Dagostinia
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Monarchy of Dagostinia
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Post by Dagostinia on Jun 2, 2011 3:26:32 GMT 10
In the interest of our self-sufficiency, wallets, and probably planet, Dagostinia is declaring June 2011 to be Water Awareness month. Throughout our micronation we will be recording water consumption by use and tallying where the biggest users are. The goal is to find the biggest consumers and target them for conservation. Rainwater is the first goal with lower flow heads also being considered. We aim to reduce consumption by 20% in the first round.
We also challenge other micronations to do the same by reducing their water usage by whatever amount possible. Post your strategies and results here so we can all learn. Bonus points for cheap and DIY.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 2, 2011 6:26:00 GMT 10
Water conservation is an area of particular focus for Atlantium. Prior to 2010 the Province of Aurora (and the rest of southeastern Australia) endured 7 years of drought. Fortunately, as Aurora retains abundant natural woodlands, we suffered far less than surrounding areas. This is clearly visible in the Google Maps satellite images taken in January 2009, which show Aurora as a green island, surrounded by large brownish expanses. Within our borders we maintain two large man-made dams for stock-watering purposes, and for human purposes we make exclusive use of rainwater. Water use is significantly minimised via our use of a water-free composting toilet; traditional toilets represent a significant % of water usage for most households.
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Post by rareearth on Jun 2, 2011 11:25:29 GMT 10
WHAT CESIDIANS (religion) ARE DOING FOR WATERMikhail Gorbachev, Chairman of the Board of Green Cross International, says that "Water is not a privilege, it is a right!" With these words, Mr Gorbachev has shown that he shares some of the same values of Cesidians! Green Cross International and its partners are proposing the negotiation and adoption of a Global Convention on the Right to Water, which, when ratified by the member states of the United Nations, will give all citizens a tool through which to assert their right to safe water and sanitation, and would oblige national governments to make sure that this right is respected. We urge Fifth Worlders (micronationalists), Cesidians, as well as people of other faiths to join Mr Gorbachev, and sign the petition for the Right to Water at this URL: www.watertreaty.orgWHAT UMMOAGIANS OR INDEPENDENT LONG ISLANDERS (nations) ARE DOINGIt is also a good idea, especially for New Yorkers and/or Americans, to support organisations like: WHAT GIRLPEACE (micronational environmental organisation) IS DOINGRecently, and despite the lack of funds, we also put the spirit of the Girlpeace organisation into action when we purchased 3 sheets of special US stamps, which don't cost more than regular domestic mail stamps, and yet the 16-stamp series shows what each of us, in a very Fifth Worldish, DIY way, can do to promote the health of our environment. This is a great way to combine daily needs with the needs of the environment, and without greater expense: www.usps.com/green/gogreenstamps.htmThe Girlpeace organisation is another great organisation to support, and you can do so by simply buying magazines through them, or simply by using the Girlpeace Search Engine.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 2, 2011 12:47:29 GMT 10
Girlpeace?
I wasn't aware that young women in general were such a belligerent lot that it was necessary to start an NGO to help stop them fighting each other.
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Dagostinia
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Monarchy of Dagostinia
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Post by Dagostinia on Jun 3, 2011 1:32:30 GMT 10
So rather than promoting one's own websites, what does Gov. Tallini (in simple inline text) do in a practical hands on sense to conserve water around his mansion and Long Island?
In Soviet Russia, water drinks you!
