Can my house really be like a tree?

Hello and welcome! The reason I am writing this blog is to challenge myself by following some concepts from a book that really inspired me. That book, my bible, is called Cradle to Cradle written by a Chemical Engineer and an Architect. It has changed the way that I view stuff in this world. From the nappies that my son goes through to the chair that I'm sitting on now – it's all part of a wonderful new world that I hadn't seen before. In this new world everything is part of a cycle. 

Currently the cycle that most of these products belong to is the "Cradle to Grave" cycle where once used the product cannot be turned into anything else and all those precious resources that were dug up to make it end up in a landfill. They may take a turn somewhere along the way and be recycled, say for instance with the chair. It could be collected by someone off the side of the road on council hard rubbish collection day and used for a little while longer, but sooner or later it will end up in the dump. What a tragedy! So much energy and all those resources for one chair and in the end we bury it in a grave with a bunch of other stuff putting precious resources back into the ground where we can never get at them again. 

And that's why this book has changed my thinking. It has inspired me to think in a different way, and yet this new way is not really different, just different to what we in the industrial world are used to. You see, nature has been working this way for EVER! Yes it's the Cradle to Cradle way – a product whether it is organic or synthetic belongs to a stream, a path if you will. Let's just take that chair again – at the end of its life the manufacturer takes back the finished product and turns it into a chair again! Not a lesser quality chair but a new fan dangled, brand spanking new chair! The design may have changed to keep up with customer demand for new pretty things but essentially it is still the same chair – BRILLIANT! All those resources used in the first instance have been re-used and can be re-used over and over again. A valuable resource stream has been saved from landfill. Hooray!!!

Getting back to nature and the title of this blog – If you investigate a tree you will see that a tree never produces waste. It grows leaves and then blossoms and produces fruit. Much much more blossoms and fruit than it needs to but to give it a chance to reproduce itself it does this. With all that yummy food, insects and animals feast on the trees bounty and leave special presents behind for the tree. I hear you say, 'hey isn't animal droppings waste?' But no you would be mistaken. Then the fruit falls to the ground and starts to rot and soon it is autumn and the leaves begin to turn and fall off the tree. I still hear you saying that all this is waste but I'm afraid you are wrong. You see all that 'waste' is actually food! Yes FOOD! Valuable nutrients for the tree's next bountiful cycle. AMAZING!

So... the question is can my house really emulate the cycle of a tree? There are many different aspects to a house yet I think it is possible. This is my challenge over the next 12 months. Come and join me on my journey and you may even learn something along the way! I would love to hear from you, what you think, suggestions or just general comments. I will also be posting tid bits of info and other things that I come across on my journey that may be of interest and make you stop for a moment and think about the stuff we all use.

Happy following!

Dirt Girl :)

A New Challenge!

I'm on a quest to find out if my house can emulate a tree and turn our waste into food.  How is that possible you might ask?  Follow me as I explore the many varied types of waste that my family and I produce and how it can be turned into something beneficial.

THE CHALLENGE IS ON!