, harvested more winter squash than I will eat in a hundred lifetimes, and planted garlic further than the eye can see. Here are some pictures:

Martyn shows us which yummy veggies to harvest.

We planted rows of garlic (one clove every six inches) on this strip of land, which was a few hundred metres long.

At the end, Martyn gave us as many free vegetables as we could carry. I have never seen people so ecstatic over carrots.

At the end of the day, I signed up for a weekly vegetable box. Shillingford delivers to a few hundred local households and restaurants, providing them with weekly vegetables that have been harvested no more than a day or two before arriving. You really have to taste this stuff to believe it -- there are lush flavours and sweet smells that I didn't know existed. The one bad thing I will say about their veg is that once you try it, you will never be able to eat supermarket vegetables again.

Although it is not as high-profile as automobiles, electricity use, or recycling, how our food is produced is just as environmentally important. With a local veggie box program -- or some other system of community supported agriculture -- you reach a win-win-win situation.

You win because you get the best vegetables ever delivered to you. Because there is no middle-man, the prices are comparable to supermarket prices. You actually know who grows your food, and have a connection with that person.

Your community wins because you are employing local small-scale farmers. You can also meet other like-minded people if you pick up your box from a neighbourhood delivery point. In some systems, the members spend a small portion of time working at the farm -- and believe it or not, this can be quite a lot of fun.

The environment wins because organic community supported agriculture can be very low-impact. Shillingford is within walking distance from my house, so not many food miles there. The vegetables are fertilized naturally through crop rotation (no petrochemicals in this food chain), pests are controlled biologically, and the harvest is gathered by hand. The farm supports us, but not at the expense of wildlife -- ponds, hedges, and woodland are integrated into the farm design to allow for co-existence rather than compartmentalization.

Most places in the US and UK have several organic vegetables box systems available -- try Googling it; you may be surprised at what you find. Most allow a trial veggie box so you can see if you like it -- so go ahead, give it a try! If you live in Exeter, I've already put a list together.

How To: Grow Soap Nut Trees

A few months ago I wrote a review about soap nuts. These are nut husks (Sapindus spp.) coated in saponin, a natural soap. The image to the right is a grove of young adult Sapindus marginatus though the related Sapindus mukorossi is most commonly used as a detergent substitute. You can use these to wash your laundry without other detergents. The best part is that they actually work really well. I use them myself, and anyone who knows me will till you I am renowned for my subtle yet pleasing odour.

One day I found a soap nut seed amidst the husks. These are supposed to be removed from the husks, but this one made it through. My immediate thought was I must grow my own soap nut tree, and so I began to search for information about how to grow them. I could not find much information available, and what is available is geared towards commercial farmers in Asia. After 3 months, I successfully germinated some soap nuts, and now have living soap nut trees in my garden. I'm no expert at this, but I do have experience in horticulture, so I thought I would share what I've learned with you, gentle reader. These directions are based on reading guidelines given to commercial soap nut tree growers, my experience in growing soap nut trees of my own, and my horticultural experience growing other plants.

