Desalinization Plants - The Answer to Drought?

As I sit and write this, we haven't had any rain for the last five weeks. And there is none in the forecast for at least the next two weeks. We normally have fairly dry summers. We usually have water restrictions of some sort and we always let our lawns go golden, unlike some neighbours who insist on watering their patches of useless grass. But, in a normal year, we usually get some relief from the odd rainstorm. Not this year. Which has me wondering about our water supply...

Our water comes from a reservoir high up in the mountains which is fed by winter rains and run-off from snow and glacier melt. But as the glaciers recede year after year, I am a bit worried about what the future holds. And not just me. I found a report which indicates that as our city's population grows (and grows), we will quickly outstrip our water supply. Living on an island, albeit a large one, our sources of fresh, clean water are limited. The plan for the next ten years, or so, is to build another dam in the mountains, creating another reservoir to gather and stockpile water. It's not cheap though, 75 million dollars or so.

And yet... we live on an island, surrounded by miles of ocean water. Couldn't we tap into seawater with a desalinization plant? It seems like the wave of the future, doesn't it?

I did a bit of research and there are over 20,000 desalinization plants around the world, providing clean water to over 300 million people. Some of the key players are Saudi Arabia, Israel and Australia. Although some US states like California, Texas and Arizona have also jumped on board. It seems like a win-win solution... take free sea water and turn it into fresh water. But not so fast...

There are two desalination methods: thermal and membrane. Both are extremely expensive (double what "normal" water costs), use a LOT of energy and have environmental issues.

With the thermal method, water is heated up to produce steam which is then collected and condensed to produce water. The remaining brine is then pumped out to sea. This method was the most popular method prior to the 1980s. It fell into disfavour because it's a bit more expensive than the membrane method which has now become far more popular.

With the membrane method (also known as reverse osmosis), sea water is forced through a membrane with tiny holes which catch the salt molecules but let the water molecules pass through. In this case,100 gallons of seawater produces 50 gallons of fresh water. That leaves 50 gallons of salty brine left over. What to do with it? Usually, the brine is pumped back into the ocean but this can cause sea life to die as the brine sinks to the bottom and smothers whatever lives on the ocean floor. Many desalinization plants try to dilute the brine with sea water and disperse it over a larger area. Still... it's tricky, not least because the brine is often contaminated with heavy metals. As well, some recent studies suggest that the ratio of fresh water to brine water might actually be something like... 35 gallons of fresh water and 65 gallons of brine. On top of that... the intake pipes which suck the sea water into the desalinization plant also suck in all sorts of sea life - from fish to plankton, which is problematic.

In some areas, desalinization plants are processing brackish water from aquifers and rivers, water that is only slightly salty. This is far more efficient than producing fresh water from sea water, since there is less salt to be filtered out.

Both thermal and membrane methods require tonnes of energy which, in most cases comes from fossil fuels. This simply contributes to a vicious cycle. As climate change alters weather patterns and reduces rainfall in certain areas, desalinization plants pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, thus worsening global warming and climate change.

Now there is some hope on the horizon. Saudi Arabia is apparently looking at shifting their chief energy source from fossil fuels to solar power. That would certainly reduce the environmental impact. Other sunny climes, like Australia, California, Texas, Arizona and Israel would also benefit by switching from fossil fuel power sources to solar.

So, while desalinization plants are definitely an option... they are likely not in our future anytime soon. I would imagine we are going to look at other options first: more reservoirs, homeowners being encourage to install cisterns and other rainwater catchment options for gardening and... sigh... lawn watering, harvesting grey water, etc. 

Clean, fresh drinking water is a precious resource and we should treat it as such. And yes, there are dozens of Indigenous communities across Canada that lack this precious resource. It seems that for every community which has a water advisory lifted, another community is added to the list. All of this makes me appreciate the water that flows out of our taps even more.

Resources

Yale University - article on desalinization plants

National Geographic - article on desalinization plants 

Wired - article on desalinization plants 

Circle of Blue - other options for fresh water supplies

To eat or not to eat: The Truth about Food "Expiration" Dates

A few months ago, I poured my morning glass of soy milk (organic). I took a hefty swig and swallowed. Bahhhh!!!!! It was sour!! And lumpy! Ick!! I spit out what was in my mouth and rinsed with copious amounts of water. The milk had obviously gone off. How had I missed that? I mean, according to the date on the carton, the milk hadn't reached it's "Best Before" date. Urgh... don't those dates mean anything??

This morning, I came across an article that suggested we stop wasting food by throwing it out after it passes its expiry date. That lots of food is good long past the date on the package. Ummm.... what about sour soy milk?? Which makes me ask again... don't those dates mean anything?? 

