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Re: Lead bioremediation in gardens



I am not going to reproduce the long post about bioremediation, in part 
because it is so long.  However I want to point out that cyanide removal is 
unrelated to the question of heavy metals.  Cyanide is an organic compound 
(HCN) so common that it is found in interstellar gas.  It was undoubtedly 
common in the atmosphere of primordial earth, and HCN energy pathways where 
the first used by life on this gob of mud and muck covered nickle/iron.  It 
is small wonder that organisms still know how to do it.  Even the human body 
can go into an anerobic phase under stress, for limited periods.

Unlike HCN, which needs merely to be taken apart to be detoxified (nothing 
wrong with hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen individually--togethere with oxygen 
and bits of this and that they make up protein in our own bodies, after all), 
well anyway, unlike HCN, heavy metals are elements and not likely to be 
changed by biological activity, despite far-fetched claimes at the far fringe 
of airey-fairey land.  (Not refering to the post in this exchange, but other 
claimes which strongly suggest use controlled substances.)  

Reduction of heavy metals in wastewater is done by holding them in or at 
least on plant tissue.   The issue of urban gardens is to keep the poison OUT 
of plant tissues.  This is done by the methods I posted earlier.

It is probably possible to come up with some superfund-type bioremediation 
program that willextract the nutrients.  But people who use urban gardens 
have few funds, let alone superfunds, and want to garden, not conduct bizzare 
experiments in element translocation.  You don't have to have credentials in 
permacuture, or to understand it much at all, to understand that before all 
else it is PRACTICAL.  Raising soil organic matter, keeping pH between 6.5 
and 7, and using various kinds of raised beds (with imported soil or soilless 
media) are methods ordinary people can put into effect, plant their seeds, 
and be eating from them in a few months.  It is not reasonable to expect 
urban gardeners to become leading edge soil biochemists and to treat soil 
with various advanced technologies so that in some years it will be fit for 
them to grow their lettuce and zuchinni.  The solution is out of scale with 
the problem.  

I think it is u seful to remind us of the fact that great strides are being 
made in bioremediation.  These should always be funded by the corporation or 
individuals who caused the pollution.  However in some cases, such as 
ubiquitous lead due to paint and gasoline, that means the taxpayer.  Since 
the urban environment is continually re-polluting itself, it seems not the 
first place to spend such money.  Not when the strip mines, superfund sites, 
Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, ad infinitum of the country can be cleaned and 
kept clean thereafer.  It is easier and cheaper to keep away from poison than 
to try to extract it from the environment after it is fully dispersed.  It is 
like pissing in a lake and then trying to get the fertilzer back.  Tilting at 
windmills is reasonable compared to tilting against such entropy.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, 
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence 
courses via email.  Copyright, 1998, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, 
Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.

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