1. First you must find a seed. These can be found with the husks occasionally, but you may have to look through quite a few husks to find one. I'm sure this varies from source to source, but by my estimate about 1 seed makes it through for every 50 to 100 husks. Because you use about 5 husks per load of laundry, this means you are likely to find one every 10 to 20 washes. The seed will be charcoal black, about the size of a small grape, and stone hard. If you find the seed after it has gone through the wash, it will still be perfectly good.
2. Secondly, you must scarify the seed. Because the seed coat is so hard, the plant embryo inside cannot breakthrough the seed coat on its own. You must help it by damaging the seed coat. (The evolutionary purpose of this is to stagger the germination span over a period of months or even years, as well as dispersing them geographically so that an entire generation of seedlings cannot be wiped out in one streak of bad luck.) Nature scarifies seeds through harsh weather and by animals eating and partially digesting them. We'll have to be a little creative. One option is to use a nail file and wear down a notch in the seed coat. I found the seed coat to be so tough that sand paper and fine-grained files did not leave a mark. Another option is to hammer the seed. Be careful not to crush the seed; we just want to weaken the seed coat. I gave about a dozen hard whacks to my seed against concrete, and felt like I was weakening it, but did not see any visible change. Thirdly, you may soak it in hot water. Don't use water that is actually boiling, but it can still be very hot. I boiled a kettle, let the hot water sit for five minutes, and then filled up a vacuum-insulated thermos with the seeds and water, and let it soak for 24 hours. The thermos will keep the water quite warm throughout that period. I used all three methods (filing, hammering, soaking) and it worked ok, but I'm sure there are other good methods too. Soaking is particularly important though, as the water is what activates the germination.
3. Thirdly, you need to plant the seed. I would do this in spring or early summer in a pot either outside or in a greenhouse. Choose a pot that is deep, as soap nut trees send down vertical tap roots. If you don't have a deep pot, a 2 litre plastic bottle works well - cut off the top and drill several holes in the bottom. Bury the seed in potting soil (not dirt - use good quality potting/germinating soil) to about three times the seed's depth. Put it in a place where it will not be in direct sun, and where it can catch some rainfall. Water the pot if the soil starts to dry, but don't water if it is still moist - that can promote fungal growth. Also, avoid fertilizing the soil before germination occurs - high levels of nitrogen in the soil can actually inhibit germination in general.
   

4. Fourth, wait. Your seed may take a long time to germinate. It could be 1 month to 3 months, perhaps even more. Not all of the seeds will germinate, but if you follow these directions, you should get 80%+ to grow. Once it does begin to grow, it will shoot up fast. About 1 foot in 1 month should be about right, then it will slow down a little. Give it plenty of full sunlight, and water when soil begins to dry. The image to the right is a Sapindus mukorossi (as far as I can tell) about 3 weeks after germination. It is ready to be repotted in a larger pot.
   
5. Fifth, taking care of the tree... My trees are still very young, so I cannot provide a lot of personal experience. I will be growing mine in progressively larger pots, keeping them on a sunny patio when temperatures are above freezing and moving them indoors when it gets cold. (They may be able to cope with British/American winters, but I need to find out about that - they are mainly grown in northern India and southern China, so they may or may not be able to sustain freezing temperatures, depending on their specific biome.) They appear to be generally quite hardy and should not need a high level of care. From what I can piece together, you should start getting decent crops of soap nuts in about 10 years, but I would not be surprised if you get some significantly earlier or later than this. The tree will start off with a smooth silvery bark, which will eventually become darker and rougher. Some of the largest Sapindus trees are 75 m in height, but that would be quite unlikely out of their natural environment.
   

I Won a Bike

This week, I won a new bike. It was the first prize in a contest held by Easy Green Exeter, an organization that tries to make green living a little bit easier for people in and around Exeter. The goal of the competition was to implement an idea to make your work or home more environmentally friendly. My idea was to put up signs with visual instructions on how to double print on the printers in my building. Basically, every printer is a different model, and has a different maze of menus to double print. So I took screen shots of as many as I had access to, printed them out with written directions, and attached the signs to the printers themselves. Our building goes through hundreds, maybe thousands of reams of paper every year, so this could be quite a lot of paper saved. Signs are up on the three main busiest printers so far, (the ones I have access to) and signs will be going up on the few remaining ancillary ones, as people with access to them send me screen shots of the menus.

It's often found in the conservation psychology research that no amount of persuasion or cajoling to conserve does as much good as simply removing simple physical barriers. Local governments that collect mixed recyclables will do better than those that spend on big persuasion campaigns yet require citizens to sort their recyclables. Even whether people are provided a free recycling box or asked to find one of their own has a huge effect on recycling rates. Likewise, simplifying a complicated printing menu can potentially save many more trees than expending greater efforts in persuasion and awareness raising but without demystifying how to actually navigate the menus.

