2006-08-31

So, Can You Tell me Why we are Flushing our Freshwater?

For many years, the developed world has used toilets as a means to dispose of our what we think of as our waste products (human feces and urine for the most part, though prescription drugs and other chemicals find their way down the same watery path). In the words of the author of the Humanure Handbook: "You take your dump into a large bowl of drinking water, then flush it." Why do humans do this when no other land animal will purposely dispose of their waste in water, much less in their drinking water? Remember, 97.2% of the Earth's water is saltwater and only 2.8% is freshwater. So.... Why do we take a dump in our drinking water and flush it away when 2/3 of that 2.8% is ice and much of the remaining 1/3 is otherwise unavailable to us?

And what if the entire population of the world took a dump in their drinking water supplies? Well, if the whole world took a dump in their water and then treated that water to make it "safe" again...well...it just plain couldn't be done. Older toilets (those installed before 1996), use about 5 gallons of water for every time you flush the toilet. If you have a leaky toilet, then you are using even more. Newer toilets have gotten better with this, but they still use 1.6-3 gallons of water per flush. The average person flushes the toilet 5 to 8 times a day. That means that each person uses between 8 and 40 gallons of water every day just to use the toilet. That means that each person uses between 2,920 and 14,600 gallons of water every year just to flush the toilet. And, "it takes between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of water at various stages in the process to flush one ton of humanure. In a world of just five billion people producing a conservative estimate of one million metric tons of human excrement daily, the amount of water required to flush it all would not be obtainable." (Humanure Handbook: Chapter 5: Global Sewers and Pet Turds)

Discarded human feces and urine allows for the transmission of diseases, is largely responsible for the world's water pollution and deprives us of much needed soil fertility. So...why don't we put our human waste to good use? Discarded, it is nothing more than waste and a dangerous pollutant to ourselves, our fellow cohabitants of Earth and to the Earth itself. However, if these by-products of our digestive system were recycled instead of thrown away, we would have a wonderful organic resource material that is rich in soil nutrients. It came from the soil, so why not give it back to the soil? This is something that can be done quite easily and readily, not to mention safely, through the process of composting.

Let's leave the title of human waste where it belongs: With the cigarette butts, the plastic six-pack rings from beer and soda cans, the un-recycled beer and soda cans, the tubes of toothpaste, the Styrofoam burger boxes, the disposable diapers, the worn out appliances, the old car tires, the old cars, the spent batteries, the nuclear contamination, all manner of food packaging and the plastic bags used to carry it all home from the store, the exhaust emissions, the toxic chemical dumps.... Most of us recycle our aluminum cans, tin cans, glass bottles and jars, the plastic containers that have been labeled as recyclable (which are turned into such things as park benches and fleece jackets). Some of us have started turning in our used major appliances, old television sets, old computers, tires, car batteries, and used motor oil, but these things are still largely thrown away, as are newspapers, magazines, corrugated cardboard, junk mail, yard wastes and kitchen scraps. So let's eliminate wasted office paper, newspapers, cardboard and junk mail from the list. Let's also remove the millions of tons of organic material we discard into the environment every year and the 5 billion gallons of drinking water we flush down our toilets every day from the list of human waste.

Composted human manure, as well as raw human manure, has been used throughout Asia for thousands of years. While raw human manure is not hygienically safe, it still succeeds in killing many human pathogens and is at least using a valuable organic resource rather than throwing it away as waste and polluting valuable freshwater supplies in the process. "Cities in China, South Korea, and Japan recycle night soil around their perimeters in greenbelts where vegetables are grown." (Humanure Handbook: Chapter 2: Waste vs. Manure) "Humanure can also be used to feed algae which can, in turn, feed fish for aquacultural enterprises. In Calcutta, such an aquaculture system produces 20, 000 kilograms of fresh fish daily. The city of Tainan, Taiwan, is well known for its fish, which are farmed in over 6, 000 hectares of fish farms fertilized by humanure."(Humanure Handbook: Chapter 2: Waste vs. Manure) Sadly, however, Asians are turning more and more to Western methods, using synthetic fertilisers on their fields and polluting their water with conventional flush toilets, sewage systems and sewage treatment plants. This is especially true in Japan.

