An experimental conservation project that was abandoned and almost forgotten about, has ended up producing an amazing ecological win nearly two decades after it was dreamt up.
The plan, which saw a juice company dump 1,000 truckloads of waste orange peel in a barren pasture in Costa Rica back in the mid 1990s, has eventually revitalised the desolate site into a thriving, lush forest.
This is the greatest thing I’ve read in a long time and I want this experiment replicated everywhere as soon as possible.
My town would be a good start.
the funniest part is that everyone is so surprised.
“composting kitchen waste makes plants grow. who knew???”
well… everyone?
It’s not so much that they’re SURPRISED about it. That was actually the original plan.
This juice company agreed to donate a few acres of its own land to a bordering national park, and compost orange peels there to help restore the land. They were subsequently sued by a rival juice company for having “defiled a national park.” The law sided with the rival company, and the project was discontinued early.
This isn’t so much a “Wow SO SURPRISE!” as a “FUCKIN’ TOLD YOU SO!”
Plus also, sixteen years ago, we might’ve known the answer to the question “What happens when you compost kitchen waste?” but we DIDN’T know the answer to “What happens when you dump 12,000 tons of orange peel on 7 acres of ecologically depleted wasteland?”
And for the first six months, the answer was, “7 acres of nasty-smelling, fly breeding ex-fruit sludge, and a lawsuit from a rival juice company,” but 16 years LATER we can say, “A 176 percent increase in above-ground biomass, and a study site so transformed we couldn’t tell we had the right place until we dug the sign out of undergrowth consisting mainly of native shrubs and grasses, SUCK IT, TICO FRUIT!!!!”
On this day, 28 December 1943, all seven brothers from the Cervi family were executed by fascists in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy. The seven brothers were all participants in the Italian resistance to fascism in the partisan group ‘La Banda Cervi’, named after their family. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1306081122910368/?type=3
The use of money during the 1936 anarchist revolution in Spain, as told by the people who lived it. From the amazing documentary Living Utopia: Anarchism in Spain. [video]
Aquaponics Introduction
Aqua-what?
Aquaponics is the combined practice of raising fish (called Aquaculture) and growing plants in water (called Hydroponics)!
How Does it Work?
- Fish or other aquatic animals are raised in a tank
- Plants are grown in another tank or container, suspended in water
- Waste water is pumped from the fish tank to the plant roots
- Helpful germs in the roots of the plants break down fish waste into vitamins and nutrients
- Newly purified water is drained back into fish tank
- Aquaponic System Repeats
Take A Closer Look: Coming Soon
- Fish Types
- Fish Tanks
- Types of Plants
- Growing Containers
#GrowItGreener
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