I received the bike at a mini-awards-thingie on Thursday, presented by the head of recycling for Exeter Council. It will be very useful, as currently I am walking 5 miles a day to and from work (yeah, bus prices went up 57% in a year - the exercise is good though.) There should be a story about it in the next edition of the Exeter Citizen.

Here is a picture of me on my new bike:


Well, ok, but everything besides the picture is true.

Alternative Energy, Part 3: Acoustic Heat Engines

A new technology allows heat to be transferred into energy - by first turning it into sound. With current technology, heat uses convection currents to turn a turbine (like steam passing through a turbine). This heat must be fairly hot however.

With the new technology, ambient heat is captured in high-surface area objects, like glass wool. This resonates - like blowing over a bottle, or into a woodwind instrument - and this resonance forms a single sound wave and that in turn generates voltage.

Heat engines have been around for decades, but they have always been large and impractical. With new advancements, they are now only milimetres in size - and as energy efficient as diesel engines. They can be used in conventional engines and machinery to recapture waste heat, but more enticingly, they could be used to create a new generation of solar power. Current solar panels take a very long time to pay off the energy costs of their own creation. Improved, efficient solar panels could open up massive new sources of energy - and the technology is bound to only improve.


Article in Science Daily.

Article in New Scientist.

Alternative Energy, Part 2: Geothermal

Continuing in our Alternative Energy Series, we bring you Part 2, a look at recent developments in geothermal energy. If you remember, Part 1 focused on kite-like wind turbines that would stay suspended high up in the jet stream, where wind speeds are constant and very strong.

Ok, geothermal is an old idea, and is commonly used for heating in volcanic areas like Korea and Iceland. In those places though, the heat is very close to the surface, and is easy to tap. But really, no matter where you are in the earth, it is rarely more than about 2 to 5 miles down before it starts to get very hot. Previous limitations in technology made those 2 to 5 miles prohibitively expensive to drill into, but now, with technology advancing and costs dropping, it is not only possible, but profitable.

The idea is simple: Drill a hole into the earth that goes down a few miles. It’s very hot down there. Now put a lot of water down the hole. When the water comes back, it is very, very hot. The steam drives a turbine, which generates electricity. Once the steam has passed through the turbine and condensed, it can be sent back into the hole, all in a closed system. No fuel needed, no emissions are produced, the energy supply is constant, and the source is unlimited. Best of all, we have the technology to start building these things right now. Now that's pretty freaking awesome.

Really lame diagram made in Paint:


Interest has been renewed in geothermal energy since a recent MIT report that came out last autumn, and demonstrated that not only was geothermal energy possible in non-volcanic regions of the world, but most areas areas could support geothermal power plants that could become profitable within about 5 to 10 years of completion, at a cost as little as a few million dollars per bore hole. Keep in mind nuclear power plants typically cost billions, not millions. This isn't futurism; the technology is available right now.


New Scientist Summary

Interview with lead MIT researcher (podcast for 26 Jan)

Original MIT research study (very long)

Socially Responsible Design

The International Herald Tribune has a piece up on some of the best socially responsible design products. The basic idea is that most products are designed for the wealthiest 10% of the world, and the remaining 90% just struggles to survive. Yet their burden would be much lighter with some simple technological innovation, like electricity-free refrigeration, cheap water purifiers, and cylindrical 75 litre water jugs that can be pulled by a child. As August Pollak says, some of these are "such an obvious design that it's almost painful to consider how no one thought of it until now."

So I was reading through this list, thinking all these ideas were pretty cool when, completely unexpectedly, I found an item I personally helped build (page 13.) The Mad Housers are a group of socially minded engineers who build ultra-cheap houses for homeless people in Atlanta. Each house has a locking door, a loft for sleeping, and a wood/charcoal powered stove for heating and cooking. They cost no more than a few hundred dollars per house. The idea is that many homeless people could drag themselves out of poverty if given some stability and privacy - and indeed most of the people given one of these houses are not homeless for very long. Anyway, I got involved with them during college, and helped build a few houses with them. The house pictured in the article looks exactly like one of the ones I helped build (though it may be a similar different one.)

