Amazing accomplishments – Rebuilding in Satalo after the Tsunami

My cousins Loudeen and Tony spent 2 weeks in Samoa, taking time from their jobs and lives in New Zealand and Australia, respectively, to help my family rebuild. Tony’s friend, Steve even came across and the two men took on the daunting task of fixing the main house on our property. There are a few pictures, and I really believe that our home was miraculously spared.  What I’ve written is in blue, Tony’s is in black.

BEFORE:  

 AFTER:

 

From Tony, here is an accounting of what he found:

DESTROYED

Verandah completely-just twisted post and reinforcing remaining-Vaetala errected temporary tarps overe the area to prevent rain from going directly into the front of the house and provide temp outside shelter.

No time to replace unfortunately-job for later

Vitalas ghouse at the beck was washed away completely – nothing but some framing anchored to the concrete base.

Outside toilet/ shower gone

Outside walls of inside toilet block gone along with tapware etc

Water pipe torn away and water running uncontrolled at rear of external toilet block.

Matresses/pillows water logged

DAMAGED
Inside toilet area/shower walls wiped out and just toilet pan left thankfully so we had a base to work from.

Side wall of house beside toilet shifted outwards and posts rotten / termites.

Aunties bed missing slats

All grave sites scoured out and sand/soil eroded

Uncle Filos gravetop (concrete) missing.

White painted stones/largestones marking graves widely spread at least 50m away

Washing area water supply gone.

This house survived well, except for the front porch, which was new. Windows and doors are gone.

SAFETY

Large quantities of glass from broken glass louvres spread throughout the land area -potential for ongoing injuries

Several cleanups organised and ongoing pickups needed.

Large quantities of damaged tin/runsty tin everywhere-potential for ongoing injuries.

Several cleanups for this and more cleanups needed.

Rubbish-Large quantities of rubbish from emergency bottled water and household rubbish/tsunami debris accumulating.

Sewer=No issues. Appeared intact and able to process waste immediately on connecting

Laundry-large quantities piled up due to no washing facilities.

Jagged reinforcing steel present

This is the back of the main house. There was a bathroom/shower structure where the tent is.

WHAT WE COULD DO/DID.With the tremendous help of family and village workers who volunteered or were paid by us.

Put up new walls for inside toilet including partition between both.
Installed new plumbing for shower/toilet/toilet sink
Install new shower
Installed new cistern and vent.
Water run to house and toilets etc
Put in sink/bench beside house
Install sink waste
New insect screens sea side of house
New lino in both rooms
Replace posts and straighten/replace wall of house
cut off reinforcing steel
Replace roof over toilet
Install new toilet roll hold-very important
Install plumbing for waste beneath sink/bench
Install handbasin in toilet/connect water=couldnt fit waste due to time constraint
Put new light in toilet
New curtain wire purchased
Patch hole/broken concrete in verandah – 1.5m x 1m
Cut insert new washing area tap in concrete base
Obtain sand fill in graves area
Collect rocks / stones and return to graves/remark graves
Lay out new grave in cement for Uncle Filo
Reline damaged wall with hardboard
Fit new external side door including lock=no time to screw on plywood to door to reinforce door
New Fale Umu set up
New tarped area over former family fale site for kids play area
New soak pits/drains for kitchen waste
New soak pits/drains for washing area
Lights reinstalled and working-except for one mentioned earlier.
Reline outside of wall bathroom

JOBS NOT DONE:
Waste for toilet sink to go outside
Light switch dodgy
Verandah to be rebuilt traditionally
Hotels to be rebuild
FUTURE
Resite Vaetala’s fale inland.
Rebuild toilet/shower/sink outside with water/power
Plumb in water/toilet outside
Shade over outside bench

ENDNOTE:
In discussions with Lood we are thinking of going traditional re fale rebuild with modern consideration regarding materials used,heights etc.Lood will discuss this at a later date when appropriate.

I and Steve have also given money directly to people of the village.We also brought 10lbs of roofing nails and 10lbs of framing nails for others to use to rebuild. People in the village can use the handtools to rebuild. I even gave instruction on the use of some powertools and had them wear safety gear 

It was a rewarding but very flat out experience and my friend steve enjoyed it even more. I got sunburn and badly infected blisters through rushing and not preparing-A LESSON TO YOU ALL.

