Going Green...With Poop
Twitterers Give Us The Scoop on Eco Friendly Poop
Becoming globally conscious (socially and environmentally) involves a lot of poop. Yep. Poop.
Worldwide, millions die from illnesses caused by unclean water (caused by lacking sewerage systems). In Africa, millions starve who could not grow food because of the lack of fertile soil. In Latin America and North America millions of trees are taken from our forests so that people can use the preferred fluffy toilet paper. More than 21 billion disposable diapers are send to landfills each year in the US alone. In Sri Lanka elephants are being killed because they have no use to the local farmers who find them a nuisance, while their dung could be an alternate income source for those farmers, and help spare their lives.
Imagine what we could accomplish if we were more responsible with our poop, and more innovative with the poop of all animals. Perhaps we could improve the current state world hunger, health, sanitation, animal rights, water quality, deforestation, renewable fuel, and more.
Poop at the Zoo: The Bronx Zoo's New Eco Restroom
Amazing Feats of Eco-Poo
- POO BRICKS: Students Develop Cow Dung Building Bricks
A group of students from Prasetiya Mulya Business School in Indonesia recently won the 2009 Global Social Venture Competition with their "EcoFaeBrick", a quality, easily manufactured, low-cost sustainable building material made from cow dung. - American Ingenuity in Haiti - Nicholas D. Kristof Reports on SOIL
SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) helps people in Haiti turn human waste into fertilizer to aid in growing food. - Making the Most of **it | Popular Science
Toilet turns human waste to biofuel for sanitation-strapped cities.
Why do we flush our poop with perfectly good drinking water and then spend money, energy, time and effort separating the two again? (often unsuccessfully)
Penguin Poop Spotted From Outer Space
We have a lot to learn from poop! Researchers recently found ten colonies of Empire penguins in Antarctica that they previously undiscovered. They did this by accidentally spotting the poop stains on the ice visible in satellite images. Since the penguins stay in one location for eight months of the year, the ice there can get pretty dirty...and by dirty I mean poop covered.
National Graphic: Penguin Poop Seen From Space
So a glimpse at some poop can help researchers learn more about the Empire penguin and to help protect them.
The Big Necessity - The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
50 Things to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
While we may not be able to reduce the poop, we can learn to reuse and recycle it.
One man's poop is another man's alternative energy source.
Elephant Poo Paper
Elephant dung can be turned into paper! The fiberous nature of elephant dung makes it ideal for paper production and some companies, such as elephanddungpaper.com are using the profits from the sales of such paper to help elephant conservation efforts. It's a win-win!
