Virere

In July of 2009 I wrote about the possibility that Sea Shepherd might lose it’s Dutch Certificate of Registry. This due to pressure from the Japanese government to revoke the certificate. Almost a year later Sea Shepherd can still sail under the Dutch flag.

The reason for this is that under current Dutch law it’s not that easy to revoke a certificate for the ships of the Sea Shepherd organisation. To actually make this possible the previous Dutch Government made a proposal to change the law with rules that allows the Dutch government to revoke a certificate far more easily.

Changing, or amending, a law in itself is a lengthy process and this would secure the Sea Shepherd’s Dutch Certificate for almost a year. Considering it’s a reasonable controversial topic among Dutch citizens and the different political parties could lengthen the process even longer (considering a foreign country is pressuring The Netherlands).

In February this year the Dutch government fell due to a disagreement about our military policy for the Afghan province Orūzgān. And this led to the placement of the changes for the ship registration law on a list of controversial changes. This means that the current rump parliament cannot decide on, or implement, the change.

The decision if the changes will be added to the law will continue after the Dutch elections in July.

In my new home I finally had the room for my own washing machine. And when I had my first laundry day I found out that I had forgotten to buy fabric softener. And naive as  was I did my laundry without fabric softener. Something I regretted when I came out of the shower and dried my face with a towel. It felt darn close to taking a grater to my face.

So doing your own laundry without a fabric softener isn’t a good idea. This did make me wonder though.

What does it do?

I wouldn’t be me if I hadn’t wondered what fabric softeners do. So I started reading up on fabric softeners and what they do and how they do it. During my search on the internet I stumbled across a thread on a forum where someone recommended using cleaning vinegar as a fabric softener. I never heard of someone using vinegar in such a way, so I dug a bit deeper on the subject.

One of the first things mentioned is that vinegar is hypo alergenic, and thus perfect for anyone with sensitive skin or allergies. It seems it’s even better then hypo allergenic fabric softeners.

It also functions the same as normal fabric softeners as it:

• Removes any detergent left in your clothing.
• Prevents scale from settling in your clothes (which is the main reason it works as a fabric softener).
• Prevents leeching of colour (didn’t find anything that actually confirms this claim).

After reading all that information I was curious enough to actually try it myself.

Experimenting with vinegar

The hardest part with this experiment was figuring out how much vinegar I should use so that it would act as a fabric softener. There are a lot of tips in the internet recommending vinegar as a replacement. However, almost no practical information about how to use it is available.

After a lot of digging I found a few numbers on an American forum. The users there used around half a cup, to one cup, of vinegar for their washing machines. Considering the size and efficiency differences with European washing machines I settled on a starting dose of 50ml (almost 1/4 cup).

After using the 50ml of vinegar as a replacement for fabric softeners I did notice a difference in the softness of my laundry. Although it wasn’t really a good result. So I started experimenting with dosages between 75ml and 100ml of vinegar (depending on the load in my washing machine). And this change did the trick.

My laundry now felt almost as soft, as soft, or even softer compared to laundry washed with a fabric softener. I still don’t know exactly what causes the “performance” differences. However I have the suspicion it has to do with how fast my laundry dries, and the fact that I dry my laundry on a clothesline (which is probably the biggest contributor to the varying results).

I save quite a lot of electricity by using a clothes line instead of a clothes dryer. The fact that this impacts how soft my laundry is has to do with movement. As fabric tumbles around in a clothes dryer the movement breaks up any scale in your laundry, this makes the fabric feel softer and fluffier. The same thing happens when you dry you clothes on a clothesline on a windy day. But considering I have my clothesline indoors, I can’t take benefit of this effect.

Also I have noticed that the result depends on the quality of the fabrics you use. Of course this has to do with how well the used fabrics are made, but this is not the point I’m trying to make here. Quality of a fabric deteriorates due to wear and tear, and this influences how well vinegar works as a fabric softener. I have some very old towels (I ‘inherited’ them from my parents, and I can remember my parents having them at least for 10 years) and every time I washed them I noticed that the vinegar doesn’t work as well on them as on my new towels. A fabric softener does a lot better in that situation than vinegar. And this effect is there in fabrics that aren’t as old and worn, although almost not noticeable (if you do, it’s time to replace the items in question, as I’m doing with the towels).

