John Todd, Research Professor & Distinguished Lecturer in Ecological Design (part of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Vermont), is bioneering the study of closed loop waste cycles with his Living Machines, courtesy of Ocean Arks International.
A Living Machine is a biologically diverse ecosystem modeled after nature* in which one element's waste provides food for another element.
Such an ecosystem can provide human sustenance without suffering harmful effects to itself from either an excess or depletion of its resources.
It also has exciting applications in the breakdown and decontamination of waste created by other human processes, for example, sewage and other wastewater.
"If one organization's "waste" becomes another organization's "food", then zero emissions become possible."
Mimicking Nature by Designing Out Waste By Cynthia Pollock Shea (link on same site)
*This reminds me of a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty."
Posted by edgar at October 14, 2002 05:01 PM