http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RHvbEbk6knG7BWNH6BsiIw

Natalie Bellefleur

07/12/2010

What Happens to organic waste!?

This is talking about what happens to organic waste. I think we can use it to back the idea that you can feed it to the animals.

Organic Waste

Work Citation:

Muir, Wes. "What Happens to Your Organic Waste? | Earth and Industry." Earth & Industry - Sustainable and Responsible Business. http://earthandindustry.com/2010/12/what-happens-to-your-organic-waste/ (accessed December 8, 2010).


Posted by Paniz Moayeri on Wed Dec 8/2010

How will we feed the food facts

Here are some facts we can use to address our question of " how will we feed the food? "

ex. Currently about one third of cereals produced in the world go towards feeding animals for meat production.

how much human life can planet earth sustain?

Natalie Bellefleur

07/12/2010

November 21st Meeting

RED 2 Meeting 5 – November 21, 2010

In attendance: Evelyn, Lea, Michelle, Vantar

For our final slide presentation we need to cover 20 minutes. That’s anywhere from 80 to 120 slides, if they stay up for 10 to 15 seconds per slide respectively. Each one of us will focus on ‘answering a question’ (you’ll see what I mean when you keep reading) and we’ll come together next Tuesday, November 30 at 7:30 pm (please eat dinner first) in the studio to put it all together and go from there. Create slides using the suggested layouts below in whatever program you can and we’ll put it all in keynote at the meeting.

DESIGN:

Slide types:

1. TITLE (text + bleeding graphic)
2. FACT (all text, centered)
3. QUESTION POSED (text + graphic, centered, graphic bleeding like title)
4. INFO TO ANSWER QUESTION (combinations of minimal text, graphic, photo – see below)

WHITE BACKGROUND

BLACK KEY

Cycle of slides will be as follows:

TITLE > FACT > QUESTION > ANSWER > FACT > QUESTION > ANSWER … until we answer all questions

CONTENT:

Main question: WHERE WILL YOUR DINNER COME FROM?

Other Questions (not yet posed in question form):

1. growing vegetables in the city
2. keeping livestock in the city
3. reusing water and its cycle
4. treating the water
5. managing the waste

Since Don suggested we get rid of the history section, we will use any necessary facts in the FACT slides that pertain to posing a QUESTION and then we’ll ANSWER it.

THE NEXT STEP:

Please keep in mind that all slides should focus on our NARRATIVE, supported by your research; they are not slides OF your research. Also, if your original research doesn’t seem to fit into our narrative, don’t be reluctant to let it go.

Facts: Natalie and Kate

A: Alex and Evelyn

B: Stephan and Paniz

C: Vantar

D: Michelle

E: Lea

Final Layout: Kate

Our end goal is SUSTAINABILITY and not zero waste. Zero waste will be taken care of in the waste section.

Please voice any concerns at our next meeting and let us know if you cannot make it.

Thanks,

Michelle

Water For Irrigation

Hey guys,

I think the following (as opposed to my earlier research) is more specific to the narrative we are trying to tell. It deals with water treatment. I'm thinking of treating the waste water from our urban space with a membrane bioreactor. We should consider the waste from all the other elements in our kit and then tie it in with the water cycle Vantar is working towards, and in the end, aim for sustainability and zero waste.

THE GOAL: WATER FOR IRRIGATION

THE ELEMENT: THE MEMBRANE BIOREACTOR

Used in existing urban applications:

The Earth Rangers Centre, see http://my.cagbc.org/database/img_489c7680afef8.pdf(accessed November 9)

The Earth Rangers Centre is a wildlife facility that has implemented many 'green' aspects into the daily functions of the building. The membrane bioreactor that I speak of is used here. They use the ZENON brand. The water that they get from the filter doesn't seem to be good enough for drinking because they use it for applications such as toilet flushing, cleaning floors and cages, and filling waterfowl ponds. They also get extra water from collecting rain water from the roof. By using rain and treated water (treat on site) they save from using drinkable water. The LEED Consultant in this project was Enermodel Engineering and on their site,

Earth Rangers, they also discuss the wastewater treatment used at Earth Rangers, a bioreactor and ultra-filtration system.

"Canada Green Building Council." Canada Green Building Council. http://my.cagbc.org/ (accessed November 9, 2010)

Side Note: Natalie suggested we present our material in more imaginative ways. Here is an example of the "nutritional information" look.

<--example for presentation of final

Other locations recycling water:

http://www.financialpost.com/take+water+granted/3726569/story.html#ixzz14qQo3nXJ

In this article of Financial Post, examples are given of communities who use a "grey-water reclamation system", like Quayside Village in North Vancouver. Other locations, like St. Petersburg, Florida actually collect grey-water from houses and reuse it for irrigation. This is definitely something we should consider and employ in the water cycle aspect of our kit.

Companies offering this treatment system:

http://www.gewater.com/zenon.jsp

This is what they offer: "ZENON Environmental, now part of GE Power & Water, continues in the tradition of being a global leader in advanced membranes for water purification, wastewater treatment applications including membrane bioreactor (MBR), tertiary water filtration, drinking water treatment, industrial process water and water reuse. ZENON’s technology solutions are part of GE’s leading portfolio of advanced water equipment, chemicals and services."

What it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_bioreactor

A membrane bioreactor can be used in a home to treat waste water to be good enough quality to be used for irrigation. As Vantar has eloquently explained, bugs in the filter eat all the 'solid waste' and clean water comes out the other side. More on feasibility and maintenance of this unit soon.

Michelle Duong, November 9, 2010.

City Farming

Here are some options

Chickens:

They are the easiest to farm in the city, anyone can do it. Chickens provide both meat and eggs and they eat kitchen scraps (this reduces waste) Their manure can be used to make a “tea” which is a good fertilizer (it can't be used 'raw' because it's too high in nitrogen.

There’s a great video on a chicken coop designed for use on patios and terraces, so you could even keep 2 or 3 chickens in a high-rise apartment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSbQF6AJLCo

also:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/dining/19yard.html

This is an interesting article in the New York Times about people keeping chickens in the city. It talks about some of the problems (it’s illegal in some cities) and advantages, and mentions several websites for city-dwelling chicken owners, including The Chicken City (http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/index.html) which is a great site for anyone who wants to raise chickens in the city; lots of information on breeds, coops, issues that may arise and how to solve them. Most of the information is for people who want to keep chickens in their backyard, focusing on chicken tractors (portable coops), but I also found the link to the above terrace coop on this site. Lots of great pictures

Manure digesters:

The manure undergoes an anaerobic digestion that produces methane and carbon dioxide which are then burned to make electricity. This produces heat. Any kind of manure (chicken, cattle etc.) can be used, and the manure can still be used as fertilizer after the digestion.Currently, they used only on large farms, but they could be adapted for residential use

Smalll Manure

Digesters

Energy Justice Network, "Anaerobic Digesters ." http://www.energyjustice.net/digesters/ (accessed Nov. 9, 2010).

Roberts, Guy. "SMALL-SCALE MANURE DIGESTERS: POTENTIAL FOR ON-FARM HEAT AND ENERGY." http://www.uvm.edu/~cmorriso/AltEnergy/smallmanure.pdf (accessed Nov. 9, 2010).

Lea Koch, Nov. 9, 2010

Revision Dallas

hey hey

this is the re:vision's website who put on the dallas green city block competition, it's more informative and I will be extruding more information from this sight.

Revision Dallas

natalie bellefleur

9/11/2010