Anything on the Earth's surface that was once alive, or that came from a living thing should be considered as material with which to make compost and not as trash that needs to be thrown away to be sealed and buried in a large hole. This means manure, urine, food scraps, animal carcasses, plants, leaves, sawdust, peat, straw, grass clippings, cotton clothing, wool rugs, rags, paper, cardboard, etc. Basically, anything that will rot can be composted and turned into humus (a brown or black substance resulting from the decay of organic refuse) to be used to nourish the soil. Humus doesn't attract pests and can be easily stored for future use if necessary.

While beneficial to the soil, human excrement should not be applied to the ground without being composted. Raw human manure does carry a significant potential for danger through disease pathogens, such as intestinal parasites, hepatitis, cholera and typhoid. These pathogens are destroyed through composting. This not only leaves you with a rich soil-building material, but it gives you rich humus that smells pleasant, not at all like the offending odour of sewage. To be considered safe, human excrement should be processed either in a composting pile of low temperature for two years, or in a much more timely fashion through a composting process that generates internal, biological heat.

Low temperature composting eliminates most disease organisms in a matter of months and eventually should eliminate human pathogens, creating a soil additive that is safe, at the very least, for ornamental gardens. Thermophilic composting, on the other hand, involves the cultivation of heat-loving micro-organisms in the composting process. This can create an environment which effectively destroys all pathogenic organisms and creates a soil additive that is safe for your food gardens. Adding in other organic materials such as food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, garden refuse, paper products and sawdust is necessary for proper composting and will give you a soil additive that is suitable for agricultural use as well as for use in personal food gardens.

Composting your manure and organic garbage eliminates the potential for danger through disease pathogens with the biological heat generated by the compost micro-organisms. But such isn't the sole factor in making your compost safe for use in food gardens. These pathogens need to compete for food with the compost micro-organisms who tend to produce an environment that inhibit the pathogenic organisms. Compost micro-organisms also produce antibiotics against pathogens and even consume some of these pathogens directly. This is achieved with a large and diverse microbial population; something that is best achieved by temperatures below 60°C (140°F), with a significant reduction in pathogen numbers
occurring in temperatures that have not gone over 40°C (104°F).

As mentioned earlier, the best way to ensure the death of possible pathogens is with thermophilic composting conditions. A low-temperature compost will still kill most pathogens if given enough time as pathogens have a limited time in which they can survive outside of a human host, but thermophilic conditions will achieve this faster and with better success if the temperature is allowed to rise significantly above the temperature of the human body. Most commercial and homemade composting toilets are designed for low-temperature composting, usually dehydrating the material collecting in the composting chamber in order to limit the frequency with which they need to be emptied. Low-temperature composting, as mentioned, will kill most pathogens in a few months time. However, the roundworm egg, being the most resilient, is estimated to live in soil from a couple of weeks up to ten years under certain conditions and soil types, which is why low-temperature composting is not recommended for use in food gardens. If you wish to ensure safety for use in food gardens, thermophilic composting is recommended as it will readily destroy roundworm eggs. That being said, the risks you face in using compost made from your own manure in a food garden is limited to the health of you and your family, or of anyone else using your toilet. For example, if you know you don't have roundworm and you know no one who uses/has used your toilet has roundworm, then you really don't have to worry about roundworm eggs surviving the composting process, if you catch my drift.

Furthermore, a protected compost pile keeps the material from drying out or prematurely cooling down. Whereas a pit may become waterlogged, which will rob your compost pile of oxygen and run the risk of leaching harmfully into the ground and any nearby supplies of groundwater unless the pit is lined with plastic or something similar. A pile, or compost bin, also makes it easier to cover the raw refuse you dump on it with a layer of clean organic material in order to eliminate any unpleasant stench and trap oxygen within the pile. Constructing a bin can be made from recycled wood, cement blocks, or even bales of straw. Wood would insulate the pile and prevent heat loss and frost in cooler temperatures. Leaching of liquids into the groundwater is not so real a problem in composting as many people fear, but covering the pile will prevent any leaching from a heavy rain.