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Post by rareearth on Jun 3, 2011 2:33:23 GMT 10
Girlpeace? I wasn't aware that young women in general were such a belligerent lot that it was necessary to start an NGO to help stop them fighting each other. The mission of Girlpeace is not to prevent girls from fighting: green.wikia.com/wiki/Girlpeace
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Post by rareearth on Jun 3, 2011 3:32:04 GMT 10
So rather than promoting one's own websites, what does Gov. Tallini (in simple inline text) do in a practical hands on sense to conserve water around his mansion and Long Island? In Soviet Russia, water drinks you! I believe I only mentioned one organisation of mine... That's not what Coca Cola or others do during their aired commercials. I also have no control over the jurisdiction called "Long Island", whether you mean only two counties of Long Island, or all four. Also, Andrew Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, while he has asked for my opinion non-specifically, has not granted me any power or office over Long Island. In the case of "Long Island" I can only work through wealthier, and/or more influential organisations, such the Waterkeeper Alliance and Soundkeeper. I believe this helps, not hurts, Long Island's environment and surrounding waters. I also don't live in a "mansion". My estate is a rather modest one, and the house I live in rather old. I conserve water personally by not showering every single day, something I can achieve on most days since I lead a quite sedentary lifestyle, perform little or no physical labour, and I'm not particularly sexually active. I also don't shave every day, or even every other day, and see no need to change my "outerware" (non underware) every day. I use standard, non-triclosan containing soap, very little non-triclosan containing toothpaste (you are supposed to use only a "little pearl" amount, even according to the manufacturers), fairly natural Avalon Organics shampoo, and PerioWash as mouthwash. For the washing machine, I purchase the relatively eco-friendly Arm & Hammer Clean Burst Powdered Laundry Detergent for my mother, and she seems impressed at how well it washes clothes. I have tried to convert my nieces to this low water consumption, easy-on-the-earth philosophy, but quite frankly I haven't succeeded, as they prefer to waste water, and contaminate ground water, just like most Americans.
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Post by Duke Casimir on Jun 3, 2011 6:43:32 GMT 10
To the Monarch of Dagostinia: Many congratulations to you, Majesty, for your initiative; I am very impressed. I thank you for your forthright depiction of a modest, yet efficient, attempt to create and maintain sustainability locally. As for the Ducal residence, my Lady wife and myself use efficiency-promoting water faucets, non water-using air cooling, and only turn on the water when necessary. Unfortunately, we have no control over our neighbors (except for our patented "withering" looks). There is a particularly excellent book, although out of print, book called "Ecology at Home." If you go to www.abebooks.com you can usually find a decent copy for only a little in cost. It not only goes over water conservation, but also other "green" techniques for other paths to sustainability. I very much recommend it (I'll be back to this post a little later, with its ISBN or maybe even an Amazon.com link). And to the Emperor of Atlantium: many congratulations to you, too, sir! Addendum on the book: Ecology at home by Jacqueline Killeen, 1971,101 Productions edition, in English. ISBN #: 0912238062 Actually, when going to Amazon.com it’s much easier to use Google, since Amazon simply goes to another site. You might save yourself some $$$ this way, but then again, maybe not. Going to www.addallbooks.com can help by searching all its used book partners to find you a good price. We’ve used them before, and it’s a good place to search.
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Post by Duke Casimir on Jun 3, 2011 7:14:01 GMT 10
Addendum: For anyone interested in a micronation heavily involved in sustainability and ecology, go here: northern-forest-archipelago.org/They're still around, although they mostly keep to themselves. The NFA was and is a major player in sustainable maintenance; simply going to their website will be an education.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 3, 2011 10:22:27 GMT 10
Is the NFA still in existence? I assumed they'd vanished into the aether a long time ago...
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Post by Duke Casimir on Jun 4, 2011 6:14:33 GMT 10
George,
Actually, I received a random message from the King of the NFA, about the broken links on the old TorHavn site. I've responded, but no further answers have been forthcoming.
Perhaps they're only talking to one another (at least, mostly only to one another). If I hear from anyone again, I'll let them know you're trying to contact them.
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Dagostinia
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Monarchy of Dagostinia
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Post by Dagostinia on Jun 21, 2011 3:25:48 GMT 10
Now that we are more than halfway through June, it's becoming very obvious as to where most of Dagostinia's water is being used. Showers appear to be the biggest user by volume even though an average of one 15 minute shower per day is the norm. All 20% of our savings could come from changing heads from 2.5 to 1.5GPM or less.
