Page 14 RAIN July 1979 • It can't be overemphasized that biological nutrient recycling systems do produce a usable end product- while incineration systems produce only a more concentrated and refined form of waste (e.g. ash, sludge or dust) to burden the environment. • Nutrient recycling systems are themselves indicators of the quality of the inputs; if a worm-bed expires after being given a load of refuse-derived fuel to digest, it indicates that something is wrong with the refuse-derived fuel, and steps can be taken to adjust the infeed mixture, exclude toxics, etc. Such a "distant early warning system" is far more sensitive and timely than the lab analysis method, which had yet to devise tests for more than a fraction of the thousands of toxic and hazardous substances that have flooded our ecosystem in the twentieth century. It is also far less expensive. The Threat to Biological Nutrient Recycling More than ignorance, we are dealing with a distinct threat. Coming on the heels of a genuine flowering of labor-intensive recycling processes- all happening with little or no subsidythe plan to usurp the largest share of available financing and credit to put incinerators and similar systems in place stands in direct contradiction to the major trends in effective resource recovery. Why should people be getting big money to talk and think about unproven garbage Supertech when laborintensive recycling does it better now and could be expanded except for official stonewalling, harassment, lack of funding, lending capital and the like? Communities are being asked to transfer the pollution from the ground to the air, to put themselves at immediate risk, to accept welfare and "workfare" (the provision of a few high-paid jobs that often go to temporary, imported labor) in place of something useful, effective and productive to do. While Rome burns, we're all being asked to fiddle.... Research for this article was sponsored by the Lane Economic Development Council, P.O. Box 1473, Eugene, Oregon 97440. Part II will appear in our August/September issue. Notes: 1. Metals Recovery Demonstration Project, prepared by Don Corson, project design by Tom Brandt, Lane County Office of Appropriate Technology, 34 pp., 21 July, 1978, out of print.(See RAIN,Nov. '78.) 2. William L. Kovacs and John F. Kluesik,"The New Federal Role in Solid Waste Management: The Resource Recovery and Conservation Act of 1976," Columbia journal of Environmental Law, 3:205, 1977 3. "Unnecessary and Harmful Levels of Sewage Chlorination Should Be Stopped," General Accounting Office, Report Number CED77-108, 44 pp., August 30, 1977. This is a "study of studies" with a lengthy bibliography and further references and support literature. Excerpt: The National Academy of Sciences classify substances as "highly toxic" to aquatic life when 10,000 parts per billion will kill SO percent of a test population within 96 hours. In the case of chlorine when tested, a 673/o kill of brook trout was achieved within 96 hours with only 10 ppb. It has been acknowledged that early morning chlorine residuals from small wastewater plants may run as high as 22,000 ppb. 4. H.M. Freeman and R.A. Olexsey, "Energy From Waste: An Environmental Solution That Isn't Problem Free," in News of Environmental Research in Cincinnati, Industrial Environment Research Laboratory, USEPA, Cincinnati, 1977. "Very little has been published concerning the existence in refuse of potentially hazardous trace materials that might eventually be found in off-gases and effluents." Significantly higher levels of heavy metals, ash and particulates, and chlorides are to be found in refuse-derived fuels than conventional fossil fuels, including coal. • S. A Recycler Looks at Resource Recov.ery: The Berkeley Burn Plant Papers, by Dan Knapp, 1979, $3.00 from Oregon Appropriate Te!'.=hno_logy, P.O. Box 1525, Eugene, Oregon 97440. An annotated com- ;·JinWlt'.-Y oo proposals for garbage incineration strategies containing the critical analysis upon which much of the above article is based. Prepared under the auspices of the Community Conservation Centers of 2304 6th St., No. 2, Berkeley, California 94701. Waste Watchers With the recent accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and the increasing amount of radiation which enters our environment daily, it is becoming apparent that we must do something to protect ourselves from this lethal substance. Leonard Jacobs of the East West Journal, June, 1979 ($12/yr. from P.O. Box 505, Whitinsville, MA 01888) has written an article entitled "Natural Ways to Survive a Meltdown" which addresses this problem. Drawing on the experiences of Nagasaki and Hiroshima survivors who were able to avoid the harmful effects of the bombing by eating certain foods, Jacobs has compiled a diet which will lessen the harmful effects of radiation on our bodies. .. '. Bon appetit. - YL Certain dietary adjustments can help balance the extreme effects of radiation contamination. Of course, the best overall approach is to maintain health through a balanced diet so you will be prepared for radiation sickness as well as for those other human-made and natural epidemics that are accompanying modern civilization's rapid development and degeneration. Dietary recommendations for nuclear radiation sickness emphasize foods which are helpful for promoting healthy intestines (for blood production), for strengthening healthy kidneys (which may be weakened through filtering radioactive elements from the blood), and for improving the overall condition of the liver (which is responsible for detoxifying the body). 1. Those who are living within a radius of approximately 30 miles of a nuclear reactor accident should follow the following dietary advice until possible danger disappears: 60-70 perc~nt whole cereal grains 3-5 percent (1 or 2 cups) miso sdup with vegetables and seaweed 20 percent vegetables, cooked 5-10 percent beans and seaweed Strictly avoid all sugar, honey, and saccharine. Avoid meat and dairy food; oil, greasy food; refined salt; refined flour products; all vegetables of tropical origin such as potato, tomato, eggplant, asparagus and avocado; soft drinks, coffee and chemicalized food ; minimize all sorts of fruits and fruit juices. Whole grains, not flour products, should be consumed. Round vegetables, such as pumpkin, onion, cabbage or root vegetables are preferable to other types. Smaller varieties of beans, such as ~zuki beans and lentils, are better than larger types such as kidney beans. For seasoning use unrefined sea sa!t, sesame salt, traditionally fermented shoyu soy sauce, and mlSO. Fluid intake should not be excessive; generally speaking, urinating more than 3-4 times per day is indicative of excess fluid intake. 2. People living up to a distance of one hundred and fifty miles from the site should eat according to the following dietary specifications: 60 percent whole cereal grains 5 percent soup-miso soup or natural shoyu soup, with
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