Waste equals Food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Waste equals Food - Essay Example Human influence significantly affects the cycle through which nature replenishes itself. The human practices introduce a model through which the nature cycle becomes obstructed. The substances humans pick from nature cannot safely return into the natural cycle developing a closed end. The writer also identifies the demarcation of substances into two material flow pathways. These are technical and biological pathways. Of late, human advancement has blended the two pathways with the result of obstructing both. This is through the creation of hybrids which can neither benefit the biological pathway, nor the technical pathway. A banana peel may undergo different processes depending on its mode of disposal. When placed in a landfill, organic matter remains in a form that is not reusable by nature. The landfill contains other contaminants that make the peel not to be salvaged by either the biological process or the technical process. The benefits obtainable from the peel become unrecoverab le. When placed in a compost pile, however, the peel forms the raw material for microorganisms which salvage the carbohydrates present. This way, the peel undergoes decomposition to release minerals, which replenish the soil (Picq et al 34). The authors’ main objective is to caution the human race from entangling in processes that do not promote continuous replenishment of the earth. In their view, the earth is the source and should be protected to promote life. Several practices by humans, however, interrupt with the earth’s life cycle and contribute to adverse effects. With the advent of modernization and increasing population, agricultural practices vary from the ancient methodologies with a marked increase in use of chemicals in farming. Though more food than ever is produced, the practices leave the earth vulnerable to erosion, and death of natural fauna. Chemicals used in farming end up killing the beneficial microorganisms thus interrupting the natural ecosystem . Deforestation, as a result of tree felling at a rate lower than that of planting, has led to erosion. The incorporation of technical nutrients with biological ones means that once the lifespan of the product ends, the waste cannot reenter the nature’s pathway or be reused in the technical pathway. The chapter addresses the issue of how human beings can be responsive in ensuring the stability of earth. The emphasis is that the earth is the primary source of livelihood for survival of life. The earth has its own mechanism of ensuring continuous flow of nutrients. This happens through the nature’s life-cycle involving death and decomposition of matter. It is critical to come up with technologies that do not end with products that cannot be reused or recycled. Substances used as technical nutrients should allow reuse in other systems rather than end up being disposed or degrading the environment. Technical and biological nutrients should not be blended. Else, the systems in which they gain application as hybrids, should allow the materials to be recovered separately to re-enter the separate pathways. In order to support their conclusions, the writers cite the intervention in making materials for wheelchairs with nutritive biodegradable matter. This was done through elimination of harmful dies and a terrific selection of natural fibers. The products not only ensured comfort and aeration to the user, but once worn out, they could be

Braided River System in South-Eastern Spain Essay

Braided River System in South-Eastern Spain - Essay Example Landcover is mostly low bush and grasses with or without trees (Prakash, 2005). Land usage includes agriculture (barley and others under irrigated conditions), grazing, mining (gypsum, gravel and sand) and tourism (movie-making and others) (Prakash, 2005). The gypsum karst of the Tabernas-Sorbas basin of SE Spain is a Neogene intramontane one in the Betic mountain range and is composed of significant deposits of evaporates from the Messinian period (Calaforra and Pulido-Bosch, 2003). The semi-arid environment in the region has assisted in conserving the large numbers of surface and underground gypsum karstic forms and the speleogenetic processes characteristic of such a region (Calaforra and Pulido-Bosch, 2003). In essence, this implies that, at least for this field study at the Western edge of this karstic formation, a semi-confined status existed upon the gypsum strata (Calaforra and Pulido-Bosch, 2003) through which the old braided river section flowed and it is possible that only those speleogenetic processes characteristic of a karst region such as this have been influential in the accretion process of sediment evident today. In study of fluvial systems such as rivers the term 'braided' implies a low proportion of flood-plain mudstones and a high one of sedimentary sand elements like sandstone (Adams and Bhattacharya, 2005). There is characteristic distinction which states that 'meandering' channels have high mudstone-to-sandstone ratios and tend to have high sinuosity combined with single channel flows (Adams and Bhattacharya, 2005). In contrast, 'braided' channels have a high sandstone-to-mudstone ratio and tend to have multiple channel flows (Adams and Bhattacharya, 2005). This distinction is blurred at times by continuity of variables (Adams and Bhattacharya, 2005) but, for the purpose of this field study, it is accepted that the study area comprised of a 'braided' channel portion. Of eminent interest to this study are the depositional and erosional patterns of the river at the meandering stage and the braided one. It has single-layered laterally accreting patterns with similar eroding ones in the me andering stage while accretional patterns in the braided stage are multi-layered and vertical (Adams and Bhattacharya, 2005). Field Work Rationale: To test whether 'braided' stream sections have lateral and/or vertical sorting/fining tendencies. Methodology: Six different randomly selected channels of the known old braided river system in the Urra Field Centre were chosen. From each channel, three samples from the left and right banks and the centre of the stream were taken. Sample bags were used to collect the pebbles from the sample-taking areas. A tape measure was also used to measure the channel sections. A pebble template and a grain size chart were used to size up the collected pebbles. Additionally, a camera was used to collect photos of the sample-taking areas to provide rough assessment of the pebble characteristics at each site. The pebble sizes were measured and the data tabulated as per each site characteristic. In this part of the study the data shall be analysed through multiple statistical descriptive tests such as mean