Nature's recycling

We humans keep claiming to have invented stuff the rest of the living world has already pioneered. "When was the first needle manufactured?", a teacher asks, for instance, not noticing that's the mosquito's ancient feeding technology. Were we honest and humble enough to see that we're but part of this planet's incredibly complex and intelligent ecosystem, we'd be far less destructive, far more sustainable. We've gotten ourselves into a fine mess trying to control and use the planet's other life forms when in fact we can as yet only estimate even their number. No wonder, for instance, that - for all our technology - disease is on the increase rather than being mastered by us.

So we've come to ignore the growing climate change, assuming someone will invent something to fix it, or someone already has - solar, wind, geothermal, planting trees, energy-efficient light bulbs, recycling cans, etc. - and we don't have to think too much or change too much. I've come to see the problem is deeper and wider than all these, although we do need to do all these things.

Yes, we do need to recycle our waste, for instance. Big time. The contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from landfills alone is enormous. And we need to stop making waste in the first place. We've so radically changed basic natural processes that ever more advanced technology is needed just to survive the feedback effects of what we've done. The treadmill keeps going faster the faster we run. Industrial society has become a nightmare from which we must awake. And in life's creative processes lies much of the solution. Our most advanced science application is needed to restore the ecosystem services which used to be provided free by Ecosystem Earth.

Before we humans went to burning everything we could get our hands on, Nature's oxidation processes were much slower. When a plant or animal died, other living things large and small ate them - that's how they got recycled. Now - intelligent idiots that we are - we send our waste biomass off to the landfill or sewage plant to make problems elsewhere. Never mind that we're all connected, so that downwind or downstream of all of us is, eventually, all of us. So we run around in circles treating our problems like hot potatoes handed off to burn someone else, till they spiral back to burn us.

We need to get back to returning our organic wastes to the soil, the way the ecosystem's been functioning for millions of years. Whether high or low tech is required depends on the circumstances, as each situation is unique. Materials like cardboard, leaves, orange peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, and grass clippings can be easily rotted to make soil, but meats and manures require more expertise and technology.

We are discussing establishing in Hazelwood an environmental technology startup incubator and showplace - called The Soil Center - to demonstrate proven and new, high- and low-tech, small- and medium-scale methods of mending our wounded ecosystem at ground level. Earthworm composting, hot composting, and biochar production at the center would be yielding natural soil inputs to deal with such human-caused effects as loss of topsoil. We have no choice at this point in history but to grow MANY MANY MANY MANY MANY more plants to soak up the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, and plants need plant food to grow.

This life is a learning place, and some of the lessons are hard. Maybe they don't have to be so difficult. I have become convinced that the universe is a living manifestation of God. And, since we are part of the universe, we each are part of God. I am convinced, for good scientific logical reasons, that God is Love. So we bring on miracles by getting in sync with that love. Wise gardeners and farmers know that real long-term productivity and sustainability are more about weaving relationships among living communities of species than vainly and self-destructively trying to kill off those we don't like. We're all connected in the web of life.