2006-08-28

How Scarce is Earth's Fresh Water?

About 70% of the Earth is covered with water, equalling some 1,400,000,000 km3. 97.2% of the Earth's water is saltwater, leaving only 2.8% as freshwater: 0.022% is on the surface, 0.397% is in underground aquifers and wells, 0.001% is in the air and soil with 2/3 of the Earth's supply of freshwater locked in the polar ice caps and glaciers. So, 99.7% of all the water on Earth is unusable, being in the oceans, seas, atmosphere, or frozen in the ice caps and glaciers. That leaves 0.3% usable water, most of which is groundwater and out of our reach. The water we do use comes largely from our rivers and freshwater lakes, which represent a small portion of the Earth's freshwater sources.
http://water.usgs.gov/index.html

With such a small percentage of available freshwater, you would think that we would take care of it. The little water we have for our use is being polluted by the waste we create, most notably our sewage and the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides we douse our agricultural land and crops in. Add in the toxins, medications and pathogens from hospitals, or prescription medications that get dumped down toilets or sinks. Let's not forget about the petroleum, radioactive substances and all the other toxins that are dumped or get spilled in transportation.

Instead, much of our drinking water has to be heavily treated in order to make it safe for consumption again. We spend a lot of time and money to treat the sewage produced from sinks, toilets, and industrial processes and then put that treated water back into circulation. The quality of our water is declining in most regions, which not only affects us, but affects the diversity of our freshwater species and ecosystems. Estimates suggest that nearly 1.5 billion of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water and many places are losing 30-40% of their water. But is our drinking water as safe as we think it is? These days, there is scarce any water that is safe to drink straight. Most of the water coming through our taps has been heavily treated to render polluted water "safe" again. This water often contains a lot of chlorine.

And what about those ice caps and glaciers? The ice cap on Greenland is moving toward the sea at a faster rate, with larger chunks of ice breaking off from the land to fall into the sea. Greenland's ice cap – which covers more than 650,000 square miles and stands up to 2 miles thick in places - is melting and moving at a much faster rate than previously estimated. In fact, Greenland's ice cap is moving toward the sea and melting at an exponential rate. The sea level is already rising with expansion brought on by higher temperatures and Greenland contributes to 1/6 of the rise in sea level, its southern glaciers are among the fastest moving in the world, and they have increased their flow rate to about 8 miles per year. 1 cubic mile of water is about five times the amount of water Los Angeles uses in a year. In 1996, Greenland dumped 90 times more ice and melt water into the sea than Los Angeles consumed, losing 22 cubic miles of ice and the frozen island is estimated to lose more than twice that much in 2006. Greenland poses a more immediate threat to the sea level than does Antarctica, but the melt water from Greenland greases the way for massive outflows of ice, which could unleash a chain of events bearing greater consequences than the current rise in sea level.

Sections of ice the size of small states from the Arctic and Antarctic are disintegrating into hundreds of tiny pieces. Large portions of Antarctica are melting, or breaking off to fall into the Southern Sea. The ice shelf that is sitting on land and is about ten times the size of Greenland's ice cap. The main cause for alarm here is the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf (WAIS) - which is about the size of Greenland's ice cap - but not because it is melting. The main danger from WAIS is that the ice sheet is actually sitting in an oceanic basin of slippery mud. WAIS has been protected by a veritable ice river. This sheer mass of ice prevents WAIS from much movement and it slows erosion by blocking the ocean waves, providing a very important benefit to the stability of the shelf. But those ice flows around the shelf are rapidly diminishing, both melting and moving away at a faster rate than before, aided by the melt water from Greenland. What if the water of the ocean were to slip under break up the slippery mud supporting WAIS, sending the ice shelf in a free float?