The Internet is a small world indeed.

Soap Nuts: a Review

Ocassionally, if I try a new and unusual product, particularly a green product, I'll post a review here. This will be the first... and it's about soap nuts.

Before you ask, no, soap nuts is not the name of a niche-market homoerotic magazine. Soap nuts are real nuts that grow on a tree (Sapindus mukorossi) from Asia. The husk of the nut contains soap in it, and can be used for laundry. They are gaining popularity here in England, and they are very popular in Germany right now, where more than 20,000 kg are sold every month. Recently, we (the Green Society) were giving them out free at our Green Fair, so I thought I would take a few home and try them.

The nuts came in bulk a big plastic bag. They had a slightly gummy texture and a mild, not unpleasant earthy smell. I took about five and put them in a smaller muslin-cloth pouch. I put the pouch in with my laundry in the washing machine, and did not use any detergent or anything else. For fragrance, I added a drop of lemongrass and sandalwood essential oil to the pouch. I considered cedar oil, but I was concerned that if I used cedar I would smell like a giant gerbil. I washed as normal - regular cycle with lukewarm water. It got quite sudsy in there, and definitely looked soapy. When I took my clothes out, I was surprised at how clean they were. They were definitely as clean as or cleaner than with ordinary detergent. They also smelled slightly of lemongrass/sandalwood, but the original mild earthy smell was gone. I can reuse the same soap nuts for three washes before composting them and putting new nuts in the pouch. Although I don't have senstive skin, I have heard they work very well for people who are sensitive to normal soap products. I was very pleased with the results, and will definitely be using them again!



Benefits:

• Cheap
• No chemicals
• Cleans very effectively
• Compostable - no waste
• Using different essential oils allows you to choose any fragrance.
  
• Supports producers in India and Nepal
• Makes you cooler than your friends

Disadvantages:

• Only available online and in certain shops
• People not familiar with using nuts as soap may think you are a bit funny.
• Don't taste nearly as nice as so-called "edible" nuts.
  

The cost is in the UK is about £5 for enough to do 25 washes, though they are probably cheaper in the US. Click here to have a look.

Alternative Energy Series, Part 1

At the core of any move towards environmental responsibility, human behaviour, specifically a change in human behaviour, is the central element. New, cleaner, greener technology will be very important, but it is always secondary to human choices and actions.

That said, new green technology is pretty cool stuff, and provides a lot of the "wow" factor that turning off lights lacks. It always gets me pretty motivated when I read about some new technology. So with that in mind, I will be sharing some new green tech ideas as I come across them.

Today's new green tech: airborne wind turbines

What are the two big complaints about wind turbines? As far as I hear, 1) the wind is variable , thus requiring other power to be on standby and 2) they take up a lot of space for what they produce.

These flying wind turbines solve both of those problems.

Basically, these work like kites with turbines attached to them. They maintain altitude about 5 miles up in the jetstream, where wind is constant and massively stronger than at ground level. An aluminium tether keeps them from blowing away and relays the electricity back to the ground, while the turbines provide lift. In the rare event that the wind putters out temporarily, the turbines can be run in reverse to keep the whole thing airborne until it gets windy again. It is estimated they could produce energy for about 2 cents per KWh. The current cost of coal power in the US? 4 cents per KWh. A working set of prototypes could be operational within the next few years. This is an artist's rendition of what they would look like:


Cool stuff.

Original story from The Economist

Happy Belated Earth Day

April 22 was Earth day. This video from Rocketboom sums it up nicely:



I'll post an update about Green Week later. It was a really good success, we had 12 organizations and 400+ people come to the Green Fair on Friday. We were really surprised at how successful it was. Hopefully we can organize another one for the autumn next year so we can catch the students at the beginning of the academic year, rather than the end.

