Table Of ContentADVANCE PRAISE
"This important _manual will become even more necessary as people
increasingly recognize the end of the age of oil-and increasingly
relocalize. Toolbox for Sustainable Ciry Living should be on the shelves
of all city dwellers," Derrick Jensen, author Endgame
"These simple, yet powerful steps can transform your life and your concept
of sustainability. Radical sustainability-intimately connected to urban
living and urban people doing for themselves-is critically important.
This book provides us with relevant tools to change what we do and
valuable thoug"hts to push the conversation forward. If you care about
low income urb"an people and their/ouf future you are going to read this
book." Renee Toil-DuBOis, Eagle Eye Institute
"The Rhizome Collective is a force that gets stuff done... it's a surprisingly
effective model for connecting people with dreams to the resources they
need." Austin Chronicle
"They had a-nially great idea of where they're going with the site. It was
so sustainable, and the practices they're using are very innovative. We
didn't see... them anywhere else,H Amber Perry, Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
"One group distinguishing themselves as a major environmental force is
the Rhizome Collective." The Green Building Program Newsletter
'This is so cool. I can't wait to get home and try it myself," Anonymous,
overheard at one of the R.U.S.T. workshops
•
TOOLBOX FOR
SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING
SCOTT KELLOGG AND STACY PETTiGREW
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JUAN MARTINEZ
TOOLBOX FOR
SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING
(A DO-iT-OU RSELVES GU iDE)
SOUTH END PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Copyright () 2008 by Scott Kellogg
Anv p roperl� footnoted
and Stacy Pettigrew
quotation of up to 500 sequen�al ... ordl may be used
wit hout permislion, as Icng as the total number of words quoted do�s not
exceetl 2,000. fo, longe' �uotiti(mS or for a greater numm., 01 total words
please wrote to South I'nd Pr�IS for permission
Dosco....nted bulk qu�"tities of this book Me available lor organizing.
educational. or fundr al s.ng purposes. Plea,e cont�ct South End Press for more
information.
Cover design by Beol3mm ShaV�in
Cover illustr�tlO!' bV Juan Martinez Jnd Beth Ferguson
Interior des.gn by AleHnder Dwinell. South End p�s colleCtive
PriMed In Canada by un .on ·abor on recycled paper
library of Congress Cat"alogins· in ·PublicatlOn Data
KelloB&, Scort T.
Toolbox/or sustainable city lIVing . a dO·it-ourselves guide' Scott Kellogg and
Stacy Perug,ew , illu", ations by Juan Ma,tllle,
p em.
"Mc>st of th e 'y,tem, deScribed ore ones th�t we have b�11t and experirr.ented
with O�e, the past eight ye�rs at the Rh"ome Collective (formed in 20001 •."
Au,�n. Texas"--IMrod
Includes bibliographIcal reiefenCeS and index.
ISBN 978-0-89608-780-4 (pbk
. �Ik paper)
I. SuStamable Iiv;nB-·Handbooh, manuals, etc. 2. Organ.c Iivlng··H�ndbooks,
manuals. etc 3. Cc>n,ervation of natural reSOurces·· Handbooks, manuals. etc.
4 Self-rehant living ·Handbooks, manuals. etc. 5 Urban ecology·-Handboo;".
manuals, etc. I. Pettigrew, Stacy. II. Title. III. T itle: Sustainable city IivmB' a do
iI-ourSelves guide
Gf78.K4S 2008
640--11(22
200801173B
12 11 10 09 08
South End PrfSI
lead.""" ite.revolt.
7 Brookline Street III
Cambr idge. MA02139
www.Southendpress.orll
1 23456789
CONTENTS
Introduction
FOOD
"
1
Mlcrolive�tock (4) Tree Crops and fdible Forests (14) Mushroom Log
Cultivation (171 Aquaculture (21) Depave the Planet (47) Siosnellers
(50) Insect Culture (55) Putting It All Together (60)
WATER
61
Rainwater Coliecl1on (64) Code, and lOlling (72) Water Purincatiorl
(75) Barrels, Bunt:holes, & Bulkheads (80) Floatlllg Trash Islands (84)
Putting ItAl1 Together (8S)
WASTE
91
Wastewater Recycling ,94) CompOS!lng (111) Verm.eompostmg (118)
Recyciir'lg Hum�n Wastes (121) Putting ItAll Together lUI)
ENERGY
SiOfuels "(139) BIO(har Jnd Gasification (151)
13J
Bioga5 and.JMthane
Generilnon (153) Wind Power (160) Passive Solar (164) Roc�et Stoves
(173) Puttlng It All Togt'lher (176)
BIOREMEDIATION
Pollutants
(183)
(181)
Bactenal
Phytoremediation
Comong up
Remediation
(1gS)
with
{184)
Compost
a Remediation
179
Str�tegy
Mycoremedl�tion
81oremediatlOrl (201)
(191)
Air
Purification (202) Putting It All Together (204) Hurricane Katrma
A Case Study in Applied Btoremediation (205) Acce,s to land (206)
Susta,nability and Gentrifi(ation 1210)
CONCLUSION
213
Resources and Note�
216
Glossary 126
Indc� 231
IllustratIOn & Photo Credits '"
About the Authors 143
AbOut South End Press '"
•
•
ACKNOWLEDGEM ENTS
We would like to thank our parents-Bill and Karen
Pettigrew and Norm and Cind.y Ke llogg-whose
numerous hours of babysitting. made this book
possible; Juan Martinez, Beth Ferguson, and David
BaileY,John DolleyJr. for their drawings and woodcuts;
Starhawk and Lisa Fithian for their photographs; leah
Penniman, Javid Afzali, Richard Linel. and Lauren
Ross for their comments; Aunt Barbara for typing
Stacy's first stories; our grandparents; and everyone
involved with the Rhizome ColleCtive and the Albany
-
Free School Community.
