Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Location: Tucson, Arizona

A few days before picking up Liz I finally decided to bite the bullet and, after three years on the road, buy a proper bed for my van. I’ve been sleeping on what is probably a toxin leaching memory foam mattress from Walmart for a while now. I’ve found in the extreme heat of the desert that there have actually been fumes in the van that I find disconcerting. So while up at Prajna I came across some trifold foam beds that are made from non-toxic foam, have 5 year warranties, and fold away for neat storage. I ordered a custom setup for the van and now Liz and I are staying in Tucson’s Roadrunner Hostel while waiting for its delivery.

Today I interviewed water harvesting guru Brad Lancaster who wrote the books, Water Harvesting for Drylands, and Water Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. It was a really good interview session with Brad dumping loads of figures about water harvesting and how our world could look very different if we simply changed our thinking in regards to our water consumption.

It’s been amazing for Liz and I to drive around Phoenix and Tucson and think about how these cities are built in absolute desert environments. In many peoples opinions these cities shouldn’t even exist. There are huge issues in terms of water, energy, and the water energy nexus that will definitely come to the forefront in the next few decades. It’s staggering to see such immense sections of urban sprawl expanding out in all directions. Throughout this sprawl we find ourselves taking shelter from the heat in air-conditioned stores, and the realization soon occurs that we’re surrounded by an artificial climate controlled interior reality. All of this climate control soaking up an enormous amount of water and related energy.

Brad spoke about how we could be awash in water simply by building simple technological rainwater harvesting systems. In building water harvesting systems we would also be increasing the amount of plant life in our community in the form of permaculture.

At Brad’s home and workspace there are great examples of rainwater feeding the living connected home. Here rainwater is harvested, used to do laundry (using biodegradable soaps) and then used to water Brad’s orange and date tree, from which he eats, then adds the organic matter to compost. All of these trees whether fruit of other variety also provide huge amounts of shade which acts as a natural form of air-conditioning and protection from the hot summer sun.

Tucson and Phoenix have miles upon miles of ten lane roadways and along most of these roads is very little shade for parking or cooling off. The roadways also increase the cities microclimates by as much as ten degrees. Meanwhile these cities harvest vast amounts of rainwater that is all sent into storm drains and out of the city. Brad pointed out that one mile of standard Tucson roadway collects enough water to irrigate four hundred dry climate trees. Four hundred trees per mile, equals lots of shade, potentially lots of food, and to requote Bill Mollison again and again, “When I look at a forest, I see a standing lake.” which means a healthier water supply and base flow for all life concerned.

peace,
d