I always thought the "Best Before" or expiry dates were there to protect us from food poisoning. Although, to be honesty... I've also eaten my share of moldy cheddar cheese... just cut off the moldy bits and you're good to go! Unless it's blue cheese of course... cause even that can go "off" when it starts growing non-blue mold. Oh, and I do know that moldy bread should not be eaten... even with the moldy bits cut off, cause the mold roots can spread deep into the bread, far from the obvious mold. On the other hand, I've eaten sandwiches and tasted the mold go by and lived to tell the tale. I wouldn't eat canned food that was past its expiry date but I do eat dry pasta that is past its expiry date. Is there some unwritten code for knowing when it's safe to ignore expiry dates and when we should heed them?

Yup... cooked and ate this on 11 July 2021... still alive!

So... what do we know? Well, 40% of food grown and produced in America is wasted.  Which isn't just a waste of food, but also a waste of water to grow that food. Plus the amount of stuff that ends up in the landfills (21% of landfill stuff is food). On average, each person in the USA wastes 290 lbs of food per year. These numbers are concerning. Particularly when 42 million people in the USA live with food insecurity.

And yet... we come across these expiry dates and... what's a person to do? Run the risk of botulism or food poisoning by eating food which might be bad?

It all comes down to those food labels... and the question... do those dates actually mean anything? Apparently researchers studied food "expiration" dates and concluded that while they are well-intentioned, they are haphazard and confusing. No kidding. On top of that... they rarely correspond to food actually expiring or spoiling. Ummm... yeah... tell that to the person who drank spoiled soy milk even though it hadn't reached its expiry date!

So here's the bottom line... those dates aren't food expiration dates at all. Nope. For one thing, those dates are not standardized. For another thing, they have almost nothing to do with food safety. 

One type of vegan mayo with a BestBefore date...

Another vegan mayo with a "Lot" date... in the future. Is that a BestBefore date?

When date labels first appeared after the Second World War, they were mostly for store owners. So that they would know when to rotate food stock. But given that consumers wanted to buy the freshest food possible, some people published little booklets to decipher the date codes on food. I'm surely not the only one who paws through the cartons of milk looking at the date labels and pulls a "fresher" one from the back of the pack?

Once manufacturers figured out that consumers wanted to know about the dates, they started putting month, day, year on their products. Consumers no longer needed a booklet to decode the dates on food labels. But there was no consistency between manufacturers and producers. In the US, there is no federal regulation about date labels (except  for infant formula) and regulation falls to the states. In some states, the date on milk has to be 21 days after bottling... in others the date is 14 days after bottling...

On top of that... some manufacturers use a “Best By" label on one product, a “Sell By” label on another, a “Best if used Before” label on a third and a "Use By" label on a fourth. All four of which mean very different things... but we consumers tend to treat them all as "expiration" dates. Ultimately though, the manufacturer's want their product to taste the best (flavour, texture, mouth feel) and the dates on food labels have more to do with food quality than food safety. The "Best Before" date isn't the same as a "Bad After" date! Except for things like meat... and deli products... and eggs... which, if they are past their date can really make you sick.

Federal regulation to standardize dates on food labels has been attempted several times in the USA but always goes down in flames. Some major food associations (Consumer Brands Association and the Food Marketing Institute) managed to come up with two labels: the "Best if Used By" label is for food quality and the "Use By" label is for food safety. But they haven't caught on with all food producers.

But even if we could get to standardized regulation (and Canada has more than the US), we'd still need to shift our mindset about food that is past its prime. Lots of food is still safe to eat after the date on the label. It's not "bad" for us. This might then shift the perception that donating expired food (that is not at its peak quality) to food banks and homeless shelters is a "bad" thing. This might help with food insecurity...

The UK even came up with a slogan for food safety: "Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste". In other words, we should trust our senses. I would also add "Touch" to that message. If I'm cutting up a pepper that is a bit dodgy (squishy bits), I use my fingers to check for the slimy bits and cut those off... But the word "touch" doesn't really fit in the UK's rhyming slogan.

Although... the taste bit certainly worked for me with the soy milk. It tasted icky and once I had a closer look at it, I could see it was lumpy. And... the fact that it was going off before it's expiration date? That's because it had been sitting open in our fridge for days (perhaps... cough... a week or more...). Those "Best Before" dates are only good for unopened packages. Once it's been opened... all bets are off.

A Canadian Government site notes that...  "because of the potential for contamination, once a package of lunchmeat is open, for safety reasons, it should be consumed in 3-5 days. You can't tell whether food is unsafe by its smell or taste." Well... so much for the UK's slogan - "Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste". Sigh.

