Our family tries to be environmentally-friendly. Most of the eco-ideas come from my husband who is finishing up his masters program in environmental science with an emphasis in policy. (For you young people wondering what to do for a promising career, this would be something to look at because we are now starting to get that the earth is wrecked.) Anyway, he constantly is trying to limit our family’s carbon footprint by gently recommending new ways of doing things.
I try to comply with these stipulations, but it is difficult at times. For example, no longer can we throw food (other than meat) in the garbage. We need to put it in our large compost bin on the side of our house. To help remind us of this, he has put a temporary compost “transportation vessel” (an old cool whip container) full of rotting food right on the counter to be taken out every day (ideally). We try the best we can to live green like re-using plastic bags, using a push mower instead of a mechanical mower, only having one car, buying an 80 + year old house, living near a downtown, and walking or biking everywhere within reason. We even try and bike to get groceries. My contribution is to buy almost everything second-hand. This works in well with my love of thrift-shopping. But, I also get labeled as a “consumer” as if that word is now a dirty word in our house!
But, my husband has now gone a bit overboard. His passion lies in water management, and he (rightly so) believes that fresh water will be the new oil. It will be a finite resource for which wars will be fought. Last week, he came home giddy as a school boy at his new acquisition. He came to me and announced that we are the proud owners of two 55 gallon rain barrels! As I glanced outside into our 1/8th acre yard and saw the bright blue, plastic (not environmental) monstrosities, I wondered if he had indeed lost his mind!
The rain barrels
First of all, we have a huge compost bin on the side of our house filled with rich, rotting organic material to put on a garden that we don’t have. Ok, I’ll go with it because it makes him happy. Now, we have TWO rain barrels that will collect 110 gallons of rainwater! He seemed taken aback when I asked him what we were going to do with them since we don’t actually have a place to put all the water we will have collected. In addition, our sump pump runs all the time because of they lay of the land! We are not exactly in need of more water around here!
Although his heart is in the right place, his head may be up in the clouds. Yes, we should all conserve water, but do we have to conserve it all in our yard? He bristles at the thought of the kids running through the sprinkler without a proper “reclamation” for the wasted water to go back into the ground, not into the sewer or street. Now, we have 110 gallons stolen from the ground that my 5 potted plants may never be able to fully use. But, I guess if ever a war breaks out between countries over fresh water, our house may be sitting pretty! Colorado eat your heart out!
August 7, 2008 at 12:02 am
You might have him take a look at the rain barrel design offered by http://www.aquabarrel.com – they have a DIY kit that will convert that open top style of barrel into a highly functional rain barrel. BTW think of the rain water capture as part of storm water management – not for irrigation
August 7, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Brian’s dad used to just use a plain old barrel, and his plants loved it.
And, IKEA sells a really nice “transportation vessel” for compost. It can even fit under your sink which might be a more “apeeling” (like that play on words?) place to put it.
Seriously, Pat should move to UT. He’d have a heart attack with the people who water their field (for hay, I’m guessing) nonstop for 48 hours. Honest.
August 7, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Pat will be supremely disgusted to know that we have a 12 foot by 4 foot pool in our backyard that has had to be filled three times after being emptied twice, once because the pool was on uneven ground and another time because of a hole that needed to be repaired. Each pool filling took 3 hours and two hoses…
August 8, 2008 at 1:15 am
Reading one of your post’s, you said your ‘97 ford escort just died. It’s ironic in that our ‘94 ford escort just died. We just replaces with an L.E.V. Honda.
About the rain barrels, I think it’s a great idea. I’m an “environmentalist?” myself and had a discussion with my father about this subject.
My wife said “Only if we can get cool wooden barrels.”