By, Zoe
Being a
part of the environmental team for this project, I was interested in studying
about water: where Pablo would get his water from, and how to reuse and recycle
it so as to aid in living a sustainable way of life. Author Ted Carns details his experiences with
adapting to a sustainable lifestyle in his book Off On Our Own. According to
Carns, there are three options for main sources of water: a pond, an
underground spring, and cisterns. Pablo
already has an underground spring that he was able to filter and pump for
us. This water was cool and refreshing,
providing us with a crisp, much-needed drink while working in the blistering
sun, became handy for hosing off after being caked in mud, and was useful for
washing dishes.
As a
future project, Pablo plans on turning the mud pit into a pond. Plants and certain kinds of fish, mainly
tilapia, can be used along with an aquaponics system, to filter the water in
order to make it usable. Fish are
valuable for their waste, which is used to fertilize the plants, which then suck
up the water and filter it with their roots.
Cisterns, which can be above-ground or underground, are huge receptacles
for catching and storing water, lined with filters for cleansing. One last tip that Carns included was to
create a piping system to connect the roof to the sources of water so that
dirty rainwater that drips from the roof can be cleansed and used
Power
By, Howee and Midori
By, Howee and Midori
We met the owner of the land on
our first day on site, Pablo. He is an artist that sells his artwork on street
markets. This definitely had an influence and drive on desiring to construct a
sustainable house. Looking around Pablo’s land, I noticed many opportunities of
harnessing power on his land. For example, in the reading “Off On Our Own” by
Ted Carns, various ideas mentioned in it could be implemented on the land. This
land was great for solar panels since it was an open area, also wind mills
could be another option, even though it might not have been as useful because
winds weren’t as constant. It is more probable for a clear sunny day to happen
than a windy day.
The location of the site is in a
province of Buenos Aires in a town called Ingeniero Maschwitz, or Maschwitz for
short. The climate is hot and humid in the summer and cool in the winter. In
the southern hemisphere, they are in their summer days. Below you will find the average temperatures
during the year. During the beginning days of working at Pablo’s land, the
average temperature was around 28-30 degrees Celsius with relative humidity of
65-70%. Towards the end of our trip, temperatures reached 32-33 degrees Celsius
and unbearably hot.
In short, the resources are there
to provide adequate water, heating, and lighting for Pablo. Power is essential
to sustain life and accessibility.
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