Ice, as in the ice covering the North and South poles', bounces back 90% of the sunlight and energy that hits it whereas water absorbs 90%. As the ice shrinks back, there is more water surface, which means that more energy gets retained and it gets warmer. This, in turn, means that the ice melts and shrinks faster than previously, each mile vanishing faster than the last.

We don't need to worry so much about the melting of the already floating glaciers as they have already displaced all the water they are going to and aren't going to cause the sea level to rise any more than it already has. Remember that 2/3 of the Earth's freshwater is locked in the polar ice caps and glaciers. One estimate says that the Antarctic has enough ice to raise sea levels more than 215 feet. WAIS itself could raise the sea level by 10-20 feet. Greenland's ice cap would cause sea levels to rise by about 20 feet. Dumping Greenland's ice into the sea would swallow large parts of Florida and most of low-lying Bangladesh. What if all the ice currently on land were to melt or fall into the sea? A one foot rise in sea levels will cost us up to 100 feet of land, depending on the land's altitude. That is a lot of land, especially to a growing population with shrinking resources.

2006-08-25

Introductory Post

The human race is showing a frightening trend of behaving like a disease. Humans act more like pathogenic organisms; not following the same laws that every other mammal (and reptile) on this planet adheres to (kind of like an animal who finds itself outside its normal habitat and becomes a pest) and we are fast on the path to destroying our host, the Earth. Our numbers are increasing at a great rate and so is our consumption of the Earth's resources: Like a pathogenic organism who overwhelms it's host, sucking out it's vitality and leaving poisonous wastes behind without a care. Similarly, we seem to multiply without regard for any limit; consume resources like there is no tomorrow and excrete waste products that harm our host grievously. There is one thing that a pathogenic organism has, however, that we do not, and that is the ability to move on to another host, which ensures that the organism does not completely die out with the exhausted host. Not only do we run the risk of destroying our host, but we will take many other species with us on the road to our own demise. Already, the threat of extinction hangs over an alarming number of our cohabitants of Earth. Our only hope lies in stopping this wasteful behaviour (or in finding a new planet to live on).


Since the 1950s, our rate of catching fish has increased from 19.3 million tons to 132.5 million tons in 2003; with 18.7 million tons and 90.2 million tons of fish being caught in the wild (respectively). Consumption of paper has increased five-fold, grain consumption has tripled, and atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have reached their highest levels in 650,000 years. CO2 is 30% higher at 377.4 ppm, with methane 130% higher than they have been at any other time. Total forest area in the world equals 4,000,000,000 hectare, but at the end of the 20th century, almost half of the world's forests are gone with 0.1% of forests disappearing each year (that's 13,000,000 hectare per year). We can replant forests and keep the same amount of hectare, but it will still take 30 years to support any life and 300 years to reach its previous culture. In fifteen years, between 1980 and 1995, we lost areas of forest larger than the area of Mexico. Water tables are falling between 2 to 6 meters per year on every continent. Wetlands are disappearing, rivers are dying and species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. The human population is now increasing by 80 million people each year, which guarantees increased consumption as well as increased production of wastes. Startling fact: the 225 richest people in the world have as much acquired wealth as the poorest half of the entire human race. The wealth of the world's three richest people is equivalent to the total output of the poorest 48 countries. Americans account for only 1/20th of the world's total population and use 1/3rd of the world's resources.


Since the 1950s, more than 750 million tons of toxic chemical wastes have been dumped into the environment. Human-made synthetic organic chemicals linked to cancer had exceeded 200 billion pounds per year by the end of the 1980s. That is an increase of one hundred-fold in two generations. Over 435 billion pounds of carbon-based synthetic chemicals were being produced by 1992 in the US alone. Well over 1,000,000 tons of toxic chemicals were released into the environment in 1994, 177 million pounds of which were either known or suspected carcinogens. There are about 75,000 chemicals in commercial use today, 3,750-7,500 of which are thought to be carcinogenic to humans. Of the forty thousand most notorious dump sites and hazardous waste landfills, there are 1,231 "priority" sites with 40 million people living within four miles of one.