Nice weather out...

Unfortunately that nice weather makes it the hottest April for England in recorded history. Worldwide, the Meteorological Office has predicted this will be the hottest year ever recorded.

Po-Tee-Weet

One of the things I brought back from Michigan was a bird-feeder. This one here on the right is a picture of it. I ended up picking one that was a bit pricier than I would normally go for, but it has a lifetime guarantee, and is made of metal and very durable plastic. Some of the cheap ones I looked at had the structural integrity of a Dixie cup. Anyway, it is now hanging outside full of sunflower seed. And it is no ordinary sunflower seed; it is seed I grew myself last year! Our rabbit Connie really enjoyed munching down on the empty flower head, too. I've yet to see many birds at the feeder yet, but it takes a few weeks for birds to be comfortable with a new feeder, and it has only been a few days.

I've also found three of these, near the back end of the house, broken on the concrete, slightly wet:

The broken egg shells looked like they had hatched successfully, as there was only the slightest residue around the egg shells, and no body. Based on where the shells fell, the nest must have been either on top of the boiler vent or on the roof. I had a look on the web, and found only one species that has that size and colour of egg that will nest on a house. It's this little fellow:

It's a house sparrow. When I saw the picture, I realized I had seen them in the garden many times before. It seems like a house sparrow would not be something to get all that excited about, but house sparrows are actually becoming pretty rare. Their numbers have plummeted in recent years, cut in half from what they were 25 years ago. No one is quite sure why they are going down, but it's nice to know the numbers have gone up, however slight, in my back yard.

Step It Up: Review

The Ann Arbor Step It Up 2007 rally was pretty impressive. In freezing weather and high winds, we had between 200 and 300 people show up in the University square. However, I should note that this rally was only one of about 15 within 30 miles from here. I'm not sure how well attended those were, but of course we would have been larger if it had been one rally and not 1,500 across the nation.

Speakers at our event included students, professors, engineers, the mayor, Michigan state congressmen, and our national Rep in congress, Rep. Dingell, author of the Clean Air Act (1990) and current Chairman of the US Energy and Commerce Committee. That makes him one of the most influential people on US energy policy, arguably more so than the President (and yeah, I know Dingell has been a slimeball on the environment before). The speeches were generally good, and the crowd enthusiastic.

There were also about a dozen tables from various local organizations. (They were even giving out free Clif Bars!) An event like this has a few purposes: the explicit one of lobbying congress for change, but also, and perhaps more importantly, to cultivate connections and networking between like-minded people. Social capital, in other words. And if you're familiar with Social Capital Theory, then you know SC is necessary for any prolonged social movement, and for it having any chance of affecting change.

This is a video of the event from Detroit Free Press. If you look closely, you can see both me and my brother.

Pictures to come soon (hopefully)...

Step It Up

Got any plans for Saturday, April 14?

If not, consider participating in a Step It Up rally, to tell Congress to take some serious action in cutting carbon emissions. I'll be attending the one in Ann Arbor, but there are events planned in 1347 cities and towns throughout the US. See their website for more info.

The US contains about 4% of the world's population, and produces about a quarter of the world's pollution. We've really lagged behind the rest of the world on what will soon become the most pertinent international issue of the century. It's really time to get our butts in gear on this.

I'll post a review and pictures after the event.

Progress

The Guardian now features a fully fledged Environment section, with subsections covering climate change, conservation, energy, travel, ethical living, food, and water. I've read several of the articles and they're very on-target - not preachy, but interesting and factual. Five years ago, it would be pretty unimaginable to see a big-name newspaper devote as much space to the state of the environment as they do to sports. Most of this information just wasn't even in the public consciousness five years ago. Now, there is sizeable demand for it, and growing fast. Have a look, there's a lot of great stuff there, and it is all freely available.