Environmental Innovations to Give You Hope
(Page 4 of 5)
September-October 2008
by Staff, Utne Reader
Life on a Lilypad
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Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut has drawn up blueprints for Lilypad, a bustling amphibian city—half terrestrial, half aquatic—that would house 50,000 residents and integrate several renewable energy sources (including wind, tidal, solar, and thermal power) as it travels along cool and warm currents in the world’s oceans. The self-sufficient floating structure is modeled after the ribbed leaves of Victoria amazonica, a giant water lily native to the Amazon.
Callebaut imagines Lilypad as an ecopolis for climate refugees, whose numbers are expected to increase as water levels continue to rise, threatening homes and livelihoods from Mumbai to Miami.
Super Suckers
Scum-sucker may soon be a compliment: Scientists are looking to the water-filtering properties of underwater fauna to clean up polluted waterways, reports Plenty (June-July 2008). Oysters, freshwater mussels, and other bivalve mollusks pump dozens of gallons of water through their bodies every day. The shellfish slurp up excess nutrients like nitrogen, preventing algae blooms, and filter heavy metals, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pushing out truly purified water. Researchers are still iffy on whether animals used as an aquaculture clean-up crew could also be sold for human consumption. Fresh- and salt-water sponges are unlikely to end up on our dinner plates anytime soon, though, and the ancient poriferans can siphon hundreds of gallons of water a day, eliminating everything from bacteria to PCBs.
Soil: Back in Black
Reviving an ancient Amazonian farming method could bring fertile soil to the world’s most unproductive lands. The secret ingredient is biochar, a type of charcoal produced by heating organic waste (crop residues, manure, even peanut shells) without oxygen, a chemical process known as pyrolysis. When it’s mixed with soil, biochar “enhances the retention of water and nutrients, decreases the need for fertilizer, encourages microbial growth, and allows more air to reach crop roots,” the Boston Globe reported in April. In short, the soil is more fertile; and the land is more productive.
Another potential perk is that it’s possible the charcoal-enriched soil could keep carbon sequestered for hundreds of years, making biochar a farm-friendly weapon in the battle to stem climate change.
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