18 - End of unit Data and thoughts

This is the final post of the major assessment task. In this I will present my original data in comparison to the new data. The hope is that I have in some way reduced my family’s ecological footprint, consumption and waste production statistics. For references to referring to where the information comes from please refer to my first post as I will not be adding the websites in this post.

After the mass of tables I will preview what I have achieved and learnt throughout the unit including my own personal interests in sustainability education.

Ecological Footprint

	Beginning of unit	End of unit
Hectares	8	6.3
Planets	4.5	3.5
Breakdown:
Food	30%	26%
Shelter	28%	27%
Mobility	22%	25%
Goods	8%	6%
Services	12%	16%

 

Waste

• Waste Breakdown.

  	Beginning of Unit	End of unit
  Type of waste	Amount (approx volume) Litres
  Paper	1.5	0
  Plastic	8	10
  Metal	0	1
  Organic Food	2	2
  Other	0.5 (glass)	0

   

  Water Usage

  Where Used	Percentage of Daily Usage	Beginning of Unit Per Person Daily in Litres	End of Unit Per Person Daily in Litres
  Total Household	100%	798L a day. 199.5L a day per person	722L a day 180.5L per day per person
  Bathroom	40%	79.8 L	72.2 L
  Toilet	20%	39.9 L	36.1 L
  Kitchen	15%	29.9 L	27.1 L
  Garden	0%	00.0 L	00.0 L
  Laundry	25%	49.9 L	47.1 L

   

  Energy Consumption

  Energy Source	How Used	%	Beginning of Unit Per Person Daily	End of Unit Per Person Daily
  Gas	Total Household	100%	109.895 Mega Jules	123.875 Mega Jules
  Gas	Space Heating	80%	87.916 Mega Jules	99.1 Mega Jules
  Gas	Water Heating	15%	16.484 Mega Jules	18.58 Mega Jules
  Gas	Cooking	5%	5.495 Mega Jules	6.19 Mega Jules
  Electricity	Total Household	100%	6.12       Kilo Watt Hours	5.92    Kilo Watt Hours
  Electricity	Appliances	80%	4.896     Kilo Watt Hours	4.74    Kilo Watt Hours
  Electricity	Lighting	20%	1.224     Kilo Watt Hours	1.18    Kilo Watt Hours
  Petrol	Private Transport	100%	10- 15 L of unleaded	10- 15 L of unleaded
  Electric	Public Transport		1.72 Mega Jules	1.72 Mega Jules

   

  Reviewing the Data

  Ecological Footprint

  This data was really disappointing. My stats go all over the place, some u some down and in almost the opposite of what I believe they should. Even though my family didn’t put much effort in as a whole the base stats of global hectares and planets seem to work pretty well as a judge of progress. I think we have done ok all things considered…all things being the lack of major effort.

  Especially since my Father pointed out that the original bills were from before I moved back home. But I do doubt the EPA’s Ecological Footprint analysis; I think it is more of a way of demonstrating the need for change rather than a tool for comparison.

  It did the trick though, it had us all thinking.

   

  Waste

  Waste was never going to go down well but I was very surprised at the results. From some initially negative reactions my family decided it was wise to at least start separating the different waste types up rather than hoping someone would sort it all out later. We throw our compost to the dogs, as it happens most of what we throw out is healthy stuff for them it’s just a bit tougher at times, so long as it’s mixed with the meat they love it and it keeps us looking at the waste because no one wants to hurt the expensive pups.

  Other than that our waste hasn’t changed we still eat a lot of packaged food so there is a full load of random plastics every day. I am of the belief that if they do not make it simple to recycle plastics they cannot expect us to. I tried figuring it all out but it seemed useless.

   

  Water

  We saved a little bit of water everywhere. At times we even watered the garden with the grey water, but I don’t see that as worth putting on the table as any water we make up that way is a bonus to pay off our large water debt. We still shoot over 155 but it is closer. I am a little annoyed with myself that I didn’t think to use mulch to prevent waterless in the garden when I was trying to grow things. But at least I have adapted not, if slowly. So all in all I think that was a decent gain and not in a specific area so I’d reason that out to be more about us thinking about our water a little bit more possibly.

   

  Energy Consumption

  This one is rather dull. We didn’t really have any noticeable change at all. Gas went up a tad and electricity went down a tad. So I guess this report is rather mediocre.

  Transport as I said stayed still because no one changed their routine at all. I could of car pooled, but the train still would have been running so it makes no difference.

   

  Gardening and Visits

  I had an ace time playing around with a veggie patch which I plan on continuing with for the benefit of myself and the possible career. We still intend to go do a permaculture course but things like trips around Australia come first at the moment with holidays on their way.

  Visiting the places in regards to sustainability has been good fun and I have built a small knowledge of what I want to know; now I just have the problem of trying to get it all into my head. Which I assume will take considerable time.

  Just couple of points I thought were interesting or felt I had to write down and never squeezed them into the Blog, they are what I can remember I often forget long before the pen hits paper so to speak (but on the bright side I remember when it’s relevant to something else):

  ·         We often fill that lovely large green waste bin, but we fill it with stuff from our soil, therefore we are constantly throwing away little bit of the resource every time.

  ·         Mulch is a must next time and every time after until proven otherwise.

  ·         Organic farming (we attempted to) seems really hard to get going, there must be an easier way to start it and keep it going. (Clearly I am missing key information)

  ·         If so many chemicals are added what blooming affect do they have on my body?

  ·         Food seems extremely difficult to control without growing your own or as a community.

  ·         If I lack references on this Blogs it’s because I don’t want to read so much about this from random sources I want to learn hands on, see a Organic Jedi master and read their books first.