Inspections Canada has a site which offers some information about date labelling on pre-packaged foods. It would appear that foods with a durable life (related to quality) of 90 days or less, have regulations about date labelling. For foods that have a durable life of more than 90 days, there is voluntary date labelling. We are still left to navigate through Best Before, Use By, Packaged On, Expiration, Freeze By, Use By.... and figure out what they all mean.

The Canadian Government also has a page that outlines how to handle and store fresh food in the fridge and freezer. Did you know an open container of yogurt has a shelf life of 3 days? Ooops... We used to buy 4 litre buckets of yogurt from Superstore and eat them over the course of a week... or two. If we saw mold on the edge of the bucket, we'd just scrape it off and keep eating. It's amazing we didn't get seriously sick! Opened milk is only good for 3 days too. Cheese is interesting though... it's good for the date given on the packaging, whether it's opened or unopened.

But what about processed foods? Like canned foods and packages of pasta, dried beans or rice? I mean, canned foods have a date on the bottom. Isn't  that an expiry date? Nope. It's a quality date. Apparently canned foods, if they are stored correctly (no extremes of heat or moisture) and aren't damaged (leaking, dented, rusted), are good forever. They might not be top quality but... essentially... good to eat for a very, very, very long time.

So, at the end of the day... what's a person to do? Isn't there a general rule of thumb we could use? Nope... it's OK to cut mold off of hard cheeses like cheddar, but not off of soft cheeses. It's OK to drink milk past the date on the carton, as long as it doesn't smell or taste funny. But don't try that with deli meat. You can test eggs past their carton date with the float test, but there isn't any way to test meat or seafood.

I can see why people just err on the side of caution and toss anything past the labelled date! On the other hand... some foods like canned goods, pasta, dried beans and rice are much more forgiving. Usually. We have used dried beans well past the date on the package and found them to have texture issues - way too hard and virtually inedible, no longer how much we soaked or cooked them. We have also smelled rice and found it to be rancid. I guess each person/household needs to learn the rule of thumb for the stuff they buy most often.

From a can of Cream of Celery soup in our pantry...
To eat... or not to eat... that is the question...

I did learn something today about canned foods... that they are likely to be good for a very long time. It's still a good idea to check the cans and make sure they aren't dented or bulging or rusted. And we always rotate our new cans to the back of the pantry and use the older cans first.

Gone are the days of just tossing "expired" food willy nilly. This is going to require a bit  more thought and attention!

Did you know... "rest" is more than just sleeping or lying on the couch!

"Are you getting enough rest?"

"You need to rest more."

"Why don't you stop and rest?"

Have you heard any of those lines? Or said any of those lines? What does "rest" mean to you? If you're like me, "rest" means things like getting enough sleep (feeling well-rested), having a nap or stopping whatever it is I'm doing, getting off my feet and sitting on the couch Which usually then involves scrolling through my phone. At least I'm resting! Right?

Nope. Not entirely. You see... when we say "rest", we often mean physical rest. But how many of us, get our 7-9 hours of sleep every night and yet still wake up feeling exhausted. What gives? We're sleeping... shouldn't we feel rested?  Maybe we should sleep more? Like 10-12 hours? Nope... still not feeling well-rested. In fact, this tendency to equate sleep with rest can lead down a slippery slope to chronic fatigue and burnout.

As it turns out that there are seven (yup, 7!) different types of rest that we need. And Physical Rest is just one of those... Go figure... 

1. Physical Rest

There are two types of physical rest - active and passive. Passive rest is what we generally think of when we here the word "rest", things like sleeping, napping and getting off our feet. Active rest is things like yoga, stretching and massage. We are actually doing something, but it's something that rejuvenates our body, takes care of our body. 

2. Mental Rest

Have you ever lain in bed at night, desperately trying to fall asleep but with a gazillion thoughts scampering through your head? This is me... I have a heck of a time turning off my brain at night. I'm not getting a lot of mental rest. This might explain why I feel overwhelmed a lot during the day. I start to go faster and faster and my brain is whizzing around like a dervish. The trick here is to stop (just stop) and take breaks. And not smart phone breaks. Go for a little walk out in nature or putter around the garden for a bit. Because scrolling through the phone really doesn't give me a "mental" break... it just pokes the already spinning brain with more stuff. Another trick, for bedtime, is to keep a note pad on the nightstand and write down the ideas and thoughts that come and that I want to capture. I try to head this off at the pass by doing some journaling before bed, to do a brain dump and let go of all the stuff that is clogging my head.

3. Sensory Rest

 We live in a world with a LOT of sensory stimuli - televisions, computer screens, smart phones, tablets, dings and notifications, Zoom calls. All of it can lead to sensory overload. One way to deal with this is to close our eyes for a minute or so at various points during the day. Another way is to turn off all the screens a few hours before bedtime, to give your system time to decompress. This is one reason why a television in the bedroom is not the best option. Watching television in the evenings can leave us feeling exhausted and tired but it's not a type of tired that is going to be cured by sleep. What we really need is sensory rest. Interestingly, being out in nature, or in the garden, does not overload our senses but actually undoes the overload from all of our technological marvels.

