RE: Water Footprints: Worrying about Drought and Personal Water Usage
I sometimes forget about my water consumption, especially because we are having such a wet year but we have had droughts (We never seem to be hit as hard as areas further south that don't have the forest coverage. I believe the forest (and the many lakes around us) feeds into the water cycle so we seem to be okay for water. I do have rain barrels all over but usually end up dumping the excess water before winter freeze up. I mulch for even though we seem to have lots of water I do have to haul it and water by hand, no turning on sprinklers. The time I am more conscious of my water usage is after visiting my son in the city. The water goes into the sewers and into the water treatment plants plus they are charged for the usage of water and they need to conserve what ever they can to keep their bills down. I then turn the taps off more often instead of letting the water run and I become more appreciative of the water we have. I often think of how water (a necessity of life) is becoming a commodity where people can profit from it. Yikes!
It's amazing how much financial incentives help people be more cautious and more aware about their consumption of resources. Here in Australia water is fairly cheap especially compared to electricity. However they should probably make it more expensive so people are more cautious about waste. Because they're going to have a really tough time when we do hit drought because people won't be in the habit of conservation. They were silly to lift the restrictions in the first place as I don't think it does anyone any harm to consider where the resources they use a coming from and of course I don't mean mean just water. I think when we use water like we do to grow food we are more naturally conscious of it. It's awful to see what is happening in South Africa. We live in interesting times and with the climate change report just out I'm really worried about coal.
Posted using Partiko Android
I am concerned about climate change and the availability of food. We have been having some very weird weather patterns and I've decided to develop more my indoor growing for we have such short growing season as it is and with the cost of transporting goods getting more expensive (dollar wise and to the environment) I want to grow my own as much as possible. We did haul in rain water to fill two 50 gallon barrels and one 25 gallon barrel. I also bring snow in to melt for watering in the winter.
I think with coal they do have the scrubbers and technology to have it burn cleaner. For many coal is the only affordable energy source, so why not clean it up as to take it away from those who can't afford anything else.
We have been following Martin Armstrong with his computer model that picks up the different cycles and it is saying we are heading into a global cooling - like a mini ice age and he suggests that people should have the ability to grow foods indoors. It was that suggestion that spurred us on to invest in an LED grow light and putting my gardening knowledge to work, this time, growing indoors.
I'm really enjoying having my garden indoors too! Can you grow food all year round out doors there in Australia (if you have the water?)
Melting snow for watering is a fabulous idea!!! I guess you'd have to make sure it wasn't too cold for your indoor plants. Oh, that's super interesting about global cooling, and I guess you'll be even more susceptible to it where you are. If that happens, perhaps I can finally talk J. into making me a high tunnel - we don't need it here and even less this winter as it was really mild. Yes, we can grow food all year round - winter is brassicas, greens, root crops and this happens again in Spring, so long as they are watered, and in Summer from Dec to about May we have zucchini, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, pumpkins, lettuce etc. Most herbs and our lettuce grow year round. We're pretty lucky!!
Wow! Gardening seems so much easier there as long as you don't have drought. I think of how excited I am that I now have my lettuce growing all year long because I dug it up and brought it inside and will start seeds to replenish those plants when they get past their prime. Oh it's so much better when you can leave things up to Mother Nature in the great outdoors (with a little help with the watering)! It's funny how you adapt to your conditions and no matter where you are there is always a joy to gardening! Here's hoping for rain for you and South Africa! Yes, I do make sure the water is warmed up from the melting snow and also from our well water for it is very cold too and will shock the plants.