Hey y'all,
(Actually I figure I don't really have any readers at this point, which is just as well.)
In an effort to regain some confidence in my writing, I've decided to start this blog back up and do a daily thing where I spend an hour rambling about what I've been learning or thinking about. I'm taking a lot of really interesting classes at the moment, which means I have a lot of thoughts cascading around in my head. I'm also working on my undergrad thesis, but not being in a habit of writing has caused me a lot of problems lately.
Even getting this down has been a struggle so far. Phew. Ok. Time to get moving.
I guess I'll kick things off by discussing a project I'm interested in doing: a composting port-a-potty. Of course, it's much more complicated than that, but that's really the only way to describe it. Last fall I was introduced to a really awesome book: A Toolbox for Sustainable City Living, by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew (PDF here, buy on Amazon here). Super inspiring, definitely worth a read if you're interested in that stuff. The best part is that they have schematics and instructions for how to build things they describe, instead of just talking about how they work. For example, there's a huge section on water management: how to create an aquaculture setup, how to capture rainwater effectively, and how to purify greywater with constructed wetlands. Anyway for whatever reason, I was thoroughly intrigued by the waste-management section, especially in terms of how to take care of human poop. Maybe I just have a sick mind, but human waste has always, like, interested me? Like, not in a sexual way, no thanks, not me (not my kink). But the fact that there's so much of a taboo about it. (For example, I clogged the toilet at my boyfriend's house and had to ask his dad where the plunger was. I was so embarrassed.) Also, think about fact that we poop in purified water. Like, any other used water from the house is considered graywater. But poopwater is blackwater, and must be handled with care so as to not spread human pathogens. Wouldn't it be better if we just didn't contaminate the water in the first place?
Enter the composting toilet. It takes your poop and turns it into compost. Some like to call it "humanure." I am one of those people.
The idea is simple. Farmers and gardeners use livestock manure to fertilize their crops, so why not use our own? Also, if you're eating from your own garden, recycling your poop means that you don't permanently take away nutrients from your hungry plants. Your kitchen scraps are just a fraction of what your babies grow for you. (Most popular crops are annuals and therefore less than a year old and therefore are babies.)
Unfortunately, there is a problem here. The law. Specifically city code. Scott and Stacy go more in-depth, but basically city admins don't like when people keep their shit in their yard. The fear is sanitation. True, in the past there have been issues. I think back to when people were first getting used to living in cities: they'd just dump their shit out the window onto the street, and then everyone got cholera and died. Well, not literally everyone, but it is definitely an issue to consider. However, the way we're doing things now, we're taking all the yuck (as well as all the water), putting it in a giant pipe, maybe cleaning some of it, and dumping it somewhere else. I wouldn't want to be wherever the end of that pipe is! Poor fish. Composting your shit, in contrast, feeds the nutrient cycle in a garden, creating more wealth instead of just making a mess somewhere else. Yay!
So I want to switch the focus a little bit. I've gone on long enough about how poop needs to go somewhere, but not so much about the fact that it needs to come out of us first! Having to poop sucks, especially when there's something else important going on, especially when you're not home and able to go in your own bathroom. Like, for example, when at a political demonstration!
Yeah, I know, that was a bit of a reach. But not really. I was at a rally recently and after like an hour I really had to pee! I'm thankful that I wasn't too far from campus, and was able to get back without too much struggle. But with protests, rallies, and demonstrations becoming commonplace due to the political climate here in the US, I know I'm not the only one who has had this issue. In the Toolbox, Scott & Stacy included an anecdote from when there were a lot of protests happening in Florida: Someone attached a toilet seat to the top of a 55-gallon barrel, strapped it onto a cargo tricycle, threw a tarp over the top for privacy, and rode it into battle, so to speak. It was a big hit, apparently. I wish they had written more about it, but I guess I could just drive over to Albany and talk to Scott myself.
So at the moment I'm working through designing a portable latrine, basically. I want it to be easy to use for anyone who may be at a protest. I don't like the idea of climbing up a ladder and covering myself with a tarp in order to relieve myself. While all the basic essential elements are there (storage, privacy, a seat), the construction is ramshackle, and I'd like to make something that looks a little more elegant. I want to be able to hitch it to a bike, but also to detach it. The storage bins need to be able to be removed when full so the contents can be left to compost. I'm thinking it would be useful to separate the urine and feces, since poop requires 2 years to cure and urine can be applied to garden soil immediately (diluted, of course). I'd also like to have both a sit-down stall and a urinal stall.
Anyway, I don't have a set design yet, and I feel like I'm going to need to start building it and go through a couple iterations because I'm really not very good at keeping my drawings to scale. With a design in which every cubic inch counts, I can't be off on my measurements. I'll include pictures next time I post about this, too.
Well that's it for now. It was nice chatting. Have a good rest of your day.