Also one thing I was comprehensive about was how my laundry would smell after I used vinegar as  a fabric softener. Would it smell like vinegar or some other unpleasant odour? To my relief it didn’t smell, it didn’t smell of much really. It just smells like clean and freshly washed laundry. The only time it did smell like vinegar was when I used to much. And I only smelled it for a few seconds when the fabrics would get wet (I only smelled it when I was drying my face, and it vanished so fast the first two times I wasn’t sure if I actually had smelled it).

In total it just took me about 5 laundry days to figure out how to use it. Which is fast for something with not much practical information about on the internet.

Environmental impact

One of the nenefits of vinegar, being as efficient as it is in breaking down scale and removing suds, is that it will extend the life of your washing machine. Parts will not suffer the wear and tear from the build up of suds, and most importantly, scale. As scale is one of biggest contributors to wear and tear to the parts of your washing machine.

So your washing machine will last longer, without as much maintenance, and usage of replacement parts. Which reduces the amount of waste coming out of your household (and saving you money at the same time). So less material ends up in landfills or has to be recycled.

Considering cleaning vinegar only contains acetic acid and water it really can’t do much harm to the environment. However I do recommend trying to find a cleaning vinegar that has been made from organic sources, as vinegar can be made from petrochemicals (chemicals extracted from mineral oil).

Also vinegar is biodegradable as it is an organic compound. It does use oxygen during its degrading process, so it can pull oxygen from the waterways it is released in. Although this shouldn’t be a problem for water passing through a sewage treatment plant (and for your local environment vinegar is the least of it’s problem if untreated sewage is released into it). It also readily degrades in anaerobic conditions (no oxygen environments).

I can’t find any really good information on the environmental effects of fabric softeners. The only one that I dare list, as it is the least “paranoid” on the subject, is the website sixwise. It is true that fabric softeners contain quite a lot of different chemicals to produce the desired effects. And some of them can be quite nasty in certain dosages. I dare not say anything on this subject as I don’t have the data.

That said, I rather err on the safe side with our already stressed ecosystems. And rather recommend vinegar than a regular fabric softener.

How to use it

As vinegar removes scale and sudge from the inside of your washing machine you can be left with an enormous mess if you use it for the first time with laundry in the machine. You can image that this isn’t a good experience if you, or any one else, uses vinegar for the first time (I didn’t have this problem as my washing machine is brand new).

So before you try this out for yourself, follow these instructions: pour 100ml (almost half a cup) of vinegar in the detergent dispenser of your washing machine, and let it run a complete cycle without any laundry in it. Repeat till there is no foam in your washing machine at the end of the cycle, and no foam in the water during a cycle (do not add more as the vinegar itself can foam if you overload water with it).

For my washing machine, with a load capacity of 6kg, and the water hardness I have I’m quite happy with 75ml of vinegar per load. Ofcourse, your milage may vary.

A general rule of thumb is:

• The harder the water your have, the more vinegar you need. If you have very hard water start with 100ml of vinegar per load (assuming your load capacity is the same). For moderate hard and for very soft water you need 75ml of vinegar.
• The higher the load capacity of your washing machine, the more vinegar you need. Giving an exact figure for this is hard as it depends on the amount of water used by your machine. Try adding 25ml more if you aren’t satisfied with the softness of your laundry.
• The more water your washing machine uses, you need to add more vinegar. Here I can’t give you an exact figure, as this is also greatly dependent on when and how your washing machine uses it’s water. Try adding 25ml extra if you have an older washing machine and see if you’re happy with the results.

If the above is a bit to complecated (I would probably find it that way if I wanted to use vinegar for the first time), just start with 75ml of vinegar for a new washing machine. And use 100ml if you have a larger one than mine or if yours is older than 4 years.

And use the general rule of thumb instructions for adjustments and understanding how the vinegar might work in your situation. And if you run into a snag along the way, or have questions, just ask me for help. I did the work so you don’t have to.

Good luck and have fun experimenting.