4. Creative Rest

For people who produce creative work or need to solve problems and create new ideas (anything from writers to artists to computer designers to managers), we need to take time away from that and recharge our creative juices. Go to a museum or an art gallery, take a walk in a park, watch a sunset. Anything that is a source of inspiration. Personally, I like to have several books on the go at the same time and let those different ideas cross pollinate. This explains too, why we can get stuck, feel uninspired and unable to come up with bright ideas or solve problems. We need some creative rest. I already know this... when I get stuck with writing, what I really need to do is get out into nature or read a good book. I need to rest from the writing... but, man, do I ever resist that!

5. Emotional Rest 

"How are doing?" .... "Great! I'm just great!" Ever had one of those days? When you really feel like crap and yet... you put on a good front, maintain a stiff upper lift and keep your chin up. When really, inside... you're wanting to burst into tears or just scream with frustration. What we need then is emotional rest. A chance to be honest and authentic with our feelings. Maybe it's finding a friend with whom we can be honest, or perhaps we want to go and talk to a therapist. Emotional rest is also necessary for those of us who tend to say "yes" (to please someone else) when we really want to say "no". This is, honestly, a hard one for women, because we are so well-conditioned to take care of others at the expense of ourselves. No wonder we are so exhausted! We don't necessarily just need more sleep... we need emotional rest. One trick is this... when you get asked to do something, respond with "I need to think about it" or "I need to check my calendar" or "I need to check with my partner".

6. Social Rest

I kind of thought that this one would be right up an introvert's alley... taking a break from socializing! But it's more than that. It's surrounding yourself with positive and uplifting relationships and stepping away from the draining relationships. It's hard to listen to a Negative Nellie every day or to have that friend who talks your ear off but doesn't let you get in a word edgewise. Or who, when they ask you how you're doing, let you get out one sentence before they then hijack the conversation again and redirect it back to them. Yeah... we all have those people. Social rest means taking a break from those relationships that are not nurturing (for us)... and choosing relationships that refuel us.

7. Spiritual Rest

Spiritual rest is all about connecting to something bigger than yourself. This can take place through meditation, formal community spiritual gatherings or altruistic works, like volunteering in your community. It's a chance to connect with something in which we feel a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose.

Sooo... what have we learned? Well... for one thing, rest is not about vegging out on the sofa, watching TV for 12 hours, or doing some mindless activity. And... rest doesn't just happen by itself. It requires us to get in tune with ourselves and figure out, where are my rest deficits? What would help me "rest" right now? It is a nap? A walk in the woods? Puttering around in the garden? Some meditation? In order to really replenish ourselves, we need to actually carve out some time in our day to schedule restorative activities... different forms of rest.

Sources

I first came across the concept of Seven Types of Rest from a CBC news article. Some more digging led me to a TED talk by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a physician. She has written a book about the topic called "Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity". The book was published in 2017 but I'm going to see if I can get it from the library. Nope, just checked and they don't have it. Going to have to order it... Done... bought the ebook via Kobo.

Dalton-Smith also has a RestQuiz on her site... and I decided to take the quiz. Here are my results...

My RestQuiz Scores

"Based on your input, the type of rest with the highest score is the one you should focus on. It is the primary type of rest you are missing in your life.

• 0-15: You are getting adequate rest in this area if you score
• 16-25: You are experiencing rest in this area but would thrive with more
• 26-35: You are feeling the effects of your lack of rest and need a change
• >35: Your life is negatively affected by your lack of rest in this area. "

My Category Scores

Sensory Rest Score: 37 - yup - need lots of this...
Emotional Rest Score: 36 - oops... need some of this
Mental Rest Score: 34 - yup, need some of this too...
Creative Rest Score: 34 - and this too
Physical Rest Score: 30 - need some good old fashioned rest - sleeping better would be great
Social Rest Score: 26 - need a change
Spiritual Rest Score: 17 - pretty good

Right then... I need emotional rest (expressing my emotions and saying "no"), sensory rest (less screen time), mental rest (taking a few breaks throughout the day and shutting off my brain at night) and creative rest (walking in nature). Those are all pretty much in a clump from 34-37. Surprisingly, spiritual rest was my best area! And this for a lapsed Catholic who doesn't go to any form of group spiritual event! I must be doing something right...

P.S. I bought the book and the first part, detailing the seven different types of rest is pretty good. The second half is heavy on the Christianity and not quite as useful.