This book is dedicated to
Eleanor Elodea Kellogg.
•
•
INTRODUCTION
In the coming decades, humanity will be faced with an enormous challenge-to
survive the implosion of a society that has overextended its natural limitations
in every capacity. The converging crises of climate change, energy depletion, and
environmental degradation seriously threaten our speciesi surv.ival. Despite the
growing awareness of the severity of these threats, the mechanisms that drive them
are well in motion and are terribly difficult to stop.
The future is unknown. Climate models and oil consumption projections can be
analyzed. but precise details of what and when changes will occur cannot be
completely pred icted. What is certain, however, is that if our current trajectory remains
unchanged devastating collapse is unavoidable. A massive social transformation is
needed. Driven by the current economic modelfs need' for perpetual growth, todayrs
society is marked by unrelenting consumption and an increasing-disparity between
rich and poor. This path has no future. In order to survive, we must become a culture
that consumes drastically1ewer resources and is strongly rooted" in the principles of
sustainability, egalitarianism, and cooperation.
Accomplishing this tr.aosition will be no easy task. To be successful a diversity of
tactics will need to be employed on every level of society. The largest and most
important changes will take place on a grassroots level. While people acting on the
grassroots are nof individually responsible for the looming crises� the scale and depth
of the changes necessary must be based and emerge from the grassroots. One critical
component of this transition is the design of ecologicaJly sustainable, community
based infrastructure. It is this component that this book addresses. This manual is a
toolbox of skills, technologies, tactics, and information to giv� people access to, and
control over, lifers necessities:
food, water, energy, and waste management.
WHAT IS S USTA I NABLE?
When first coined, the word
sustainabilitycaptured a very powerful concept. Its many
definitions essentially boil down to the idea of living in such a way that the resources
available today will continue to be available for an indefinite number of future
INTRODUCTION I ..
generations. Sadly, the term has been almost completely co-opted by corporations,
governments, and international financial institutions.
For example, a mainstream sustainable development program might propose insta�lin9
a series of solar panels in a rural village. But solar panels only have about a 25-year life
span, provided theyire not damaged sooner, and after this period the panels are useless.
Typically these projects don it consider whether or not the village will have the technical
expertise, access to tools or manufacturing, or money necessary to repair or replace
the panels. Without these resources the village finds itself in a position of dependency.
When the panels fail they must wait for someone to donate another set. These types of
projects maintain a colonial traj�_ctory.
Sustainable development has joined the lexicon of the International Monetary Fund
(lMF), the World Bank, and the United Nations and is often used in their public
relations campaigns as a euphemism for neoliberal economic development. The only
sustainability created by a program which forces people to abandon their traditional
means of sustenance in favor of exclusively raising a single cash crop for export is
the ability of wealthier nations to sustain their monopolies of power.
The ideologies of _narural capitalism and green consumerism dilute the concept
of sustainability even further. The mainstream sustainability mov..ement puts the
emphasis on green consumerism6the idea that environmental devastation can be
avoided simply through changes in consumer spending habits. This has led to
businesses from large retail stores to the petroleum industry attempting to sell
themselves and their products as being green. As the genuine sustainability of many of
these products is dubious, the use of green, sustainable, and environmentally friendly
as marketing terms has only further devalued the concept of sustainability.
Green consumerism encourages consumption of a different variety. It does nothing
to challenge the patterns of over-consumption and excess that have created the
environmental crisis. Green consumerism only reinforces the destructive capitalist
paradigm while giving people a dangerously false sense that real change is being
made. Capitalism, natural or not, requires infinite expansion and consumption of
material resources. In a world that is fragile and finite, such a system is inherently
xii I TOOLBOX FOR SUSTAINABLE CITY LIVING
