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Humanure Part 2: Dealing With It
HUMANURE PART 2: DEALING WITH IT
In part 1(1) of this article I explored a little into why humanure is beneficial to the planet, including the need to replenish our aquifers and for people to have access to safe drinking water, the high phosphorous content of human poo compared to the finite and dwindling supply of phosphate rock as an agricultural product, and the reconnection of the ‘human nutrient cycle’ (2). In this part I will look more deeply into the different ways you can safely use humanure, and make some practical suggestions for beginning the process of redressing the human nutrient balance, even while we live within an unbalanced system.
Ways to deal with our crap
In ‘The Humanure Handbook’ (2) , Joseph Jenkins points out that we as a species have four different ways to deal with human excrement:
- To treat it as a waste product and dispose of it – this includes all water-based sanitation techniques such as flush toilets. As mentioned in part 1, this method ends up contaminating water even if the sewage is later treated, exacerbates the spread of water-borne diseases, and ignores the principle of ‘Produce No Waste’.
- To use it unprocessed in agriculture – at the time of the Handbook’s publication (1999) this was apparently still a common practice in parts of Asia (2). As you may guess, spreading unprocessed human waste on fields can be quite a large health risk because of the pathogens which are present in fresh humanure. This practice, euphemistically known as ‘night soil collection’ (3) , has apparently now been banned in many countries although there are some reports of people continuing to use fresh human waste, or ‘faecal sludge’ on their crops, for example in India (4) .
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The Importance of Guilds and Nitrogen Fixers
THE IMPORTANCE OF GUILDS AND NITROGEN FIXERS
How is it that the natural world provides excessive abundance while not relying on any external sources of nutrients? Nature produces her own fertility needs, firstly through accumulating organic matter on the soil surface which protects the soil, adds to the layer of humus, and stimulates the biological activity of the soil. The natural world, however, also takes advantage of the abundance of nitrogen in the air to supply plants with one of the most important nutrients they need. Our air is made up of almost 70% nitrogen, and almost all plants need major amounts of nitrogen for healthy growth. Nature, then, was left with the question of how to take the nitrogen from the air and deposit it in the soil where plants could use it.
Nitrogen fixing plants have the ability to absorb the nitrogen in the air through their leaves and “fix” the nitrogen in the soil through nodules that grow on their roots. Leguminous plants such as beans and peas do this as well as many other different types of trees, bushes, and shrubs. If you have ever pulled up a bean plant by accident when weeding your garden, you may have noticed many small white nodules sticking to the roots of that plant. Those nodules are pure nitrogen and are contributing to the growth of the plant and to the overall soil health. When that bean plant dies, the nitrogen in the nodules stays in the soil. With nitrogen-fixing trees and bushes, pruning the branches causes the tree to “shed” some of its root systems. The nitrogen nodules “fixed” onto those roots are then released into the surrounding soil for other plants to take advantage of.
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Global Soil Week: A catalyst for change
Global Soil Week: A catalyst for change
As many of you already know, 2015 has been named the International Year of Soils by the UN, so never has there been a better time to get soil into the conversation. The question of ‘how do we make soil sexy?’ is something that has been troubling soil scientists, farmers and NGOs for a number of years, and quite rightly so – we should be worried about the state of our soil.
Issues surrounding soil are yet to enter the mainstream of public concern. But if current rates of land degradation continue, quite soon they will have to. There are many challenges involved in driving the change towards agricultural practices that preserve and build soil fertility, but the gathering at the Global Soil Week (GSW) conference in Berlin last week certainly made me more hopeful. The event brought together young and old, experts and newcomers, all with the overarching aim to raise awareness about the vital need to look after our soils better and to get the issue onto the political agenda.
No one can deny the fundamental importance of soil and its fertility – in fact, you could say that, along with water, it is one of the most important natural resources on earth. It stores approximately 2,000 billion tonnes of carbon globally – three times as much as the atmosphere. And one tenth of the carbon in the atmosphere has come from soil degradation. Our first and most urgent goal must be to stop any more soil carbon being released, helping to warm the planet.
In addition to being the source of 95% of our food, soil is also a key part of global nutrient cycles, and an important sink for atmospheric methane. It’s also essential for maintaining biodiversity above ground, while providing an underground home for 25% of all life on the planet.
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