I suppose we could call that good but we were talking to a friend this weekend. He described his plans for using rainwater to flush his toilet. A brief revelation of physics and we realized that we wouldn't need to employ a pump to get the water from the barrel into the tank. Since our rain barrels are elevated, the bottom of the barrel is darn near the top of the toilet tank. As toilets are the second biggest user of water, this should reduce water usage by another 10% off of the June 2011 baseline.
Since our local water rates are steadily rising at about $10 per quarter, we see these measures to be highly important. On top of that, the local water bureau has announced that rates will continue to rise due to upgrades that have been made to the system. A 13% water increase is proposed for FY 7/11-6/12. Despite this, our bill should decrease by 10% on average from the June 2011 baseline with the shower head initiative, and 20% with the additional rainwater fed toilet initiative.
All that to say, the effort is worth the payout.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 21, 2011 15:06:29 GMT 10
The above message contains a negligible percentage of rambling, semi-coherent, colour-coded, self-promotional, obscurantist waffle about the Mayan Apocalypse, Jesus, the Zodiac, evil pharmaceutical companies, evil Monsanto, the evil UN and why we should each buy 10 copies your book.
Get with the programme!
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Post by rareearth on Jun 21, 2011 22:28:43 GMT 10
The above message contains a negligible percentage of rambling, semi-coherent, colour-coded, self-promotional, obscurantist waffle about the Mayan Apocalypse, Jesus, the Zodiac, evil pharmaceutical companies, evil Monsanto, the evil UN and why we should each buy 10 copies your book. Get with the programme! One copy would be good enough... I've sold quite a few copies of the micronational book, but surprisingly few of the religious one. However, if I were running an international organisation which talks about human rights, and that organisation had members like Syria, but not members like the UMMOA, then even the most decent and fair person would reach the conclusion that either the organisation is completely evil by nature and design, or it is run by such incompetent and unintelligent fools that they really should get a new day job. Also, if Monsanto is not evil, then besides spreading GM seeds nobody has ever tested for long- or short-term health effects, why do they go suing farmers simply because they haven't bought their seeds, while their field-contaminating neighbours have? And of course Big Pharma companies are all about you and your children eating healthy foods, and consuming good herbs, and other nutrients when you don't feel 100%. And they work with people who even call themselves 'naturopaths', and yet what they prescribe is just about as natural as the "All Natural Ingredients" Frito-Lay SunChips (minus the GM corn, minus the other GM ingredients, minus the salt which isn't natural sea salt, etc.). Again, if I had a small company that produced stuff like that, and I advertised like that, I would have been sued out of existence by now.
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Dagostinia
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Monarchy of Dagostinia
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Post by Dagostinia on Jun 22, 2011 1:58:38 GMT 10
A. Gov. Tallini, I believe he was referring to the message I wrote that was laden with numbers and mystical mumbo-jumbo.
B. Gov. Tallini, What does your post have to do with WATER conservation? Perhaps ILI, UMMOA, UMOMA, UMAMA, or whoever else could engage in some word conservation.
C. George, don't let my secret out! How else will I become rich!?
D. Our rain water barrel plan includes a full double bank of barrels against the south side of homes for water storage, solar heating (trombe effect), and a nuclear barrier. A quick release on all the barrels will allow me to immediately flood intruders such as government agents or squirrels.
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Post by papapodjov on Jun 22, 2011 5:51:43 GMT 10
Here's a link to the book I wrote (adapted), unfortunately despite the title it's not a book that some members of the forum could use for self help purposes... 'The Nutcracker'... So be warned, this book will not reveal a truth about imperialistic mice, a messiah in the form of a nutcracker doll, or the underhanded dealings of sugar plum faeries peddling their sweet wares under the banner of progress! www.amazon.co.uk/Nutcracker-Simon-Stewart/dp/0956383408And to stay on topic.... water. As it rains, and rains, and rains in our small micronation nestled in the Irish hills, water isn't hard to come by. Having said that there is always a hose pipe ban in summer.... something to do with years of underinvestment... Anyhows, we do collect water in butts, and use it for watering plants in summer on the rare occasions when it fails to rain for a week or so. There is also a natural spring a mile or so away which we use for drinking water and is fantastic, and there is also a natural spring just the other side of our border/fence. That however is prone to flooding and it was piped during the building of 'The Peoples Palace'.... or 'yer mans house' as the locals call it.... Putting a brick in the cistern helps too, and we even share baths.... depending on who got in first... Incidentally I have some sympathy for Gov Tallini's expressions regarding pharma's, the UN etc... The double standards and down right lies peddled as truth to excuse profit is staggering but there is little we can do other than pitch a tent, scavenge in bins and lick dew from the grass...
