The ongoing bushfires in south-eastern Australia are a horrible reminder that we need to change the way we’re operating. But I don’t think it’s a simple as trying to reduce carbon emissions. So over the next few weeks, I’m going to talk to some people who have ideas about more tangible and effective ways of managing landscapes, including urban areas, farms and bushland. If we don’t re-instate a functioning water cycle, then things are going to get worse, no matter how much CO2 is in the air.
This interview is with Michael Mobbs. Michael is a former environmental lawyer from Sydney who has become known as the “off-grid guy”. Because, in 1996, he began the process of disconnecting his inner-city home in Sydney from mains water, sewage and electricity.
Show Notes
01:59 How cities change the water cycle
02:47 Michael’s house
03:49 Michael’s role in the 1993-4 parliamentary inquiry into Sydney’s water
04:43 what does “you can’t do that” actually mean?
06:16 A model of the house is in the Powerhouse Museum’s EcoLogic exhibition: https://maas.museum/event/ecologic/
06:59 “It’s as though this culture has never landed here”
07:43 the problem with the education system; growing up on a farm
08:29 The Sydney Botanic gardens wastes millions of rainwater every year
09:46 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/
12:15 Bureaucracies never change
12:15  “If you wanted to set up a society, a culture, that’s doomed to fail, this is the one you would set up.”
13:49 People shouldn’t rely on governments. Do what you can, including catching and using as much rainwater as possible.
14:10 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
16:51 A road garden in Bondi
17:57 Food waste and wasted water
18:57 Buy from farmers’ markets
19:25 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
21:13 How the house is resistant to bushfires 
21:52 Using recycled timber, eg from “weed” species like camphor laurel
23:01 Michael’s recent travels through many areas in rural Australia
24:30 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
25:28 Drinking rainwater: it’s healthy and doesn’t have chlorine, which may be carcinogenic
27:05 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
27:53 Michael’s two books, Sustainable House and Sustainable Food: https://www.sustainablehouse.com.au/products
29:17 Archimedes, Newtown, Einstein: they came upon their insights through their interactions with the world around them
29:40 “The best university, the best reading, is where we walk and talk and see in our own environment, wherever that may be, each day.”