Passionate about Eco Home Building?

Building or Renovation – Water Conservation Tips

Ella Walters from the eco designers writes to assist your ways to change at home.

Intro

NZ homes use, 25 – 30% of water for flushing toilets, 33 – 35% for baths and showers 20 – 25% in the kitchen, and 20 – 25% is used in the laundry. A family of four uses around 500L per day not including water used in the garden (a garden sprinkler can use 900 litres an hour). Per year, the average person uses around 75,000 litres and the average household uses around 200,000 litres.

Contents

• Free Eco Design Advisor Service
• Water Conservation tips
• Rainwater Harvesting
• Grey Water Recycling
• Composting Toilets and Worm Septic Tanks
• Solar Hot Water

Free Eco Design advisor Service

The eco design advisor service provides free and impartial advice for people planning to build or renovate their homes to improve family health and comfort, reduce impact on the environment.

Available to homeowners, designers, builders and trades-people, the service is provided by Sustainable Wanaka and funded and supported by the QLDC, BRANZ MfE and EECA.

Eco Design Advisors Ella and Christina can provide tailored advice on insulation, energy efficiency, water conservation, sustainable building materials and passive solar design. Building or renovating plans can be reviewed at any stage of development.

To make an appointment and take advantage of this great free service contact Ella in Wanaka on Office 03 443 5057, mob 021 031 4258, email ella@seedbuilding.co.nz or Christina on mob 027 583 7444, email Christina@seedbuilding.co.nz

Water conservation tips and rainwater collection

Rainwater Harvesting

Installing a rainwater tank is a great way of reducing your mains water consumption. For every millimeter of rainwater that falls, you will collect approximately 1 liter of water for every square metre of roof area.

Management

Most rainwater management systems provide a hassle-free way of integrating rainwater into your home for use in the laundry and for flushing toilets. By using sensor and smart switches, they can switch automatically between mains and rainwater supply depending on the level of the rainwater tank. Water pressure required by washing machines and irrigation systems is provided by a pump.

Maintenance

Maintenance of the rainwater harvesting system is essential as rainwater is easily contaminated by debris. Ensure that gutters and free from leaves and animal waste so that sludge does not build up in the tank, which could result in clogged filters, pipes and pumps. Filters and diverters are the key mechanism for keeping the tank clean. You will need to ensure that your roof surface is suitable for collecting rainwater to avoid contaminants such as lead entering the system.

Garden irrigation

Today it is more important than ever to use water resources wisely and to irrigate wisely, even with three great lakes on our doorstep! Drip irrigation from a rainwater source provides you with a very efficient method of irrigation as water is applied to the root zone which eliminates over spray and evaporation. Drip irrigation can be in the form of drip line or individual drippers per plant.

Greywater and blackwater recycling

Greywater recycling

Most homes produce around 100-200 litres of greywater per person per day. Greywater recycling systems divert wastewater from the showers, bathroom sink and laundry for use in the garden or can be treated and used in the home. Greywater is mildly polluted with soaps and detergents and can contain levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. These minerals are generally considered beneficial to plants. Use garden friendly products, soaps and detergents to ensure that the correct mineral levels are maintained.

Most greywater recycling systems come with smart switches, which enable you to switch off and on a greywater source and allows you to divert harmful contaminants from your garden irrigation system.

Tips for managing greywater systems

• Use liquid detergents rather than powders; most powders are very high in sodium and salts, which can injure plants
• Avoid cleaning products with boron, which can be toxic to plants
• Avoid use of chlorine bleach
• Avoid caustic drain cleaners and other chemicals with unknown effect on plants
• Landscape the greywater irrigation field with plants that are tolerant of alkaline (basic) soil; acid-loving plants should be avoided.
• When cloth nappies are being washed in a washing machine, the drain should be disconnected from the greywater system
• If highly contagious illnesses are present, the greywater system should be switched off, and all wastewater should be disposed of using the conventional system
• Greywater should not be used for irrigating vegetable gardens

Black water and water conservation tips

Black water and worm septic tanks

Black water is wastewater from the kitchen sink, toilet and dishwasher and can be treaded onsite. Worm septic tanks require no chemicals to treat the water onsite as opposed to regular septic tanks that use chemicals to breakdown waste.

A composting toilet is a dry or waterless toilet that uses natural processes produce useful compost, after a resting period, which depends on the type of the toilet. Composting is a form of biological decomposition that takes place in a controlled environment, the four key requirements needed to maintain this environment are oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and moisture. Composting toilets are odourless and can reduce indoor water use by 20-30%.

