Mobile Foundries for Aluminum Can Recycling

July 17, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Random, Recycling, Trash

mobile foundry for aluminum recycling

“In São Paulo, the vast majority of recycling is done by individuals called catadores. They collect discarded drink cans in their carts to recycle for money to help support themselves. London-based Studio Swine took to the streets to create a project that would help catadores get much more money for their work.

The duo behind Studio Swine made an improvised mobile foundry to smelt the aluminum from the cans. They then pressed locally-found objects into sand found at a nearby construction site to make molds. After pouring the liquid aluminum into the molds, the team had created interestingly-shaped stool seats. Each stool requires around 60 cans to produce. This may sound like a lot, but a catadore can collect thousands of cans in one workday.”

See & read more: Mobile foundry gives recyclers a creative income stream.

Preserving Food by Fermentation

July 4, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: DIY, Food, Food storage, Refrigeration

kimchi“Extracting nutrition via the bacteria and yeasts that live on the surfaces of food sources has traditionally enabled people all over the world to make use of seasonal abundance for leaner times. In a climate-constrained future, when the use of fossil fuels (and thus refrigeration) will need to be greatly reduced, fermentation could play a key role in preserving both our food and our cultural diversity.

Before refrigeration came into our houses and global supply chains, most of our winter stores were salted, pickled, and dried. Many of the strong compelling flavors found in European delicatessens come via fermentation: cheese, salami, gherkins, vinegar, olives. Likewise the mainstays of Oriental cuisine—soy, miso, and tempeh—and the whole of the world’s drinks cabinet, including everyday luxuries such as coffee and chocolate.

If you were wary of venturing into this unknown territory alone, you could not hope for a more enthralling guide than Sandor Ellix Katz: “My advice is to reject the cult of expertise. Do not be afraid. You can do it yourself.” There is no recorded case, he assures us, of poisoning from fermented vegetables.”

Read more: Fermenting Change. Thanks to Aaron Vansintjan. More low-tech food preservation.

Canoe and Kayak Sailing

July 3, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Boats, Holidays, Random

canoe and kayak sailing

“In walking you are bounded by every sea and river, and in a common sailing-boat you are bounded by every shallow and shore; whereas, a canoe can be paddled or sailed, or hauled, or carried over land or
water”.

Quoted from “Thousand miles in the Rob Roy Canoe on rivers and lakes of Europe“, MacGregor, 1866.

The use of sailing canoes dates back to ancient Polynesia, when they were used to explore the Pacific Ocean. The technology was popularized in the western world in the 1860s, when Scottisch John MacGregor built sailing canoes and travelled all over Europe.

There’s quite some amateurs building sailing canoes these days: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4. Picture: Outrigger Sailing Canoes.

The Inactivity Pandemic

June 23, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Health

The least fit ten-year-old English child from a class of 30 in 1998 would be one of the five fittest children in the same class tested today. Read more: Poor fitness is a bigger threat to child health than obesity.

Water Johads: A Low-Tech Alternative to Mega-Dams in India

June 17, 2015 by aaron vansintjan Filed Under: Civil engineering, Desertification, Farming, Food, Irrigation, Low-tech solutions, Random, Water, Water management

water johad india

When the British colonized India, they imposed their own system of water management, which included the building of large-scale dams, sewers, and irrigation channels. This high-tech approach continues today, as the World Bank is urging India to build enormous dam projects to fight drought and depleted aquifers. The Indian government has followed its advice. Its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called dams the “Temples of modern India”. Since then, India has built over 5,000 dams and large reservoirs. [1]

However, before the British arrived, people on the subcontinent used traditional low-cost, low-tech engineering to collect rainwater for thousands of years. This involved the placement of thousands of small structures throughout rural areas which, in one way or another, catch excess rainwater from the monsoon months and allow it to slowly percolate into the groundwater during the dry season. To maintain and manage these structures, community-based management schemes were necessary. However, these were actively discouraged during British rule and following independence. As a result, in the 20th century many of these small reservoirs fell into disrepair.

[Read more…]

A Ladder to Heaven

June 8, 2015 by kris de decker Filed Under: Ladders

a ladder to heaven

Ladders are on their way to become an obsolete technology, as they are being replaced by diesel powered elevated working platforms. I stumbled upon this particular copy in the Basilica Di San Soro, a Baroque church in Genoa, Italy. Thanks to Andrea for taking me there.