  ·         Craig and I have found that even though watching grass grow is rather bland for some reason keeping an eye on what we are growing is surprisingly addictive and entertaining, I would not of put money of that this time last year.

   

  There is likely plenty more to add to this but that’s all I had on my scrap paper for the moment.

   

  Assuming this is pretty much the last post I will be graded on GOOD DAY TO YOU!

  I will try and keep this blog running for the heck of it but I wouldn’t hold my breath about it either.

  Thanks for a good unit :p

   

  -AiDz Out!-

  
  

17 - New attempts, this time with MULCH!

After these last few weeks of trial and error in the garden we have smartened up a little. At least it feels like we have. We have decided to clear 2 small growing areas and try another sample sight, using the same ideas as which worked before and adding in the mulching concept which had eluded us. As a result we have two small plots with a range of seeds getting some very personal care from the two gardeners. We haven’t used beer for pests yet because we didn’t want to lure the snails to the new stuff with a free beer. I had the idea it may attract the pests as a high in energy food source. You can see on one area we have left some onion type plants in because we saw no sense in removing good growth we were not going to eat.

These are some photos of the new plots, fingers crossed our knowledge aides us.

16 - Stringybark Rowville

Craig, his Girlfriend and I went to the local Stringybark festival today.  Being a loyal Rowvillian I haven’t been to one that I can remember but Craig had work done with VIEL on show and the lovely and local Organic Grocer said he was having a stall this year because it was going to be a ‘sustainability’ fair this year.

As you can tell by the photographs it was fairly entertaining. Besides the people in suits there were some good informative stalls around such as the creeks and rivers stall (photographed), which showed how water pushed pollution from one area to another and small problems spread and made a large problem. It was really interesting because you could see the blue dyed water running down the roof of a home and into specific spots so that the guide could inform the visitors about the problem and solutions.

A managed to sign the petition for better public transport again, I wonder if in the long run it will be better for me not to waste the paper.

Most stalls were ultimate aiming at children and families so I was rather on the outer for some parts, especially the cool activities which I could only watch and take notes for future lessons.

Several stalls had some very trendy looking stuff made from rubbish such as wallets, plate and bags. I really liked the idea but all of the rubbish and goods came from Indonesia so I wonder whether it’s just trendy or actually environmentally friendly.

Without a doubt the coolest part of this stall was the waste system in the eating area. You would get a proper plate and a team of scouts or local sports team members would collect your dirty plate when you’re done from either a piling station as you left or a scout needing those extra plates and glasses. This worked with the entire range of food on offer, and it was rather bust for the size of the place. No rubbish paper plates were used. Imagine that effort on a scale like the Melbourne Show, that’s got to save some major one off waste.

It was just so brilliant because I had never even wondered, not once, until I saw it I would of assumed there was no better way than the current way. Goes to show the power of habit, and consumerism I guess too.

15 - Hard times

It seems we are doomed to failure with anything but out possible potatoes (rather confirmed potatoes now) and lots of garlic. Everything else has withered away and died, leaving only little bits of buried plastic as evidence they once existed.

I do like garlic and rosemary roast potatoes but I think ultimately out current strategy has run us a little dry. Dry being my point. I have foolishly only just connected the water saving strategy, what I saw a CERES and what is going wrong with our veggie patch…NO MULTCH! There was nothing to keep the top of the soil moist and hence protect the fragile new growth In the future we intent to test this idea as we do not want to waste another few weeks to no avail. Also the little white bits in the photographs are egg shells, one of Craig’s family members put them there with the belief they would help deter pests…I do not subscribe to that voodoo. I have to logic to back up my claims other than “Why wouldn’t snails like eggs?”

14 - CERES

As a class we all went to CERES today and had a grand tour. It was rather interesting and another good place to get information.  I was amazed at how they cleaned their waste through water to be reused, a feat I would not risk attempting without 10 qualified people to guide me…not a mess you want to make. Lots of good things were going on, bike repair, organic store, renewable power, school programs and more. The 2 other highlights though where the sloping compost which was layered and apparently very well organised and the aquaponics. Aquaponics is short is where the fish expel nutrients, the water is filtered through seedlings and special rocks with the seedlings taking the nutrients and leaving others and the stones filtering bacteria, then the water goes back to the fish as they need it again. It’s the circle of life but with fish, plants some pipes and bacteria filtering stones.

I may have gotten muddled with the Aquaponics but either way it was interesting to see.

The down side of CERES was that it has nothing to do with my community. Why can’t my community have a centre like CERES? Or better!

13 - Organic Shopping

Because of my upcoming assignment on organic food I visited the local Organic Fruit and Vegetable store in Upper Ferntree Gully. It was a real eye opener and has given me a lot more direction with my own personal ‘sustainable’ mindset. The owner of the store was extremely happy to talk about his store in detail such as the accreditation, how it is operated, customers and competitors. The idea was to simply get myself a little orientated in Organic produce as out gardening skills won’t produce food any time soon and I need to have some base knowledge of what it can look like, but it turned into a rather long discussion. It turns out my local organic produce store is that place to go for information on all sorts of environmental issues as many of the customers are into such issues and either talk or wasn’t to leave behind information, or links to communities of like-minded people. 

Other than some great links to permacultre and organic foods the proprietor explained how each of his produce items differed to the store bought in looks and treatment, allowing some taste testing too. It has been a good experience to have, I am sure everyone should know that an entire box of bananas should not look the same or so perfect. I have not eaten organic foods until today (on purpose) but surprisingly I think I am a little converted, although the wallet says no.

In terms of my ‘sustainable’ mindset I am a little worried about my own relationship with food and other people’s relationship with food.  I hadn’t realised how uncomfortable I was with food, something which quite clearly should not be.