How to Make Your Home & Neighborhood Greener, Cheaper, & More Comfortable!
Discover how to foster thriving urban spaces through practical strategies promoting affordable housing and strong community engagement. Learn how water-harvesting green infrastructure initiatives and passive sun and shade harvesting can contribute to sustainable living within the urban community, supported by effective local government policies. We’ll explore the role of community building in fostering resilient neighborhoods and rain-irrigated native food forests.
CHAPTERS
1:53 How orienting a building to the winter sun can heat it in winter and cool it in summer for free.
3:25 How orienting our trees to the winter sun can heat adjoining buildings and spaces in winter and shade/cool them in summer for free.
4:05 How to irrigate vegetation for free with free on-site waters.
6:27 How to increase available rainfall (even in dry climates) and soil fertility with water-harvesting topography
10:02 How rain gardens can provide 10 times more flood control capacity than conventional flood control systems
12:59 How household greywater can meet the majority of our outdoor irrigation needs.
13:35 How we can direct laundry greywater to the landscape with gravity.
14:40 How three-way valves can direct greywater to sewer or landscape.
18:13 How wall exterior wall color and shade can cool or heat buildings for free.
19:21 How to shade and cool buildings from the noonday sun in summer (but let in the winter sun for winter cooling) with roof overhangs or awnings
21:38 How to maintain access to the winter sun with solar rights.
24:22 How to use Winter Solstice Shadow Ratio for you latitude to maintain access to winter sun.
25:09 How to enliven public rights-of-ways by harvesting street runoff for free irrigation of native food-bearing vegetation
27:12 Street-runoff-harvesting “eddy” basins that reduce erosion and maintenance
28:02 Water-harvesting rebates
28:42 Street-runoff-harvesting street curb cores
29:26 Why organic matter mulch is superior to rock or gravel mulch
30:43 Street runoff harvesting is inspired by the ancient Native American practice of Ak-chin runoff harvesting
31:22 How we can transform bleak dehydrated water-draining parking lots into verdant rehydrated water-harvesting parking lots
31:35 Commercial property water-harvesting ordinance
32:28 Water-draining topography versus water-harvesting topography, what what that means for flooding, comfort, and water sustainability
32:41 Rain garden planting zones, their different microclimates, and how to select right plants for right zone
33:42 In-street stormwater harvesting and traffic-calming
34:56 Street-runoff-irrigated native food forestry
35:51 Why native plants are better than non-native plants for supporting wildlife
37:40 Transforming public space for greater safety, joy, and community interaction
38:21 Making public pathways more accessible and inviting for all ages and abilities
39:54 Transforming Anti-oasis landscapes into True-oasis landscapes
40:09 Public art and Totem Species telling the story and spotlighting the potential of our community’s ecological health
41:56 How wetlands are being restored with simple hand-built rock structures and the resulting wetland vegetation that increases the water harvesting are bringing back water flow and firefly populations.
44:28 Where to get more info and all the how-to details for all strategies covered in the talk
THE 5-PART DOCUMENTARY ON BILL ZEEDYK AND THOSE HE HAS INSPIRED – Thinking Like Water:
https://thinkinglikewater.com/
Bill Zeedyk’s book is “Let the Water Do the Work”
https://quiviracoalition.org/product/let-the-water-do-the-work-induced-meandering-and-evolving-method-for-restoring-incised-channels/
FREE WATER-HARVESTING RESOURCES:
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/
FOR INFO ON OUR NEIGHBORHOOD RAIN-IRRIGATED NATIVE FOOD FORESTRY see:
https://dunbarspringneighborhoodforesters.org/
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See the new, full-color, revised editions of Brad’s award-winning books
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