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Rosemary Morrow

Zone 0: How and where we live


(The following excerpt from Chapter 16 of Rosemary Morrow’s Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture (available at us.permacultureprinciples.com or from Chelsea Green) is reprinted at the suggestion and with permission of the author.)


"If we felt at home on the earth and loved our home we would do everything possible to keep it vibrant and healthy and we would have a basis for human community."

– Thomas Moore


Your home, Zone 0, is the place where you spend most of your time, money and other resources. It is important that your home contributes to your health and wellbeing and is not a drain on environmental resources, health or finances.


Permaculture is not only about living things; it is also about how we live and what we use. It is about our homes and the quality and cost of our lives. In permaculture, we aim to design new houses or to retrofit old ones so they are comfortable living places that preserve and restore the Earth’s resources.


Also, as people move from rural to urban areas, there’s an accompanying pressure on resources. Increasingly homes are located in high-rise buildings or informal settlements, shanty towns, favelas and slums around cities. We need good Zone 0 and 1 design strategies for all living situations.


Homes lacking design are more vulnerable to impending disasters, from the pandemics to global economic collapse and unpredictable weather events due to global warming. In such situations water and food security are more gravely threatened and less predictable, so we must design with these factors firmly in our sights.


Zone 0 is where we can save money while reducing future monetary and environmental costs. Fossil fuels are still the primary energy source for homes and drive global warming, while the cost of extracting them continues to increase. By contrast, renewable technologies are becoming more efficient every year and their costs are falling rapidly.


Though their lifecycle costs are not insignificant, they are still far safer and cleaner than fossil fuels. However, our focus as permaculturists needs to be on changing buildings, lifestyle and consumption to live comfortably and simply with less. If we don’t alter our lives now while resources are still relatively cheap and available, later when materials are scarcer, or prices are much higher, we may not have the option.


Our ethical task for Zone 0 is to:


• design new homes and retrofit old ones using renewable materials and low energy sources

• create minimal pollution and reduce external inputs in our homes.


Our design aims for homes are to:


• match space and function

• admit and store the sun’s energy when needed, and remove and exclude heat when not required

• use green architecture to improve air quality, yields, amenity, privacy, climate mitigation

• increase and replace renewable resources

• use resources simply and economically

• use living processes to recycle all waste

• back up key functions such as energy and water.


If we don’t have design aims our homes:


• cost far too much to build, live in and repair

• are often polluting and bad for our health

• put pressure on non-renewable resources

• will not be easy to live in

• may prove very expensive in the future.


Live differently, live well

For thousands of years some cultures have enjoyed a high quality of life without compromising the needs of present and future generations. They have lived without destroying or polluting life’s processes. Compare this with modern western lifestyles

characterized by:


• excessive consumerism

• alienation from nature

• over-processing of materials

• over-consumption and dissatisfaction

• embarrassing levels of waste of all resources

• overly busy and complicated lives.


In affluent countries most homes, offices and shops can be thought of as having one or all the characteristics listed in Table 16.1. All these houses take in clean good materials and

spew out air, soil, water pollution, and foul materials (see Figure 16.1).


So how can you live differently and still live well? You can build a new house or retrofit an old one. You can make significant changes to your lifestyle and buildings that reduce the destructive impact that your living has on the environment. Accompany these changes with improvements in the quality of your life; that is, in time, health and money and resilience to potential disasters. Changes are much easier when you are socially integrated into your

local community.

Figure 16.1: The sick, consumer-junkie house.

Consumer Junkies' houses devour huge amounts of finite resources and release toxic polluted air, water, or materials into the environment. In most middle- to high-income countries fueling this pollution stream seems insatiable with energy, water and materials consumption increasing every year. This lifestyle is increasingly copied by wealthy people in

poor countries.


Sick houses have problems caused by artificial chemicals or processed materials that have been used in the construction and furnishings, such as asbestos, volatile organic com

pounds (flame retardants, varnishes, and glues). In addition non-ionizing radiation

emanates from the large number of electric items used in homes.


Vulnerable homes are almost or completely dependent on vital resources such as water or energy from one source only and have no other alternatives. In many homes the only source of food is a supermarket.


Siting a new house

The difference between comfort, or misery and great expense, can depend on siting your house appropriately. Consider the following factors before you buy land or choose your apartment. Look at Figure 16.2 as we discuss the important factors for land. Then look at those important for an apartment.


Climate

• In hot climates choose a site with cooling breezes and shade.

• In cool climates choose a site with sunny aspects and protection from cold winds.


Topography

• You have greater control over soil and water on a site with slopes not greater than 15 degrees.

• Western slopes are often very hot and dry and polar-facing slopes can receive freezing winds.

• Hills behind your house site can block severe winds and assist in capturing surface water.


Water

As you read in Chapter 8, water is a primary selection factor for land. When it’s raining hard, observe where the water goes in order to decide how you could work with or capture some for future use.


Dams are expensive to build, but if you don’t have other water sources, they are a priority.

In drier areas, your potential land use will be determined by rainfall. As a crude guide, 800 millimeters (mm) (31.4 in.) per year is considered minimal to maintain a reasonable standard of living and support enterprises. In Australia 300 mm is taken as necessary for

agriculture. However, rainfall of 800 mm falling in three months also means nine months of drought. It is better to look at the rainfall distribution. You will need to collect enough water in your rainy season for the dry months. Remember, try to live and farm within your rainfall budget and alter your storage capacity accordingly.


Take account of whether your rainfall is likely to increase or decrease due to climate change.