BUT REWARDING , SAD, UNFORGETTABLE AND GLAD I TOOK THE RISK-NEVER KNOW WHAT AND HOW MUCH YOU CAN DO WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY SUPPORT.  Thank you so much, Tony!

Cap & Trade System now a possibility

UPDATE:  Obama called for legislation in the 2010 budget from Congress.

Part of President Obama’s budget forecasting includes revenues from carbon credits in 2012.

While this is just forecasting, and not a policy, it is an encouraging “dip of the toe” into cap and trade.

I’m no environmental policy expert, but I’m encouraged to see our government move forward to address climate change.

Paint your roof white?

I’ve been keeping my eye out for all kinds of innovative thinking about addressing climate change.  I dont’ think that any one thing will resolve our dilemma, but I am intrigued at the increase in attention paid to solving this particular set of problems.  Along those lines, I came across a little item that deserves some consideration.  I linked to the Salon.com article about this, but it was also in the SF Chronicle, and elsewhere.

A recent study published by Berkeley Labs scientist Hashem Akbari suggests that if all urban roofs and streets/sidewalks were light colored (white, or light grey), the potential carbon offset could be as much as 44 gigatons of CO2 (more than a year’s worth of carbon emission for the entire planet).

Interesting.  LA building code already requires that ofice buildings have white roofs, but this would require a massive piece of legislation, support and mobilization.

Global Warming Predictions…Underestimated!?

This, I hope is not true.  Chris Field, Director of Global Ecology who published a dire prediction of the severity of the consequences of global climate change in 2007 recently spoke at the American Science conference in Chicago, and reiterated his claims asserted in the 2007 paper. 

His basic argument is that the IPCC underestimated the effects of global climate change.  At the conference, he cited fresh climate data that suggests that carbon emissions between 2000 and 2007 have been much higher than expected.

I hate to get political, but I can’t help myself – all while the Bush Administration and various other kooks were busy trying to undermine the idea that any of this was going on!

Hail, Again.

Last night we were awakened by hail. It was intense but short. It was so loud that I worried that the glass in our skylights would be shattered – perhaps my reptilian brain was a little carried away, but it was loud.

Geo-Engineering – No longer just the “province of kooks”?

kooky!

One of the driving factors in my shift toward a sustainable lifestyle is  the feeling that I have to do my part, however insignificant, to reduce greehouse gas emissions.  I know that my small part doesn’t make a dent, but the hope is that my actions are joined by many like me, and that this stream of small actions feeds into a larger stream of political will and collective actions.  That’s why I am so happy to have Obama in the Whitehouse (okay, that is only one reason).  The final cog in this scenario in my head is the innovation of our scientific community.  In my estimation, if we can put a man on the moon, surely we can come up with some way or ways to reverse or even just mitigate the effects of all the CO2 in the atomosphere.

It seems like one of the first steps we’ve taken collectively is to start quantifying the cost of doing nothing, and then coming up with the cost of correcting the problem.  According to some, the cost of reducing or eliminating carbon from the atmosphere world wide will be staggering.  And during this world-wide economic downturn, there is reluctance and even inability to invest the money and radically alter (Obama’s plans notwithstanding) our infrastructure to move away from carbon-based fuels entirely.  Of course, the cost of doing nothing is possibly annhilation.

Enter the geo-engineers.  This field, which Time Magazine has referred to as the “province of kooks” is a once-disdained area of engineering that is now being looked at again since Paul Crutzen suggested in an op-ed that maybe the earth could be cooled by releasing sulfurous debris into the atmosphere.

According to Science Daily, “Geo-engineering is the large-scale engineering of the environment to combat the effects of climate change — in particular to counteract the effects of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A number of schemes have been suggested including nutrient fertilisation of the oceans, cloud seeding, sunshades in space, stratospheric aerosol injections, and ocean pipes”

Encouragingly, a recent review of geo-engineering projects by the University of East Anglia concludes that one of the most promising projects is using biochar (read: fancy compost).  Biochar is produced when bio waste is subjected to pyrolysis (super hot composting) and is then added back into the soil.  I know it’s not quite the same thing, but the principle is very similar.  Woo hoo for compost!