Water conservation tips

• Use a shower timer to cut down on water usage
• Switch off the tap when brushing your teeth
• Have baths instead of showers. Baths use up 100 liters of water each time you have one.
• Fix leaking taps
• Install low flow shower heads and aerators on taps. By installing a low flow shower head you could save up to 20,000 liters of water per person each year.
• Rinse your dishes in a sink of water, not under a running tap, and use your dish washer on the eco cycle and only when full
• Front loading wash machines use less energy and water than top loading machines
• To check if your toilet has a leak, put a little food dye in the cistern. Wail 15 mins (don’t flush) and check the water in the bowl. If the colour appears in the bowl the cistern needs repairing.
• Install a rain garden
• Garden to the climate, reduce areas of green grass that require lots of water
• Opt for more robust types of grass that require less water
• Specify water-efficient appliances. Ask the manufacturer for details on how much water each appliance uses, check the appliances water star rating The difference between a 4-star and a 1-star could be more than 10,000 litres per year. WELS database www.waterrating.gov.au/publications/wels-brochure.html

• Avoid specifying in-sink waste disposal units. These require a lot of water to operate, and they overload sewage treatment plants or in-ground septic systems with organic matter. Design and install customized organic waste disposal receptacles instead.

Natural Anti Aging Secrets

ANTI AGING SECRETS

Health In Harmony provide some natural anti-aging secrets to staying young. It seems once you hit the age of 30 you start noticing the stream of anti-aging breakthroughs. There are so many different lotions and potions to use to magically wipe away those wrinkles. There
may not be one pill, or a magic wand, however, there are a number of ways to live a healthy youthful lifestyle, increase your immune system and get your organs functioning more effectively.

1. The first and best of the antiaging solutions is yourself! Change your attitude, change your real age. Forget that date on the birth certificate. Expect to slow down, break down, run down and you possibly will. Expect to stay young and gorgeous and you probably will! If you know about the Okinawans in Japan they are living proof. The Okinawans shows us living a healthy lifestyle will not only help us live longer, but will also help us live disease-free. Lifestyle changes can add healthy years to your life, making you feel better now and when you are 110.
2. Reduce the Free Radicals in your body. A simple way is to eat fewer calories. Eating until you are only 80 percent full called “Hara Hachi Bu”. Less calories mean fewer free radicals created in the digestive process. Fewer free radicals mean better cardiovascular health and less risk of cancer and other chronic illnesses.
3. Be a Sage and Take Sage. It is useful for improving the memory and reducing anxiety. It helps alleviate mental confusion, and can lift depression.
4. Meditation makes you feel fabulous. The best meditation is the one that works for you.
5. Toast to Your Health? So if there was one pill out there; Reservatrol is the word! Found in red wine however you would need to drink too many to gain the real benefits. Red wine can improve digestion, promote relaxation and helps foster a good mood. Further red wine health benefits is wine’s ability to increase the body’s absorption of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. The skin of the grape which goes into the process of the red wine contains over 400 health-promoting substances like, phenols, flavonoids, bioflavonoid, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and polyphenols like quercetin and resveratrol, The antibody the grapes produce repair cells, reduce inflammation, and act as antioxidants in reversing the aging process.
6. Look 5-15 Years Younger. An acupuncture facial is a rejuvenation process designed to help the whole body look and feel younger.
7. Tea for Three. You may have heard green and black tea is full of antioxidants with black tea being particularly high levels of flavonoids. The health effects of flavonoids have been intensively investigated for the last ten years. It has been proposed that they protect against damage in blood vessels, thus decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, they maybe a role in cancer prevention and enhancement of the immune system of the body. Dip you tea bag for 3 minutes in order for it to let loose all those great antioxidants to help fight off those free radicals.
8. Simplify Your Life. Simplifying is another of the wonderful and natural antiaging solutions. Stress ages. You may be juggling too many tasks and responsibilities. Simplify, and then simplify again.
9. Tune into Your Radio. You know what is best for you and when. You know when to eat, what to eat. You know when to rest, when to play. You’ve just got to tune in your radio again, and ignore some of that interference! The best womens natural health remedy is to live in tune with nature and your body type. It just takes a few simple lifestyle changes.
10. More Sex Hormones. High levels of testosterone help maintain muscle mass. Estrogen is thought to protect against osteoporosis and heart disease. DHEA is known to decrease with age, some researchers use DHEA level as a marker how rapidly someone is aging. Diet and continual physical activity are thought to explain why these hormones can remain high.

Support Local Organic Produce

Health in Harmony editor, Rosie Cox, extols the virtues and benefits of buying local organic produce:

We are children of a chemical age. Chemicals are everywhere and so too are allergies, disease and mental suffering. It’s not surprising there is a current movement towards living a more sustainable, organic and healthy lifestyle.

Choose organic products to reduce the intake of residues of chemicals that may be present on food such as fruit and vegetables. Organic foods have less impact on the environment as producers avoid chemicals, which otherwise get into our soils and waterways.

Nature has been growing plants without pesticides since the beginning of time.