Keyline can be implemented on small parcels of land and across communities. Practice Keyline water harvesting to place clean-water dams uphill and use gravity to distribute water downhill (see Ch 8). Greywater and aquaculture dams are placed downhill where the water is cleaned before being released to local creeks.


If you’re in a high-density living area you can harvest water from roofs, streets and other hard surfaces. For a small-scale project collect and store water from corrugated roofs and balconies.


Bore [well] water, traditionally used to bolster water supplies in dry areas, is an increasingly unreliable water source. It is often saline, alkaline, and polluted by excessive chemicals from farmland infiltration. Overused and wasted in the past, bore water may be metered and charged for in the future. In the meantime it is increasingly being used where rainfall fails

or is less predictable. Use bore/well water wisely.


Aquifers recharge very slowly, so water extraction is almost always much greater than replenishment. Design groundwater recharge into your plans.


Soil

Think about the following soil issues, depending on your situation:

• Some clay soils shrink when dry and swell when wet, causing houses built on clay to

crack. However, clay is useful if you want to use mudbricks, cob, pise or rammed earth.

• Very sandy or shale soils won’t hold water well in dams.

• You can build soils quickly so they are an important factor, but not a final one in selecting land.


Surrounding land use

Check with your local council for their environmental and development plans. It is not much fun to build the house of your dreams only to find that a powerhouse, major highway or chemical plant will be built next door. For a community or village, decide whether you like to live central to activities or on the outside. Check for all types of pollution such as noise, light and air.


Access

Consider the following access issues, with reference to your place:

• Access can be very expensive if the council tells you that you must build an access road.

• You may need a four-wheel-drive vehicle if you wish to avoid swimming across rivers.

• If you have bridges on your property they may need to be replaced.

• Access roads built along contours act as swales and require less maintenance.

• In countries with heavy snowfall, think about how much snow has to be moved to get to the front door.


Vegetation

Generally, leave all remaining native vegetation and work around it. Don’t remove any vegetation until you are ready to replace it. Soils hate to be left naked. Note and protect all indigenous vegetation and special ecosystems.


House orientation

How you orient your house on the land is a major factor in influencing the type and quantity of inputs needed to make your house comfortable year-round. In general, in temperate areas orient the long axis east–west, with the main daily living areas sited on the sunny side so as to benefit from winter sunlight.


House orientation changes with latitude and climate. So, for example, in high latitudes (in places closer to the magnetic poles), orient buildings to receive more westerly sun. In desert areas and in lower latitudes, orient houses to minimize westerly sun. Many books provide this information and an environmentally conscious architect can give you advice.

See Figure 16.2 to see how trees on ridges act as a windbreak and recharge area for groundwater; water is gravity-fed from the high dam to the house; the house is placed to receive maximum radiation; and the low dam reflects light to the house and modifies temperatures.


If you are considering an apartment and you have a choice, select one away from industrial pollution and noise such as airports. Choose a corner apartment for cross breezes, light and solar gain. A balcony with some sunlight every day enables you to have a small garden and much pleasure. Look for useful communal spaces downstairs, on the roof or on your level, for gardens, socializing and extending your living areas.


In crowded townships choose to be on the edge of the settlement, on higher land and away from noise, constant human traffic, polluted air and water and, close to a community garden. Encourage your local government or town management to supply renewable

energy, water, health and learning centers (see Figure 16.3).


Creative approaches to space

Most western homes on land are too big. How can people live in as small a space as possible? We need to realize that guest rooms, offices, studies, sewing rooms, garages, dining rooms, and game rooms are all wants rather than needs. David Holmgren conservatively estimates about a third of houses may be underutilized. New houses wouldn’t be needed if all the unused rooms in houses were to be used. Sharing living with other people will help with this issue.3 Traditionally, Japanese people had beautiful homes where one space was multifunctional (beds would be folded into the wall).


House design

Once you have selected the right site for your house, you need to consider several design factors.

Climate

Figure 16.4 demonstrates how you can design your house layout according to the climate and your requirements.

• In deserts and hot climates, buildings need wide shady verandahs with plenty of cross-ventilation or built with thick walls and small windows to reduce extremes of heat and cold.

• In cold climates, houses need exposed (sun-facing) glazing for heat and light.

• In hot wet climates, houses are better built on stilts to maximize evaporative breezes.


Building technology

Whether you build a new home or retrofit an older one, assess building materials and technology for their ecological footprint, or their cradle-to-grave cost. Materials are great consumers of non-renewable resources, so use design criteria to test them. Remember that poor quality materials, paints and glues can be replaced when you have the funds and find quality substitutes. Bamboo is excellent material for comfortable living in tropical areas, and tiles and mud hold heat in cooler climates.


Water supply, storage and use

In the previous chapters you have looked at collecting, storing and cleaning surface water. It makes good sense to be self-sufficient in water. Your water audit told you how much is available, how much you use and how much you can reduce, and re-use. Your water audit also revealed your surplus, which you can use in increasing yields or productivity in other areas. For example, bath water can be siphoned off to a washing machine then channeled to

tanks in a glasshouse to give extra warmth to plants, then and finally, to the garden. Eventually you will bring it back into the house as an apple or cabbage, and no longer pollute rivers, lakes and oceans.


Energy use

Understanding how you use energy in your home is important in order to see where you can make changes to save money and resources. Hot water is obviously a major consumer of energy and so is heating in cool climates. To reduce heating costs, find out where heat is lost from your home. Figure 16.5 shows you how energy is lost from a warm room. To prevent this, in this order of priority, first insulate your ceilings, then seal windows, walls

and floors.


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