BOOK REVIEW: TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING

By Ella Tyler

I am intrigued by the idea of attending a Radical Urban Sustainability Training workshop led by the Rhizome Collective, an urban sustainability and community organizing project based in Austin, but I haven’t done it yet. I’m attached to my deed-restricted lifestyle, and doubt that I’d learn anything I could use.

So, I was delighted to get a copy of Toolbox for Sustainable City Living, written by the collective’s co-founders Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew. The book is easy to read and understand, and unlike many guides to “green living” doesn’t require buying lots of expensive stuff. When I got to the section about how to build a solar oven, I decided that all I need is the book and a few supplies and I’m ready for hurricane season.

One of the important features of the book is that, as it teaches the reader how to build a system, it explains the principles behind the design. For example, the reason to have green stuff and brown stuff in a compost heap is for the carbon-nitrogen ratio. Organisms that decompose organic matter use carbon as a source of energy and nitrogen for building cell structure. They need more carbon than nitrogen.

Once the reader knows why something is built a certain way, it is easier to reproduce a design using materials that are easily accessible, reinforcing the book’s emphasis using cheap, salvaged and recycled materials when possible.

The book shows the apartment dweller how to grow mushrooms in an old log and use worms for composting. Other urbanites can learn how to keep chickens, raise tilapia, harvest rainwater, and make alternate fuels. The book’s approach to deed restrictions is “out of sight, no one complains”, which is generally a good approach.

The Rhizome Collective is housed in a building that was a burnt out shell in 2000. The asphalt parking lot was removed and the warehouse rebuilt. Now, using the principles of permaculture, it is a lush, thriving garden with rainwater harvesting, a polyculture pond, a constructed wetland to clean greywater, a food forest and more.

The book is full of ways to accomplish many different projects to enable any urban dweller to have a more sustainable life. One of them will inspire you.

South End Press publishes the book. It can also be ordered from ent.groundspring.org.