Resource recovery

Too much politics and policy and too little ecology in the thought patterns. So let's get back to nature. The water cycle, the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle all involve circulating material in forms where they are available for use. The earth relies on the symbiosis of plants and animals working together to produce carbon dioxide and oxygen. When you look at all the dynamics involved in keeping the momentum going, you realise how unique the system we call earth really is. It is somebody else's system, but i kinda think we have to embrace it - eh sunni?

Dr. Lenny is getting ready to head back into the world of laboratory science as an assayer for a mining company. Mining is way up there in the ripping and tearing the earth industries, but resource extraction is an area that is ripe for biodynamic systems analysis. If there is proper remediation of mine sites after the work is done, the restoration process could seed a very viable industry. Stamets book, Mycelium Running, takes a good look at myco-remediation - spreading a network of mushrooms to build up the soils and mitigate the chemical content in the area. I have some theories about metal extraction using mushrooms, lichen, moss and various plant species - but first i need to get up to speed on the skill set required for knowing how much substance is there in the first place.

It seems to me that mining landfills would be a high priority for metals recovery, as the substances are already refined and processed. Much of the trash that we have thrown away in prior decades now has a high intrinsic value. However, i have heard that construction wastes and plastics are the bulk of the material - i guess i need to do a bit more research on the topic. One question that i have is in assessing the validity of the written material on the topic - how do you know whether to believe what you read? This is a more universal problem than just the resource recovery area. Is what we know really valid, or have we been taught to think in such a way that we think in patterns that are perscribed rather than thought howdt?

'Enquiring minds want to know.'