Hey Metro Vancouver!

I'm Alison Richards and for the next 30 days, starting on April 1st, 2011 I'll be monitoring and documenting my actions and activities while striving to live with the least amount of impact and creating zero waste. This interactive web site is meant to serve as a portal for your participation. Chat with me during my daily 5PM web cast or post your tips and suggestions on the Facebook page. I hope to create a ripple of change through awareness and focusing on making one small change each day.

Day Twenty - April 20th, 2011

Columbia Academy closes doors after 45 years - FULL STORY

Details on the schools closure and Alison's questions and ideas on Metro Vancouver's (Translink) Public Transit System on today's Live @ 5

It seems that I've been surrounded by the concept of rain barrels lately. First Brent sent his letter, then I met with Kathleen in New West and she showed me hers, then I went to the Water Conservation page for City of Burnaby and the first thing I saw was a rainbarrel... I decided to take the hint and do some investigating. The first thing I found was that they aren't that expensive. Most municipalities have subsidy programs for purchasing and I found that Burnaby has lots of incentives to purchase water saving kits that are very reasonably priced and will save hundreds of liters of water per year. Approximately 40% of our annual usage is for outdoors so with the growing season ahead I thought it would be good to share a few tips and resources.

Tips for saving water (indoors and out)

10 easy ways you can save buckets of water

• plant a drought tolerant garden
• use a rain barrel to collect water in the rainy months
• wash the car with a bucket of water and rinse with spring loaded shut off nozzle
• install a low-flow toilet (6 litres per flush)
• wait for a full load before doing the wash
• install a water saving showerhead
• use a timer on your sprinkler
• let your lawn go brown
• check and repair hose leaks
• water the garden by hand

Lawn clippings help trap moisture and insulate against heat. Let your grass grow longer and trim just the tops. Shorter grass scrorches easily in dry weather. - Thanks for tip - Peter Cech, Metro Vancouver

A great site with lots of water tips and resources - City Farmer

Rain barrel program city of Burnaby - There are programs in each municipality or city, but this is the link to Burnaby since it's my neighbourhood.
Water Conservation Tools - City of Burnaby *These are great deals! One per household.

Dear Alison,

On the way home this morning from the vet, (Dinkey needed his rabies vaccination), I did one of the things I absolutely ADORE doing in Tokyo; time travel! Turn a corner and VOILA! SHAZAM! you've gone back in time! Old houses nestled under ancient trees behind garden walls that are often just as old are everywhere to be found. Dinkey and I left the main road and walked up the old stone steps to the shrine on top of a small hill not far from our house, and hung out for a bit of quiet time. The traffic sounds died away and all you could hear were chirping birds, the wind rustling the leaves of the enormous camphor trees and rain drops from this morning's shower pattering onto the ground. HEAVENLY! And this is right in the middle of modern Shinjuku filled with gleaming office towers and condominiums!

Then I noticed the rain barrels on either side of the shrine's main doors and thought of a blurb on your site from a couple of weeks ago; collect rain water from your roof! A lot of Japanese homes, particularly the old ones, have a rain barrel somewhere to use in case of fire, or for household needs. My Russian grandmother had one in her back garden to water the flowers and vegetables. Many interior/architectural magazines are now advertising underground water storage tanks to supply modern homes with an extra source of (free!) water. Pumps and filters are included. Mom and Dad's house in town turns 150-years-old this year, and they have a huge cistern under the garage from when the house was first built. The original hand pump is still there attached to a large sink in one corner. The drain leads out through the back wall, and this is where you can connect a hose to water whatever it is that needs watering!

Check out Japanese rain chains, and make your own water barrel for use this summer! Pretty and practical!

Love and kisses,

Brent.

P.S. Have you started getting your feet ready for summer? Scrub, scrub, scrub, my dear! Nothing worse than dragon feet in a kicky new pair of sandals or open-toed shoes! Adzuki bean foot scrub! Don't forget to moisturize afterwards!

Brent Fialka