[Scpg] John Todd and the Los Osos Waste WATER Project

Fri Apr 18 20:27:27 PDT 2008

>Subject: [CAUCUS] John Todd and the Los Osos Waste Water Project
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>Last February, John Todd, President of Todd Ecological Research and 
>Design Inc., a leading firm in the development of ecological water 
>treatment technologies (see below) came to SLO County to speak with 
>the County's Los Osos Wastewater Project team, the public, and other 
>governmental agencies, regarding innovative, sustainable technology 
>in San Luis Obispo County, including the Los Osos Wastewater 
>Project.  He is preparing to return to our area for a brief visit 
>May 22 or 23, to meet with the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) 
>for the Los Osos Wastewater Project and others.
>The county has a golden opportunity to lead the way toward a 
>sustainable future, with a project like this.  If you see the wisdom 
>in this type of project, please show support for it and talk about 
>it to those you know in the county.
>I believe this type of project will go a long way toward healing the 
>community of Los Osos as well as mending the relationship of Los 
>Osos with the rest of the county.
>
>
>Judy Vick

Thanks Judy, HopeDance also did a story about his son's visit to Los 
Osos. John did not come. His son Jonathan came. This is great that 
the grandmaster John [Todd] will be here [in SLO]!!!

Read enviro freelancer Kathy Johnston's article in HopeDance here:
<http://www.hopedance.org/cms/content/view/462/107/>http://www.hopedance.org/cms/content/view/462/107/
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>CNN caught up with John Todd in Vermont to talk Eco Machines, energy 
>and building a better future...
>art.todd.jpg
>
>John Todd's Eco Machines can grow foods and fuel, restore 
>environments and treat waste.
>[]
>
>CNN: John, can you tell us a bit about your career and what drives you?
>John Todd: I really began my career as what we call a "doom watch 
>scientist," discovering how pesticides were harming our 
>environments. At one point I became so discouraged by what I was 
>finding that I said, can we not take this knowledge and flip it on 
>its head? Can we not learn what a forest or a lake knows, and 
>convert it into technologies that in the future would feed us, 
>provide our energy, transform our waste and even repair our damaged 
>environments? I knew that there are efficiencies, ingenuity and 
>symbiotic relationships in nature that are so powerful -- if we 
>could just decode its language we could change the way we do things.
>CNN: Are you a designer or an ecologist?
>Todd: I'm first and foremost a biological explorer. I've looked all 
>over the world for answers. Secondly, I'm an ecological designer, 
>and by that I mean I attempt to work with constellations of nature 
>to create technological forms. So I'm part engineer, part ecologist, 
>part inventor, really.
>CNN: Why are inventions like the Eco Machine so important?
>Todd: As we enter an age of limits we're going to have to rely more 
>and more on nature's wisdom to solve the problems that humans are 
>facing. The water problem is one of the biggest of these issues.
>CNN: What can your Eco Machines do?
>Todd: We have created Eco Machines that generate fuels, grow foods, 
>repair damaged environments, regulate climate in buildings and treat 
>waste, including some very dangerous wastes.
>CNN: How did you figure out the particular qualities of the 
>organisms to create your living machines?
>Todd: I've had a lifetime's experience in designing living machines 
>to treat sewage, grow foods, generate fuels, repair damaged 
>environments and regulate climates in buildings.
>Basically they're driven by sunlight. Higher plants provide a lot of 
>the surface area -- via their roots -- for the beneficial organisms. 
>They work in much the same way that a marsh or a forest works. We 
>substitute nature's wisdom for heavy duty engineering, chemicals and 
>massive amounts of energy.
>CNN: What potential do you think Eco Machines hold?
>Todd: Our vision is to use Eco Machines to allow the world to shift 
>to a more scarce petroleum era, to substitute long-distance 
>transport of materials and energy. It has tremendous possibilities 
>for transitioning to a post-petroleum era. It's perhaps one of the 
>least-valued strategies to us in the future.
>CNN: How do Eco Machines compare to traditional treatment works in 
>terms of energy consumption?
>Todd: The living machines can be designed to use only solar energy. 
>If you have a very small footprint, we can pump air into the tanks 
>with electrical blowers to substitute for space -- that's the 
>trade-off. The blowers are several horsepower, but it's far less 
>than conventional technology. But increasingly we're learning to do 
>more with less as we learn about nature's capabilities. For example, 
>one could calculate a facility's electrical needs and install a windmill.
>CNN: To what level do you think your vision will be accepted?
>Todd: Whether we're working in Vermont, China or the Caribbean, 
>we're finding that once people become familiar with this approach, 
>they get really turned on. Most of the activity is happening in 
>resorts that want to become green and developers who want to change, 
>whether we're talking about apartments in London, England or a 
>resort in Hawaii.
>CNN: What is the craziest idea you've ever had?
>Todd: I've had a lot of crazy ideas! Right now, I'd like to be able 
>to clean up the canals of Venice and Lake Pontchartrain in New 
>Orleans; I want to build an ocean ark, a wind- and solar 
>electric-powered ship that doesn't pollute and takes passengers 
>between continents; and I'm very anxious to get involved in large 
>scale land restoration. I'm actually getting started doing that.
>CNN: What do you hope things will look like 20 years from now?
>Todd: I would like to go to any city and find that the buildings 
>were the scaffolding for all kinds of living materials, which would 
>be purifying the air and even providing foods for people. It would 
>be very exciting; it would be very beautiful. The landscapes of the 
>future would be very diverse -- trees, livestock, animals, crops, 
>wild areas, all woven together. Most foods could be grown locally, 
>so that things that we trade are things we really revere, like good 
>wines, fabulous coffee or incredible olive oil, that kind of thing.
>CNN: Do you think we can build a better future for the human race?
>Todd: If we redesigned our infrastructures in the broadest sense 
>through ecological design we could reduce the negative human 
>footprint on the planet by about 90% and still have thriving 
>civilizations. We know we can do it, it's just getting from here to 
>there. That's going to be the greatest challenge of the 21st 
>century. 
><http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/08/30/todd.interview/index.html#>E-mail 
>to a friend
>E-mail to a friend
>
>
>

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