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PERMATOPIA a graceful end to cheap oil |
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| Permatopia highlights solutions to Peak Oil, Climate Change and ecocide. The companion website OilEmpire.US is focused on understanding the politics behind these problems that prevent implementation of the solutions. Road-Scholar.org examines the rush to massively expand highway systems as the world passes Peak Oil, and offers some tools to thwart these plans. |
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PERMACULTURE permaculture for nine billion Permatopia dictionary: documents: environmental patterns Permatopia topics energy
beyond oil? oil depletion protocol climate change Greenwash transportation
food water shelter: community
money: health: permaculture: waste: forests:
biomimicry detoxification: primitive technology homesteading eco-cities
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Rain Water Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands
www.rainwatercollection.com
www.specallproducts.com/rainwater_filters.htm www.timbertanks.com/rainwatr.htm
under pressure, a step in a sensible direction ... http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=5732049 Chapel Hill offers rain barrels to all By Anthony Wilson Demand for rain barrels means short supplies in towns like Apex were they're being sold to residents only. But in Chapel Hill Steve Tyce is ready to help rainwater recyclers who don't mind crossing county lines. Tyce is ready to sell the 20 barrels he has after hearing that some people can't find their own. "This last 3 or 4 days of rain I got almost a thousand gallons of water, because I had 20 barrels to work with!" His recycling process starts at the catering business he owns in Chapel Hill. The barrels arrive at the business filled with food. Then, when they're empty, he cleans them out and uses them to collect rainwater. Tyce says his $75 price for the recycled barrels won't clean you out. In fact, he says you can make your own if you know how to. "Fashion the top so that it's going to keep out the debris, such as leaves," Tyce explains, "I put on a spout that is easily operated with just your foot, rather than having to bend down and turn it with your hand. And then we have the rim, to keep that secure." You might find plastic barrels to be the easiest barrels to work with. "When I realized that you can get as much as 200 or 300 gallons off a single rain, then I just added more to it!" Tyce said. Tyce is willing to sell his rain barrels because he's sure he can replace them. The 55-gallon capacity rain barrels Tyce makes come with overflow tubing and brass spigots. For more information call Tyce at (919) 929-1722
www.zimbabwesituation.com/dec19_2007.html#Z10 Rainwater harvesting eases shortage BULAWAYO, 18 December 2007 (IRIN) - Residents of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, are harvesting welcome rainwater from their roofs after consistently low rainfall in the past few years forced the city council to decommission all but one of its six reservoirs and impose rigorous water rationing. "We had gone for almost 10 days without water because council supplies are only available once a week now," said Hlengiwe Ncedani, who had arranged a variety of receptacles under the roof of her three-roomed house in the working-class suburb of Mabutweni to collect rainwater. Ncedani told IRIN that she and her three children had missed the last water ration, which took place at about midnight when most families were sleeping. "We can collect as much as 200 litres of potable water on a good rainy day, and this lessens the burden of scrounging for water," Ncedani said. In Iminyela, another Bulawayo suburb, Euginia Mbondera also welcomed the rain, saying, "We can breathe a sigh of relief and hope the rains continue." She is caring for a brother-in-law infected with HIV/AIDS and said the family had been hard pressed to maintain the hygienic conditions crucial to his well-being. Poor access to water has far-reaching implications for general health and hygiene, but is even more crucial in HIV/AIDS prevention and care. "It might take some time before council restores normal supplies as dams take time to fill up, given how dry it has been over the past months," Mbondera said. Harnessing roofs Lareto Nare, a researcher at Rainwater Harvesting Association of Zimbabwe, told IRIN there was great potential for rainwater harvesting from roofs in Bulawayo and it was a practice that council institutions should view seriously. "Council schools and clinics that already have substantial roof surfaces could benefit a large community," Nare said. The council runs more than 30 clinics and an infectious diseases hospital, and there are at least 140 primary and secondary schools in and around the city. Water experts surmise that a 100 sq m roof in an area with an annual rainfall of 600mm could collect as much as 36,000 litres of water, assuming the rain was collected on an impermeable surface without evaporation. This is about twice the annual requirement of a five-member family with an average daily drinking-water requirement of 10 litres per person. When it rains it pours While Bulawayo thirsts for more rain, Meteorological Services Department director Hector Chikoore said, "Most areas have recorded more rainfall than what they normally receive during the same period of the year. For instance, in Harare [the capital] we expect a seasonal rainfall of 800mm, but Harare has already recorded almost a quarter of the total in only seven days." The state-run Herald newspaper reported that three people had died and one was missing after floods destroyed homes in northeastern Zimbabwe. According to the Civil Protection Unit, which coordinates emergency responses, about 1,000 people were displaced. Meteorologists have warned of torrential rains and further flooding in other parts of the country during Zimbabwe's rainy season between November and April. [ENDS]
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