As a result, 40% of Americans can expect to contract cancer within their lifetimes. I personally know 5 people who have contracted cancer in the last year and 5 others who have died of it. The World Health Organization has concluded that at least 80% of all cancer is attributed to environmental influences. Industrialized countries have a lot more cancers than countries with little or no industry. Breast cancer rates are 30 times higher in the US than in parts of Africa. Since 1950, childhood cancers have risen by 1/3rd. 1 in every 4 hundred Americans can expect to develop cancer before the age of 15. Between 1950 and 1991, incidences of all types of cancer in the US have risen 49.3%. Cancer is the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 35-64 and the second leading cause of death overall.


Some of these pollutants mimic natural hormones and wreak havoc with the endocrine systems of humans and many other animals. Male fish are being found with female egg sacs, male alligators with shriveled penises, male human sperm counts are plummeting. These pollutants lodge in animal fat cells and travel up the food chain so that a higher concentration is found in the top predators (like humans).


Since 1950, 50 new diseases have emerged. Included in this list are Ebola, Lyme's Disease, Hantavirus, and HIV. With rising temperatures, researchers are warning of the epidemic potential of malaria carrying mosquito populations. There are epidemic levels of coastal algal blooms, some of which are highly toxic to humans and to fish and are directly linked to our excessive pollution. For those who think that it is ludicrous that a tiny organism such as humanity could affect something so large as Mother Earth; think about the tiny pathogenic organisms that can so affect our bodies.


An infected host fights back against the disease invading it. The Earth is reacting in the same ways as does a human being infected with a pathogenic organism. As our bodies raise temperatures to kill off the disease, so too is the Earth when one looks at global warming. Since 1980, we have recorded the 15 warmest years, with NASA scientists stating that "a new record by a wide margin," was set in 1998 with the highest ever recorded temperatures and the largest annual increase. In 1995, we saw the highest sea temperature in the North Atlantic, coincidentally the same year we had twice the usual number of tropical storms.


Instead of launching white blood cells, T-cells, and other bodily defenders against a disease, the Earth is showing us an increase of insect populations, new strains of deadly viruses and bacteria, as well as algae that is especially toxic to human beings.


With our rapidly growing human population, our non-sustainable habits are bringing us face to face with dire environmental problems that threaten our existence. It is time to change these wasteful and polluting old habits and turn to more sustainable means. It is time for us to get our act together and do our share toward more sustainable lifestyle choices. Nature holds the keys we need to a sustainable and harmonious existence on this planet, we just have to pay attention.


Either way, time is running out and humans have to collectively make a decision. Will we continue on this path and destroy the Earth and ourselves? Will we perhaps just destroy ourselves while the Earth overcomes our infection and survives to flourish another billion years? Or will we learn to live in a symbiotic relationship with our planet? Will we continue on a path similar to a disease-causing pathogen, or will we start a new path as dependent and respectful inhabitants?


What causes a planet to die? When does it fail completely? Did Mars fail to stabilize during one of its changes? Is Mars then an example of how a planet that possibly teemed with life, where rivers, long since dried, flowed on it's surface can get sick and die? And how did the Earth recover from previous massive changes and avoid death? We don't have answers to any except the last of these questions, buried under mountains of data and dirt.


If we survive long enough explore other planets, we might find out when they fail to regulate themselves and survive change. Our geological data (CO2, Temperature, Magnetic poles, water level, living species) points toward long term stability with extinctions and drastic effects whenever any value we examine goes higher than normal. Species diversity is critical to surviving changes, because in a living system, it is species that do the regulation, species that emit or absorb gases or compounds. Did Mars lack enough species to avoid its own planetary death?


With the help of Ian Smith.

Additional reference: State of the World 1999