UPDATE: Sea Shepherd’s Registry safe, for now

The Dutch cabinet wants to revoke the Dutch Certificate of Registry currently being used by the Sea Shepherd organisation for two of its ships. This after complaints from the Japanese government about the tactics used by the organisation. The ships in question are the Farley Mowat and the Steve Irwin.

If the Certificate of Registry is revoked than the two ships aren’t allowed to sail under the Dutch flag anymore. And the organisation would need to apply for a new certificate for their ships from the Dutch government, or gain a certificate from another country. Which would effectively mean that the two ships can’t sail until they have a new certificate, as they wouldn’t have any legal status under maritime law (their legal status would be dubious at best).

Although not everybody might agree with the tactics employed by the organisation (there are certainly a few uncertainties about what exactly happens during their campaigns). Almost nobody has qualms with their primary mission as stated on their website:

Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

The activity they are most famous for is interfering with Japanese whalers. This by placing their ships between the Japanese whaling fleet, and generally hindering them in any way possible. For example by throwing rotten eggs or rancid butter bombs on the decks of the Japanese ships. Due to the close proximity of the vessels during such operations there have been accidents in the past where ships have collided with each other.

This has sparked the Japanese government to submit their complaints to the Dutch government with a demand for action. This despite the global opposition against the industry, and the fact that the industry isn’t profitable anymore. The whaling industry wouldn’t even exist anymore if governments wouldn’t subsidise it.

For those who can understand Dutch can follow the report from the Dutch news organisation RTL Nieuws on their website.

UPDATE: Sea Shepherd’s Registry safe, for now

The past month I haven’t published any new articles on this blog as ‘life happened’ as I like to call it. Due to several deadlines at work, and way to much social obligations, I didn’t have time to write new articles. Or even finish some of the draft articles.

As the projects I’ve been so busy with at work now are coming to a close, normal services will be resumed shortly. So somewhere during the next two weeks you should see the first of the new articles coming online.

The articles I have planned for the coming weeks deal with “greening your laundry”, “balcony composting”, the promised electricity baseline information, and results from my balcony garden. This list is far from complete, so expect a few unannounced articles.

In the article ‘Housing cooperative Woonbedrijf gets greener‘ I talked about the new green energy used by housing cooperative Woonbedrijf for public lightning and collective heating. I did however had several questions about the energy supplied and how green it is.

After several exchanges with Woonbedrijf, and their supplier WoonEnergie, I have the answers to my questions:

Does the green electricity come from 100% renewable resources?
This answer was a definite yes from WoonEnergie. They use hydropower for 95,2 %, wind for 4,7 % and biomass for 0,1 % of the electricity they deliver under their green label.

Is the green electricity guaranteed green?
What I didn’t know when I asked this question was that a law had been passed in my country that mandates that companies must deliver the kind of electricity they promise. Which was pointed out to me by WoonEnergie when I asked this question.
So if WoonEnergie claims they use the electricity mix mentioned above, they are required by law to deliver this mix. So if they don’t have enough power for their customers they must buy electricity that comes from renewable resources.

How is the natural gas used for the collective heating green?
Via WoonEnergie I found out that the natural gas supplies is standard uncompensated natural gas. And they never claimed that they compensated for the natural gas, or that it is green in any other way.
This was an textual inconsistency in the article written by Woonbedrijf. So that it looked in the text that this was the case.

So all the electricity used for public lighting and other uses around and in the public areas for buildings maintained by Woonbedrijf come from 100% renewable resources. I asked Woonbedrijf how much green electricity they now use so that I could calculate how much carbon emissions they are saving. However the employee I asked said he didn’t have that information and further enquiries for this information went unanswered. A shame as this would give them some free publicity.

I commend Woonbedrijf for listening to their tenants to use electricity from renewable resources. However for public heating they use natural gas, so improvements can still be made. Like using super efficient boilers, using solar boilers or maybe even by using geothermal heat pumps (which would be great addition to high rises with a large parking space next to it).

So there is still a great deal that can be done to make Woonbedrijf greener, however they did make a large step towards making their buildings green.

Since last Wednesday the city Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, is testing a electric garbage truck which is powered by the burning of the household garbage it collects. This is a world first according to Van Gansewinkel.

