Suburb Housing Enviromental-Harm Reduction Policy Agenda

Basics

• The Suburb Housing Envirometal-Harm Reduction Policy Agenda , Abbreviated as SHERPA (Sherpa) is a guideline of policies that reduce the enviromental problems associated with Suburbanization
  • Guiding suburbs towards a more sustainable futute...
• Mainly:
  • All the issues associated with Traditional Lawns ( Monoculture , Intensive use of fertilizer, fungicide, herbicide, petsticide, and water usage)
  • The reliance on Cars for the majority of transportation
  • Energy Consumption / Waste
  • Pollution of Waterways (Mainly Fertilizer Runoff, and resulting Algae Blooms / Dead Zones )
  • Solid Waste Production

Solutions

Lawns

• Promote alternate forms of Ground Cover such as other Ground Cover Plants , usage of space the space for gardens, and utilization of Native Plants
• Promote utilizatiion of Reclaimed Water / Rainwater Capture etc for lawn watering
• More data on soil moisture etc via OS Sensing and Control Hardware

Transportation

• Promote utilization of LSEVs for intra-community transport (also see Open Source Golf Cart )
• Potentially some sort of OS car/ridesharing/carpool app (this isn't in the works though, need to see if any pre-existing options exist)

Energy Consumption / Waste

• New houses being constructed using OBI designs would be more efficient, and may even produce excess energy ( Selling Power to the Grid )
• Offering OS Photovoltaic Panel / Solar Thermal Heating Panels etc to reduce energy usage
• Open Source Smart Home hardware + software to reduce waste from electronics, HVAC, and lighting

Pollution of Waterways

• Reduction of fertilizer/herbicide etc usage via improved lawns alone should help with the majority of the issue via eliminating the source
• Adding Algae Terf Scrubbers , Artificial Wetlands , etc to the Retention Pond and Stormwater Drain systems should remove anything remaining, and could potentially generate Biomass or reduce water needs

Solid Waste Production

• Encourage On-Site Composting , In-Sink Waste Grinders , and Source Seperated Organics to reduce organic content in MSW which accounts for a majority of said waste
• Promote donation of reusable items, rather than immediate disposal via MSM workflows
  • To used stores, to enthusiast groups (for old tech such as CRTs etc)
• Promote (proper) utlization of existing recycling systems, and if no Curbside Collection systems exist, potentially organizing a decentralized one (see Precious Plastic and Urban Mining )
• Promote proper disposal of E-Waste
• Raise community understanding of the issue, and sorting of plastics etc

Internal Links

• New Urbanism (Main shortfall is lack of "Drop in Solutions" )
• Surface Runoff

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Suburbs
• The Wikipedia Page on Suburbanization
• The Wikipedia Page on Surface Runoff
• A Video on Conversion of Lawns in a Community in Orlando to Gardens (Understated the issue of work required (ie gardens aren't "care free" ) , but otherwise good, also supposedly state legisslature protects this practice? ) )