Examine a sanitation system that takes fresh drinking water, drops humanure and urine into it and them pumps it over large distances in fragile pipes, all the while mixing it with water collected from drains and industrial processes. The input is a toxic stew that due to its complexity defies easy processing, and so much of it is not processed. How can such a system deal with a sudden downpour? It cant. The output of this system, the sludge at the bottom of the pools, is dried and sold as compost, despite the fact that it is laden with hydrocarbons, heavy metals and roundworm eggs.
Compare this with one in which humanure and urine are processed on site, in isolation from other forms of waste without the need for pumping and piping. You don’t pay for the fresh water pumping. You don’t pay for the polluted water pumping. You don’t pay for the dams, or the outflow pipes. You don’t pay in non-monetary terms in healthcare bills due to a polluted environment. You don’t pay for fish caught more expensively well beyond the toxic reach of the outflow pipe. You don’t pay for a swimming pool. The pond in the stream suffices. You don’t pay. You don’t pay. You don’t pay.
Examine a food production system that mines soil, turning rivers brown, while simultaneously poisoning it with agrochemicals. The food produced in this vile system is then mixed with the cheapest possible ingredients, transported over huge distances for extended lengths of time and then sold packaged in plastic, (often as fresh) at the highest possible price for the enrichment of a few.
Compare this with a rooftop farm which uses no agrochemicals, creates soil, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. The food produced in this system is unadulterated, transported over several floors in a zero hydrocarbon, non refrigerated basket with no plastic anywhere in sight. You don’t pay for the transport. You don’t pay for the refrigeration. You don’t pay for the plastic. It IS fresh and provides for the enrichment, both monetarily and in quality of life of those who are fortunate enough to be able to eat it.
Examine a water system that pushes water in straight lines promoting the growth of bacteria and the movement of sediment, in pipes that you paid for using pumps that you paid for and electricity that you paid for. The water comes from a dam that you paid for, holding water on land that you paid to flood all the while destroying the watershed and separating fish from the spawning grounds necessary for their survival on the river.
Compare this with natural water flows with its bacteria destroying, sediment removing vortices which uses nothing but rainfall and gravity, both of which are natural services provided for free. The pipe becomes a river, sparkling and disinfected in sunlight. Use a filter and take the water directly from your roof or from a body of water. You pay for the filter and a short pipe. You don’t pay. You don’t pay. You don’t pay.
rooftopecology