The current movement towards organic farming isn’t just about eating healthier, it’s about the idea of re-building a healthy eco future for the planet. This is a great reason to go organic, but unless you are growing your own produce, you could be supporting the ‘big’ mass producing organic farming that is occurring particularly in the US.

Commercial agricultural techniques, even organic farming, wreak havoc on both the topsoil and ecosystem through their huge fields of growing just one strain of plant.

The Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka invented a no-till system for small-scale grain production that he called Natural Farming.

If you want to eat and live organically, not only for your health, but also to protect the environment then it’s important to shop at your local organic store or farmers’ market. Read the labels and help support the small family farmers and local environment and find out where your supermarket sources food.

Author: Health in Harmony founder and editor, Rosie Cox is a Wanaka based yoga teacher.

Counting the Cents in an Organised Way

Kinetica’s Katy MacPherson suggests ways to save money by being organised and counting every cent spent:

Are you fed up hearing of doom and gloom … of the tough economic climate? Why not turn the thought around and think positive? Positive-thinking is far healthier for the soul. How about starting with how you can save money? Being more organised is one way. But how?

Being organised saves you money and looking after those cents certainly helps the dollars look after themselves. The purchase of a new fridge of say $1200 requires thought, time and investigation but when you go to the supermarket and spend a third of the amount, do you give that task a third thinking time … NO and that’s where the saving can be made. Not so much on the larger outgoings, as we give them more thought, but on the smaller costs – $15 for lunch here and $20 for the trip out there.

We all need help and support to move forward in life and Katy Macpherson from organising solutions company, Kinetica, is able to give just that. Twenty years in the UK corporate world of pharmaceuticals along with an inherent love of organisation, lead Katy to take a new career direction in Professional Organisation, once arriving in New Zealand five years ago.

Here are Kinetica’s top ten organising tips to retain those notes in your wallet:-

1. Plan your week. Now you might be thinking how does that save money? Well think about how many trips you have to make into town – if you diary the date/time to go to town and list all the things needed to be done, you can maximise your time and reduce the petrol costs and have that business meeting whilst you are there. Car pool where you can. Organise rosters for taking children to after-school activities.

2. Plan your meals. Similarly planning what you have to eat over the week means less trips to the supermarket (reducing petrol costs and saving time), less wastage and more economical meals. Put thinking time into your grocery shopping – it’s a huge expense.

3. Check your bills. Careful checking of an invoice can reveal miscalculations and errors. Check your power bill, especially at rate-change times. Or read the meter, because the power company may not, and waiting until the bill eventually arrives may cost you tens of dollars.

4. Use both sides of paper. If you don’t want to print both sides, then tear up into quarters and staple for use as a notepad by the telephone. Use every piece of paper and recycle when done.

5. Think multipurpose. If you need to purchase a new item, think how else it could be used. Be creative with your ideas so you can save space, time and money.

6. Make your own lunch. How much does it cost you to buy that prepared sandwich in the plastic non-recyclable wrapping from the deli? How much healthier and more delicious would lunch be if the sandwich was home-made at a fraction of the cost and the re-useable sectioned lunch box also contained scrummy home-baking (made in the time you saved by planning your week) and yummy fruit (bought at your weekly supermarket trip)? Start tomorrow.

7. On-sell unused goods. Declutter your home and sell all the items you no longer use. Today there are so many outlets online, through local fundraising groups and local businesses. Take every opportunity you can and strike the best deal. Recycle the rest.

8. Make your own gift cards. Re-use cards sent for special occasions and birthdays, Cut out the graphic and spend your winter evenings sticking to blank card. Make sure the size stays within the dimensions of the lowest postal rate!

9. Get creative in the kitchen. Dig out three tins of food that have been in the pantry for too long – and get creative in the kitchen.

10. Use your diary. Your diary is your key to organisation, whether on paper or electronic. Use it for reminders to save you money. For example, order firewood early, send overseas Christmas cards using economic rate and read the power metre on the rate change day.

Now that is all so easy to keep some of those well earned dollars in your wallet – it’s just like a pay rise! Visit the Health in Harmony website for more details.

Kinetica offers bespoke packages to suit clients’ individual organisational needs whether at home or in the office, offering flexibility for everyone’s budget. Free help and support is available outside the organising sessions by monthly email organising tips. Sign up today by visiting www.kinetica.co.nz

To help you keep those dollars in the wallet, Kinetica is offering a 22% discount on a Needs Assessment. A representative will visit your home or office for a one hour organisation assessment. The visit will be followed by an action plan and six weekly telephone calls as you work through the organisation process. All for $140+gst. Offer is valid for August & September 2009 and for Wanaka area residents only. Show this page to qualify for the discount.

Keep counting those cents.

Author:Katy Macpherson runs office and home organising consultancy Kinetica. She’s available to help you get your paper in order with a personalised consultation. Contact Katy today: 03 443 6224, 021 154 5511, katy@kinetica.co.nz or check out www.kinetica.co.nz

Acai Berry Information – How Does Acai Berry Work?