The project is jointly launched with Rotterdam Climate Initiative (RCI) and Roteb. The use of an electric garbage truck is part of the efforts of RCI to achieve sustainable mobility in Rotterdam. RCI is the platform within which government, organizations, businesses and residents in Rotterdam work together to halve CO2 emissions and at the same time try to strengthen the economy in Rotterdam.

The garbage truck uses hydraulic vegetable oil instead of normal hydraulic oil. And has a top speed of 32 km/h with a range of 60 kilometres per charge. According to Van Gansewinkel the garbage truck should annually save 15 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared to a diesel powered garbage truck.

If this test is successful Rotterdam plans to buy more of these vehicles to replace ageging garbage trucks in their fleet.

Like I said I would in the article “Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Home Grown is sustainable“, I put my money where my mouth is. With the help of a friend I bought all the supplies needed to start the container garden on my balcony. And with just three hours of work I planted and seeded all the plants.

I did splurge a bit of money on the containers I used. As this is the balcony I spend most of my time on, and guests sitting in my living room can see this balcony. So this time asthetics was important for me when I selected the containers and pots. But you can use almost anything as planting containers, old bath tubs, buckets or even wellies. As long as the container is big enough for the plant and doesn’t heat up to much (for evaporation and to prevent overheating of roots).

Please do however check the load bearing capacity of your balcony (I talked about this with a district manager of my housing cooperate). Not all balconies are created equal and have their individual limits, .

For the container garden I selected quite a wide selection of plants and seeds. A mix of herbs and vegetables that are reasonable easy to grow (the tomatoes are the exception, they can be fussy). And some just to see if I’d like them. This selection is:

• Thyme
• Lemon Thyme
• Dill
• Parsley
• Chives
• Sage
• Lavender
• Coriander
• Chili
• Tomatoes (cherry)
• Pods
• Spinach
• Mixed lettuce
• Choi sum
• Pak Choy
• Nasturtium (edible flowers)
• Camomile (also known as Matricaria recutita or German chamomile)
• Dwarf sunflowers (red and yellow)
• Pansies

As I need to give the plants time to get established I haven’t sown all the plants I wan’t to try. The plants which will be sown at a later date are:

• Basil (green and purple)
• Chard
• Lambs lettuce
• Purslane
• Spring onions

All plants listed are edible (the plant itself, the flowers or seeds), however not all will be used for cooking. For example the camomile is a medicinal plant. And the sunflowers have a more decorative/insect habitat function than a food production function (hulling a lot of sunflower seeds is no fun). To further help attract insects and polinators I seeded two containers with fieldflowers (the pansies, camomile, lavender and nasturtium have this as a secondary function).

As it was outside the budget I had for buying containers and plants I didn’t add any fruit producing plants/bushes/dwarf trees to my container garden. The plants I want to add at a later data are:

• Strawberry
• Cape Gooseberry
• Wild strawberry (if I can find a supplier)
• Meyer lemon tree (if I can find a supplier)
• Honeyberry (a maybe)
• Kiwi vines (a maybe)

I’m still reading about fruit bearing plants that are suitable for container gardening which also have at least a reasonable yield for the effort invested in them.

All the plants mentioned are grown, at the moment, on about 5 square meter. Which is the highest density of plants I’ve tried to date. So not everything will work, and it could mean I have to reorganise where I grow certain plants. However, one of the combinations I’m growing, tomatoes and basil, is traditionally grown together. So for them I won’t expect problems.

Also I’m curious how well the containers and pots will hold up on my balcony. As water evaporation from containers and the water needs for plants on a south facing balcony can be an issue. I did however select a potting soil that is specifically designed for balcony use, and is peat frea. So far it’s working fine (I’ve been using it already for four weeks, as you can see in one of the pictures). So I’ll be watching the health and condition of my plants closely.

During the next few weeks there won’t be much news on the garden front. As it will take a while for the plants to grow and become productive.

A couple of months ago there was an article on Treehugger with the name ‘Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Neither is Sustainable‘. Which is a good article about the current problems we face with switching to a more environmental friendly way of producing our food.

