Sustainable Living

Have you noticed the water absorption capability of coconut husk and its derived products such as coir dust, coco pith etc? Here is a cheap way to use this for your benefit. Let me describe what is generally suggested and I will come to the details later. It is suggested that you make circular pits around your coconut trees and bury coconut husk there. This husk will retain the water for a long time and it will help your trees yield more nuts. Most of the sites that I found of the net agreed on the size of the trenches that you should make. You have to make about 0.5m deep and 0.5m  wide trench in a circular fashion around each tree. The radius is expected to be 2m. In this trenches, fill the coconut husk and cover them using soil. Now, I have to admit that I have never done this myself. The information about this on internet is a bit hazy. Let me list the conflicting points that I have noticed below. Most of the images that I have found on the net (including the...

I am starting this new blog with a page on rainwater harvesting. Let me start by posting a nice video I have seen recently about rainwater harvesting. Let me also give some simple facts below Water needed by an average person per day - 20-50 liters (as per UN)  Water consumed by an average Indian per day - 140 liters Total amount of water consumed per year - 140*365 = 51,100 liters Total amount of water per year of a family of 4 = 204,400 liters Average rainfall in Kerala - 3000 mm = 3 m (For a full list of all places, see here ) Water falling on a 1000 sq. ft. terrace = 92 * 3 = 276,000 liters (1000 sq. ft is ~92 sq. m) So, in Kerala, a family with four members staying in a house with 1000 sq. ft terrace can simply sustain by using only rain water collected from their terrace and they will have surplus too!