RE: Considering standard of living (was Re: Land of let's only talk about whats wrong with the US)

From: Barbara Lamar (barbaralamar@sanmarcos.net)
Date: Sat Aug 23 2003 - 14:44:13 MDT

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    Mark Walker wrote:

    > Based on calculations from
    > http://www.prismusa.homestead.com/files/Duckweed.htm (see for derivation
    > http://www.permanentend.org/home.html under resources) a 3m2 pond
    > should be
    > sufficiently large to
    > process the waste of a single human.

    I have no doubt this, or some variation, would work. I've secretly
    maintained grey water systems in two cities, using various plants for
    purification (I've found that water hyacinths in combination with papyrus do
    a good job, and the water hyacinths grow extremely rapidly and provide a
    ready supply of mulch for the gardens). None of the neighbors has ever
    suspected. There is not an unpleasant odor unless you pour something toxic
    down the drain and kill off your aerobic bacteria. Even then, the system
    recovers rapidly.

    However, I've found that a more efficient and aesthetically pleasing means
    of treating the byproducts of human metabolism (that is to say, shit and
    pee) is to use thermophilic composting. There is no more odor than with a
    conventional toilet; you don't need expensive fancy contraptions; the heat
    kills pathogens, even worm eggs; the process takes up very little space and
    is over with quickly -- in warm weather you go from excrement and sawdust,
    dead leaves, or other high-carbon waste material to beautiful soil in a
    couple of weeks. I have never used this process in town, but I used it the
    whole time I lived on the farm. My cost to install the system was $15 for
    the wood, lath and cement to make a base for the seat, $3.98 for two plastic
    buckets, and a few bucks for cinder blocks to enclose the compost pile.

    Barbara



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