Regarding Toilets

In Chapter 5, Roseland discusses ways that our society uses water, and potential opportunities for conserving that water. I started thinking about one of the most consistent ways that we use water everyday: the toilet. According to the US Geological Survey, the average toilet uses 3 gallons per flush. At an average of 3 times a day, you are looking at 3285 gallons a year, probably the largest single culprit of water waste in your home (unless you are taking really really long showers).

So.. what are some ways to reduce toilet water? One method that popped up on several internet searches was to use a plastic bottle to convert your toilet to a low flush toilet. Watch this handy video below:

According to the video, this easy method can save 25% of the water with every flush, bringing your yearly output down to around 2464 gallons. Still a lot, but better.

Now, let's say you are willing to spend some dough on a toilet upgrade. What are your options? First is a dual flush toilet, that lets you choose your level of water output in a "binary fashion" between large and small, for obvious reasons. My first exposure to dual flush toilets was my first time to Japan, where all toilets have dual flush options (along with many other options, such as seat heating and bidet functionality, but we won't get into that here). Apparently the technology was first invented by an Australian!

大=big, 小=small

Although dual-flush is certainly not the standard in the U.S. yet, a quick look around online shows a range of dual-flush toilets available, generally around $400-800. That is a pretty hefty investment for a young homeowner, with a payback period of around 3-5 years, depending on the source. However, there is also a DIY approach to dual flush. Conversion kits are available for as low as $30.

So, let's do the math once again. If one converts to a dual-flush toilet, either by new model or DIY, let's assume two flushes per day are of the smaller quantity variety. With the changes our daily output comes to an average of 6 gallons a day, which with the low-flow conversion (plastic bottle) above turns into about 4.5 gallons a day, for an annual output of about 1640 gallons. Still a significant number, but about 1/2 as much as when we started, and for only $30 and at max a few hours of work!

Project Update #1

The Campus Garden on a beautiful misty Friday morning.

I have decided to focus the scope of my personal project, and concentrate on learning about the local food supply chain in a hands-on way. At the Big Red Eats Green Festival I had the chance to speak with some representatives from the IU Campus Garden initiative and wanted to get involved, so I went to my first workday last Friday. I spent the morning weeding, watering trees, and picking a lot of tomatoes of several varieties!

Just a small sample of the yellow cherry tomatoes I picked. Sweet like candy!

In addition to the tomatoes, I also harvested basil, kale, lemon cucumbers, bell peppers, and a whole watermelon to take home with me. There was also swiss chard, but I didn't take that as my wife hates swiss chard (she claims it tastes like beets.

Freshly picked watermelon! 

After the harvest, I sat down with Sara, the Campus Garden coordinator, to talk about ways to get involved with the garden outside of the regular workdays. The garden as a good relationship with  the IU RPS (residential programs & services), and contributes the bulk of its produce to be used in the dining halls. The biggest challenge in this program is making sure all food goes through correct sanitation procedures before delivery. We talked about possibly formalizing a process to make this easier for volunteers and increase the efficiency of food coming from the garden to the dining halls. 

In addition to food from the campus garden, there is a push to source more local food to the dining halls and student union in general. It is one thing when the food is free, but another when the campus has to purchase local food from outside farms. Sara said this can get tricky and there are sometimes complications and disagreements regarding pricing and regulations (for example, what level of organic certification is required?), but offered to put me in touch with one of the people managing this program. With my particular interest in supply chain and vendor management, I am very curious to see what the specific issues are involved in sustainable sourcing on the local level. 

So, it was a successful visit, and I look forward to not only getting more involved with the campus garden this semester, but also doing some research into the food supply chain of the IU RPS. Stay tuned for more!

Big Red Go Green

I like food, and when given the opportunity to eat something and write about it for class credit, you better believe I am going to show up! Last Friday I checked out the Big Red Go Green Food Fair to learn about some of the restaurants serving locally grown food, and campus initiatives to learn more about the local food movement.

Big Red Go Green Food Fair

The first restaurant I ate from was the Upland Brewery. Sadly they were not serving beer, but I did have a sample of a delicious mozzerela caprese sandwich, for only a dollar!

