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Welcome to the off the grid tiny house
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built from the land and from
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second-hand materials here at
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Le Rêve de Gaïa in southern France.
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This tiny house serves as a
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demonstration site for
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sustainable and simple living to
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help you be able to live more
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sustainably and simply, wherever
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you are in the world.
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Today, I'm going to give you a tour
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of the house and the set-up, and
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show you how you can adapt these things
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at home, wherever you are, to live a
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more simple and sustainable life.
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In my last video, I already showed the
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whole building process, from tree to tiny
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house, so you can watch that video.
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Just to recap on that a little bit, all of
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the wood for this tiny house was actually
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from trees that were harvested
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sustainably right here on-site and then
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milled right here on-site as well.
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The other aspects are all second-hand.
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The doors and the windows were leftover.
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Companies that install new doors and
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windows throw out the old ones when
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they replace them. Everything else pretty
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much is second-hand material, stuff that
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was laying around at the farm, stuff
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salvaged from the landfill, and this
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entire thing cost under $100, including
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the little bit of materials that we did
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need to buy, the gasoline and the screws,
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just some very basic stuff.
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I want to take you inside and show you
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everything else.
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Here I am, on the bed inside the tiny
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house and the lesson here is that we
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don't need a lot to live sustainably.
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In fact, the less we need, the more we can
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simplify, the easier it actually is to
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live sustainably. So, this place is about
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really stripping back to the basics,
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showing a way of simplifying and being
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happy with what we have, rather than
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always wanting more. There's a simple,
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comfortable bed here. Then, on the other
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side, here, there's going to be a second
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bed as well. The shelves are all made
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from wood here on-site, really simple,
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just screws and wood and some small
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shelves here as well for some basic items.
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Just next to the bed here, we have a
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little seating area. Then, you can see how
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the storage works, just comes right out
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from underneath the bed, and it's the
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perfect size for some simple crates to
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go under. Here, you can see the
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shelves that were built on both sides,
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very simple to be able to store basic
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items. Then, above me, here we have
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spots for hanging clothes, some clothes
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hangers here. If it's raining outside and
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you can't hang dry your clothes outside,
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this is a good place to be able to dry
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some clothes as well.
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It's a comfortable place. It's designed to
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have great lighting because this is off
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the grid. There's actually not electricity
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here, so for light, there is a headlamp,
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which this one light lights up the place
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quite a bit, then that can be charged back
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at the community, and then there are
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candles as well. So, that's the inside of
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the tiny house. As you can see, very
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simple, but very comfortable and a
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wonderful place to just work on living
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simply and connecting to the basics and
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just being happy, being outside, being in
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nature, loving the world that we live in.
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Continuing on with loving the world, it's
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about the way that we interact with
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the world, so next I'm going to take you
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outside to show you what we do there.
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Most of the food here is grown on
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the farm, in the big fields, where a lot
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of food is grown. But here, next to the
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tiny house, we have a simple raised bed
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garden and I wanted to put this here to
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show how simple it is to grow some of
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your own food. A raised bed is as simple
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as a couple of posts in each corner and
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then some planks, some basic wood.
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All you have to do is be able to hold the
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soil in, have soil, have water, have
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sunlight and some plants. We can all
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grow a little bit of our own food, whether
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it's herbs on a balcony or a windowsill,
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or turning our whole front yard into a
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garden. Or, if we really don't have any
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space, joining a community garden. If not
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any of that, then seeking out local food
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and supporting the people that are
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growing food locally.
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Here we are in the outdoor kitchen, and
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this is constructed from wood harvested
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here, on site, as well as scrap
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materials, things that were salvaged that
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would have gone to waste, which is one of
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the great lessons here, utilizing wasted
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resources as well as sustainably
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harvesting from earth that we live on.
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I use a plant-based biodegradable soap, so
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this goes into what's called gray water.
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Here, we just fill up the water from the
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spring or from harvesting rainwater. Then,
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the water that goes into the sink doesn't
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go to a wastewater treatment plant. It
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goes down, it's collected in a bucket, and
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then that water can be used for watering
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plants and growing food. If you're at
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home, you can actually unscrew the P-trap
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under your sink and put a bucket there.
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Also, when you shower, when the water is
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heating up, you can fill a bucket and use
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that for watering. You can set up your
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laundry to go directly to your landscape.
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That's called laundry to landscape.
