How cities change the water cycle

Michael’s house

Michael’s role in the 1993-4 parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s water

what does “you can’t do that” actually mean?

A model of the house is in the Powerhouse Museum’s EcoLogic exhibition: https://maas.museum/event/ecologic/

“It’s as though this culture has never landed here”

the problem with the education system; growing up on a farm

The Sydney Botanic gardens wastes millions of rainwater every year

Gutters are the main cause of house fires. Why don’t we use a different design? An example of the gutters Michael describes: https://www.eaveswatersystem.com/

Bureaucracies never change

  “If you wanted to set up a society, a culture, that’s doomed to fail, this is the one you would set up.”

People shouldn’t rely on governments. Do what you can, including catching and using as much rainwater as possible.

Leaky drains: Michael’s street saves 4 million L of water each year from going to the ocean. Here is a great video he made that shows you how to do it: https://www.sustainablehouse.com.au/community-gardens

A road garden in Bondi

Food waste and wasted water

Buy from farmers’ markets

Michael’s new project to design a pre-fabricated studio house with attached water treatment and solar electricity systems: contact Michael to learn more https://www.sustainablehouse.com.au/contact

How the house is resistant to bushfires 

Using recycled timber, eg from “weed” species like camphor laurel

Michael’s recent travels through many areas in rural Australia

Do an experiment to catch for one day all the water that you would have normally let drain down the kitchen sink: it will be a lot

Drinking rainwater: it’s healthy and doesn’t have chlorine, which may be carcinogenic

In Australia, water utility companies are government-owned, so there is no competition. And the government does not fund research into the effects of chlorine on, for eg, gut health

Michael’s two books, Sustainable House and Sustainable Food: https://www.sustainablehouse.com.au/products

Archimedes, Newtown, Einstein: they came upon their insights through their interactions with the world around them

“The best university, the best reading, is where we walk and talk and see in our own environment, wherever that may be, each day.”