July 20, 2008 July 20, 2008 We all produce a rich resource in
our homes and then spend millions of dollars to throw it away. A
new movement says there are smarter ways to think about waste.
IN A WORLD of rapidly diminishing resources, there’s one we tend
to overlook. It’s easy to produce and extremely abundant. But
instead of viewing it as an embarrassment of riches, we’re more
likely to see it as just an embarrassment. This neglected
treasure is human waste. Urine is rich in nitrogen, potassium,
and phosphorus, the three main ingredients in artificial
fertilizer. Feces contains these nutrients, too, in smaller
doses, and the methane it produces can be harnessed as biogas, a
green energy source. Yet in most cultures, understandably, the
first impulse is not to use waste wisely, but to get rid of it
as quickly as possible. In many rural, undeveloped areas, people
simply “go” in the bush, or by the closest river. In advanced
industrialized societies, we flush it away. Both methods – and
several others between t