The main problems mentioned boil down to the following points:

1. Current farming methods are energy and water intensive and can’t be sustained in the long run. As they are largely dependent oil used to run equipment and to provide the fertilizers for crops. Water will also become more and more of a problem due to climate change.
2. Widely used organic farming is more labor intensive and can’t provide the same amount of food as above method (you need 2 to 3 times as much land for the same amount of food). The loss in yield comes from the fact that there’s a larger loss to pests and diseases as no conventional herbicides/fungicides/pesticides are used (rejects from supermarkets are also higher as a lot more of the organically grown produce doesn’t meet the ‘pretty standard‘).
3. Even if organic farming methods are used they still have to compete with conventional farming methods on price. And so they have to cut costs somewhere. This can result in less than desirable effects like using trucking on manure from feedlots or exploiting workers (extreme low pay, bad insurance, etcetera).

Above points aren’t all the problems and issues mention in the Treehugger article, it does however outline the main issues mentioned in the article.

The alternative to ‘conventional’ organic farming

There’s no question in my mind that we can’t continue with conventional farming as it can’t be sustained in the long run. Due to the damage it causes to the environment and the cracks it already is showing.

I also agree with the main point in the Treehugger article that current organic farming methods won’t work in the long run. These methods are a more environmental friendly method of farming, however, they are a offshoot of conventional farming. They still use massive amounts of energy (farming equipment) and it can’t produce enough food to feed everyone without harming the environment due to habitat loss. Not with the current system we are using.

So with what does this leave us you might think, if neither is an option? In such cases, going of the beaten path could give us our solution. And with all the reading I do about the environment I’ve come across a method which actually looks really promising. It creates habitats for wildlife, makes wasteland productive again, doesn’t require a lot of maintenance and has quite high yields and diversity.

The method I’m talking about is called ‘food forests’, which is just like it sounds, a forest set up in such a way that it produces a lot of food. And most intriguing of all, you can walk away from a food forest (ones established) for a couple of years. And when you return it is still producing a lot of food. And with a little effort you can tweak it to bring it back to maximum yield with just 2 or 3 people within a couple of days work.

The following video from the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia explains how they set up such a system, how it works and how they maintain it. As they can explain the food forest method way better then I can, I’ll let them do the talking (the following movie is 1 hour and 22 minutes long, so please make yourself comfortable):

If you would combine this method with ‘traditional’ organic farming for the production of crops like grains, rice and a few other bulk crops, my gues is that you can produce most of the food we need (if not all). And this with a greatly lowered foodprint on the environment and restoration of habitat for animals.

However, like I said, most of our food. We probably still can’t produce everything we need to feed ourselves comfortably. So we need another food production system that complements on the above system to produce the rest of our food, within the current available land. And in the most ideal situation, have a surplus of food so that we can restore natural habits around the world.

The complementary method: home grown

In my opinion the best solution is growing your own food to fill in the production gap of the above methods. I have to admit, I’m biased towards this methods as my family has been growing it’s own food as far as I can remember. And I just love the quality of the produce my dad grows on his plot. Which is also quite productive, we can feed ourselves (and one to four other families) with fresh vegetables for about 6 months a year.

An example of just how productive a home garden can be is the urban farm of the Dervaes family. They have gone to the extreme as you can see from the picture below. Their garden is ridiculously productive for the amount of land they have. Producing up to 6.000 lbs of produce a year on 1/10thof an acre. They have even been awarded the ‘garden of the decade award’ by the Natural Home Magazine.

The urban farm of the Dervaes is not the system for the average person, as they spend their entire day a fair bit of their time working for the farm to produce the food they do (I stand corrected about the time your family spends on the urban farm Anais). But you have to admit, it’s an impressive demonstration of what can actually be grown on a little bit of land. And an interesting concept for vacant plots in cities.

Gardens can be a lot more productive as a gardener can tailor the plants used a lot better to the local growing conditions. Also you can give the plants a lot more individual attention. And a garden can be as large. or small, as you want it to be. So it will fit your space, your needs and the amount of time you have available. The achieved yields are actually higher than conventional farming, even if it’s organic. And it doesn’t infringe on existing habitats. And if you set it up properly it can even create habitat for a lot of animals and insects.

