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  • From: Permacltur@aol.com
  • To: fbanks@theriver.com, owner-permaculture@envirolink.org, permaculture@envirolink.org
  • Subject: Re: Lead bioremediation in gardens
  • Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 16:57:00 EDT

I am not going to reproduce the long post about bioremediation, in part
because it is so long. However I want to point out that cyanide removal is
unrelated to the question of heavy metals. Cyanide is an organic compound
(HCN) so common that it is found in interstellar gas. It was undoubtedly
common in the atmosphere of primordial earth, and HCN energy pathways where
the first used by life on this gob of mud and muck covered nickle/iron. It
is small wonder that organisms still know how to do it. Even the human body
can go into an anerobic phase under stress, for limited periods.

Unlike HCN, which needs merely to be taken apart to be detoxified (nothing
wrong with hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen individually--togethere with oxygen
and bits of this and that they make up protein in our own bodies, after all),
well anyway, unlike HCN, heavy metals are elements and not likely to be
changed by biological activity, despite far-fetched claimes at the far fringe
of airey-fairey land. (Not refering to the post in this exchange, but other
claimes which strongly suggest use controlled substances.)

Reduction of heavy metals in wastewater is done by holding them in or at
least on plant tissue. The issue of urban gardens is to keep the poison OUT
of plant tissues. This is done by the methods I posted earlier.

It is probably possible to come up with some superfund-type bioremediation
program that willextract the nutrients. But people who use urban gardens
have few funds, let alone superfunds, and want to garden, not conduct bizzare
experiments in element translocation. You don't have to have credentials in
permacuture, or to understand it much at all, to understand that before all
else it is PRACTICAL. Raising soil organic matter, keeping pH between 6.5
and 7, and using various kinds of raised beds (with imported soil or soilless
media) are methods ordinary people can put into effect, plant their seeds,
and be eating from them in a few months. It is not reasonable to expect
urban gardeners to become leading edge soil biochemists and to treat soil
with various advanced technologies so that in some years it will be fit for
them to grow their lettuce and zuchinni. The solution is out of scale with
the problem.

I think it is u seful to remind us of the fact that great strides are being
made in bioremediation. These should always be funded by the corporation or
individuals who caused the pollution. However in some cases, such as
ubiquitous lead due to paint and gasoline, that means the taxpayer. Since
the urban environment is continually re-polluting itself, it seems not the
first place to spend such money. Not when the strip mines, superfund sites,
Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, ad infinitum of the country can be cleaned and
kept clean thereafer. It is easier and cheaper to keep away from poison than
to try to extract it from the environment after it is fully dispersed. It is
like pissing in a lake and then trying to get the fertilzer back. Tilting at
windmills is reasonable compared to tilting against such entropy.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence
courses via email. Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52,
Sparr FL 32192 USA Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com

We don't have time to rush.

A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html
Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers
assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html




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