From your toilet to your plate.

We all know that many farmers use fertilizers, such as manure for their crops to grow and prosper, but have you ever thought about that manure coming from you? Many of us know that farmers obtain manure from animals, but have you ever thought about your food being fertilized by your feces? It sounds odd, and probably disgusting, but in many cases, farmers are using human feces to fertilize their crops. But of course, the process is more complex than people shovelling human waste out of sewers onto trucks and shipping them off to farms.

Biosolids are the product of the transformation of what you'd see in your toilet to what would be considered "fertilizer". The process of creating biosolids goes something like this:

1. the wastewater travels from your house to a sewage treatment facility
2. the solids are sent to enclosed tanks where microorganisms consume them as food
3. if necessary, the solids are treated with lime to raise the pH level and eliminate objectionable odours
4. the solids are now ready to be used as fertilizers

You may be thinking that despite the fact that the feces is treated and what not, it's still disgusting to be smeared all over your food, even before it reaches your plate. But in many places around the world, raw, straight-out-of-the-drainage-system, human feces is used as fertilizers. This is the case in many 3rd-world countries, where people can't afford expensive chemical fertilizers. This results in about 2.2 million people dying from diarrhea-related diseases, such as cholera from farmers' crops absorbing disease-causing bacteria, and many consumers eating the produce raw and unwashed.

These cuts are from douglas fir trees. The ones on the left show the growth of the trees where biosolids were applied, while the ones on the right are of those where no biosolids were used. 

So, now that we know how biosolids are produced, and how feces are used in other parts of the world as fertilizers, what do we do with the biosolids, other than using them as fertilizers. Most of the time, biosolids are either sent to the landfill, or are incinerated. But think about it, what is the most eco-friendly way to dispose of/use this product? Through land application!

In conclusion, I believe that the Western world has influenced us to believe that though our feces have been broken-down to the point where they will benefit us, it would still be disgusting to have them even go near our food. But since the most eco-friendly way to "dispose" of biosolids is to use them as fertilizers, I believe that they should be used on greenery such as trees and golf courses, that way society will be a greener place!

Sources

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Comments

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Discovering a Drug to Benefit Diabetics

Diabetes is a chronic disease that many Canadians suffer from. People who have diabetes have high blood sugar levels, which are caused by the lack of, or resistance to insulin, or both. There are two types of diabetes: type one and type two.

Type one diabetes usually diagnosed during childhood and is when the body makes little to no insulin. Genetics, viruses and/or autoimmune problems may play a role in what causes this type of diabetes. Type two diabetes is much more common than type one. It is the cause of the body not making enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal, often because the body does not respond well to insulin. It is becoming more common due to increasing obesity and failure to exercise.

Insulin is a hormone created in the pancreas and works toward controlling blood sugar levels in the body through moving glucose from the bloodstream to different parts of the body to be used as energy.

Luckily, those who suffer from diabetes are able to obtain insulin to help them control their blood sugar levels, all thanks to a Canadian doctor, Edward Banting, and a his assistant, Charles Best. In the 1920s, Banting started experimenting on dogs to find a way to create insulin. After they had discovered that their method of creating insulin worked, they realized that it took too long. They then started to use fetal calf pancreases, and with the help of biochemist James Collip, were able to create insulin to use on humans. A few years later, they uncovered a major breakthrough, and were able to mass-produce insulin. Not long after this, insulin was offered for sale.

About 50 years later, another breakthrough was made and the first, genetically-engineered, synthetic “human” insulin was produced by Herbert Boyer using the bacteria E. coli.

All thanks to Edward Banting and Charles Best, many diabetics are able to maintain normal blood sugar levels, and ultimately live. 


Sources
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My Comments
Comment One
Comment Two

Industrial Agriculture: Modern-Day Farming

     The meat and poultry industry is ever-growing, and meat consumption is increasing each year, but have you ever thought about how that chicken came from the "farm" to your dinner table? 


     You probably think that an overall wearing, industrious farmer raised the chicken from when it was an egg to the time of slaughter by providing it with grains to eat and a comfortable environment for it to roam around, but in reality, most of the chicken you find in your local grocery store weren't exactly raised by a 'farmer', but rather were produced through industrial agriculture, or the modern-day style of farming. 


     Nowadays, thousands of chicken are raised in large, factory-like warehouses, where they don't have room to move around, and are treated poorly. They are also genetically altered to grow twice as large, and twice as fast in order to keep up with the consumers' demands. Due to these alterations, the chickens' heart and lungs aren't developed enough to support the extra weight, causing many [chickens] die before they're taken to the slaughterhouse. 

An example of a 'chicken house'

     Not only are these procedures harmful and cruel towards the chicken, but they're also harmful to us, the consumers. In fact, in the early 1950s, the first synthetic estrogen hormone, diethylstilbestrol (DES) was made and used to fatten poultry, but they discontinued use of it in the late 1970s because it caused cancer. And currently, Arsenic is commonly found in the chickens' feed, which can also lead to cancer.


     You may be asking yourself, "If industrial agriculture promotes animal cruelty, and has negative side effects, why do we continue to consume its products?" This is because it's much faster and cheaper to buy and produce food that's produced in "farms", rather than raised on farms. 

Society's idea of a farm

     Luckily, there's an alternative to industrial agriculture, and that's sustainable agriculture, or in other words, the old-fashion way of farming. In sustainable agriculture, farmers try to avoid the use of chemicals, or synthetic products, thus making their products healthier for us. Although these products may cost us more money, wouldn't you rather not have to worry about the side effects of the food you're eating in the long run? Just a thought you may want to think about.

SOURCES..

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BLOGS I COMMENTED ON..

Comment One

Comment Two