How stuff works: Episode 2 Turkeys!

The How stuff works series is great fun for anyone weird like me and interested in loads of stuff!


This episode focuses on the Turkey industry, it is a good watch! Please do! There are 3 parts... ENJOY :D!!!

POO POWER! Part 4: Pigs farting Power!

Even though assessment for this blog is over... I know I did this not for my environmental conscience, but because I was FORCED to... I feel the need to carry on posting because I love the many uses of poo...and here is another example of POO POWER!

So the video shows a great way to sustainably develop.... income from pig farming, waste management, and energy production on a decentralised scale... tick tick tick for the World Bank's Rural development initiatives!


This technology is being rolled out at a global level, it is happening in India and China where rural populations are increasing and require energy and income like anyone else.


More on this to come!! Hopefully! :D


Disclaimer.... I do not want any marks for these posts after the deadline of submission, I would just kind of like to carry on if possible??? Is that bad?

Nearly There Conclusion!! SEAPUK!

This blog was started to try and highlight the role that livestock plays in climate change and how our consumption has resulted in us drastically changing the earth's climate; land cover and productivity. We have introduced new species to places where they have caused so much damage (please look at Gem's blog for an in depth look at the palm oil industry; Jonnys's blog on Arctic environmental change; Wei's blog on the home of the polar bears and other arctic wildlife; Jess's blog on species migration) and we are causing the destruction of the homes, habitats and ecosystems of other species that inhabit an increasingly smaller niche on an ever homogenised planet due to our requirements from the environment around us.

By no means I am wagging my finger and blaming everyone under the sun for everything negative that's wrong with the world; that would be tiring and hypocritical lol! 

What is needed are solutions. 

Whether it is bio-technology and increased use of GM technologies to produce less GHG producing cows and other ruminants, or the utilisation of efficient feed and better storage, disposal and use of manure and other excrement produced as a livestock by-product (all in this IPCC report) and suggested by Popp et al., 2010.

Greater efficiencies in the production of livestock is integral to its sustainability, its been done to a certain extent in the transport industry, so why should what we eat be ring-fenced whilst we are all streamlining transportation (greater fuel efficient cars) energy production (renewable energy/ long life light bulbs), waste disposal (recycling); yet we still dump a lot of unnecessary fertiliser on a over irrigated field all in the name of reducing starvation?

Like in every single one of the example I have highlighted (and many more I have forgotten lol) there are some common traits; public support and interest; consumer attitude changes; cost of implementation; accessibility and availability of products. 

I am not asking/telling people to be vegetarian, it isn't necessary if agriculture was more sustainable. Greater GHG sinks (afforestation); less intensive agricultural practices; the real cost of meat (reduction in production subsidies Bruges, 2008) they would all curb emissions one way or another.

But by far the biggest source of agricultural expansion and GHG emissions is through demand. Unsustainable and inappropriate consumption is creating a problem that shouldn't even exist. The most significant way, as all the literature points to, whether modelled or not, is through consumer habits changing. Not eating meat every day is a start. Buying a non-meat alternative is also good. Margarine over butter is a positive, however depending on where the source of ingredients come from , palm oil could be one. 

Whatever you choose to do, just be aware of the choice you are making. Be a concious consumer and try act in an environmental, in a sustainable way. This is not easy. I am no expert on all products and their sources, but finding this information out has never been easier. Google it! 

Maybe soon there will be some kind of certification that address how environmentally sustainable meat products are (like those for tuna and dolphins, recycled paper from sustainable forests and recyclable plastics)? If there is already please let me know!!! Maybe that's one thing we could do, start a social movement for Sustainable and Environmental Agricultural Production in the United Kingdom... SEAPUK!

SEAPUK...we could get Paul McCartney to talk at an event... hmm.... Planet organic... get a few farmers involved... we could start something great!

I am managing director..... no.. vice president.... no.... King of SEAPUK! Who wants to join me? We can do it!

POO POWER! Part 3: Thames Water using our crap!

Thames Water are harnessing the power of sewage waste that comes from our toilets... that's right one man's waste is another companies fuel.

The article, from the guardian, explores the potential for energy production at the plant:

"The company estimates that 16% of its electricity needs will be covered in the current financial year by so-called poo power – enough to run about 40,000 average family homes – from a total energy requirement of 1,300 gigawatt hours."

Expanding this technology to all waste treatment works will save a lot of unnecessary carbon dioxide emissions from either producing energy from conventional combustion processes or letting the waste decompose anaerobically producing methane.

POO POWER! Part 2: Motorcycles, S**t whilst you ride?!?

Hold the toilet! What's this?!?


In an earlier post I said don't start peeing/crapping into your Mercedes... well now you can into your new toto motorcycle!


Ever had the urge to poo while riding down the motorway?


Do you get s**t scared when riding with your motorcycle buddies?


Well this is for you!

This new motorcycle, produced by toto operates using a "one in, one out" policy. You put food in one end (your mouth) and get fuel out the other (your... well if you don't know by now where it comes out SHAME ON YOU, I refuse to degrade this post to enlighten your curiosity about bowel movements).

The vehicle breaks down the poo into biogas (methane) and runs on the combustion of that fuel; reducing emissions from what would have otherwise been used, petrol/oil.

The only downside is privacy... and I really wouldn't want to be behind this driver in a traffic jam!

POO POWER! Part 1: Cars powered by poo!

For those of you who like to drive but are concerned about the rising costs of fuel and environmental issues around its production, this is for you!

This video and this news article in the Guardian explains all!

A water treatment plant in Bristol, part of the Wessex Water group of companies, is producing methane from human waste flushed down the loo! The biogas could resolve some sustainability issues around fuel for cars, as the man at the end of the video says:

 "As long as there are people, cows and chickens, they'll be methane."

I agree...

However! Even though biogas is sustainable and is beneficial in terms of dealing with increasing amounts of waste that we will produce, the fundamental problem is the fact that it is still a form of combustion; combustion = CO₂. 

So, on the one hand it's sustainable and uses the methane that would otherwise contribute a more to global warming in the short term. On the other, it doesn't address the underlying dependence on carbon dioxide producing processes which will inevitably exacerbate climate change. 

PEE POWER! Part 1: MCFs

The moment we have all been waiting for is here!

Pee can be used as a fuel... revolutionary! The article  looks at the potential of using the compounds in urine to produce electricity using microbial fuel cells (MCFs). These little packages of micro-organisms use the biomass in urine and converts it into a form of renewable energy; renewable in the sense that as long as we're living, we're peeing!

Ieropoulos et al. (the authors of the article) go on to highlight the importance of this research and the wider implications of this technology. It offer one was or extracting N, K and P nutrients from urine which are often at high concentrations and out them to good, fertilising use; rather than spending billions to treat this waste water straight away, we could utilise more of the power from it and it will push treatment costs down; energy security, it just so happens where more people live, who all demand energy, more pee is, what a coincidence!

Animal urine can also be used... the possibilities are endless! But don't start filling up your car with the yellow stuff just yet...