Category: Uncategorized

Who loves to write about eco-toilets, clean water, reusing urine and growing food? Laura and Carrie! After connecting via the 2024 Rich Earth Institute’s Summit, we’ve teamed up to write this blog and share with you these possibilities for a better future.

Laura Allen is a writer, teacher and water steward. She co-founded Greywater Action and authored two books on water reuse: The Water-Wise Home: How to Conserve, Capture, and Reuse Water in Your Home and Landscape and Greywater, Green Landscape: How to Install Simple Water-Saving Irrigation Systems in Your Yard. She also writes science news stories for kids.

Carrie Koplinka-Loehr has a master’s degree in science education and is the coauthor of Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Food We Love and Need. She’s a peecycling advocate and lives in a house in central New York that’s powered by the sun.

Hi! Welcome to On this Earth: a blog about clean water, interesting toilets and how we can do better for our beautiful world.

Water has been my focus for a long time. Specifically, how we can make simple changes in our homes and communities to conserve and reuse this precious element. I co-founded Greywater Action where we teach people how to tap into their greywater — water coming from showers, sinks and laundry — to grow bountiful landscapes.

I love the practical, hands-on actions we can take.

I also love learning what other people have done, in their homes and cities, to protect the Earth. 

I’m fascinated by ancient toilets and how they can help reimagine our current sanitation situation for the better. 

It’s a big world out there. Not everyone flushed their poop into the nearest waterway. Some cultures kept the water clean and people healthy while they managed excreta in a useful way. And there are places renewing these practices today.

I hope my posts inspire you to think about toilets and water in a new light, and help us move towards a healthier future.