‘Get Real’ National Plastic Bag Campaign Launched

Sophie Ward from Sustainable Wanaka is looking for your support in a New Zealand wide plastic bag use reduction campaign. How can you help?

As many of you know I have been working locally on plastic bag reduction for a few years and in this time Wanaka has embraced the change with 40% of shoppers saying no to plastic bags.  However our efforts here could be extended to inspired change on a national level.

I have been working with Wanaka Wastebusters on a National GetReal Plastic Bag campaign which we launched last week.

We are lobbying strongly for the major NZ retailers Progressive (Foodtown, Woolworths and Countdown) and Foodstuffs (New World, Pak n Save, 4Square) to stop giving away plastic bags for free.  By charging a small amount for plastic bags countries such as Ireland and Taiwan have achieved 80% reduction in plastic bags in 3 months.  Even The Warehouse is following this lead and will start charging from 20th April this year.

In our first week we have grabbed the attention of national media and even John Key has made a statement on the issue.

Now what we need is your support.  Do you want supermarkets to stop giving away plastic bags for free?  Then I urge you to log onto the site and spend 5 minutes online to join our campaign.

If you have friends or family who also take an interest in environmental issues please pass on the link to the site so they can join us too.  The more support we have, the more likely we are to have a good outcome on reducing plastic bag usage and the ability to go on and build a series of effective campaigns around packaging issues.

This is important and will lead the way to much greater change on the packaging front.  We hope that you will add your voice of concern at www.getreal.org.nz

Subscribe & Win!

Subscribe to Win:

Join the health in harmony community and win… A lucky subscriber just won a free therapeutic massage (back walking optional) And we have lots more prizes to give away…

Newsletter subscribers enjoy a chance to win exciting prizes, including adventure tourism activities and health spa treatments and much more.

Current Prize Draws

• Shadina Hair & Massage studio Queenstown offer combine hair design and relaxation.
  Win a therapeutic Thai Massage and infrared sauna.
• Body Sanctum Queenstown specialise in indulgence and pampering.
  Win an hour long massage.
• Holistic Health-Care have a unique Vega-test to diagnose individual issues in the body – including how to free yourself of allergys.
  Win a free Vega-test session with Marg.
• Yoga Wanaka offer a broad range of classes.
  Win a Yoga Wanaka restorative Thai Yoga Session.
• Go for adventure.
  Win a Heli Moutain Bike trip in Queenstown.

It couldn’t be easier… Sign up for our newsletter and be in to win any one of these prizes.

Facing The Fear and Anxiety of The Unknown

Author Stanley Popovich offers ways to deal with uncertainty with minimum stress in uncertain times… Essential reading with a constant stream of anxiety-inducing financial news dominating the media:

Almost everybody worries about what will happen in the future. The prospect of not knowing if something good or bad will happen to you in the near future can produce a lot of fear and anxiety. As a result, here is a list of techniques and suggestions on how to manage this fear of dealing with the unknown.

Remember: It Might Not Happen

Remember that no one can predict the future with one hundred percent certainty. Even if the thing that you feared does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage. For instance, let’s say at your place of work that you miss the deadline for a project you have been working on for the last few months. Everything you feared is coming true. Suddenly, your boss comes to your office and tells you that the deadline is extended and that he forgot to tell you the day before. This unknown factor changes everything. Remember: we may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

“One Day At A Time”

Learn to take it one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or coming month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your problems. When the time comes, hopefully you will have learned the skills to deal with your situation.

Self-Visualize to Prepare For Challenges

Sometimes, we can get anxious over a task that we will have to perform in the near future. When this happens, visualize yourself doing the task in your mind. For instance, you and your team have to play in the championship volleyball game in front of a large group of people in the next few days. Before the big day comes, imagine yourself playing the game in your mind. Imagine that you’re playing in front of a large audience. By playing the game in your mind, you will be better prepared to perform for real when the time comes. Self-Visualization is a great way to reduce the fear and stress of a coming situation and increase your self-confidence.

Distract Yourself

Remember take a deep breath and try to find something to do to get your mind off of you anxieties and stresses. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper, watch TV, play on the computer or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things. This will distract you from your current worries.

Bottom Line: Worrying Changes Nothing

A lot of times, our worrying can make the problem even worse. All the worrying in the world will not change anything. All you can do is to do your best each day, hope for the best, and when something does happen, take it in stride.  If you still have trouble managing your anxiety of the future, then talking to a counselor or clergyman can be of great help. There are ways to help manage your fear and all it takes is some effort to find those answers.

Author: Stan Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” – an easy to read book that presents a general overview of techniques that are effective in managing persistent fears and anxieties. For additional information go to: www.managingfear.com