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George
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Post by George on Jun 22, 2011 9:25:47 GMT 10
Here's a link to the book I wrote ...and there I was getting all excited about the possibility that someone had FINALLY written the definitive work describing the history and romance of nut crackers since the dawn if time. Which reminds me that according to the authors of Bizarre Books, there is actually a text entitled The History and Romance of Elastic Webbing Since the Dawn of Time. ;D
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Post by Lykos Packleader on Jun 27, 2011 7:11:42 GMT 10
Heyla,
I'm also informed (by the local eco-terrorists online) that you can significantly reduce the amount of water to flush toilets by collecting liquid and solid wastes separately. I'm not sure how; I can look this up in the archives of this eco-group (since I'm a member) --- that is, if anyone (else) wants me to. Always happy to help.....
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George
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Post by George on Jun 27, 2011 12:08:26 GMT 10
The best way to minimise toilet water utilisation is to install a composting toilet.
We've had one in use at Aurora for several years.
It uses no water at all, and the exhaust fan is powered by a 2 Watt solar panel.
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George
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Post by George on Jun 27, 2011 16:29:36 GMT 10
While we're on the subject of sustainability, I should point out that Atlantium's Province of Aurora is entirely independent of the Australian electricity grid (despite the fact that a several hundred metre section of the local grid traverses part of the western edge of the Province).
At present our use of electrical power is pretty much limited to the occasional operation of power tools, and for the interior lighting of our main residential and service buildings.
In the former instance we make use of a 1000 Watt petrol generator (for mercifully brief periods - as it makes a deafening racket).
As far as lighting goes we make use of a number of stand-alone solar-powered 12 Volt systems, each of which cost less than AUD $200.
Government House is fitted with two of these, and the soon-to-be General Post Office is fitted with a third.
Each system can be fully-charged over 1-2 full sunny days via a dedicated 5 or 10 Watt solar panel.
Output is via bright white 5W LED globes, which can effectively run all night on a single battery charge.
We paid AUD $950 for a 500 Watt wind turbine 3 years ago, with the intention of using it as a replacement for the petrol generator, but it's still sitting in pieces in the storage shed. We hope to finally get around to making it operational before the end of this year.
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Dagostinia
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Monarchy of Dagostinia
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Post by Dagostinia on Jul 2, 2011 2:25:20 GMT 10
June is over and the results are in! I am happy to report that nothing much changed from my mid-month predictions. We'll be outfitting all fixtures with lower flow faucets and shower heads which will save Dagostinia about 20% as hoped. We also promised a rainwater fed toilet. Drilling holes through dwellings is not exactly a priority so we will first consider using sink waste to flush toilets before we feed rainwater in. The rainwater will continue to be used for irrigation.
And that's it. Thanks to all the citizens who pitched in with recording. Our next big project will be to analyze ALL of our utility bills for the past 52 weeks and assess where our biggest savings could come from. And finally, we are excited about finishing the insulation in the Monarch's mansion once we have the approx 62 wages (US$450) for a contractor's pack of spray foam.
And at some point we would like to utilize Harbor Freight's 45 watt solar panel and hook up a deep-cycle battery and secondary 12V system (lighting, basic needs). That will be another post.
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George
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Post by George on Jul 2, 2011 14:24:11 GMT 10
Congratulations!
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