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The concept of sustainable housing has considered the urgency to support the sustainable environment in an integrative way. This concept is related to several main principles include environmental, social, and economic sustainability. In practice, these principles translated into the fundamental of housing choice, both process and product choices. In many peri-urban areas, current house construction tends to imitate city houses with massive concrete structures equipped with air conditioning that caused high energy consumption. The Center for Rural Empowerment team of ITB built a prototype of an eco-friendly house in Haurgombong village, Sumedang, West Java. The house has two floors building on a 7x5 m2 land site. The first floor was renovated from the existing toilet rooms and develop into a two-floor house. The second floor was built using the local wood material. The wood material has been obtaining from the trees of seven years old beechwood (Gmelina Arborea) planted in the garden. The envelope material for this house was constructed from local and common material in rural or peri-urban context, the lightweight fiberglass for the roof of common room, and the transparent fiber materials for the roof of second-floor terrace to make the plantation at this area can easily receive the sunlight. This house is also can be regarded as a prototype of an earthquake-resistant house. The lighting factor, temperature, and airflow settings are made naturally. Besides, this house has also equipped with a rainwater storage system and greywater treatment using a small, constructed wetland that allows the treated water used for watering gardens and fishponds. The budget spent to build this house was as low as possible so that the surrounding community can imitate the building for their house and disseminate eco-friendly housing.

Leather tanning wastewater which contains chromium (Cr) pollutes river located close to the industrial area. In Garut district, leather tanning industry wastewater is dumped into Cigulampeng river which water is used to irrigate nearby paddy fields. The paddy fields affected by leather tanning wastewater are reaching an area of 37.1 ha in Kota Wetan village and 76 ha in Sukamantri village. This research is aimed to determine the effect of tanning wastewater on paddy fields in Sukamantri village, Garut district. A descriptive quantitative method using questionnaires and interviews to local farmers in polluted and unpolluted paddy fields was employed. In addition, an observation on environmental factors including chemical and physical conditions of river water and paddy fields soil was also conducted. Polluted water is characterized by its frequently color-changing, unpleasant odor, and toxic substances which mainly is chromium. Paddy cultivars planted in the polluted area are Rojolele (65.71%), Sarinah (42.8%), Widas (37.715%), Ciherang (20%), and Mega (11.43%). These paddy cultivars are chosen by farmers mostly based on their ability to withstand pollution and pest (mainly rats). Leather tanning wastewater decrease paddy production with percentage of reduction can be categorized into low (25.71%), medium (34.28%), high (34.28%), and very high (45.71%). According to farmers, the contaminated water also causes itching and burning sensation to their skin, dizziness, and nausea.

Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui pengaruh logam berat kadmium (Cd) dengan penambahan nitrogen terhadap kondisi ekofisiologis tanaman kangkung darat (Ipomoea reptans Poir.). Konsentrasi Cd yang digunakan yaitu 0,5 ppm dan 5 ppm sedangkan untuk penambahan nitrogen menggunakan 5 mM dan 10 mM (NH4)2 SO4. Perlakuan diberikan dalam medium Hoagland selama 14 hari. Penambahan nitrogen 10 mM pada konsentrasi Cd 5 ppm paling menghambat pertumbuhan tanaman dengan indeks toleransi terkecil (15,61%) dan laju pertumbuhan relatif terendah (0,15 g/pekan). Penambahan luas daun paling tinggi pada perlakuan penambahan N 10 mM yaitu 34,86 cm2/pekan. Adanya penambahan Cd menyebabkan penambahan luas daun terhambat. Kadar klorofil pada semua perlakuan tidak menunjukkan hasil yang berbeda signifikan tetapi pada perlakuan Cd dan penambahan N terjadi perubahan morfologi yaitu klorosis. Selain itu didapatkan kadar prolin pada akar yang lebih besar dibandingkan pada daun. Kadar prolin berada di kisaran 0,30- 1, 57 µmol/g berat basah pada daun dan 0,61 – 4,13 µmol/g berat basah pada akar.

We investigated the effect of paraquat dichloride herbicide application on diversity and abundance of soil arthropods in a corn field. In addition to control (0 mL/L), four concentrations of paraquat dichloride were applied i.e. 3.33 mL / L, 4 mL / L, 4.66 mL / L and 5.33 mL / L. Sampling was carried out four times, namely at T 0 (before tillage), T 1 (after tillage), T 2 (after spraying herbicides), and T 3 (before harvesting) using a pitfall trap method. Soil arthropod samples were identified to the family level. The total number of individuals was then analyzed to obtain species richness, species dominance index, species diversity index and similarity index of Sorensen. The result showed that paraquat dichloride did not give any significant effect ( p> 0.05) on the number of individuals, species richness, species dominance index, diversity index and Sorensen similarity index of soil arthropods. The composition of soil arthropods in the control and in the treatment with the highest concentration shows a high level of similarity.