Carbon Credit Collector

Hi co-eco-flatters

So this is the first blog of the Spider Cottage. We chose this name as spiders seem to be magically attracted to our flat, inside as well as outside. I assume we might be one of the smallest flats participating in the competition, as there’s only two of us. We’re both from Germany, with me, Sol, a self-declared and soon-to-be professional wildlife conservationist, and Vu, a somewhat germanised Vietnamese with too many talents to list and an inherent love of nature. We’ve been here for two years now, and have developed a fear of Christchurch winters (which we have been reminded of in the last couple of days with the drop of temperature), similar to the story that Katie, the lady from the Home Energy Advice centre, told about that Russian woman at the Energy workshop a couple of weeks ago. That is: we do have extremely cold winters in Germany, a lot colder than here actually. However, insulation, double-glazing and central heating are standard in all buildings. So no matter how cold outside, you’re always warm and cosy inside. So that was definitely something we had to get used to (though still haven’t managed to) here in New Zealand. Hence our interest in getting to know all those tips and tricks how to make our home warmer; we are also very grateful for the window foil that was given to us in the workshop (which we are putting up in this very moment).

We had our flat audit last night, which was basically a nice get-together over a cup of tea with some inspiring discussions, including some topics with potential for expansion and definite need for research on our side, e.g.:

Organic certification: who controls whether food grown overseas, especially in third-world countries, is really organic (we have had bad experiences with corrupt eco-certification agencies during our work in third-world countries in the not-so-distant past, but maybe more about that in another blog)? Is organic from overseas necessarily better than locally grown food? Method of transport: food from overseas, brought to New Zealand by boat, possibly has a lot smaller carbon footprint than say fruit transported from the North to the South Island by plane (which is often done with fruit that easily goes off just to reduce transport time). Seems the ideal thing would be for food to have a transport certificate. That would definitely ease decision-making when buying food. Maybe the pineapple that is being picked green somewhere in Ecuador and then shipped to New Zealand, meanwhile ripening, is actually more eco-friendly than New Zealand kiwi fruit bought when it’s not actually in season, but has been stored in a cooling facility for weeks or even months. The pineapple might even be more eco-friendly (if transported by ship) if the NZ kiwi fruit is harvested on the North Island and flown down to the South Island to reduce transport times.

Another topic we talked about was recycling: how come only certain kinds of plastic can be recycled whereas others can’t? What’s the difference between a PET bottle and plastic foil, if in the end it’s all melted down anyway? This nebulosity has led Vu to believe that there’s some sort of conspiracy going on. According to him, this is what happens: The government encourages consumers to recycle. Hence, consumers have an increased awareness and are influenced in their decision about what products to buy depending on the recyclability of the product (not solely, but amongst other factors). The industry is of course interested in selling their product; but instead of reducing packaging, they pay the government to be able to print the triangle onto their plastic packaging – a sign that the packaging can be recycled. So in Vu’s opinion, all other sorts of plastic might be able to be recycled as well – only that the producers haven’t paid the government in order to be allowed to put the recycling-sign onto their packaging.

There are a lot of other things that cross our minds. For 4 to 5 months each year, our carbon footprint is as small as it possibly can be. For the last two years, we’ve been camping from August to December on two isolated islands in the Marlborough Sounds. During this time, we live in a tent, without constant electricity, and have to bring all food and water onto the island (and all garbage off the island). We only get back to the mainland about once a week to stock up on food supplies, wash our clothes, and have a shower. Having to ration goods such as food and especially water really gets you thinking about our consumption habits in town, and also makes you appreciate things like running water, heating, electricity, and all those things that we are used to take for granted, but that are actually plain luxury. Take water for example: we usually take out 40l of water out to the islands, and that has to last us the whole week. We use it for drinking, cooking, doing the dishes, and the occasional catlick. So we each use 20l of water a week – and then, when we get back to the mainland, we have a shower and flush a toilet, and we’ve already used up more water than during the whole week! It’s kind of scary when you start thinking about what you really need to live, and what you actually use..

The same accounts for electricity: on the islands, we do have a generator as we need to charge the computer and other electric equipment that we need for work. Of course we turn the generator on only when we need it, as we have to carry out all the petrol, and it’s also noisy and stinks. But in town, where we live in a sheltered place where the electricity is generated in some distant plant, it is so easy to forget to switch the appliances off at the wall or turn them off when they are not in use, only because we’re not constantly reminded of the energy it takes to generate such electricity by the nerve-wracking noise and smell of a generator.

Anyway. When I started writing this blog a few hours ago I was actually planning to write something about the production we’ve got going on at home. For example, we bake our own bread, make our own sprouts, yoghurt, and kefir. Making yoghurt for instance is really easy, tastes great, and saves a lot of money (plus you know exactly what’s in it). And here is how it goes:

To get started, you need one small cup of plain yoghurt, a little less than a litre of milk, a container with lid that can hold about a litre of liquid, a wire whisk, a sieve, a hot water bottle, several blankets or towels, and a box (Fotos 1 & 2).

1- Ingredients

2 – A box, several blankets and a hot water bottle

I have actually tried to use several organic yoghurt brands as a starter culture (including Cyclops and Clearwater), but they don’t work. The only reason for this I can think of is that the yoghurt is heated or somehow the bacteria are killed before it is sold. I mean, it’s great that it is organic in terms of being environmentally friendly; but from a purely selfish and egoistic point of view: what good does eating organic yoghurt do me if the bacteria that are beneficial to my health are being killed off? They should at least state it on the packaging so that people know what they are actually buying. It’s great using organic milk though; I do often use non-organic milk though as we’re a bit tight on money at the moment. Anyway, back to yoghurt making.

Slowly heat the milk to the point where it starts evaporating, and then let it cool off to blood temperature (Foto 3).

3 – Heating up the milk

When it is merely warm, mix the milk and the cup of yoghurt in the 1l-container with a wire whisk (I sieve the milk before mixing it with the starter culture in order to get rid of the skin that forms on the surface of the milk, Foto 4).

4 – Mixing the yoghurt and warm milk

Then close the container and place it in the box (bottom and sides lined with blankets or towels), place the hot water bottle next to it, and cover it with a blanket (Foto 5 & 6).

5 – Into the box

6 – Covering it up

After 7 hours, take the yoghurt container out and put it in the fridge to set for another 2 hours – and ready (Foto 7)!

7 – 7 hours later

Use a clean spoon whenever taking yoghurt out of the container, as you will use some of it as the starter culture for the next lot (and you probably don’t want all your flatmates’ salival bacteria multiplying in your yoghurt). Alternatively, you can make several small glasses instead of a big one, and save one glass as starter culture for the next batch. Often, a yellowish liquid will form on the yoghurt surface – that’s the whey which contains a lot of calcium. You can either mix it in with the yoghurt or pour it out to use in fruit juices or smoothies. Another thing is: the longer you leave the yoghurt incubating, e.g. more than 7 hours, the more sour it gets – so you really want to put it into the fridge after 8 hours at the latest. That’s it, easy as.

8 – …and enjoy

I’ll leave the instructions for kefir production for a blog sometime in the near future. I already got completely side-tracked and have probably written more than anyone wants to read. So if you’re actually reading this, thanks for sticking with me and getting this far