However not everyone has a garden for growing their own food. As they live in flats ,or their home doesn’t have a garden. For the people living in flats you can grow your own herbs on your window sill, or some vegetables on your balcony in pots/containers. Although most of them don’t have generous balconies

However for both of the above situations you can create a green roof on which they can grow their own food. The following clip from the White House youtube channel gives a nice introduction to green roofs:

If we combine these systems we can create something that’s organic, environmental friendly and has the potential to produce more food than our current systems. Combine this with a social network of swapping, trading and giving to friends and family for home grown food. Then there is no doubt in my mind that we will have created something that’s far better.

Putting my money where my mouth is

Considering the ‘mission statement‘ of this blog, this means one thing: I need to actually start growing my own food. Now this would actually be quite easy if I had a garden. As then I could use my existing knowledge (I helped my father since I’ve been a little kid) and growing vegetables and fruit in some dirt is unbelievably easy.

But alas, I live in a flat, so I don’t have any dirt I can ‘play in’. I do however have two, quite large, balconies. And this is where the experimental character comes into play. Actually growing food in containers on a balcony requires a different knowledge and skill set than gardening in a garden. I can use a lot of my knowledge about plants on a container garden. However, actually creating a good and productive environment for the plants is more difficult.

So in my experiment I’ll want to do the following things:

1. Grow as much organic vegetables/herbs as possible with as minimal effort as possible. Like everyone else I do have a day job and a social life. So spending 1 to 2 hours a day on my garden isn’t an option. And I’ll need to grow more than the odd salad bowl a month to make it worthwhile the effort.
2. Try to grow as much organic fruit as possible. This also has to meet the effort and yield requirements. Which will be hardest for the fruit, as fruit bearing trees and bushes are more demanding/picky about their needs.
3. Use as little resources as possible. For a container garden you need, among other things, potting soil, seeds, plants, containers and fertilizers. You can imagine this can use quite a lot of resources, with the potential of unpleasant consequences. So the system I set up must be as efficient as possible for the resources consumed/used.

You can image this experiment isn’t little or trivial in any way. And it can easily span years to set up an easy to use system that meets the above requirements. My estimate is that it will take me about two years to set up a basic system that works (set up in first year, tweaking in second year). And then see how far I can push that system.

So this experiment will be split in smaller projects, of which the results and updates will be posted on this site.

Wish me luck with this ambitious project/experiment.

Two weeks ago I received a newsletter/magazine from my housing cooperative Woonbedrijf. And while I was perusing the articles a side note caught my eye.

It had the title “Woonbedrijf buys gas and electricity through WoonEnergie”, with a green background colour. It told about the new construction my housing cooperative uses so that it can offer public lightning and collective heating at lower rates. It also told that they choose for green energy as many of their renters consider that import.

Now that last detail did grab my attention.

I do however have a few questions about the green energy they use, for example:

• Does the green electricity come from 100% renewable resources?
• Is the green electricity guaranteed green? (utilities often use non renewable sources if they can’t meet the demands for green electricity)
• How is the used gas for the collective heating green? Are carbon offsets used?

I’ve forwarded these questions to Woonbedrijf and I’m now waiting for their answer.

Although I do have a few questions about the green energy they use, this is still a great leap forward. As in the worst case only the electricity is largely green (due to the odd demand problem), this is still way better than using electricity generated by coal power plants.

In my own home I use guaranteed green electricity, and gas that is compensated by planting trees and investments in green energy for developing countries. Many utilities now have such packages, ask your utility if they offer this (and do ask if it is 100% green electricity. Sometimes they sell electricity as green electricity when just a percentage comes from renewable resources).

As a result of that article I’ve started thinking about my own energy consumption. So I’ve started measuring my current power consumption (for a baseline reference). After I’ve have a information about my consumption for one month I’ll try go below that baseline. So expect the first information about this ‘experiment’ in may.

In a stunning move the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases constitute a danger to public health and welfare and are subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.

With this historic decision it is now possible to regulate the amount of carbon released by industries in America. As the law specifically states that EPA “shall” (i.e. must, not may) regulate dangerous pollutants once they are found to endanger public health or welfare.

This is a very strong and definite warning towards industries which expel large quantities of carbon dioxide, or other greenhouse gasses. With a move like this I suspect that investments in, for example, coal fired power plants will slow down or stop.

Thank you president Obama on holding yourself to your promises to show leadership on global warming.