I was thinking today, because it's Tuesday and I have to limit this sort of thing to one day a week, about how quickly summers are heating up in many parts of the world. Death Valley, California hit its own night-time temperature record yesterday of 41.7C. Most of my area has been sweltering in heat and drought. A couple years ago it I remember how bad it was in the Moscow region, and horrible fires joined the mix. Ditto in your part of the world?
Can Lithops help us adapt??
What would a house inspired by Lithops/Mesembs be like? I had a chin wag with some friends the other day about it, and we came up with a few ideas:
1. Instead of flimsy windows and flimsier walls, cubed translucent walls filled with photosynthetic gel. Could that work?? It could be like adobe, but allow light in and make food/energy as well....
2. Contractile "roots" so the house could descend into the earth during extremely hot spells to stay cool. Lots of mesembs do this and it works well for them!
3. Lovely solar panels and attractive skylights, of course, in amazing designs and colors, like the Lithops!
4. Water storage supreme. Saving water when heavy rains fall, catching dew, etc... What do you think??
Great ideas, all of them! I particularly like the idea of translucent walls filled with photosynthetic gel. I want to live inside a Lithops!
ReplyDeleteI know that most of the world is heating up and suffering droughts, but in the Pacific Northwest we've had the coolest and wettest spring and summer ever. Everything is still green, our garden is absolutely amazing, and the orchids are loving the unusual humidity. Global warming is having some odd effects.
You and I are in the only relatively wet and not so steamy places in the country. We were in a serious drought but no problems now, everything relatively normal. Not so for a single one of my friends/relatives in other areas, however. I get a phone call or email at least daily, and the first topic is "the awful weather"! Definitely weird times....
ReplyDeleteSounds perfect Mara, may I add; an autumn flower garden on the roof, a detachable/mobile self-contained apartment for summer/beach vacations, and easy to replace walls should they become weather-damaged or vandalised.
ReplyDeletegaianursery,
ReplyDeleteThose are wonderful mesemb-inspired ideas, I particularly like the idea of replacing the walls as needed! But I wouldn't want the old ones getting as wrinkly as my Argy! ;-)
And every now & then the house would double in size. The ultimate solution to the space problem.
ReplyDeletePaddarotti,
ReplyDeleteI sure like that idea! Wish our house would do that now....