Infrastructure

With all of the horrors of the past year, the devastation wreaked by environmental disasters like hurricanes and wildfires have faded from the broader cultural consciousness. We ignore these threats at our own peril. As the climate crisis grows more dire, severe flooding, calamitous storms, and vast fires will become an inescapable fact of life, like mosquitoes coming out in summertime.

Bioremediation is the use of microbes to clean up contaminated soil and groundwater. Microbes are very small organisms, such as bacteria, that live naturally in the environment.

Phytoremediation uses plants to clean up contaminated environments. Plants can help clean up many types of contaminants including metals, pesticides, explosives, and oil.

This manual is specifically focussing on the practical implementation level and provides a wide range of essential information as well as dos and don’ts for trainers to communicate to masons and supervisors during theoretical and on the job trainings. It also contains photos and sketches/drawings that add clarity to the context. These photos and sketches have been collected from various reference sources and are therefore, not of uniform character in its present form.

When many people think of living outdoors, they think of Camping. Camping, backpacking, and hiking are recreational activities that are an enjoyable way to experience nature during those rare moments of free time. These activities can incorporate elements of bushcraft/fieldcraft, but these activities have very different expectations for required gear, periods of time expected to be afield without resupply, and security considerations.

This guide will walk you thru everything you need to know to set up and run an off grid, decentralized text communication network.

The first step in building a solar generator is determining how much energy it will need to provide. This worksheet will take you step by step in calculating the energy load of the equipment you plan to power.

This zine is intended as a comprehensive and handy guide for chainsaw usage, safety and storage and was taken from a virtual skill share for mutual aid workers engaging in tree debris cleanup following Hurricane Idalia.

Composting toilets are simple, low-tech, waterless toilets. They are designed to provide favorable habitat for biological agents of decomposition such as bacteria, mold and fungi which break down feces and urine into compost.

Face the facts. We are tied to our devices in ways that are incredibly useful for organizing, but that also expose us to isolation should the state and companies take away these technologies. Cell phones and the internet rely on corporate infrastructure and is subject to both government surveillance and service denial.

Las partículas en el humo de los incendios forestales no son saludables para respirar.
Un filtro de ventilador de caja simple ayudará a mantener limpio el aire interior.

Byrd Camp's Composting Toilet System. Guide to correct usage and upkeep

Note: this document has been scanned from earlier manuals and standardizations prepared by Neil Herath for CWSSP – Sri Lanka ( April 1995), and as Manual 3 of the Technical Manual Series on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation; Gravity Water Supply Systems: design and construction (January 2005). It is redesigned to look like the 2005 CWSSP manual guiding field work on wire-reinforced cement mortar tanks, commonly known as ferrocement tanks

Cutting tools are some of the oldest, most important implements used by people to cut, shave, shape, carve, and butcher the things that make life enjoyable to live. Today these tools are still vital tools to own and utilize, both in day to day life, and in field craft.

Rain gardens mitigate flooding impacts and reestablish native ecologies, all while requiring relatively little work from humans. The installation process is the most human-intensive, but the garden should be mostly autonomous unless drought or freeze should strike. Rain gardens function to clean groundwater, divert chemicals from collecting in streams and water systems, diminish the effects of erosion, and improve the health of the entire ecosystem.

We offer this ‘zine in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020. Our unsheltered relatives cannot simply “stay home if they are sick” and “constantly wash their hands” as instructed by callous politicians who, predictably, had no plans to ensure the wellbeing of our relatives.

This is a quick set-up shelter that is weather proof and extremely lightweight (about 1lb 5 ounces without pole & stakes). While there are several designs for Tyvek shelters, we found most of them unclear and too complicated for our needs. We’ve designed this for one person and their gear but this can accommodate two tall people comfortably.

A primer on electricity and solar.

Providing organizations based in off-grid regions with the information and resources to design and implement programs that increase energy access in their communities.

One of the first things people wonder about when it comes to solar generators and their own communities is what electrical appliances and products the generator will be able to power.

It is generally accepted that excreta disposal is given less priority in emergencies than other humanitarian interventions such as health care, food and water supply. This is despite the fact that many of the most common diseases occurring in emergency situations are caused by inadequate sanitation facilities and poor hygiene practice.

Ferrocement is a form of thin concrete reinforced with layers of continuous and relatively small diameter mesh. It is usually made from a mortar of Portland cement and sand applied to steel reinforcement which is often provided in the form of small aperture wire mesh and/or closely spaced small diameter bars or wires.

The movement toward sustainable landscaping is heating up. Gardeners are increasingly burying their resource-guzzling, zero-habitat lawns under native plant gardens, wildlife-attracting thickets, and sun-dappled woodlands. It’s an encouraging trend, this movement toward more ecologically sound, nature friendly yards.

Hurricane Katrina brought many challenges to the residents of New Orleans. Part of the rebuilding process is not only repairing our structural homes, but our land as well so that we come home to a safe, healthy place to live and thrive. Toxic soil clean up is important to the rebuilding process.

Green building is a time-tested, practical and intuitive approach
to creating environmentally sound buildings. Green building
combines age-old wisdom; tradition and collaborative design processes; and modern building science, technology and materials application

The GRRT is a toolkit and training program designed to increase awareness and knowledge of environmentally responsible disaster response approaches. Although disasters wreak havoc, the rebuilding efforts that follow represent a significant and important opportunity to restore communities in a more environmentally and socially responsible way.

DIY guide to building a tent-safe copper coil.

Particulate matter in smoke from wildfires is unhealthy to breathe. A simple box fan filter will help keep your indoor air clean.

In parts of Texas, a winter storm has knocked out electricity to millions of people. We saw via social media that some comrades were using a guide from our book, Recipes for Disaster, to make a rocketstove in order to boil water and cook food. We’ve scrambled to put that chapter online here in case anyone else needs it—in Texas today, or elsewhere in the climate disasters to come.

Ferro-cement is essentially an extension of conventional reinforced cement concrete (RCC) technology. As such, all the benefits attributed to use of RCC in construction normally apply to ferro-cement as well. There are, however, other advantages that make ferro-cement a preferred choice in many construction projects.

This guide covers some of the basic requirements for the design and installation of PV systems

Electricity is a flow of electrons through a circuit. Electricity has several characteristics that can be measured. Voltage (volts), amperage (amps)
and watts (watts).

What is a Solar PV System? Photovoltaic systems are systems that produce electricity directly from sunlight. These systems produce clean and reliable energy, as long as the sun shines!

How a PV Cell works: Photovoltaic cells convert the sun’s photons into an electrical charge. Photons push through the PV layer towards the back of the PV cell. Electrons want to return to the top of the cell through the path of least resistance

Power Assessment: What do you need to power? When, and for how long?

Balance of system: All mechanical and electrical equipment and hardware (besides the major components) that are needed to finish the installation

High voltage! Electricity does not warn you before shocking you. High voltage shocks can kill you. Turn everything off before you touch the system

The HOMER Powering Health Tool is a free online model to create initial designs of electric power systems for health care facilities that have no other power supply or have grid electricity available for a predictable period of hours each day. The tool is intended for project managers, engineers and financiers in the energy industry to simplify the design process for such systems.

Principles of Construction of Small Ferrocement Standing Tanks

The purpose of this handbook is to show you how you can build your own magical, practical, long-lasting home for very little money and have a wonderful time doing it!

This handbook is intended to be a resource for people affected by landslides to
acquire further knowledge, especially about the conditions that are unique to their
neighborhoods and communities.

How to build a tippy tap instructions.

Solar generator examples, capacities, and considerations.