Soil

Read: John’s editorial in Solutions.

John is increasingly coming to realize that the fate of atmospheric carbon, fresh water, agriculture, and human health and culture are all bound up with the fate of our soils.  Every time crops are harvested or soil is tilled, carbon is released into the air.

Human life on earth is sustained as much by soil as it is by water and air.  This is a fact made abundantly clear by Jim Richardson’s excellent photographs.

The story of China’s Loess plateau illustrates the deep implications of tending to our soils. Check out this excellent video here.

Some Thoughts On The Boston Greenway

In a recent post on Architechts.org, Kevin Horne mentioned the potential application of an EcoMachine integrated into Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway.  His post touched on the concept of the park as infrastructure as well as the value of a warm public green space during the gray Boston winter.

I see great potential for EcoMachines integrated into the Greenway. Properly plumbed and located, EcoMachines could act as the city’s kidneys,  intercepting and treating polluted stormwater runoff, before it reaches the Charles River, Fens, or Boston Harbour.  These systems would be not only contemplative public spaces but also productive spaces.  A series of EcoMachines could easily provide Boston’s markets with a year round supply of fresh cut flowers. Cleaned effluent could be used to irrigate a tree farm as proposed by Erin Kelly.

For mosquito control how about  a series of sculptural towers (modified streetlights?), designed to attract nesting swallows.

Swallows Nesting On Bridge Columns in Pheonix AZ

The Volunteer, an Update From Omega

Right of the bat I would like to say that 13 out of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers agree that the OCSL EcoMachine is, in fact, a healing space.  Can the same be said for municipal wastewater treatment?  I think not.

Jonathan dips a nitrate test strip at Omega

A few weeks ago Jonathan, myself, and the visiting Lauren Roth, left the pleasant sea-breezed Cape and traveled to the equally pleasant rolling hills of Rhinebeck, NY.  I had never before seen the eco-machine at Omega and was struck and excited by the health and vitality of the system.

Integral to the health of the system is the tinkering and attention of the operator.  At Omega, Chuck can tell simply by the surface foam and the look of the water how the system is operating.  He takes well-earned pride and satisfaction in the system’s smooth running.  For me, this is an often overlooked and unmentioned aspect of the EcoMachine.  In the ecological treatment of wastewater the human is not absent.  If anything when compared to conventional treatment, the human is more present.  In an EcoMachine the operator acts not simply as industrial laborer, opening valves and adding chemicals, but also as a gardener.  He is an ecologist observing the growth and change of the system over time, tending to it as it responds to the varying inputs of the seasons and of the facilities use.  In complex biological systems trained human intuition seems to be often as accurate as any test of TSS or nutrient content.  The systems aggregate health is not difficult to evaluate and for the most part need not be done in a lab.  Instead it is readily apparent in the growth of the new leaves, the movement of the water, and many other subtle clues.

Flower and Ground Cover at Omega

The system at Omega is healthy and well tended. In the Greenhouse the Calla Lilly and ground covers are growing vigorously.  In the constructed wetlands the Cattails have formed robust colonies. Scattered through-out the native shrubs and sedges, are huge Irises, and everywhere some strange thin plant has spread, competing even with the cattails for its place in the sun.  What is it what is its role? Is it a free loader in our treatment system out-competing other wetland species for space, or is it working, providing valuable filtration, uptaking nutrients, and contributing root mass surface area?

The mystery plant: Epilobium

Jonathan recognized the plant, thin leaved, closed purple flowers atop slender seed pods, as having hitchhiked in with the soft-stem bull rush.  He knew neither its name nor its function.  Pulling the plant carefully out of the gravel we compared its roots with those of the bulrush. The white roots of this volunteer were easily discernible from the red roots of the bulrush, they were extensive,  deep, thickly gripping the soil and gravel, a rich organic layer surrounded the root cluster.

Back in Woods Hole (thank you Roberta Clark and David Anderson)  we learned the name of this plant: Epilobium Coloratum.  Epilobium, also known as willow-herb is a common and widely distributed perennial wetland species.  Willow herb is a colonizer; it sends out many small airborne seeds and tends to be one of the first plants to grow in disturbed wetland environments.  At Omega the Epilobium will spread throughout the system. In its roots pockets of healthy soil microbiology will be established, as it dies and is replaced by hardier species, it will leave behind a source of readily accessible carbon which will be used in the fixing of nitrogen and the uptake of soluble phosphorous.

OCSL Grand Opening

The JTED team recently attended the grand opening of the Omega Center for Sustainable Living. Pictured below is the first public tour of the OCSL Eco-Machine in operation. The 13 foot deep lagoons were deliberately engineered to rise only to waist height. This element of the design allows for visitors to get close to the system and experience natural wastewater treatment as something that can be beautiful, silent, odorless, and effective.

Eco-Machine Documentary

The Eco-Machine is the subject of filmmaker Kristine Alexander’s documentary that will be shown at the 2009 Woods Hole Film Festival. The film features Dr. Todd, as he narration of ecological solutions to global water issues. 

Jonathan to serve on urban agriculture Scientific Advisory Board

Jonathan is excited to have been asked to serve as a founding member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Sky Vegetables. Jonathan’s relationship with this group began in December of 2008 at the Building Integrated Sustainable Agriculture Summit. He believes they bring an approach to food production that will be a cornerstone in the cities of the future.

 

Sky Vegetables’ mission statement is “To improve the health and nutrition of city populations by providing fresh, safe, transparent, affordable produce; and to provide new jobs and educational opportunities through the development of urban, sustainable agricultural closed-cycle rooftop farms.”

 

Check back soon for more posts on this topic.

 

 

Earth Day Community Wetland Planting

Last Wednesday (Earth Day) JTED was onsite at the Omega Institute continuing our construction oversight.  Omega’s Executive Director, Skip Backus, worked with us to organize a group planting of the constructed wetlands. With over 50 volunteers throughout the day, 20,000 square feet of wetlands were planted with over 8,000 cattails and bulrush. We can’t thank those volunteers enough for their time and effort.