• A 3,000 litre rain tank that’s both not trivial and is trivial recently installed at a high school - why this curious contradiction?
My 10,000 litre rain tank in my Chippendale house block’s back garden supplies water for my drinking, cooking, shower needs.
But it’s trivial and not trivial at the same time?
Why the contradiction?
The answer is easy.
• A typical Australian breakfast needs over 1100 litres of water; photo from Sustainable Food by Michael Mobbs
Look at this photo above and you can see why.
Look, too, at this 1 minute 41 seconds video below to see what a 3,000 litre rain tank looks like - it’s way bigger than a typical human and, in this case, much higher than a short bloke:
The rain tank above holds as much water as is needed to grow a day’s food eaten in the diet of a typical Australian.
Eating the typical Australian diet means that each day most of we humans here eat food that needs over 3,000 litres of water to be grown, harvested, prepared, and cooked.
I have no disrespect for own or any rain tank. Instead, I seek by saying these things to both respect rain tanks and farmers and gardeners who grow our own food.
And, in particular, I acknowledge and respect always those of us who grow our own food in the city and country.
Go the rain tanks, the gardeners and the composters of food waste.
Michael