Upland Brewery Caprese Sandwich

Next, I visited the booth of the IU Community Gardens. I have been wanting to try my hand at gardening for a while now, and it could work well with my class project. So, I am planning to start volunteering there next week. Keep tuned for more blog posts about that.

IU Community Gardens: Campus Garden Initiative

One of my first memories of Bloomington was the Dean of the business school telling us incoming MBAs that his favorite restaurant was Restaurant Tallent. After looking at the pricey menu once, I never thought I would have a chance to sample their goods- well I was wrong!

I had myself a delicious BBQ squash sandwich and watermelon limeade.  

It was nice to see some of the more well known local restaurants out, but I would have liked a little more information on CSAs and where to buy local ingredients myself, other than the usual suspects like the farmers' market and Bloomingfoods. I suppose that will take a bit more research!

Reactions to 'Plight and Prospect'

Whenever I visit a new town or city, I always find myself asking my hosts why there is a city there. Did their city grow up because of a bay or river useful for shipping? A particularly fertile tract of farmland? A crossroads of railroad or highway to serve as a logistics hub? Or is it a city like Phoenix Arizona, for which one can find little reason for it to exist for natural reasons?

Some examples from my own life: Minneapolis, where I lived for 3 years prior to moving to Bloomington, grew up as a milling town around St. Anthony Falls. This is the only major waterfall on the entire Mississippi River, which combined with good farmland nearby made Minneapolis into the grain milling capital of the country starting in the 19th century. The city is still home to such food business giants as General Mills, Pillsbury (since bought out by GM), and Cargill. So say what you will about these corporate behemoths, at least they have a "natural" reason to be where they are.

I spent my high school years in Champaign Illinois, which was basically a swamp until the railroad arrived in the 1850s. The need for a stop on the new rail line caused the town to drain most of the swamps, getting rid of most of Champaign's forested areas. Now, aside from a few areas of town Champaign is mostly forest-less aside from a few nature preserves and protected areas. It should also be noted that Champaign is on top of a major aquifer, and surrounded by prairie that serves as prime farmland thanks to the glacial soil. So one wonders why people chose to settle in swampland?

McHarg discusses how human settlements should ideally grow up around terrains that are naturally suited towards these settlements, and how these areas should be developed according to their natural processes. So, Minneapolis and Champaign would be examples of what McHarg would consider "good" and "bad": Minneapolis grew up around a river and used that resource responsibly, while Champaign took swampy forested land and transformed it into something supposedly more fit for human settlement.

If natural or physical capital were taken into consideration when planning a city, perhaps a place like Champaign would look much different, and the swamps that were drained could play a role in water storage, especially given their pivotal point between surface water and a aquifer. Or maybe Champaign could have been a center of aquaculture, especially considering the recent introduction (and potential commercialization?) of Asian Carp into Illinois.

Introduction

Hello! I am an MBA student at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, majoring in supply chain management. My interest in sustainability & 'green business' has led me to take some courses at IU's School of Public Environmental Affairs (SPEA)  to learn more about how to integrate the concepts of sustainability into my career and personal life. One of these classes is SPEA V515 Sustainable Communities, which looks at the micro-economic and philosophical aspects of sustainability for cities, communities, and in one's own life.

One of the reasons I chose to study supply chain in business school is that I am continually fascinated by where stuff comes from, and love to attempt to unravel puzzles of figuring out our globalized world. This is by no means groundbreaking work, but for my SPEA V515 personal project I would like to look at the foods I eat on a weekly basis and try to break down where they come from!

A little about my current eating habits: I am no locavore, and I do not eat strictly organic food. I have a tendency towards organic produce from the farmers' market or local co-op, but more out of a appreciation for the taste/freshness than out of ethical leanings (I suppose the ethics are a fringe benefit?). I love meat as one piece of the entire food pyramid, but currently my wife & I are taking a break from it and trying to eat vegetarian for the fall, mostly for health reasons.

Because my diet consists of local, non-local organic, and industrial foods, I thought this blog might serve as a way to compare and contrast the different supply chains. Who knows, some industrial foods might not be so bad for the environment. Some 'organic' products may be not so great. I am interested to see what comes up, and perhaps it will serve a a catalyst for a diet transformation in my own life.