Shaping your garden for water …….. Transition Streets 4.7 Swales – taking advantage of any slope in your garden to slow and capture rain water, or creating mini storage areas in the ground itself, by building earthworks and ditches. Canberra Permaculture Design have written a detailed account of one of their projects. And Gardening Australia made this video – Series … Read More
Down Pipes and Tanks
Rainwater Collection …….. Transition Streets 4.6 Diverting, collecting, cleaning, and storing rainwater is a complex task. The most simple is a down pipe diverter running into a small storage tank. The more complex become total water management systems – to get into the technical details use the ATA Tankulator – tank size estimates, tank materials, tank placement and more. And … Read More
Grey Water Systems
More than a purple hose …….. Transition Streets 4.5 Systems for treating the grey water can be super complex and expensive. So have a look at this Living Big in a Tiny House video – a Permaculture based Grey Water Treatment system – effective reuse of both water and materials. Other systems can built using settling tanks and reed beds … Read More
Vertical Gardens and Wicking Beds
Using water efficiently…….. Transition Streets 4.8 Constructed systems that use water efficiently, that reduce evaporation, and that give you better control over nutrient levels, can vastly increase your crops and decrease overall water use. Vertical Gardens – the growing locations are stacked in layers, the watering system constructed for self-watering, water reuse, and controlled nutrient delivery. One example is the … Read More
Electric Vehicles to Own
Electric Vehicles to Own…….. Transition Streets 5.5 Some of the world’s commercially manufactured electric vehicles are on sale in Australia. At June 2020 – it included the following models: New Vehicles BMW i3 $68,700 Plus Hyundai Ioniq $46K Plus Hyundai Kona Electric $60-64K Jaguar I-Pace $120K Plus Mercedes EQC $138K Plus Nissan LEAF 2018 $50K Renault Zoe $50K Plus Renault Kangoo $53K ( Commercial Van ) Tesla … Read More
Community Litter Action
Litter Action…….. Transition Streets 6.7 Illegal dumping and general litter costs local government around $70 million a year in collection and clean up costs. Community and volunteer groups like “Clean Up Australia” the various “Adopt A ….road, highway, town” groups, and bodies like “ Riverkeepers” are running clean up and collection events, and campaigns to raise public awareness. There are … Read More
Zero Waste Festivals
Zero Waste Festivals …….. Transition Streets 6.6 Festivals, food fairs, and large public events can be murder on waste. Plastic food containers, drink containers, zip-ties, packaging, and souvenirs generally end up in landfill. A typical music festival of 16,000 people can create 8 tonnes of waste. Community Groups, Land Care & Environmental groups, and many event organisers are working to … Read More
Repair Cafe and Fix It Initiatives
Repair It, Fix-It, Service It, …….. Transition Streets 6.5 Repair Cafés and Fix-It Initiatives are free meeting places, all about repairing things and keeping stuff out of landfill, of getting joy out of that favorite thing again. You’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, ….. … Read More
The Buy Nothing Project
Buy Nothing – Get Everything…….. Transition Streets 6.4 The Buy Nothing Project is about setting the scarcity model of our cash economy aside in favour of creatively and collaboratively sharing the abundance around us. Local groups form hyper-local gift economies that are parallel to local cash economies; Some people join to get rid of things that are cluttering their lives, … Read More
Managing Your Household Waste
Your Waste Action Plans…….. Transition Streets 6.3 The new strategy pyramid is to avoiding waste first, and making disposing of waste the least attractive option, but we still have start with our household bins. Councils are giving detailed support -for example Nillumbik ( outer North East Melbourne ) have a useful A-Z guide on their website, with active links for … Read More