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So, at home, whether you're on the grid or
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off the grid, there's a lot of ways to use
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your gray water. We also harvest rainwater
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so I want to show you that.
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Here is the rainwater harvesting system.
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It's extremely simple. Rainwater
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harvesting is not complex. It's not
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difficult. We have a gutter collecting
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the water that falls onto the house and
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then it goes into a bucket. Rainwater
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harvesting is as simple as that. You can
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use small buckets. You can get large,
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55-gallon drums or you can have giant
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cisterns. Of course, the kitchen would
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not be complete without a place to cook.
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In communities, one of the keys is
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actually cooking together, in a central
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location. That drastically reduces
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workload. Here, we just have a simple
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stove using rocks here from on-site,
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then also wood from here on-site. We have
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wood that comes from the spruce trees and
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then the leftover wood from building the
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house. This is a very simple stove that's
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designed to be pretty efficient, with just
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using a little bit of wood for basic
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cooking. That's the stove.
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Here I am at the outdoor shower. This
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incorporates multiple things. First of
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all, it incorporates solar heating, so
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these black buckets can be put out into
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the sun and then the black absorbs the
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heat. If you put out the water from the
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spring in the morning, by the afternoon or
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evening, you have yourself a nice, warm
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shower or even hot shower, depending
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on the weather.
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This works really simply. There are holes
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screwed into the bottom of the bucket.
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This bucket comes off the bottom and then
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it's able to come out. Something that you
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can do at home is build an outdoor shower
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for the summer months. You can save
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water from your shower to water your
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garden or even redirect your shower
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to your landscape.
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Here, I am at the compost bin. Composting
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is very simple, not complicated. The Earth
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has been doing it for millions and
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millions of years. This compost bin is
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just built from wood and screws. In
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cities, you can collect pallets, put
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three pallets together and then make
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a front and you've got yourself a compost
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bin. Chicken wire in a circle is another
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really easy compost bin. You can also
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buy closed rotating containers as well,
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if you want to spend some money, or
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find them used. One key to composting
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well is to make sure you have plenty of
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carbon. For beginner composters,
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if you have any smells, if you have a lot
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of insects, just make sure you have 2-3
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times more dry carbon matter than your
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wet matter, like food waste and things
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like that, that create smells. Composting
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is something we can all do to reduce waste
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to the landfill. If we don't have a space
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to compost ourselves, in cities, a lot of
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times you can bring it to a central
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location, like a community garden or
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some farmers' markets collect it, so
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this is a great way to keep stuff out
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of the landfill and not turn our waste
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into someone else's problem, but instead
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make fertile soil for growing our own food
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right here on-site.
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This is the compost toilet and this is
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definitely more advanced sustainability
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for the average person, but I want to show
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it to you. As far as building the compost
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toilet, it's so simple. Just some wood to
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make a box and then have a lid.
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For me, the key is a raised stool, also
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called a squatty potty, to actually
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raise up your legs when you're
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pooping in order to have a more natural
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way of sitting and flowing. Underneath
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this, there are two buckets. This one,
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which I just emptied, collects the poop.
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You put a couple of scoops of sawdust
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onto that poop. Amazing how well
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a compost toilet works. You would be
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amazed the first time that you use one.
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Here, the toilet paper that we use is
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called mullein. It's super-soft and it's a
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perennial plant that grows in abundance
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here. If you want to learn about
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composting human poop, you can check out
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The Humanure Handbook, by Joseph Jenkins.
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Humanure stands for human and manure.
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You can get all the information that you
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need there.
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I hope that you learned a lot from this
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video, things that you can do to live more
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sustainably and simply. Keep in mind,
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you don't have to live in a tiny house,
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you don't have to live on a farm in order
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to be able to do a lot to live in a more
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connected way with the Earth that gives
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us life. In the description, I have
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links to many useful guides to help you
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live more sustainably and simply. Check
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out Le Rêve de Gaïa. Their website and
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their social media is there so you can
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actually visit this place if you want to.
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I spent about five weeks here, five lovely
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weeks, and it's an incredible place to
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be able to visit.
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I really enjoyed giving this tour to
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you. I hope you enjoyed it as well.
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If you did, make sure that you subscribe
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to this channel. Help this video get out
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there by liking it and commenting and
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sharing it with friends. On that note,
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I'll see you again real soon for another
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video. I love you all very much.