In a later post, I plan to lay out in more detail exactly what biochar is and what it’s potential benefits are.

Gore Urges Action on Environment Despite Economy

Right on, man.  I don’t think I”m the only one who can see the connection between economic recovery and addressing global climate change.  They can work together, and not be at odds.

Obama Takes Action on Environmental Standards

A relief! Obama signed two executive orders today, one directing the federal DOT to increase fuel efficiency standards on 2011 cars sold in the US and a second (and dear to my heart as a Californian) directing the EPA to review the decision not to grant the waiver to California to pursue more aggressive emissions standards.

A Modern Day Heloise?

You buy fresh produce and fruit in the hopes of making wonderful dishes for yourself and family.  Then, reality sets in – your 4 year old resolves to eat nothing in the vegetable category,  you end up working late three nights in a row, and the yellow bananas get covered up by the huge bag of cuties you got on sale at Trader Joe’s.  Suddenly, you have fruit that is past its prime and wilting lettuce in the fridge. For many, that food won’t get eaten, and will eventually go to a landfill, with little hope of breaking down properly.   If you’re lucky, you can compost this stuff. 

But, if you feel industrious, make lemonade from those lemons!   Enter Canada’s environmental guru, David Suzuki and his wonderful maven of re-use, Lindsay Coulter (no relation to Ann Coulter – ick!).  Suzuki’s Environmental Challenge program is a monthly newsletter that provides tips for reducing your carbon footprint and living a more sustainable life. Coulter, or the Queen of Green (a modern day Heloise?) has recipes for coffee ground body scrub (I’m not kidding), strawberry/oatmeal facial scrub, hair conditioner, toothpaste, many of which consist of 2 food ingredients.

I have to admit I haven’t tried any of these recipes yet, but I applaud the spirit of finding uses for that food before you throw it out, even if it is to the composter!

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/QueenofGreen/recipes_videos.asp#greenspa

Rainy season over, maybe?

I’ve notice for the past several years that the rainy season here in California is getting shorter.  Maybe this is just a temporary drought, or maybe we’re seeing the new paradigm.  It used to be that the rains started in November and continued off and on until March.  I remember sitting in a coffee shop watching the LA marathon (beginning of March) during a hellacious downpour.  Now, it seems we have a rainy season that starts in December and ends in January with a few hiccups during February.  WTF!

Reading up on the current drought, I learned that spring 2008 was the driest in recorded history, and that the future holds more of this in store.  So, once again, I come back to the idea of being “green” as a lifestyle choice, and being “green” from necessity.

If you choose a green lifestyle, it’s somehow like you have decided to switch to wearing grey instead of black.  Minor lifestyle choice, and kind of annoying.  But making choices to use less and recycle more because there is necessity, well, it ceases to be something cool you do until it’s not cool anymore.  You can guess which category I’m in. 

Here is a list of 10 things a busy person can do to cut down on water waste:

1.  Don’t let the water run when you do dishes.  I get everything wet and rinsed off, get my sponge really soapy and wet, then I put everything in one sink as I wash.  Then, when I’m totally done, I rinse all at once.

2.  Only wash full loads of laundry.  Depending on your habits, you can save up to 1000 gallons a month.

3.  Instead of using your garbage disposal, compost your kitchen waste.

4.  Water your garden or lawn in the morning.   You can also water in the evening, but I don’t recommend doing that unless the weather is really warm and you don’t have any dampness at night.

5.  Wash fruits and vegetables in a bowl or pan rather than under the running water.

6.  Spread organic mulch around the base of your trees and plants in your yard – this will cut down on water loss.

7.  If your shower fills a 1 gallon bucket in less than 20 seconds, replace it with a water-saving style.

8.   If you have a fish tank, don’t throw out their dirty water-use it in the garden!

9.  Get a rain barrel to collect  water from your roof to use on your garden.

10.  Replace your sprinkler system with drip irrigation – it’s easier than you think.

click here for a list of 90 other ways.